CORBANIZATION

I Was Just Thinking About - - - 

There are many different suggestions about the culture and the direction the world is heading. Some liken the culture and world to the slippery slope and the increased momentum of the demise and descent that is unstoppable. Wikipedia has an article where the slippery slope is stated to be: “In logic and critical thinking, a slippery slope is a logical device, but it is usually known under its fallacious form, in which a person asserts that some event must inevitably follow from another without any rational argument or demonstrable mechanism for the inevitability of the event in question.” The rationale of this statement blurs the idea of what a slippery slope can mean and the result that can ensue. One thought pertains to a Ski Slope that has become covered with ice. When that is the case, control and regulation of speed is a great challenge and test of one’s skill.

The Scriptures reference slippery from a much different viewpoint. God’s viewpoint is recorded in Jeremiah 23:10-13, “The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched and the pastures in the wilderness are withered. The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly. Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness, declares the Lord. Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished, declares the Lord. Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.” Psalm 73:18-19 expands on the idea of the quick descent of the wicked. The psalmist wrote: “Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin.How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!” When David prayed about his own personal safety from those who were seeking his demise, he wrote in Psalm 35:4-6, “May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plot my ruin be turned back in dismay. May they be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away; may their path be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.” The prayer is for something swift occur on a “path that is dark and slippery.”

Jesus express His disdain for those who followed the concepts of Corban. The word “Corban” appears only once in Mark 7:1-12. Jesus confronts the Pharisees about their practices and rationale for doing so. The thrust is in Mark 7:6-13, “He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” And he continued, You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, Honor your father and mother, and, Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God) - then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”

In a day when there is considerable self-aggrandizement and greed, the Lord’s Word addressed to the Pharisees should be shouted form the housetops as well as the tallest buildings. Our nation is continuing to increase the nation’s debt that some estimate is comparable to one million dollars a minute. At the same time, the numbers of poor and neglected continues to increase. Medical care for everyone is promised as “Affordable Care” but many are unable to afford that care. We need to revamp our priorities and return to the Biblical rationale and remedy pertaining to that which pleases Jesus (see: Matthew 25, The Separation of the Sheep from the Goats). May God enrich and bless you as you do that which is right in His sight! Consider these things with me!