Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
Ending up in the wilderness is a good place. When you are in Babylon you get too cozy, you get anesthetized, mesmerized, hypnotized, and march blindly into the ditch.
At least in the wilderness you know where you are.
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I'm not sure that we speak very clearly concerning Babylon. Besides the general statement in Revelation concerning "Babylon the Great," Babylon was not a choice. It was exile. They were taken to Babylon. They did not sell their chalet in Bethlehem and load the Mayflower moving van and decide that Babylon seemed like a good place to go. No. God allowed the Babylonians to take the Israelites captive and take them away.
The way we speak about Babylon, it is somewhere we choose to be. A place of our own making.
Now it is true that not all went back to Jerusalem when the first edict for their release came. But those that stayed behind were not spoken of as fallen Jews. In fact, unless I remember my stories incorrectly, at least one of the significant leaders was willfully serving the King of Babylon/Persia when he came to know that the ones that did go back were having trouble. A righteous man living almost as part of the household of a pagan king was called to get the "remnant" back on track. No chastisement for not having already gone back. No quarantine to make sure he was going to go along with things in Jerusalem.
And at least partly the result of the Jews that did not go back from the various captivities, there were Jews all over the known world ready for Philip, Peter, Paul, John, and others to speak to throughout Asia and even into Europe as the church spread.
So how is it that we have created a metaphorical Babylon that is Christian, not pagan, and is a choice to join rather than punishment? Lee said it. And it was so. (And there was much rejoicing — and popcorn testimonies.)