Divided by Doctrinal Shibboleths (Judges 12:1-6)

Judg 12:1-6 The men of Ephraim called out their forces, crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We're going to burn down your house over your head." Jephthah answered, "I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the Ammonites, and although I called, you didn't save me out of their hands. When I saw that you wouldn't help, I took my life in my hands and crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave me the victory over them. Now why have you come up today to fight me?" Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, "You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh." The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead asked him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he replied, "No," they said, "All right, say 'Shibboleth.'" If he said, "Sibboleth," because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time. 

Here we have the tragic byproduct of success--envy and jealousy. The Ephraimites felt offended that Jephthah left them out of the battle. The result was an episode of fratricide that left 42,000 Ephraimites dead. The killing of the Ephraimites hinges on their ability to pronounce the word "shibboleth" correctly. The Ephraimites would pronounce shibboleth as sibboleth - that was enough warrant to be killed. This was an unnecessary war between brothers--and the Church has its share of such fratricidal conflicts in its 2,000 years history: wars, inquisitions, persecutions over petty differences. The Church has its own shibboleths too, often triggered by envy and jealousy over other brothers' success in their ministry.

Envy and jealousy are often unseen motives for much of our angry actions and angry words. In the case of the Ephraimites, their envy and jealousy led to an act of war between brothers aggravated by the following angry words:

(1) Threatening Words ("We're going to burn down your house over your head"): There is no justification for such threats except that they were venting their own sense of outrage of being excluded in Gilead's success. But angry words are dangerous because they can lead to conflicts that may engulf many innocent bystanders. In the church, angry words have split the church and caused outsiders to become disillusioned about the Church and Christianity.

(2) Hurtful Words ("You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh."): That was the last straw for Jephthah. It was bad that the Ephraimites crossed over the Jordan with their forces, but now they added insult to injury with their hurtful words by calling the Gileadites "renegades" of Ephraim and Manasseh. Now the pride of Gileadites was hurt and the retaliation was deadly: 42,000 Ephraimites were dead before the fire died down.

(3) Divisive Words ("All right, say 'Shibboleth.'"): Though Gilead was from the Ephraim and Manasseh, but because they lived on the east side of the Jordan, some words were pronounced differently.  In particular, the word "shibboleth" was pronounced differently by the Gileadites from the Ephraimites who said it as "sibboleth." But that distinction was enough to get the Ephraimites killed.

Thankfully in Singapore, because of close proximity and constant interactions, Christians from different denominations are coming together in unity, especially in the workplaces, to reach those who are still outside the kingdom. But in many parts of the world (including Asia), denominations have their shibboleths that separate brothers from brothers. Denominational competition in the mission field is a sad expression of pride, envy and jealousy. We focus too much on what divide us (we called them "distinctives") rather than what should unite us - the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

May the Lord's Prayer in John 17 for the unity of the church be answered in our generation. Let's put aside our doctrinal and denominational shibboleths and come together against our common Enemy, the Devil.

Father, may You deliver us from our shibboleths, so that we may fulfill Your mission as one body in Christ. Amen.

Paganised Christianity - The Fu Lu Shou Gospel (Judges 11:29-39)

Judges 11:29-39 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering." Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon. When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break." "My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. But grant me this one request," she said. "Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry." "You may go," he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.

Jephthah made a rash vow to the Lord to offer as a sacrifice whatever came out to meet him at the door of his house if he returned in triumph from battle against the Ammonites.  When the first person to meet him at his house turned out to be his only daughter, his rash vow became a personal tragedy. Jephthah's vow might have been due to his shallow understanding of the Lord's character, attributing to the God of love the same characteristics of the Baals and Asthoreths, which required human sacrifices. Such syncretistic theology can only be corrected through proper teaching of God's Word. However, for Jephthah, this was not done and though he was filled with the Spirit ("the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah" which imparts divine charisma), he was seriously wanting in the Word (which imparts divine character).

While we may deplore Jephthah's simplistic mindset, unfortunately, such syncretistic theology is present even in our days--especially so, among Asian Christians converted out of non-Christian religions. The tendency of transferring our former pagan attitudes towards towards the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ can be seen in the following ways:

(1) The "Fu Lu Shou (福禄寿)" Gospel: The attributes of the Taoist trinity of luck (福), wealth (禄), and longevity (寿) are often transferred to the God of the Bible as a Deity to bless us with good fortune, wealth and health. The Prosperity Gospel (which its "blessing" theology that emphasizes receiving blessings from God while ignoring the hard sayings of Jesus to "deny yourself, take up the cross and follow me") makes easy assimilation of the Fu Lu Shou attitudes into Christianity. While such "positive" attitudes may be less harmful than Jephthah's human sacrifice understanding of Yahweh, it nevertheless produces a shallow Christianity with no depth of character. The discipleship message is left out because it's too painful. But pain is necessary for character building. Jesus himself had to learn obedience through his sufferings: "Although (Jesus) was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him" (Hebrews 5:8-9). So when Jesus insisted that anyone who wants to be his disciple must "deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23), he is emphasizing the priority of character (Christlike obedience) over charisma (grace-blessings). Jephthah had charisma of leadership when the Spirit came upon him, but he lack the character of leadership becaus of his faulty theology.

(2) Keeping God in the Temple: For Asians, their deities are localised in the temples, if they don't bring them back to their homes or workplaces by setting up altars for them. Asian deities are there to bless those who pray to them and place no demand on the adherents to live morally or to be involved in selfless service. So increasingly we see Christianity also has become a "weekend religion" with a God that is left in the church when believers go back to their homes and workplaces. Worship and Word have become a weekend activities in the Christian temples--sorry, I mean, churches.  This separation of faith from life is again a result of this transference of pagan attitudes into Christianity, resulting in a paganised Christianity.

(3) Christianity a Religion,not Relationship: Asian religions focuses on doing the proper rites and rituals to ensure the favour of the deities to bring luck, wealth and health, but no one would think of having an intimate relationship with the deities they pray too. They are best left in the temples (some look terrifying!). They are not like the Father-God of the Bible who seeks to have a relationship with us as children. So Christianity has become a religion of rules, rites and rituals -- anything but a daily talking relationship with Father God. Out of sight (from churches) is out of mind.

We need to redeem our theology from paganistic attitudes and restore biblical theology of a God as loving but holy--a God who not only wants to bless us, but who wants us to be a blessing to others. The Gospel is Good News because it transfers us from the pagan self-centred religion into the Kingdom selfless faith  that is seeking to "deny self, take up the cross" in order to follow Christ.

Father, renew our mind and purge it from unbiblical and pagan ideas that have been transferred to You. In Jesus' name, Amen.