It seems that almost every city in Iraq that is the midst of a conflict is called a Holy City. The days when there is violence is often called a Holy Day. What you do not hear a lot of is any challenge to what made this day or city holy and is there any means of supporting such a claim. The Buddhist’s made large statues in Afghanistan and considered them Holy and then the Taliban came and tore them down. When my wife and I were in Tibet, there were temples that were considered Holy and the Tibetans would travel hundreds of miles on foot as a pilgrimage to the Holy site. Recently in the news there is debate over rebuilding a ramp to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Jews consider this Holy because it is the place where the Temple was built. The Muslims believe this place is Holy because this was where Mohammed went up to heaven.

In our post-modern world and belief system it seems that many people believe in one God who just has been given many different names. I had one of the airmen I am deployed with state that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe in something. This is a difficult time for many of us who grew up with absolutes: truth and lies, good and evil, right and wrong. The truth is that there cannot be a place that is Holy to one religious group and considered worthy of being destroyed by another group if we all believe in the same God just with different names. Christian’s believe that as Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:6 And “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 “For by grace you have are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift-not from works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9. This belief system is at odds with Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. When we all meet the Almighty God, some of us are going to be right and some of us are going to be wrong.

This idea of people feeling that they are just as holy as anyone else, is not new, and in fact, Moses had to deal with this very issue. Starting in Numbers 16:3-5 “They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have gone too far! Everyone in the entire community is holy, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?” When Moses heard this, he fell facedown, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will reveal who belongs to Him, who is set apart, and the one He lets come near Him.” In the morning they both presented themselves and this is what God said to Moses, Numbers 16:21, “Separate yourselves from this community so that I may consume them instantly.” It didn’t matter how strongly that Korath believed he was holy, what mattered was what was the truth. The truth is set by God and whether we agree or not it is still the truth. The truth in this story is that Moses was chosen by God and Korath was not and it was a lie to think that he stood in the same position as Moses did before God.

We find ourselves in a similar situation in the world today. The war on terror is a war of ideologies. One ideology is to make the whole world your convert and have every nation fly an Islamic flag. The other ideology is to allow people the freedom to choose what they believe. The latter is the exact paradigm God has given us. He has presented His Son as a sacrifice for us, but has not forced us to believe. When Jesus met people he did not force them to follow Him. He simply showed them signs of His Godly power and then gave them the option whether they would choose the broad road that led to destruction or the narrow road that led to eternal life. It was their choice.

The Bible talks about a day in the future just like the day Moses had thousands of years ago. Matt 25:31-34 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All of the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, just as a Shepard separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’” “Then He will say to those on the left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.’” Matt 25:41

No matter what people, the media, or books say, there is truth and lies, good and evil, right and wrong, heaven and hell. There is one Holy God and we need to be on the right side…….with the sheep.

Solis Deo Gloria

More thoughts to come,