There is one other pile of rocks that I did not discuss in a previous post (Rock Piles). Near the end of Joshua's story (Josh 22), the land had been taken and the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh prepared to cross back over to the east side of the Jordan to take their allotment of land. There they built an "imposing" altar. Concerned that religion in the promised land had already become deviant, the rest of Israel came swooping in, fully prepared to wipe the non-conformists off the map, just as they had the population of Jericho.
But that which the 2 1/2 tribes had so purposefully and passionately constructed was not an altar which would divide God's children, but a memorial intended to bond the tribes of Israel together. How ironic.
Just because someone's heritage, or geography, or passion drives them to serve God or his people in a way different than that which we would choose, it does not make them wrong. Their passion might even scare us because of its unfamiliarity or its intensity, but that does not mean that they deserve our condemnation, rejection, or punishment.
Because they (here comes the key word) listened (that was the key word), a disaster (whether of disfellowship or death) was avoided. With passions in the church as high as they are now, is there not a lesson in this for God's people today?
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