March 12, 2010 - Easy Religion

Meditation on Judges 17

The key verse for this period of Judges is in verse 6, "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit." (NIV) Since everyone did whatever he wanted, many of the people then set up their own altar, priest, religious stature and practices.

Micah here was a typical example. He, with a half conscience, admitted to his mother he had stolen her money and returned it to her. Then this mother and her family took some of the money to make an idol, a shrine, and some religious clothing according to the Jewish tradition, appointing one of the grandchildren as their own priest. They established their own religious practice in their own house. Later on they hired one of the Levite who happened to come by looking for a shelter and made him the official priest hoping to fulfill the Old Testament requirement.

This kind of doing your own thing religiously is still being practiced among some so called Christians today. According to a recent survey and study, people in U.S. are still religious but not going to churches as much today. Probably many of them do pray and join in some bible study or cell group. But they don't trust established churches. So I guess that some of them would be having a church in their home and appoint their own leader who is functioning like a pastor. I have seen some Chinese Christians are that way. They don't go to any church. Their home is their meeting place and has their own service. Whether they interpret the Bible correctly or not, nobody knows. Whether they practice communion and baptism on their own or not, nobody knows except their close friends. They would avoid learning from anyone. They do their own things. This kind of happening is awfully similar to the attitude of Micah and his mother in Judges.

May God deliver us from doing our own things and from practicing our own convenient blend of religions but obey Christ's demand of fellowship in His church. (Ephesians 2)