Profane Sacrament
If you’ve gone to a clinic or hospital or pharmacy to try to erase what you thought was a mistake, if you’ve killed your child only to receive heartache, pain, remorse, and more suffering, that doesn’t need to be the end of the story. This universe was created by a God who chose to walk among His fallen creatures and wade through the demons and the pain to restore what has been lost. He’s a God who has made a way for restoration, and He offers that restoration through the means of faith and repentance. He offers us an alternative to the demons of the wild that we’ve been worshiping in our wandering. He gives us a way out of the darkness, and into marvelous light.
You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit pederasty, you shall not commit fornication, you shall not steal, you shall not practice magic, you shall not practice witchcraft, you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is born.
-The Didache
Deep Witchcraft
“Nobody likes abortion,” so says the bleeding heart. “It’s just a necessary evil, we need to have more sympathy for victims.” The victims in view, oddly enough, are always the perpetrators carrying out the massacre, never the children being slaughtered. So blow the winds of our time. If you’re a Christian who affirms what the historic Christian faith has to say about the killing of an unborn child, you’ve probably had an encounter like the one above. You’ve probably been told that you just need to try and empathize more with the suffering mothers, and then you would see that the issue isn’t as black and white as your bigotry has led you to believe. But what if the opposite is true? What if further reflection on the nature of abortion doesn’t lead you into lesser-defined gray areas and fluffy emotionalism, but into a deeper abhorrence for the practice of abortion?
Abortion is a far deeper action with greater consequences than many understand. It is more than an ethical issue, a political issue, or even a religious issue – it’s deeply spiritual and cosmic in its reverberations. Even many Christians, who are entirely against abortion on theological and moral grounds, can often misunderstand how very profane the act of abortion is, and the implications it holds for how we view human nature and our world. Abortion isn’t just a personal act of sin that heaps condemnation on an individual’s head – though it is certainly that. Abortion stains the very land itself, it spills blood onto the earth, into the very soil of a nation, and turns God’s face against it. Look to the book of Leviticus, to the Law of God.
Moreover, thou shalt say to the children of Israel: Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones. I also will set My face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people, because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile My sanctuary, and to profane My holy name. And if the people of the land do at all hide their eyes from that man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and put him not to death; then I will set My face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go astray after him, to go astray after Molech, from among their people.
— Leviticus 20:2–5
The God of Israel in Leviticus 20 condemns practices associated with Molech worship – Molech being one of the many pagan deities worshiped by the surrounding nations, specifically in this case, Assyria. The central distinguishing feature of Molech worship was the “giving of seed,” or put simply, the offering of a child. Child sacrifice played a central role in the worship of Molech, as it did in many ancient pagan systems. Most of us will be familiar with Molech, as his worship has often been used by Christians today as a parallel for the modern atrocity of child sacrifice we see in our own culture. It will be worthwhile to look closely at exactly what’s being condemned in Leviticus, and why the worship of Molech – and therefore, abortion – is so profane.
When God issues His prohibition regarding Molech worship and child sacrifice, He doesn’t just forbid it in the same way He forbids plenty of other unclean practices in the Old Testament. He specifically forbids it by penalty of death, along with the penalty of receiving God’s hatred, or God “setting His face against that man.” He gives a twofold explanation for the severity of this sin: it defiles His sanctuary and profanes His holy name. It makes sense to us on the face of things that a sacrifice to a false God would defile God’s sanctuary and profane His name – after all, the Israelites were God’s own people, and to commit any idolatrous act of worship would be inherently blasphemous. But the act in question is being condemned more forcefully and clearly than plenty of other lesser blasphemous acts. How is it that the act of sacrificing a child to Molech profanes God’s name specifically?
I believe there are at least two primary factors involved that make child sacrifice – whether to Molech directly or via abortion – a heinous profanity toward God’s name. For starters, we know that a sacrifice to Molech, like any pagan worship, isn’t simply a meaningless act for a god who doesn’t exist. It is a sacrifice to a demon – a real, dangerous, and evil supernatural being. Paul tells us explicitly that offerings to false idols are offered to demons (1 Corinthians 10:20), and so we shouldn’t forget that demons and evil powers are not only real, but can play a significant role in atrocities that are acted out by human beings. The demons behind the false gods of this world are active, living, malevolent agents that seek worship for themselves, and seek to lead people away from worship of the true God.
The second factor in play is that child sacrifice – and especially abortion – is an act of blasphemy aimed directly at the face of the Most High. It’s an attempt to destroy not just a person created in the image of God, but to destroy the very image of God itself. It’s the closest a mortal can come to striking at God’s very nature, outside of Calvary’s cross.
This is My Body
Sacrament – (in the Christian Church) a religious ceremony or ritual regarded as imparting divine grace, such as baptism, the Eucharist…
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On Forgiveness and Forgiving Oneself
Instead of forgiving oneself, it is necessary to accept the forgiveness granted by God and/or others, and, live in light of that forgiveness. As forgiven, loved, and set free from God, our shame diminishes in light of God’s incredible grace. We humbly respond as a passionate follower of Jesus Christ.
Seeking as Answer
Not infrequently a counselee or a student will inquire about what to do when I cannot forgive myself. Here is my summary answer to the question.
Survey the Old Testament
If you have read the Old Testament through at some point, you have indeed observed that Israel, at one time or another, committed every sin known to man. Nowhere do you ever read that they were instructed to forgive themselves. Here is what we do know they were asked to do.
1) Remember that God chose you—Abraham is so important to the Jewish nation throughout the Bible. Remember the Pharisees’ claim, “We are of our father, Abraham”. God chose Israel in the calling of Abraham. They became his covenant people.
