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High on an ancient hill away from the village and their spouses,
a couple are engaged in the ritual sex of a fertility cult. They are not
husband and wife, but have embraced this incest and adultery as a spiritual act
to appease the gods. He is playing the part of Baal[1]
and she the part of Baal’s mother, Asherah. She is both the mother and
mistress of her powerful lover.
In this union the storms of the sea are prevented and the rain
will come for the growing season. A sheep or bull is offered in sacrifice to
the gods. If there has been an especially difficult season of draught, the man
may have brought his firstborn child to be executed by sacrifice.
God detested the worship of idols. Everything associated
with idolatry perverted the best qualities in humanity. Idolatry erodes the
walls of faithfulness, respect and protection of the vulnerable. The idolatry
sets up an imaginary system of sympathetic magic. The object is believed to
possess powers that we need to benefit ourselves with.
Even if a Baal
worshipper didn’t really believe, the ritual sex was very enticing. There would
likely be Baal agnostics who stayed
in it because of the revelry. At the heart of our modern lusts, drunkenness and
selfish pursuits you will find an idol-worshipping heart.
Idolatry is especially
prominent in the Old Testament, but less so in the New Testament. This does not
mean that idolatry became less of a problem in more modern times; instead, the Old
Testament theme of idolatry passed the baton to the New Testament themes of
lust and sinful desire. This is in keeping with the New Testament’s emphasis on
the hidden commitments of the heart rather than the external objects of our
affection.[2]
The New Testament church had many converts with a history of
cultic practices with other gods. Temple prostitution, orgies, wild partying
and offering sacrifice to heathen deities still held powerful sway for many of
the early Christ followers.
The New Testament writers and apostles were far from naïve
or prudish. They lived with TMI – too
much information about the violence, excessive behaviour and destructive
tendencies of the human heart.
They followed Jesus because they needed a new way of living
that oppressive religion did not provide. They needed hope and they needed
help. How would they be able to gain self-control after a life of secret
practices and participation in culturally tolerated idolatrous behaviour?
If they were law-abiding Jews and had lived free of the
surrounding corruption, how could they get free of the crippling shame of their
own failure to keep the Law fully? How could they live with the man or woman in
the mirror who was never quite good enough and had their own private world of sinful
discovery?
The followers of Jesus needed a way of living free from the
laws of sin and death. They found this way modelled in Jesus and received the
help that only he could provide. So here it is---
It’s not what you can do yourself, but where your help comes
from. In the Kingdom of God there is an eco-system of the Spirit where all the
good things grow together in response to Divine Love. The growth potential is
limitless and sustainable. Life begets life.
So, how do we grow into the very nature of Jesus? How is
this eco-system set up within us? What do we have to do? What will control our
inner world?
Galatians 5:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23 gentleness
and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to
Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the
Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
[1] For additional reading on Baal and Asherah, check out
this article at https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/fertility-cults-of-canaan
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