Sunday Observer
By
Anil Netto

Whichever way we look, the world around us is in turmoil. In economics, we are staring at what could be a global depression as a financial meltdown takes its toll. We are also staring at environmental disaster of catastrophic proportions with global warming and climate chaos an imminent reality.

In politics, we are looking at an erosion in the public perception of the standing of democratic institutions. We have new leaders in place but who will they serve — the people or powerful vested interests? With the world as we know it in dire straits, we can only turn to God to restore the harmony and balance of Creation. If the prophet Amos condemned injustice, the prophet Hosea preached against idolatry from 745-723 BC at the tail end of King Jeroboam II’s reign.

Even though Jeroboam’s kingdom was prosperous, he persecuted the prophets and practised idolatry (rites of prostitution, worship of fertility gods of Baal and human sacrifice). He spent state funds lavishly at a time when the courts were corrupt and public morality was eroding.

Noam Chomsky has referred to the prophets as the public intellectuals and dissidents of their time who spoke out against wrongdoing in public life. How many public intellectuals do we have today — or have they all been cowed into silence? The prophet Hosea was the dissident of his time. Hosea illustrated how far people had strayed away from path of God, who wants his Creation to live in justice, peace and integrity.

Do we practise idolatry in our day and age? The names of the gods might be different. There is no Baal today, but the false gods around us are legion. Many of us, despite calling ourselves Christian, have worshipped the ‘gods’ of Power, Status and Wealth in the Temple of Development and Progress. All the time, we ignore the destruction of the environment and the cries of the marginalised — even though God has entrusted us to be stewards of Creation.

Around us, we can see how humanity has set up and perpetuated structures of injustice on a foundation of greed which enriches a small minority at the expense of the majority. The results are painfully obvious for all to see: war, starvation, prorich economic policies that have led to a growing gulf between the rich and the poor, resulting in all kinds of social sicknesses (alcoholism, drug addiction, rising crime). Workers continue to struggle to make ends meet.

We have strayed so far from the path God had intended for his creation. The prophet Hosea cries out to the people to return to God by practising love and justice and trusting in him.

God, he says, will take pity and be merciful to his creation. He is a God of tenderness and compassion. In Hosea Chapter 2, we read:

18 When that day comes — declares Yahweh — you will call me, ‘My husband’, no more will you call me, ‘My Baal’. 19 I shall banish the names of the Baals from her lips and their name will be mentioned no more.

20 When that day comes I shall make a treaty for them with the wild animals, with the birds of heaven and the creeping things of the earth; I shall break the bow and the sword and warfare, and banish them from the country, and I will let them sleep secure.

21 I shall betroth you to myself for ever, I shall betroth you in uprightness and justice, and faithful love and tenderness. 22 Yes, I shall betroth you to myself in loyalty and in the knowledge of Yahweh. 23 When that day comes, I shall respond — declares Yahweh — I shall respond to the heavens and they will respond to the earth 24 and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel.

25 I shall sow her in the country to be mine, I shall take pity on Lo-Ruhamah, I shall tell Lo-Ammi, ‘You are my people,’ and he will say, ‘You are my God.’ While we face doom and gloom all around us, the Father still wants to give his Creation another chance — and another — and another.

The Father is waiting for us to respond. The question is whether we will turn back to him before it is too late, before we destroy ourselves through nuclear war, climate chaos and global warming and economic policies that hurt the millions around the world.

God is not only passionately concerned about justice, integrity and harmony in his creation, he is also rich in compassion, tenderness and mercy. He so desperately wants to draw Creation back to his covenant that he sent Jesus into the world to proclaim his kingdom.

As ever, the choice is ours (but the stakes are now higher): whether to worship ‘false gods’ — and destroy the world — or to establish his kingdom of justice, love and integrity in which we will be his trusted stewards.