2) Remember that God loves you is a consistent message of the Old Testament from the choosing of Abraham (demonstrated love) through Malachi: Deuteronomy 7:7, 4:37, 10:5, 33:3, 12; II Sam 12:25; I Kings 19:9; Hosea 11:1 Mal 1:2-3.
3) Remember to repent—is the consistent instruction. Turn from your sin and turn in obedience to God. They are called to corporate worship as God prescribed for Israel and family/personal worship (too many passages to cite here).
4) Remember that God’s response to their repentance is forgiveness. Here are three references to illustrate this from Isaiah1:18-20, 43:25, and 44:21-22. These give us beautiful pictures to depict His forgiveness.Comment 1: Yes, God is omniscient (knows everything), but He covers our sin (including Israel’s) with his blood, and He chooses NOT to remember it any longer. There are times when there are consequences with which we must live. A contemporary example is a person who contracts AIDS from illicit sex. God will forgive, but he/she will live with AIDS. That is the consequence, not God remembering or punishing their sin.
Comment 2: We learn from Hebrews 12:4-12 that God is our loving Father who disciplines us for our good and His glory. Discipline is not punishment. Discipline is a “spanking” to get our attention with the intent that we will choose to repent and become obedient.Read More
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Images of Christ: Reconsidering a Common Exception
Although Abraham saw Christ, this did not give Israel permission to make any images of him and the same is true for us. Surely it would have been a blessing to have been one of those thousands of men and women who saw Jesus with their own eyes during the incarnation. But the Holy Spirit has chosen not to preserve any description of Christ for us because we are called to be a people of the word who walk by faith, not by sight. Just because some people saw Christ does not mean that we may now make images of God for didactic or any other purpose.
When men being examined for ministry take an exception to any portion of the Westminster standards we always require that they explain their rationale. A man ought to be able to explain and defend why he believes what he does. In my experience, the justifications given when men take exceptions to Larger Catechism 109 are usually along the same lines. So I want to respond to two of the most common explanations that I hear at presbytery.
Larger Catechism question 109 states
“What sins are forbidden in the second commandment?
The sins forbidden in the second commandment are, all devising, counseling, commanding, using, and any wise approving, any religious worship not instituted by God himself; the making any representation of God, of all or of any of the three persons, either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature whatsoever; all worshiping of it, or God in it or by it; the making of any representation of feigned deities, and all worship of them, or service belonging to them; all superstitious devices, corrupting the worship of God, adding to it, or taking from it, whether invented and taken up of ourselves, or received by tradition from others, though under the title of antiquity, custom, devotion, good intent, or any other pretense whatsoever; simony; sacrilege; all neglect, contempt, hindering, and opposing the worship and ordinances which God hath appointed.”
Common Rationale #1
The common objection to this portion of the catechism usually concerns images of Christ. Specifically, men taking this exception will acknowledge that images of Christ should not be used for worship, but they see no problem with images being used for didactic purposes, by which they mean that they see no problem using images of Christ to teach children. This is so common an exception it’s often called the “Jesus Storybook Bible exception.” However, the problem is that images of God will be connected to worship and that education should be connected to worship.
As always, we should begin by considering scripture itself. Exodus 20:4-6 says, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
What’s frequently overlooked when considering the second commandment is the fact that it contains two imperatives, not one. In forbidding idols this commandment does not simply say “You shall not worship them.” It says much more than that. It first says in verse four that you shall not make them. Significantly, the language does not say “You shall not make them in order to worship them.” The Hebrew conjunction לְמַעַן generally translated “in order that” is conspicuously absent. Verse four is a separate sentence in Hebrew as well as English. The second commandment has always been “you shall not make any idols” and “you shall not worship them.” No Israelite could ever make an image of God or any other gods and plead its acceptability on account of its not being used for worship, but only didactic purposes.
Attention must be drawn to this fact because compression of the second commandment often underlies this common exception. God gave this commandment the way he did because he understands our hearts, even better than we do ourselves. John Murray writes, “A picture of Christ, if it serves any useful purpose, must evoke some thought or feeling respecting him and, in view of what he is, this thought or feeling will be worshipful.”[1]
If we say something is a depiction of God we will naturally desire to worship through it, or have that image be a means of stirring up devotion and piety.
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The Spirit’s Fruit: Kindness
When the children of God show the kindness of the true and living God, the God of all kindness is made known, is glorified, and is enjoyed. What did the world learn from Stephen’s kindness? They learned Stephen was not in the grip of cruelty and animus like they were: “Look how these Christians so desperately want us to be forgiven!” That is what they learned from Stephen. Whether they came to worship the Lord or not, they learned the God whom Stephen worshipped was full of kindness toward his enemies. Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit in the life of the believer because kindness is first of God.
A vivid lesson on kindness found throughout Old Testament scripture is how frequently kindness is expected as a matter of reciprocity.
Abimelech expected kindness from Abraham in return for having shown kindness to Abraham: “God is with you in all that you do. Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned” (Genesis 21:22-23).
Rahab, the prostitute of Jericho, expected kindness from the spies whom she had shown great kindness, hiding and protecting them in the roof. “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign” (Joshua 2:12).
Upon ascending his throne, King David was eager to express kindness to any descendent of Saul because Saul’s son, Jonathan, had shown David great kindness. Learning of Mephibosheth, David said to him: “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always” (2 Samuel 9:7).
What do these scenes of reciprocating kindness have to do with kindness being a fruit of the Spirit? The Spirit of God creates kindness in the lives of all his redeemed children so the children may show others the kindness which God has shown to them.
This was beautifully displayed in the life of Stephen, an early deacon (Acts 7:60).
On the occasion of his grim death, being stoned by a violent and angry mob in Jerusalem, Stephen cried out: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” This was not the kindness of a worldling (Mt. 5:46).
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