Family and Tribal Idolatry: Can You Overstate How Widespread These Sins Are?

fAMILY, TRIBAL, DENOMINATIONAL & CULTURAL IDOLATRY IS A RAMPANT SIN IN LUKEWARM CHRISTIANITY.

Proverbs 17:15 says: “He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord.”

It should not matter if the one in the wrong is your own family member, is of the same nationality as you are, the same race, the same political party, or the same whatever.

A notable example of family and tribal idolatry in the Bible is found in the Book of Judges. A horrid crime was committed by men of the Tribe of Benjamin against a woman who was travelling through the city of Gibeah. The woman died due to the injuries which she suffered from those wicked people of Gibeah. The woman’s husband was able to inform the entire nation of what had happened. The people of the Tribe of Benjamin refused to hand the murderers over to be put to death when the rest of the tribes of Israel demanded that they do so. The Bible indeed prescribes the death penalty for murderers (see Genesis 9:6).

We read in Judges chapter 20 how God Himself endorsed the rest of Israel going to fight against the Tribe of Benjamin for harboring these murderers from the death penalty. A civil war followed in which many thousands died. Was it really worth a bloody civil war to not let family and tribal idolaters prevail in their efforts to spare the guilty from justice? According to the Lord’s own verdict, it was absolutely worth it.

Sadly, it is common in churches, even among churches which teach better and look better than most, for the leadership and many members within the church to be more concerned with making excuses for the sins of their family members than for God’s righteous ways prevailing. Often, respected people within the church and/or their offspring are sheltered from the appropriate rebuke and discipline which they ought to receive. Sometimes the sins prevailing in a church are things which are being preached against emphatically from the pulpit in the very same church.

Church members often stay silent over sin pertaining to their church being justified or covered-up due to fear of rocking the boat. Yet when sin is being justified or deliberately overlooked at a church, the boat really needs to be rocked. If the church leadership will not confront the wickedness within the church and do what is necessary to cause righteousness to prevail, simply remaining there is complicity with wickedness in that case.

Failing to report crimes to the governmental authorities is evil. This is no less true of crimes committed by family members, by those belonging to any other group which you are part of, or by those in a group which you have sympathy towards. Romans chapter 13 makes it clear that the State is a minister of God’s vengeance. It is sin before God whenever someone won’t report a crime to the authorities which they know has been committed. Sometimes, church leaders will enable the covering-up of crimes related to their church by citing 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Yet 1 Corinthians chapter 6 is reproving civil lawsuits among church members being brought to the secular courts instead of brought to the church to be settled by an impartial court there. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 is not teaching that criminal matters should be withheld from the secular authorities. Whenever that is done, it is exceedingly wicked.

And by the way: The corruption by high authorities today might very well have come to the minds of many as they have heard this. It should. When the authorities themselves are the problem, do not riot and do not take the law into your own hands. Instead, appeal instead to other authorities. If you cannot go to a higher earthly authority, then go to lesser authority figures.

Those Benjamite enablers in Judges are the very opposite of the Levites in Moses’ time. The Tribe of Levi was given the priesthood in Israel’s Tabernacle/Temple worship because they put partiality aside (along with misguided compassion) to slay the idolaters of their own tribe and even of their own families. Keep in mind that they were deputized by Moses, the highest judge in Israel, to carry this out. Since that was so, it would have been wicked for them to not slay those obstinate Golden Calf worshipers whom they were closely related to.

Exodus 32:26-29: “Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord’s side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.”

Evil prevails in the world because of enablers of evil. Cowardice and/or the love of money are major ingredients in enabling evil. Tribal and family idolatry are also major ingredients.

The enabler of evil is logically a partaker of the condemnation of the evil deeds which they are enabling. This is seen in 1 Samuel in the case of Israel’s High Priest Eli. Eli is one of the most notable Bible examples of enabling evil because he did not restrain his sons’ oppression and lewdness by removing them from the priesthood like he should have done due to his partiality and cowardice. Eli is especially important to emphasize on the topics of family idolatry and enabling evil precisely because he did give his sons a good sermon about their bad behavior. Yet that was not enough. He did not restrain them and punish them according to the jurisdiction which he had.

There is some sick and especially horrid family and tribal idolatry prevailing in society in general. Any church which has family and tribal idolatry in any form prevailing in it obviously cannot be a rebuke to the corruption of society in general. Such churches are rather a disgrace to Christ no matter how right they are otherwise.

Family and tribal idolatry are often seen at the roots of why people join or stay among false and compromised churches rather than pursuing the proper worship of the Lord to the best of their knowledge. Some also back down from right moral stances due to family and/or tribal idolatry. These sins are not only unacceptable, they also lead to many other sins.

The true God is not a partial respecter of persons nor is He an enabler of evil at all. Those who would not be His enemies must also be neither of these.