Repeating history. Are we doomed?

Daniel 3:13-29

              So here is one of today's passages from scripture. Is it a joyous celebration and example of how God is faithful to us and saves us from all turmoil and torment.   Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are not consumed by the fire and are an example of the strength of our God. But what else is playing out here? Not unlike many other stories conveyed from ancient scripture, there is violence and evil and one person (or group) trying to force their beliefs on another group. So much so that Nebuchadnezzar throws people into a fire to get them to convert or to reject their God. Sound familiar?

             Just the other day 21 Coptic Christians were beheaded at the hands of Islamic extremists. I have no doubt these brave faithful were not perfect but yet they met their death no different than what Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had faced. On the other hand, I have no doubt at all that the perpetrators were the worst possible example of what Mohammad tried to say and reveal about God. Liars and selfish sinners one and all.  God weeps at the violence and desecration of His message. 

         The similarities between what happened to these Coptic innocents and what Nebuchadnezzar tried to foist on people is obvious. Is it all that different from the crusades or the inquisition?  Have we not been forcing our own arrogant beliefs about a loving God on everyone else for millenia? What have we learned or are we actually capable of learning?

           I have no message here today except to note that we all seem to be in the same pit of quicksand, all doomed to the same fate if we do not figure a way for all of us to climb out safe. Are we all doomed to revisit the sins of the past? I am afraid for us and I imagine God weeps for us. The God of love is the God of all. We must find a way to respect, reconcile and live together or we are in fact doomed.

         The concept of "one true faith" seems a basis for a never ending cycle of religious disresepct, hate and revenge. This cannot be what God intended for humanity. 

          Let us think, pray and love like our lives depends on it. It  very well may

Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought in; so they brought those men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar said to them, ‘Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble to fall down and worship the statue that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?’

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defence to you in this matter. If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.’

Then Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face was distorted. He ordered the furnace to be heated up seven times more than was customary, and ordered some of the strongest guards in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. So the men were bound, still wearing their tunics, their trousers, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the furnace of blazing fire. Because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace was so overheated, the raging flames killed the men who lifted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counsellors, ‘Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?’ They answered the king, ‘True, O king.’ He replied, ‘But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god.’ Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!’ So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counsellors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their tunics were not harmed, and not even the smell of fire came from them. Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that utters blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins; for there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.’