THE ROOTS OF UGLINESS
There is no fidelity, no tenderness, no knowledge of God in the country, only perjury and lies, slaughter, theft, adultery and violence, murder after murder. Hosea 4:1, 2, Jerusalem.
On a recent radio talk show various callers were expressing their firm opinions to the host about why there was so much crime in our country. One said, "It's the breakup of the family. That's why there is so much crime." So the host asked, "But why are there so many homes breaking up?" The caller didn't know.
The next caller did know. "It's because of television; that's what is breaking up our homes. They show such immoral stuff on TV that people just try to live that way too." Again the host responded, The producers just give the people what they want. Why do people want to watch that stuff?" This caller wasn't sure.
Another caller wanted to blame the liberal courts, but when the host pointed out that juries and judges tend to reflect something of the prevailing morality of a society and asked where society was getting its values, the caller only mumbled that he didn't know. And so it went, each caller blaming what he thought was a prime cause, only to acknowledge that it also was just a symptom of a larger malaise.
Had Hosea been in the listening audience, however, we might have heard him say, "There is no knowledge of God in the land." The root cause of all the ugliness is that the people do not know their Father. He could have defended his position from any of several angles. Some might say, for example, that there really is a lot of religion in the country, so many professional clerics. To which he would have replied, "Let no one accuse the people or reprimand them--my complaint is against you priests" (Hosea 4:4, T.E.V.). The religious leaders, even though talking a great deal about God, have rejected a true understanding of Him (verse 6).
When a country claims to live by God's values, yet its people have no vital union with God to obtain the inner renewal to live by those values, the whole scheme becomes a frustrating mockery. There is neither a fixed point of certainty about what is right, nor the inner desire to live it. All the country's institutions suffer alike: the homes, the courts, the schools, and the media. The solution? "Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord" (chap. 6:3, R.S.V.).
There is no fidelity, no tenderness, no knowledge of God in the country, only perjury and lies, slaughter, theft, adultery and violence, murder after murder. Hosea 4:1, 2, Jerusalem.
On a recent radio talk show various callers were expressing their firm opinions to the host about why there was so much crime in our country. One said, "It's the breakup of the family. That's why there is so much crime." So the host asked, "But why are there so many homes breaking up?" The caller didn't know.
The next caller did know. "It's because of television; that's what is breaking up our homes. They show such immoral stuff on TV that people just try to live that way too." Again the host responded, The producers just give the people what they want. Why do people want to watch that stuff?" This caller wasn't sure.
Another caller wanted to blame the liberal courts, but when the host pointed out that juries and judges tend to reflect something of the prevailing morality of a society and asked where society was getting its values, the caller only mumbled that he didn't know. And so it went, each caller blaming what he thought was a prime cause, only to acknowledge that it also was just a symptom of a larger malaise.
Had Hosea been in the listening audience, however, we might have heard him say, "There is no knowledge of God in the land." The root cause of all the ugliness is that the people do not know their Father. He could have defended his position from any of several angles. Some might say, for example, that there really is a lot of religion in the country, so many professional clerics. To which he would have replied, "Let no one accuse the people or reprimand them--my complaint is against you priests" (Hosea 4:4, T.E.V.). The religious leaders, even though talking a great deal about God, have rejected a true understanding of Him (verse 6).
When a country claims to live by God's values, yet its people have no vital union with God to obtain the inner renewal to live by those values, the whole scheme becomes a frustrating mockery. There is neither a fixed point of certainty about what is right, nor the inner desire to live it. All the country's institutions suffer alike: the homes, the courts, the schools, and the media. The solution? "Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord" (chap. 6:3, R.S.V.).
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