In writing to the church in Thyatira, Jesus talks about a false prophetess in the church there, a woman that he calls Jezebel. That wouldn’t have been her real name. This was a reference to the Old Testament queen that tried to impose a foreign religion on the Israelites.
This Jezebel was also promoting a false religion. Thyatira was a town with strong labor unions; each of these unions aligned itself with a pagan god, holding meetings in the temple of their patron. Christians had to choose between participating in idolatry or committing professional suicide.
What appears to have been going on here was that this woman, this self-proclaimed prophetess, was teaching the Christians that it was all right for them to participate fully in the activities of the trade guilds in Thyatira. The argument would be that it was necessary professionally, that these religious rites were merely “social rites” which had no meaning. Possibly she would have argued, as did some Corinthians before her, that since false gods aren’t really gods, Christians do nothing wrong by participating in their “worship.” This was an issue which had troubled the church in Corinth, and Paul had taught them in no uncertain terms that accommodation was not the answer. Christians cannot “play” at worshiping other gods; worship is for our God and for him alone. Worship activities, even when directed to false beings, are not mere actions; they affect our hearts, our very being. Participating in the worship of false gods is unfaithfulness to the true God. It is spiritual immorality, religious adultery.
(Letters From The Lamb, pp. 100-101)
Again, there can be no compromise between the church and the world. There can be no divided loyalty. Even when our professions or prosperity are at stake, we must choose in favor of God.
I have a question…what constitutes the worshiping of a god or God? Could it be that on the fourth of July, Cince de Mayo, or some other ethnic/national holiday when we stand cheering and singing our favorite festive songs, that we are worshiping some other god (an ethnic/national god). I struggle with this very issue. Last year I went to a July 4th festival to watch fireworks, the presenting of the flag, the orchastra playing the national anthem, etc… While I did stand at the appropriate times, I did little if any cheering and applauding that I recall. Instead I watched how much people patrionized the nation with their cheers and applause for what it is and what it has accomlished…all the while wondering why God does not get at least that same equal amount of expression for who he is and what he has accomplished for us. I see the same thing happening in the Hispanic community on Cinco de Mayo and I am sure in other ethnic/national cultures it happens there as well. It is hard for me, though, to imagine Paul or any other gentile Christian of the apostolic and early post apostolic church celebrating what Rome was and what it had accomplished. And we know from our Old Testament, that Jews did not celebrate who they were apart from God but instead celebrated who God was and what he had done for them. So I ask…what constitutes worship and when does that worship become compromised?
Grace and peace,
Rex
Rex,
You raise an important question, one that I think every Christian needs to be willing to wrestle with.
I will say that Rome was very open about presenting emperor worship as religion, whereas few nations or heads of state do such today. That doesn’t mean, of course, that the danger is gone; it may just have taken a more subtle form.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
That is an interesting point about Rome openly declaring emperor worship as a religion. I think it is fair to say that for some people their cultural pride (or political, ethnic, national, etc…) has become a religion even if they would not use that vocabulary. For others, I don’t think it has gone that far. But asking the question of where the boundry line is, is like asking how much is too much wealth.
Grace and peace,
Rex