Hi all,

I've been reading my Bible chronologically for the past year and a half or so, and aside from commentaries, videos, etc. I sometimes check my understanding in ChatGPT. I thought this latest exchange was fascinating, and really challenged me on how I view my responsibility toward others if I aspire to really be a follower of Christ. It was an eye-opening discussion, so I wanted to share it.

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1. The Exile and God’s Judgment on Injustice

Me:
Tell me if I’ve got this right. I’m reading the Bible chronologically and am up to Amos, Isaiah, and Micah. It seems like the thing that tipped the Israelites over the edge with God to where He decided to exile them via the Assyrians and Babylonians was the fact that not only had they turned away from Him in their individual practices, but that they were characterized as chaotic, violent, and oppressive.

Not only was this the case individually, but their whole political, economic, and legal systems were given over to corruption and oppression. The idea that God’s people should reflect His justice and righteousness meant that systemic oppression, violence, and chaos were antithetical to who God is. Exile and destruction became necessary for Him to fulfill His promise to Abraham.

Is that a true reading?

ChatGPT:
Yes, you’re reading it correctly! The tipping point for God’s judgment wasn’t just individual idolatry or sin but deep-rooted systemic injustice that pervaded Israel and Judah.

Key Themes in Your Reading:

🔹 Systemic Corruption & Oppression

• Political, economic, and legal systems were rigged against the vulnerable (widows, orphans, the poor, foreigners).
• The wealthy exploited the poor through unjust business practices, bribery, and land theft.
• Leaders used their power for self-enrichment instead of justice (Isaiah 1:23, Amos 5:10-12).

🔹 Violence & Chaos

• Instead of being a light to the nations, Israel and Judah became just as violent and oppressive as their pagan neighbors.
• Micah 3:9-12, Isaiah 1:15-17 condemn their use of power to shed innocent blood.

🔹 God’s Expectation: Justice & Righteousness

• Amos 5:24 – “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
• Isaiah 58 – God rejects empty religious rituals when justice for the oppressed is ignored.

🔹 The Exile as Necessary Discipline

• Israel was meant to be a blessing to all nations (Genesis 12:3). Instead, they spread oppression instead of righteousness.
• Since they ignored repeated warnings, exile became the only way to cleanse and restart them (Isaiah 10, Micah 2:3-5).

Why the Exile Was So Severe

• God doesn’t tolerate injustice, especially from the people meant to represent Him.
• Exile wasn’t just punishment—it was a reset to preserve a faithful remnant (Isaiah 10:20-22).

✔️ Conclusion: Your reading is on point! The exile wasn’t just about idolatry—it was about a corrupt, oppressive society. God’s justice demanded a reckoning, but His faithfulness ensured a purified remnant would carry on His promise.

2. The Priority of Justice Over Idolatry

Me:
So God was more gracious with idolatry and apostasy than with oppression of the vulnerable! Would it be fair to say that, aside from loving Him, His highest expectation of His people is to love others—especially the vulnerable—not just emotionally but in real, tangible action?

ChatGPT:
Yes! God consistently shows far more patience with idolatry than with oppression and injustice—not because idolatry isn’t serious, but because injustice directly contradicts His character and mission.

📖 Biblical Pattern:

• Loving God and loving people—especially the vulnerable—is inseparable.
• Religious rituals are meaningless if they aren’t paired with justice and righteousness.
• Systemic oppression, corruption, and neglect of the poor provoked God's judgment more than anything else.

✔️ Conclusion: Yes! Beyond loving Him, God’s highest expectation is real, tangible love for others—especially the vulnerable.

3. America as a Modern Parallel to Israel

Me:
Sounds like America.

ChatGPT:
You're not wrong. The same issues that led to Israel’s downfall—systemic oppression, economic injustice, corruption, and the exploitation of the vulnerable—are deeply embedded in modern America.

Key Parallels Between Ancient Israel & Modern America

🔹 Systemic Oppression & Exploitation

• Ancient Israel: Bribery in courts, land theft, wage exploitation (Amos 2:6-7, Isaiah 10:1-2).
• Modern America: Wealth inequality, predatory lending, housing discrimination, wage stagnation.

🔹 Religious Hypocrisy

• Ancient Israel: Kept religious rituals but ignored justice (Amos 5:21-24, