Reflection - gods

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/012819.cfm
Hebrews 9:15, 24-28
Mark 3:22-30

Coincidence is not a word that has a useful place in my vocabulary or my experience. Rather, because I believe that God is completely and entirely enmeshed in the workings and events of the cosmos, the universe, the solar system, the earth, the nations of the world and my life, I believe that nothing happens from chance — not even the throw of the dice. So, when a number of related events come to my attention within a short period of time, I find it useful to consider what the Spirit is placing before me. Such was the case in the days preceding this week’s reflection.

The first and earliest of these incidents was a short passage from a book titled Salvation is from the Jews by Roy Shoeman.

In Old Testament Times . . . . everyone, Jew and Gentile (or pagan, a more value-laden word for the same people), recognized that there exists a large host of supernatural beings whom one can worship and serve as “gods”, and who, in turn, render service to their followers. One’s religion was defined by one’s choice of “god” or “gods” to serve. Today we tend to think that the pagan “gods” were figments of a superstitious imagination. However, that is not the case.

The “gods” that the pagans worshipped truly existed and truly fulfilled the role of god’s to their adherents—that is, in return for adoration, reverence and sacrifice they returned services to their adherents.

I came across the second of the related episodes while re-reading G.K. Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man. He was making some observations about Classical Rome and a rival city on Africa’s northern shore called Carthage.

There was a tendency in those hungry for practical results . . . to call upon spirits of terror and compulsion. There is always a sort of dim idea that these darker powers will really do things, with no nonsense about it. In the interior psychology of the Punic peoples this strange sort of pessimistic practicality had grown to great proportions. In the New Town, which the Romans called Carthage, as in the parent cities of Phoenicia, the god who got things done bore the name of Moloch. The Romans did not at first quite know what to call him or what to make of him; they had to go back to the grossest myth of Greek or Roman origins and compare him to Saturn devouring his children. But the worshippers of Moloch were not gross or primitive. They were members of a mature and polished civilisation, abounding in refinements and luxuries; they were probably far more civilised than the Romans. And Moloch was not a myth; or at any rate his meal was not a myth. These highly civilised people really met together to invoke the blessing of heaven on their empire by throwing hundreds of their infants into a large furnace.

The third instructive episode was a simple news article about the findings of an archeological dig in Peru.

A mass child sacrifice in Peru that occurred over 500 years ago may have been due to an “El Nino” event. According to archaeologist Gabriel Prieto, the mass grave­– which holds the skeletal remains of 132 children and dated between 1400 and 1450 A.D.– may have been made by the Chimu people in an effort to halt devastating weather.

“The sacrifice was made to the gods to stop the devastating rains and floods that was affecting their city (entirely built with mud bricks) and their sophisticated inter-valley irrigation canals,” said Prieto.

The relational intersection of these three incidents is probably obvious; but let me summarize. The “gods” are real supernatural beings. They have at least a limited ability to fulfill some of the desires of their human worshippers. We can assume that by nature they are evil since, if they were not, they would direct all worship to the true God. Throughout the ages they have had human followers; and these followers were frequently seduced into offering human sacrifice, particularly the sacrifice of their own children as the highest form of worship. In this manner the “gods” were appeased and, presumably, their human minions were rewarded. Moreover, the “gods” were insatiable. Frequent sacrifices of this type were required. This is in stark contrast with the worshippers of God in the Judeo/Christian tradition. With readings about these events sprinkled through my thoughts the reading from Hebrews rose to counter them.

First, there is the forced sacrifice of infants and children compared with the freely chosen sacrifice of Jesus. {No one takes it [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. (John 10:18)}

Then there is the purpose of the sacrifice. For the pagans it was a means to appease the “gods” or an attempt to manipulate them. For Jesus it was a means to free mankind from slavery and death.

The sacrifice of the pagans was for personal gain; that of Jesus was for others.

The sacrifice of the pagans was to give glory through death; that of Jesus was for glory through life.

But the full measure of incidents had, unfortunately, not yet run their course. 

Beelzebul/Moloch/Satan/the Father of Lies had, in our time, taken on new names and had begun to use a new tactic. The old standby ‘fear’ was now joined by names more pleasant to hear and, to the naive, more innocent. The new names were “individual rights,” “convenience,” “comfort,” “freedom of choice.” But the sacrifice they sought was no different than that of other times. A child was still preferred, but it made little difference if that child had already been or had yet to be born. I said that the full measure of intersecting incidents had not yet run its course. It hadn’t. The definitive incident arrived on the scene just as this reflection was about to be written: New York State celebrated the passage of a law which allowed abortion right up to the moment of birth. The “gods” were alive and well in the twenty-first century. Their names were changed but their promises were still lies.

Do not be deceived into thinking that the “gods” of ancestral times were fictions of a primitive people. Do not be deceived into thinking that their new names will bring about that elusive notion called equality. Do not think that those who promote “women’s rights” and “freedom of choice” are champions of justice. The sacrifice of infants, born or unborn, is nothing more than a resurrection of the sacrificial furnace of Carthage, a response to seduction by the powers of hell.