The Minor Prophets Speak to Today
When Christians Are Unfaithful
The Land Where They Live Is Effected
Hosea 4:3
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Issues Straight from the Headlines of Today
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God's charges against the American church, listed in the last blog entry, come with warning signs. These are very practical and visible conditions. They are hard to discount though we can choose to ignore them. The thing is we just don't associate them with Christian faithfulness or, more accurately, unfaithfulness on the part of the Christians in America. We think they are someone else's fault.
1. That is why your land is in mourning:
In the Hebrew language as in English, the word land can refer to the nation or the ground. But in the case of America both the land and the nation are in mourning.
The massive droughts we have experienced, the super tornadoes, the wild fires, the need to replenish the nutrients in the crop lands because nature cannot keep up with their depletion. These tears of the land constantly populate our headlines and/or lives. And these are only some of the more sensational environmental issues that effect the patch of earth called the United States of America. Soil and water pollution costs millions each year in repair or lost revenue. Some places have even been rendered uninhabitable. Indeed the land is in mourning.
The nation too is in mourning. We mourn our loss of innocence to terrorism after 9/11. We mourn our broken justice system. We mourn our loss of safety. We mourn from a recession that has been declared ended but has not ended for 95% of the people. We mourn the loss of our cities to gangs and violence. We mourn our loss of a common moral compass and the devastation it has wrecked upon our youth, our families, and all levels of relationship in our society. We mourn over our dysfunctional government and the abuses of our bureaucracy. We mourn. The land is in mourning.
The massive droughts we have experienced, the super tornadoes, the wild fires, the need to replenish the nutrients in the crop lands because nature cannot keep up with their depletion. These tears of the land constantly populate our headlines and/or lives. And these are only some of the more sensational environmental issues that effect the patch of earth called the United States of America. Soil and water pollution costs millions each year in repair or lost revenue. Some places have even been rendered uninhabitable. Indeed the land is in mourning.
The nation too is in mourning. We mourn our loss of innocence to terrorism after 9/11. We mourn our broken justice system. We mourn our loss of safety. We mourn from a recession that has been declared ended but has not ended for 95% of the people. We mourn the loss of our cities to gangs and violence. We mourn our loss of a common moral compass and the devastation it has wrecked upon our youth, our families, and all levels of relationship in our society. We mourn over our dysfunctional government and the abuses of our bureaucracy. We mourn. The land is in mourning.
2. That is why everyone is wasting away:
The United States spends more per capita on medicine and health related issues than any other country in the world, but we have some of the worst health among developed countries. While we generally are more and more obese, the fat does not represent the blessings of prosperity but rather a loss of health and an increase in disease and dysfunction. Even the bacteria and viruses mutate at alarming rates and lay waste to our bodies as our medicines scramble to catch up.
Nor does the above address our economic wasting away - yes, even the 5% are wasting away. It's just that they are morally, relationally, and socially wasted. We are morally wasting away with a constant and increasingly widely acceptance of both that which stands condemned by God and that which is contrary to the very creation itself. Our families are wasting away. There are many ways we waste away. Everyone is effected.
Nor does the above address our economic wasting away - yes, even the 5% are wasting away. It's just that they are morally, relationally, and socially wasted. We are morally wasting away with a constant and increasingly widely acceptance of both that which stands condemned by God and that which is contrary to the very creation itself. Our families are wasting away. There are many ways we waste away. Everyone is effected.
3. Even the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea are disappearing:
Whole fisheries in the Great Lakes are gone. The products of our sea coasts suffer from over harvesting and environment changes. The song birds of America have drastically declined with our urbanization and use of chemicals in agriculture. The same is true of the number of many migratory birds. Some birds, fish, and wild animals have to be placed in protected status or artificially be replenished due to their disappearance in the wild. Most of us are familiar with the disappearance of the wild animals, the birds, and the fish. The fact that in some cases we have successfully reintroduced them simply witnesses against us. The successes declare that first they were disappearing or gone.
And This Is Why
The Lord has brought charges against you, saying:
“There is no faithfulness, no kindness,
no knowledge of God in your land.
You make vows and break them;
you kill and steal and commit adultery.
There is violence everywhere—
one murder after another.
“There is no faithfulness, no kindness,
no knowledge of God in your land.
You make vows and break them;
you kill and steal and commit adultery.
There is violence everywhere—
one murder after another.
Photo Credits:
newspaper_extra_extra.jpg @ poetryblogroll.blogspot.com
The Judge by unknown
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