Today’s Scripture Reading (June 21,
2013): Amos 4
The Atheist
Church has become a reality of our age. The idea behind the church is that
those who do not believe in a deity still experience the same need for
community as do the religious people. And so the obvious answer for the need is
church. Now, most of the Atheistic gatherings are not called church, rather
they often give it the title of the Sunday Meeting – but it is still church,
only a church devoid of God. The Atheistic Church offers ordination and letters
of good standing; it allows the ordained shepherds of atheism to have the same
rights and privileges of the ordained clergy of other faiths - all without the
cumbersome problem of a belief in God.
The Atheist
Church has become a reality, but it has been with us for a while. The Christian
Church has long been the place where closet atheists have found community. They
walk in and walk with the church, they have gathered in fellowship with us,
they have even learned our rules and rituals and have becomes socialized
Christians – but they still exist without the cumbersome problem of a belief in
God – they just never admit it. The Atheist within the walls of the church has
no expectation that God will ever move, that anything outside of the normal
would ever happen in their midst. God does not exist; only the social structure
and shell of his church remains.
At the very
beginning of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the king of the Israel made a
decision that he would worship God, but he would do so in his own way. And so
the king commanded that two golden calves be created and these calves were
presented to the nation of Israel as the God who had brought them out of
slavery in Egypt. One of these two calves was set up in Bethel and the other was
set up in Dan - and the people came to worship. In Gilgal and other cities
strategically chosen throughout the Northern Kingdom, high places were set up
for the worship of Baal and Asherah. And in this, the people of the North were
given a God to worship, but one that was outside of the cumbersome problem of a
belief in the God of David – a God that was clearly only concerned with the
idea of worship in the Southern Kingdom where the descendants of David still
ruled on the throne.
Amos is not
amused by their practice. No matter how often they bring their sacrifices to
Bethel and Gilgal, it is not to God that they are sacrificing to. In the Mosaic
Law there were certain tithes that were brought in every three years, and there
is some confusion over the translation of this tithe in this passage with some
translators preferring to use days instead of years, but the intent of the
passage would seem to be that even if the tithe that was to be brought in every
third year was brought in every third day, it would not make a difference.
Because what meant anything was not the meeting, and it was not the fellowship,
and it was not the sacrifice and it was not the tithe – it was the object of
belief – who all of that was given to. Without God, it could only be an empty
ritual – and one that would ultimately prove to be unsatisfying because God was
not there.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Amos 5
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