I was meditating on this question this morning: why can’t
many Christians see obvious evil?
We see so many examples of this. A few years ago, in an
American election year involving the most controversial President in modern
United States history, a pandemic was used as an excuse to lock people in their
homes, shut down economies and movement of people, place limits on how U.S.
elections could function, and eventually coerce hundreds of millions of people
around the world to take an experimental medical treatment most people did not
want, and certainly most people did not need, and which large companies profited
from greatly. This had so many
stamps of evil all over it that to many of us were so clear, but
to many more Christians they not only did not see, they supported it, and even
fought against those who called it out. To this day many Christians refuse to
see the coercive evil they supported and was right in front of them.
But an even more pertinent example now is the massacre of
civilians happening in Gaza as I write this article. This has all the hallmarks
of evil all over it. Some Christians will immediately jump in and say right
now, “Woah, Woah!! Why are you supporting Hamas?” Which just shows how blinded people
are. Defending innocent civilians caught up in collective punishment is not
supporting Hamas. Bombing an entire civilian city to rubble, displacing over
two million people, and killing tens of thousands of civilians is not justice,
it is not a proportionate response, and has all the hallmarks of evil all over
it. Over 39,000 civilians are confirmed dead, 14,622 of these are children,
8,986 are women, 73,300 are injured, which includes maiming and other cruel
injuries, among many more atrocities.[1] These are just the confirmed
numbers with thousands more believed dead under the rubble caused by the IDF campaign.
Just because someone responds to evil (the Hamas attack) does not mean they are
good. As Paul would tell us do not respond to evil with evil, but instead do
what is honourable or good (Rom. 12:17). In no impartial eyes is what Israel is
doing in the category of good. But thousands of Australian Christians are
standing with Israel, and crying out against criticism of Israel, at a time
when Israel is committing great evil. Yes Hamas did evil, but two wrongs do not
make a right. No honest person would say Hamas should not be brought to justice
for their crimes, but that is not what is happening. Not even close.
So why can’t so many Christians see the obvious evil that is happening?
Well, as I said I was meditating on this today, and my
daily devotions, as sometimes happens, instantly answered this; it is because
of a lack of spiritual training and discernment. I am currently reading through
Hebrews, and this is part of what I read this morning, for my devotions, in
chapter 5,
“12 For though by this time
you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first
principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid
food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness,
for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that
is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good
and evil.”
“But solid food belongs to those who are full of age,
that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both
good and evil.” In other words, one of the marks of a well-trained Christian spirituality
is that we learn, through practice, training, and Scripture to see the
difference between good and evil. Again, in other words, Christians brought up
on a light diet of Scripture and errant Christianity will not be able to properly
discern good and evil. Could you give a better description of the quality of
teaching in the modern church? It is remarkable that we have so many people who
can see evil, considering the state of modern church doctrine.
I know some people are going to immediately see my
comment as arrogant, but I don’t care. When you can’t see the slaughter of tens
of thousands of civilians as the sacrifice unto Molech, or the Devil, that it
is, then your senses to evil are blinded on the issue. Just men, just leaders,
do not unleash hell on civilians over the actions of a relatively small group
of criminals, they hunt down the criminals and punish them.
Tradition says that the letter of Hebrews was written to
Jewish Christians likely by the Apostle Paul. However, there are traditions
which also dispute this, and there is no indication in the book of Hebrews
about who wrote it, nor is there a direct mention of who it was written to. But
the assumption that it was written to Jewish believers is a good one, because
the writer of Hebrews assumes that its readers will have a deep understanding
of the Psalms, the Mosaic covenant, the priesthood, the early books of Moses,
and much more of the Old Testament. It is perhaps the book of the New Testament
which is most visibly steeped in references to the Old Testament, even though
other books like Romans and Revelation are equally reliant on Old Testament
teachings and imagery when more carefully examined.
So, there is good reason to believe that this book was
written to people who a) should have been mature in the faith, because of their
deep understanding of God and his word, and b) should therefore have been
teachers, not needing to be rebuked for their error which placed them in danger
of “departing from the faith” (Heb. 2:1; 3:12. Etc). So, what had gone wrong
with their theology? What had led them into the serious error which the writer
of Hebrews seeks to address?
They had misplaced the position of physical Israel in the
eyes of God. This comes through very clearly. Because of this the writer of
Hebrews must show that Jesus is superior to the Old Testament prophets (Heb.
1), that Jesus is a more superior agent of God’s covenant than the angels (Heb.
2), that Jesus is superior to Moses (Heb. 3), that Jesus is a better Joshua
(Heb. 3-4), that Jesus is a better high priest than Aaron (Hebrews 4-5), that
Jesus is the head of a better priesthood than Levi (Heb. 7), that the covenant
Jesus established is a better covenant than the Mosaic (Heb. 8), and that Jesus
has secured a better temple with a better sacrifice, his once-and-for-all
sacrifice (Heb. 9-10). It is very clear that the writer of Hebrews is
addressing people who are being tempted to place the Old Covenant and, by extension
physical Israel, into an incorrect place in their faith walk, and this had led
them to serious error. In fact, it had led them to such serious error that they
could not correctly discern good from evil.
