Among all the things one reads about, including the huge neverland of Artificial Intelligence possibilities, suddenly an old word comes to mind, raised out of sleepy college memories. It is Baalism, right there in the Old Testament, book of Judges even, and it hasn’t crossed my thinker for eons. This morning’s devotional reading accomplishes all that. The writer is Kathleen Kern [i] and “Idol Talk” is the title. Judges 4 is all about the people of Israel in the good surroundings of the land which had been promised to them, and they getting comfortable therein. Rather than attention to the ritualized focus on Yahweh they became fascinated by gods more localized, immediately obvious via things like storms and fertility. Things seemed to be going well for these original residents even with no focus on worship of the Creator over all.
Kern’s vantage is easy for a scribbler thinker
workaholic like me. She writes about unpublished novels she has written, and an
audience who love reading her stuff, and then her sobering reflection, “I go
into fantastical thoughts about movie contracts”, she says, not quite idolizing
her work, but acknowledging that it distracted from her relationship with God
and other people.
Good point. Even as I occasionally rant about fellow
retirees indulging in noisy talk shows in restaurants and coffee shops ‘just
because they can’ and just because they are most interested in themselves and
their own stories, the going-with-the-flow Baalism effect is there – and easily
lands on my plate too. Many of the profound thoughts and accomplishments that
us retirees dwell on, are really only another chapter in the competition, in
the circle (Indigenous?), in the stages (Erik Erikson, Richard Rohr?) of life. If
we do it in a creative way, all this life reflection can be satisfying, even if
only momentary. Kern thinks about best-sellers and movie contracts; I think
about providing good cloud security for my blogs so that they won’t get erased
even after I die! Disgusting actually.
So it is that for me this almost forgotten old word is
not only refreshed by this morning’s devotional read, but also possibility of
new distractions. For example, I have already been thinking – and even
tentatively writing -– about AI’s
intrusion into the world of writing. Is it possibly a modern version of the
Baals creeping into our thoughtful diligence even about faith things? Is it a
Baalism of the modern era? Similarly we read or watch podcasts or sermons
profoundly explaining today’s need for greater inclusiveness and charity to
“the least of these” without little attention to God. Woke language these days,
leaning towards inclusiveness and loving everybody also includes vegetarians
who don’t like to kill animals, or environmentalists who don’t want to rob the
earth of inherent minerals or pollute the air, etc.etc. This brings on the
scattered menu of politicians much larger now than the old left-right,
socialist-capitalist options. It comes today with despots and autocrats, drug
cartels, increased militarism and distrust of political leaders of almost any
stripe (e.g. yesterday’s election in France).
Have nothing to do with those slippery Baalists
(Judges 2:2), the people of Israel were warned. Have nothing to do with latest
trends, us Christians might also be warned. Retain your worship of Yahweh, was
the O.T. warning. Retain your worship of God and not the environment, or chosen
political leaders, and do not forget the One who is “the way and the truth and the life” (John14:6).
Even as I
caution myself and whoever reads this, I write as one who fellowships not only
with Christians, one who cooperates with and fellowships with people of other
faiths in community service projects. In recent years this has helped me to be
even more focused on the worship of God, and even more inspired by the life and
teachings of my Savior.
How do we
retain purity of covenant? I was born into an Old Colony Mennonite farm family.
Church services were divided 😏, women on the left, men on the right, young people in
back, sermons in German, and none of this handshaking and coffee in the foyer
on the way out (or in). We were instructed to go home and think about the
worship service you just attended! Perhaps, that was our way of making sure we
were not participating in Baalism!
