Friday, January 20, 2012

Biblically Upset

My new class at Anderson School of Theology is focusing on the Hebrew prophets. You don't read too far through the prophets to learn that for every hint into the future they give, they deliver twenty challenges to the present order of their day. For instance, the prophets often spoke out against those who used their power unjustly. They often defended the poor and oppressed. When it came to hypocrisy by those who should have known and done better, they call a spade and spade.

With the way things are in America these days, a lot of people are upset and expressing it through blogs, letters to media, and protests in the streets. The latest thing to hit the fan is the row over how to respond to the ongoing crime of piracy of intelectual property. We don't need to turn up the level of venting over this and other issues and catastrophizing is always unhelpful. However, I am interested in becoming Biblically upset enough to bring about change about something.

I believe that becoming Biblically upset means to love what God loves and hate what God hates enough to get involved for good. A thourough knowledge of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Scripture can inform us about what matters to God. It can convince us that some need removing and other things need preserving or re-establishing. I wonder what is making you, my reader, Biblically upset these days? Could it be that the Spirit of God is raising up another prophet?

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