Take Your Tablets Back to Sinai

I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
Praise be to you, Lord;
teach me your decrees.
With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.
I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word. —Psalm 119: 9-16

CS Lewis

“I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”
—C.S. Lewis

Just in case you haven’t noticed, the Bible (ie., God’s word¹), has fallen out of favor lately in the increasingly secularized west. The skeptics, both inside “christendom” and without, have proudly declared the Bible passé. We have been told by the skeptics that while the scriptures may contain some interesting reading and, at times, some wise advice, the Bible, in fact, is nothing more really than a collection archaic tales written by a group of patriarchal misogynists who,… alas…, were doing the best they could with the misinformation that they had. The biblical “narrative”, they tell us (with an air of high-brow condescension) simply shouldn’t be taken too seriously. It should be taken with a progressive grain of salt. We have been informed that the fundamentals of the Christian faith spelled out in God's Word on trial...God’s word and affirmed through centuries of tradition, are no longer acceptable. Not only will they not be tolerated, but they have been placed on trial….into the “ortho-docks”, you might say…constrained and awaiting sentence by the New Age Scribes of Endless Compromise, the Legalists of Comfy and the Pharisees of Nice.

"Since the truth may not be what we would prefer. It is revealing that so many people today express approval by saying, "I'm comfortable with that," and disapproval by saying, "I'm not comfortable with that." Comfort is important when it comes to furniture and headphones, but it is irrelevant when it comes to truth."
—Douglas Groothuis

Michaelangelo's Moses

Take Your Tablets Back To Sinai…
(Holy Moses! Were We Fooled!)

Listen God, your Law’s distasteful…
It’s not fit for modern times!
It just doesn’t suit The Culture,
And it’s time WE draw the line!

We can do without “commandments”…
We want something much more “tame”….
It would make you more appealing,
And we’d suffer much less shame.

If you’d soften your demeanor,
Lord, we might just come around
As it is, though, you’re too “holy”…
And that only brings us down.

Look, we like our gospel lawless,
So it suits our fancy fine…
And the “truth”?...We like it fuzzy,
To our wishes re-aligned.

We’d appreciate more freedom,
Lord, to do just what we please….
So, we voted for more license,
And the populace agrees.

We just voted on what “sin” is,
And what “holy”’s all about
Yes, we kept it democratic….
So that now WE have more clout.

God, we hate to break this to you,
But the votes, at last, are in…
We’re so sorry to inform you…
But you lose, …And, man, WE win!

Take your tablets back to Sinai,
(Holy Moses!... Were we fooled!)
We don’t need your “checks and balance”…
We the people make the rules.

So, there, “Mr. High ‘n Mighty”,
“Mr. Holier Than Thou”…
We’ve decided…. We know better,
And to you we will not bow!

Be advised: Your word’s outdated…
Bottom line…, it’s just bad news.
God, things could have been much different,
If you’d walked here in our shoes.

Please forgive us for the Sin, Lord….
Satan still has us beguiled.
Give us Grace to see the Truth,Lord,….,
That we still have you on trial.

Help us hear the ancient echo,
Through the centuries gone by:
“Word of God!?...We don’t believe it!”
(Gavel pounds, then…) “Crucify!”

Crucify this sinful nature,
May the true Light help us see.
Take us to the Tree of Life, Lord…
To the Tree of Calvary.

"Tree of Life...the Cross of Calvary"

“There is no use trying to build a republic for saints. There are too few of them, and even the ones there are, are difficult to live with. No, if you wish to build a republic that will last, you must design it for sinners. That is the only ‘moral majority’ there is…a republic of sinners—and therefore, a republic with checks and balances, as well as other ‘auxiliary precautions’ (to employ the phrase of James Madison, well taught as he was by Christian teachers).”
—Michael Novak

The Prophet Isaiah (by Raphael)

“All day long I have held out my hands
to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
pursuing their own imaginations—
a people who continually provoke me
to my very face…” —Isaiah 65: 2,3