Why Would Anyone Do That?

Just after I put my son down for his morning nap I was making coffee. I burned the backs of some fingers; it is uncomfortable to type but the mind is at work. I've been running a couple of weeks behind in my OT reading, so the stories of Hebrew kings are fresh in my mind. King Manasseh burned his sons in a fire to a god; so did King Ahaz. Second Kings 17 says many people in the northern kingdom of Israel burned their sons to the gods of the Canaanites. Why would anyone do that?

Not long ago we saw "Hotel Rwanda" and had our hearts wrenched with compassion for helpless people who were slaughtered because of their familial associations(?). Last night we saw "To End All Wars," which depicts the struggle for Allied POWs to survive while building the "Railway of Death" under the brutality of their Japanese captors. Both movies were informative and well-made (it would not be fitting to say I enjoyed them). They conveyed clearly the horrors of war and hate-motivated violence. Why would anyone do that?

There is a theological link between the stories of wicked Hebrew kings one the hand and the horrors of Rwanda and the treatment of POWs in modern wars on the other - worship. The idols of the Canaanites were associated with some sort of prosperity or benefit if the gods they represented were satisfied with people. The correct rituals (like burning a son in the fire!) were purported to secure the desired benefits. For the Japanese captors in WWII, loyalty to emperor was supremely valued and was sometimes expressed in cruelty to POWs. In Rwanda, the Hutus and Tutsis both seemed to perpetuate the violence in the name of vengeance or some ideal country (without the presence of the other).

"Why would anyone do that?" We wonder about motives for a good reason - God cares. Motives are the product of worship. We might say actions are dually connected to worship: they flow from the motives gained from worship and they are themselves a continuation of worship. Or said differently, We become what we worship (the title of G. K. Beale's new book). Jesus said it like this: "The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."

"Why would anyone do that?" To get the answer we should ask, "What is that person worshiping? And what does he hope to gain or avoid by worshiping as he does?"