Passing the Buck

My background is in the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. No matter where I go, someone often has something bad to say about the Catholic Church, or specifically the pope. They can’t understand why one man makes decisions, dispenses theology, becomes “god” for the followers. And yet, it seems that the criticism of the Catholic Church might be better directed at the Christian Churches as well. No, there is no infallible Pope, but there are many church members that look to the Senior Minister for all of their spiritual growth and direction. At some point, we look not to God, but to man for answers to spiritual matters. But such a thing is nothing new. It has been happening since the Yahweh revealed Himself to the Israelites. From Exodus 20:18-21:

“All the people, experiencing the thunder and lightning, the trumpet blast and the smoking mountain, were afraid—they pulled back and stood at a distance. They said to Moses, 'You speak to us and we’ll listen, but don’t have God speak to us or we’ll die.'
Moses spoke to the people: 'Don’t be afraid. God has come to test you and instill a deep and reverent awe within you so that you won’t sin.'
The people kept their distance while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.”

Now granted, the sight of God revealing Himself would have been unbelievable and scary. But one might think that the faith of those in attendance would be bolstered. Instead, it caused wavering on the part of the Israelites. They were invited into the presence of God to receive His Words, and they retreated. They didn’t want any part of God. “Don’t have God speak to us. You do it Moses.” And so, Moses went up and got the Law.

That wasn’t what God wanted. I don’t think He wanted to present His Law to them through a third party. He wanted to do it directly, face to face. As Moses said, this would cause awe in the people. Perhaps they would be less likely to sin if God Himself presented them His requirements. But they wanted no part of it, and Moses dutifully did his part, and in the end, the Israelites did not respond to God’s Law as He wanted.

And in our churches, I see members who don’t really want to be in the presence of God. Perhaps they are scared of what will happen, of what God will ask of them. Perhaps it is just easier to allow others to deal with God while they reap the benefits. Perhaps in their eyes, the work is not worth the reward.

I don’t know what keeps people from really interacting with and experiencing this amazing God. But when we rely on others to do all of the interacting with God, we miss the deep reverence and awe. We fail the test. And perhaps, we end up failing God by being more prone to sin.