Taboo

Captain Cook, in his log, noted that the indigenous people of Tonga used the word “taboo.” They defined it as “forbidden” or “sacred.” For example, certain foods were not to be eaten and certain practices not indulged in. The forbidden or sacred nature of a particular action was dictated by social norms and by priestly injunction. In the distant past, a priest determined that a particular action was forbidden by the gods then imposed it on the populace as a "taboo." A taboo broken brought the wrath of the gods upon the village which could only be appeased by correct ritual and sacrifice--sometimes of the offending person himself.

Through Moses, God listed a number of restrictions, including dietary, social and governmental. For example, the covenant people of God were not to eat pork, work on the Sabbath, touch a dead person or kill a person by hanging him from a tree. On the positive side, a taboo (meaning sacred) action might be to keep the Sabbath, bring an offering and wear certain clothing. In either case, God set up certain actions or abstinences for the whole nation of Israel. These laws were the ground of their covenant relationship with Him. In covenant, He was their protector, their source of victory, their source of wealth and prosperity. Offending Him in these laws was a curse, the obverse of His blessings; famine, pestilence, drought, defeats in battle, poverty and humiliation among the nations.

Israel interpreted these laws much as the surrounding nations did: keep them and gain esteem in the eyes of God; break them and lose favor. In fact, Moses said, “He who keeps the laws will live by them,” and listed a set of blessings and cursings for the keeping or breaking of the laws.1

Christendom is fractured on the basis of laws. Each new denomination claims to have a more perfect understanding, a more rigorous method of keeping the laws of God. Some refer to Old Testament law, some to New when declaring their special status before God. Some keep the Jewish Sabbath, some keep Sunday, some keep no day. Each is demonstrating their unique, more perfect understanding and keeping of a newly-discovered prohibition or injunction. It’s a quagmire out there, folks.

Determining the "correct" denomination is a search for an invisible needle in a giant haystack. One ends up inventing one’s own set of rules by which to please God, creating one more fragment of the Body of Christ.

Is the answer to come to some consensus or compromise in matters of doctrine? Is ecumenism the answer? Should we all form one huge, hierarchical structure under which to worship?

Definitely not!

Jesus, then Paul and other New Testament writers pointed to a new way. It was actually not new, but a lost, a forgotten way. Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah related to God as one with whom to walk and talk, a face-to-face communion.

Jesus called God “our Father.”2 Hebrews says, “without faith, it is impossible to please God.”3 Keeping or not keeping a taboo or law, profaning or honoring a sacred ritual, rite, object, time or space has no effect on our relationship with god. Rather, these are all barriers to that way in which He wishes to relate. He wants to share our meal, ride in the car, play a game of cards, have a picnic, hike a dusty trail, walk the beach, fly a kite, admire a mountain-top view, chat over coffee, have a barbeque, weed a flower bed, look for a lost dog, admire a newborn baby, grieve over a loss, laugh with us. His sole purpose for creating us is fellowship, not to set up a list of rules.

A husband who hangs a set of framed rules on the bedroom wall does not love his wife. Marriage is relationship, not rules. God longs for, craves people who will know Him as a real Being, one with whom He can talk face to face. Moses had it right: “Show me Your face.”4

Ah, Daddy!

08/10/13

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