42 A Different Altar

Your Church Is All Wrong

This Old Testament story, (Joshua 22:9-31), reminds me, so much, of the activities of the Christian church at large.  

In this post, I have taken the liberty to dovetail some of my ideas (pink) of part of the history of the Christian church into this rather lengthy story from the Bible.  I hope you can follow my line of thinking.

So the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh returned, (to the Eastern side of the Jordan river) ... to go to the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession.  Moses had promised this to them before any of the Israelites crossed the Jordan River for the first time.

And when they came to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, they ... built an altar there by the Jordan—a great, impressive altar.  It looked like there was a new denomination in the land.   A people who worshipped differently than they had been brought up to worship. Not only that, they were egotistical, they built a large, impressive meeting house with high spires.

Now ... when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go to war against them.  The nine and a half tribes who were not moving to the East of Jordan believed that the two and a half tribes, that were moving were starting a new religion.  They were ready to fight their own kin to the death, because of a misunderstanding.  How like the history of the Christian church!

• As early as the fourth century some leaders in the church killed some of those who did not accept the doctrine of the Trinity; 
• the crusades of the dark ages were merely an excuse to make the whole world worship the way the "Christians" thought others should worship; 
• when the Protestant church was first born, many protesters were killed because they insisted that the truth lay in the Bible, not in the church's traditions. 
• Some in the established church killed their own "brothers in Christ" over non-consequential differences.

Then the children of Israel sent Phinehas ... the priest to them (the two and a half tribes) and with him ten rulers.  Here, common sense prevailed; rather than going directly to war, they sent a "fact-finding team".  

Then they came to them ... and they spoke with them, saying, “Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord: Those of us who are not moving over the Jordan are the whole congregation of the Lord, you are not, you are just a "cult" if you do not believe exactly what we believe; if you do not do religion like we do religion, you are not a follower of the Lord.

‘What treachery is this that you have committed against the God of Israel?  Whatever possessed you to turn your back on Christ?

to turn away this day from following the Lord, in that you have built for yourselves an altar, that you might rebel this day against the Lord? We are sure that in your church you do not really worship the Lord. 

‘Nevertheless, if the land of your possession is unclean, then cross over (come back) to the land of the possession of the Lord, Jehovah owns our church, where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and we worship in HIS church, not like you, in yours, and take possession among us.  We can easily see that the place where you worship is evil, but if you repent and come back to us, we will gladly forgive you for your wickedness.  

But do not rebel against the Lord, nor rebel against us, by building yourselves an altar besides the altar of the Lord our God.  Don't continue with this evil set of doctrines you hold. We hold all the right doctrines, and if you worship with us, you will also worship the Lord properly.

We Still Preach The Same Gospel

Then they ... answered and said to the heads of the divisions of Israel: “The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, We worship the same God you do! He knows, and let Israel itself know. Jehovah knows that this is true, and you should know it also. But in fact we have done it for fear, for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your descendants may speak to our descendants, saying, What have you to do with the Lord God of Israel?  Actually, we have not left off worshipping Jehovah, but your style of worship did not suit us, we needed a fellowship service that is more lively; or, for some, more subdued than yours.

“For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between you and us.  We admit that there is a line drawn between you and us but it is the Lord who has made this border.  So it is not right for you to say, You have no part in the Lord. Therefore we said, Let us now prepare to build ourselves an altar, a place to worship, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice.  We are not replacing the Christ who offered Himself as a sacrifice for us.  We will still preach "Christ crucified, risen, ascended and returning".  Only, we will have a different style and use different words than you do.

they ... built an altar there by the Jordan.  We have placed a cross at our church, just like you have at your church, that it may be a witness between you and us and our generations after us, that we may perform the service of the Lord before Him.  Why than do you say, “You have no part in the Lord.” ... “Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord, and turn from following the Lord this day.”

Now when Phinehas the priest and those ... who were with him, heard the words that they spoke, it pleased them. Then Phinehas ... the priest said to them ... “This day we perceive that the Lord is among us.  Your denomination and ours stand united in doctrine, even though we may have cultural or emotional differences which cause us to worship in different methods.  We are so pleased that you have not committed this treachery against the Lord.” Joshua 22:9-31.

Denominational separation used to be very strong.  Some Christians thought, some still do, that they could not be friends with someone from a different denomination.  A very devout Roman Catholic Christian lady, in our town, has many Protestant friends who respect her thoroughly.  And why shouldn't they, if none of them are hung up on minor issues?

It is refreshing to see that some can overcome denominational barriers.  For example, not far from where we live, a Seventh Day Adventist group uses a building on Saturday to worship the Lord, and then on Sunday morning, a Presbyterian group uses the same building, to, also, worship the same Lord.  What would be really neat is, if then, because the Jehovah's Witnesses gather on Sunday afternoons anyway, they would use the same building, to worship Jehovah.

There seems to be an idea that the way we worship the Lord is the only right way to do it, and that anyone who does not do it our way is not really doing it at all. 

This reminds me of a poem I learned many years ago:

How to Pray

"The proper way for a man to pray,"
said deacon Lemuel Keys,
"His only proper attitude,
Is down upon his knees."

"No, I should say, the way to pray,"
Said Reverend Doctor Wise,
"Is standing straight with outstretched arms
and rapturous, upturned eyes."

"It seems to me his hands should be
devoutly clasped in front,
With both thumbs pointing to the ground."
Said Reverend Doctor Blunt.

"Last year I fell in Hodkin's well,
head first," said Cyrus brown,
"with both my heals a-sticken up
and my head a-pointen down.

And I made prayer right then and there,
best prayer I ever said,
The prayenest prayer I ever prayed,
was standin on my head."

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