Christians, Idolatry and the Military

The preacher at our church this past Sunday spoke from Joshua 24. Joshua challenged Israel to either worship Jehovah or their idols. If they chose Jehovah, they had to put away the idols. For the sake of the sermon, he defined an idol as that which requires sacrifices, gives the illusion of control and can be used for our own ends. It is interesting to use these criteria and compare them to God. God does not require human sacrifices, which many idols of the day did. Indeed, God arranged the ultimate sacrifice, that of his own Son, to bear the weight of his judgement on sin and to make atonement for our sins. God offers real control, not just an illusion, for he is the Lord of history. Finally, God is not to be used for our own ends, even though some Christians think in that way.



Our preacher's illustrative idol for the sermon was personal financial security which he explained in terms of his criteria for an idol. Yet, since this was the Sunday closest to Veterans Day, we also honored those who currently serve in the military and those who had. This made me think of military service in terms of idolatry. For purposes of full disclosure, I served in the U.S. Army during Vietnam, though I did not go there.



Military service and militarism in general can be viewed as an idol using his three criteria. First, it requires sacrifice, especially human sacrifice. Think of the many who have died or become disabled or suffer PTSD and other emotional traumas because of their military service. Other sacrifices of relationships and finances are also required by this idol, money that could be spent on better uses. Second, militarism offers the illusion of control. The bigger the military, the more control we think we have. The American experience in Vietnam put the lie to that. Third, militarism is a tool for our country to get its own way, or so we think. How many times in American history have we used our military forces to serve some vested interests?



Since God forbids his people to worship idols, why do we worship at this idol? Why

Christians, Blogs and the Election

I have been struck during this presidential election by the way, in my opinion, people evaluate the candidates based on emotion rather than rational thought, listening to uninformed opinion rather than doing their own research and making up their own minds. This is true of Christians who object to and feel threatened by the Obama candidacy. Christians, who have as a model the Jews in Berea who resisted the spin doctors and reviewed the Old Testament for themselves to evaluate Paul's message, don't see the need to do this in regard to Obama. One recent blog posting questioned the legitimacy of the Obama/Biden ticket at all. The same posting expressed fear for the loss of liberty under an Obama presidency, especially the freedom to own guns. Like we haven't lost some liberties under a Bush presidency. A moment's reflection would show how unlikely such an event is. The Supreme Court has ruled on the legality of gun ownership (though I disagree with their understanding of the Second Amendment to the Constiution). The NRA is a powerful lobby with strong ties to Congress. No president can reverse either of these conditions on his own. But even if he could, what would be wrong with losing the right to own weapons?

It is apparent that many conservative Christians still see themselves as more American than Christian. They see their Christian liberties and their American liberties in very close relationship.

Electing Obama will not be the end of the world. Electing McCain will not be the end of the world, either.