We know that the Judaizers were the original and worst
opponents of Christianity at its beginning. This continued for well into the
first three centuries of the early church, where they stirred up through their influence many of the Roman persecutions against the Church, with this finding its culmination in the reign
of Emperor Julian who even sought to rebuild the temple. But before the
destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, they had a strong case that the Jewish
people were the ancient stewards of the words of the God, the Old Testament,
the central position of the presence of God in the world, through the temple,
and the conveyors of the blessings of God, because their people had survived so
many tumults and attacks over the centuries and retained their identity. But
the Hebrews' writer would agree with Paul (in fact it may even have been Paul
himself) that in comparison to Jesus this was all ‘skubala’, or dung, or
rubbish,
“3 Finally, my brethren,
rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but
for you it is safe.
2 Beware of dogs, beware of
evil workers, beware of the mutilation! 3 For we are the circumcision, who
worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in
the flesh, 4 though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else
thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: 5 circumcised the eighth
day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews;
concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church;
concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
7 But what things were gain
to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all
things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I
may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which
is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness
which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His
resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His
death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead”
(Phil. 3:1-11).
Paul was very clear that all of his achievements as an
ethnic Jew under the Old Covenant, apart from Christ were nought but trash,
compared to the revelation of Jesus Christ. Paul made sure people were taught strongly
not to put physical Israel and the Old Covenant in the wrong place in their
faith walk. Something many errant Christians do today.
It is very telling that we have an entire book of the
Bible that warns people that if you misunderstand the place of the Old Covenant,
and all that goes with that - which includes the land, the temple, the Mosaic
law and more - in our faith walk, this will dampen your ability to discern
between good and evil. And we see this at work in how many Christians view the
modern conflict in Gaza; as if Israel were God’s team and should be
uncritically barracked for and supported.
Let me be clear here, I am not saying that this explains
why so many other Christians cannot see so many other evils. I am not making
that case. There are many reasons, and they all stem from people not being
diligent enough in their study of the words of Scripture. What I am saying is
that this error on physical Israel helps explain at least one of these
situations. I know that many people would read my initial question and simply
say, “Well they cannot discern evil properly because they are not real
Christians.” But I do not believe this to be the case for all of these people, both from observation
but also from Scripture. The writer of Hebrews is addressing believers,
“12 For though by this time
you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first
principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of
righteousness, for he is a babe.”
These are not unbelievers, though some of them may prove
to be of course. They are believers who are approaching the teachings of the
Apostles and the rest of the Scriptures in an immature way. They are not
rightly dividing the word of God, and this has caused them to misapply the Old
Testament, misunderstand physical Israel’s place in God’s plan, and therefore
they are deadened towards what is good and evil in a serious way.
I know many of the Christians who are supporting Israel
have condemned other nations in recent years for doing far less. But their
misunderstanding of the nature of the identity of God’s people only applying to
those who believe in Jesus by faith and having nothing to do with genetics, causes
them to overlook the clear evil intent behind the levelling of an entire city,
and the devastation of the people in that city. Christians are partnering with
Molech in a tragic way, and they cannot even see it. Although, I have noticed
that less and less of these people are defending it, as time goes by, which is
a good sign that the devastation Israel is causing is making them uncomfortable.
This should be a warning to all of us who claim the name
of Christ that we need to be diligent and wary to the encroachment of unbiblical
doctrines that rise to prominence in the Church. Any one of us that might
consider ourselves mature could become slack in our study of the word, reliance
on the guidance of the Spirit of God through his word and other believers, and
fall into a place of immaturity. We should not speak to others blindness
without being willing to examine our own blind spots. But that does not mean
that we should not be concerned about how many believers appear to lack
discernment between good and evil. This is deeply concerning and has genuinely
negative impacts in our world. Bad theology is supporting a terrible foreign
policy that has destroyed countless lives in the Middle East for 80 years or so.
Many good Christians were hung out to dry during covid
because the leaders of the church could not see the clear evil that was
happening, or could but were afraid to speak out about it. Many good Christians
have been hung out to dry on many issues. But who would have thought that so
many believers would not be able to call a mass killing of people in a small,
underdeveloped region of the world the evil that it is? Well, the writer of
Hebrews, that’s who, because he was informed about the dangers of raising Christians
on a bad diet of teaching, “14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full
age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern
both good and evil.” May God shake his church to wake it up from its many
slumbers, but especially this current blindness.
List of References
[1]
Euro-Med Monitor, 2024, https://twitter.com/EuroMedHR/status/1765230242946285956,
accessed 9/03/2023.
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