“Again the people of Isra’el did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective — they served the ba‘alim, the ‘ashtarot, the gods of Aram, the gods of Tzidon, the gods of Mo’av, the gods of the people of ‘Amon and the gods of the P’lishtim. They abandoned Adonai and did not serve him;”-Judges 10:6
Have you noticed the common phrase Scripture uses to introduce each cycle of rebellion and apostasy?
“The children of Israel did what was evil from the Lord’s perspective“.
From “the Lord’s perspective” are the key words here.
Because there was always a huge gap between how the Israelites judged their moral and spiritual condition and how the Lord saw it.
And isn’t this the case with all of us?
In fact, if it was possible to peer inside the mind of a criminal you’d find they never view their own actions as evil.
They always find a way to rationalize their deviant behavior.
A thief will say something like the following to himself before he breaks into a house to rob it…
“Those folks are rich, they can afford to make me happier.”
“Those are bad people — I’m like Robin Hood!”
“I’m oppressed! I’m the ‘Little Guy’ who never gets a break!”
My point is even when Israel was flirting with idolatry, from their perspective, they didn’t think they were doing anything wrong.
And looking back on my own life, I’m amazed at my own capacity to deny and rationalize my wicked behavior.
In worse cases, I went so far as to say that God supported my behavior.
The way this wickedness happens is when we begin substituting the truth of God’s Word with our own excuses, ideas and thoughts.
There’s no other way this happens.
“It’s okay to eat that ham sandwich because the Law was only given to Israel”.
“If I don’t work this Saturday, I might lose my job”.
“It’s okay to celebrate Easter even though it has its origins in fertility god worship”.
The ridiculous excuses go on and on.
That’s the problem folks.
Because when an excuse is repeated often enough and loud enough, eventually it is taken as truth.
And that’s when ungodly traditions and doctrines are born.
Ungodly traditions and doctrines that are no longer questioned.
And if they are questioned, the questioner is instantly castigated as a heretic and troublemaker and kicked out of the congregation.
Heck, if you think about it, the same thing happened with Yeshua when he went up against the religious establishment in his day.
Words so very true. We see it all the time.
I find it difficult to be outspoken about these issues, especially with family.
Mentioning that word Hec again. Please find out who this god is and refrain from using it. Mix and match? One fly spoils the whole ointment.