Down through
history, truthful education of the masses has been the bane of some ruling
powers. Although you might think of even an earlier example, one of the
earliest I can remember is the Catholic Church and its oppression, suppression
of truth and knowledge from the public. Martin Luther (founder
of the Lutheran church) is prominent in my mind because I just finished
watching a BBC YouTube
video about him. But there were others. It is interesting that for the most
part it was the educated clergy themselves that recognized and exposed the
Catholic Church for its evils. It wasn’t long before the suppression of how the
Bible condemns the practices of the complicit clergy came bursting onto the
scene. Even though the Catholic Church attempted to prevent the Bible being
printed in the common, native tongues of the peoples, thankfully they failed.
Even
today there are tyrannical governments that want to control the flow of
information. Sadly, it appears that truth is being suppressed even in what was
once thought of as the custodian of truth, justice, and freedom. This however
has not stopped those who readily recognize falsehood, no matter how many try
to becloud it with “alternate facts” and “personal realities.” But why keep the
general populous ignorant? The reason is simple, control. When people are
allowed to learn and begin to think, they can see things more clearly – which may
not align with what the ruling power wants them to believe.
But
some may charge even the God of the Bible with suppressing knowledge. They cite
the phrase “you must not learn,” but they fail to read the context. Deuteronomy
18:9-12 gives the noble reason for the injunction. Jehovah was aiming to
keep his people and his worship elevated above the debased practices of the
people around them. Like a father that would want to raise his children to live
honorable and responsible lives, Jehovah was aiming to accomplish the same. Cautioning
against morally bankrupt ways of life is something we would expect from a
loving parent. So far from this false charge against the Bible, education in
every aspect of life was encouraged.
But
getting back to the discussion of oppressive rulerships (be they secular or religious),
one result was an extreme swing of the pendulum to the opposite side. Now, some
take whatever measure of freedom of speech they have and decide to attack the
Bible, even in the most flippant, disrespectful ways possible, covering it up
as mere humor. One such article I read (and no, I won’t give the link)
characterized God as a “jerk” and gave as one of several examples the direction
God gave Ezekiel to cook his food on dung. As expected, the writer made no
attempt to explain the real situation –showing how biased the writer was. He didn’t
mention that as a prophet to the people, Ezekiel was to demonstrate through a very
strong object lesson, that their continued disobedience to God would result in
being taken captive. Milder notices had dropped on deaf ears. This was one
final push. As cruel as it sounds, it may be likened to the parent that repeatedly
warns that touching the stove is dangerous. Finally, in desperation, the parent
allows the child to learn through the stark object lesson of getting burned. Ezekiel
was illustrating that the disobedient Israelites would experience a prolonged siege
that would cause such dire situations that people would indeed resort to using
their dung as fuel and other things most people would consider too graphic to want
to hear. In fact, the nation didn’t heed the warning and did suffer a
humiliating defeat. This was not God’s fault. It was the people’s fault for not
listening. Even with graphic illustrations, the people refused to change their
ways. (They were even more stupid than the kid that insisted on touching the
stove. Usually after one time, the child learns their lesson.)
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