Taboo

Captain cook, in his log noted the indigenous people of Tonga used the word “taboo.” He defined it as “forbidden” or “sacred.” For example, certain foods were not to be eaten, certain practices not indulged in. The forbidden or sacred nature of a particular action was dictated by social norms but were based in not displeasing the gods. In some distant past, someone had determined that a particular action was forbidden by the gods, perhaps because it was particularly odious to the gods or because the gods wished to reserve it as a privilege they alone could enjoy. In either case, the taboo must be observed lest the gods intervene in the personal or corporate in a particularly nasty way. Through Moses, god listed a number of restrictions, including dietary, social and governmental. For example, the covenant people of God were not to eat pork, work on the Sabbath, touch a dead person or kill a person by hanging from a tree. ON the positive side, a taboo (meaning sacred) action might be to keep the Sabbath, bring an offering and wear certain clothes. IN either case, God set up certain actions which were forbidden and others which were required of all members of the Jewish community. These laws were the basis for a covenant relationship with Him. In covenant, He was their protector, their source of victory, their source of wealth and prosperity. Offending Him in these laws was a curse which were the obverse of His blessings: they would have famine, pestilence and drought; defeats in battle, poverty and humiliation among the nations when the laws were broken. Israel interpreted these laws much as the surrounding nations did: keep them and gain esteem in the eyes of God; break them and lose favor. In fact, Moses said, “He who keeps the laws will live by them,” and listed a set of blessings and cursings for the keeping or breaking of the laws. Christendom is fractured on the basis of laws. Each new denomination claims to have a more perfect understanding, a more rigorous method of keeping the laws of God. Some refer to Old Testament law, some to New when declaring their special status before God. Some keep the Jewish Sabbath, some keep Sunday, some keep none. In most cases, each group is trying to demonstrate how much better, how much more completely they are following the prescription determined to be correct by their interpretation of scripture. It’s a quagmire out there folks. How to determine what the “correct” church is becomes a search for an invisible needle in a giant haystack. One finally ends up inventing one’s own set of rules by which to please or avoided is pleasing God, creating one more fragment of the Body of Christ. Is the answer to come to some consensus or compromise in matters of doctrine? Is ecumenism the answer? Should we all form one huge hierarchical structure under which to worship? Definitely not! Jesus, then Paul and other New Testament writers pointed to a new way of relating to God. It was actually not new, but a lost, a forgotten way. Adam and Eve and Abraham all related to Him in a much different way. They saw Him as someone with whom to relate, to walk and talk with. They saw Him as real; Someone with whom to converse, to relate. Jesus called God “our Father.” Paul says, “without faith, it is impossible to please God.” The keeping or not keeping of a taboo or law, the profaning or honoring of a sacred ritual, rite, object, time or space has no effect on our relationship with god. He wants to walk and talk with us as did Adam, Eve and Abraham. His sole purpose for crating us is fellowship, not for rules. A marriage based on pleasing the partner by keeping a set of laws written on the walls of the home is no marriage. Marriage is relationship, not rules; God longs for, craves a people who will know Him as a person, one with whom He can talk face to face. Moses had it right: “Show me Your face.” And, centuries later, God showed His face and we spat in it, we rejected Him. But slowly, surely, He is winning our hearts, finding the right love song with which to woo us, the gift that convinces us of His love and total commitment to convincing us of Who He is and what His intentions are. Ah, Daddy! 08/10/13