Sharing God's Anger

I've been reading Deuteronomy and Joshua lately. The violence with which Israel entered the promised land is sickening - I've a real hard time understanding it. One thing, though, is obvious and that is God's abhorrence of false religions and what they may do to his people. The practices of the people of the land Israel is to enter are detestable to God (Deut 18:9-13) and destruction is the price to pay for becoming corrupted and following other gods and worshiping them. The story of Aachen in Joshua 7 makes the telling point that the failure of one to obey God's injunctions can lead to all of Israel having sinned with disastrous consequences.

For me, as a Father, this raises the question once more .... what do I bring into my house that may be abominable to God and a threat to my family? I'm not necessarily talking about obvious things such as a different religion or some immoral practices, but ideas like striving for wealth without fulfilling obligations to the poor and the sick and the widowed, or a "live and let live" attitude about unbelieving neighbours.

Similarly, what have I and my church let in? Have we corrupted the gospel by allowing the form in which it is presented to convey an additional message that this form of behaviour outside of the church is OK. I'm thinking here that with the attempt to reach youth we have sometimes adopted the outward trappings of youth culture to the extent that the form dominates the message. Alternatively, we may have compromised on the uniqueness of the gospel because we fear losing the respect of friends.

When I read at just how strongly God abhors this kind of syncretism I am compelled to inspect my own life to ensure that I am not an offender.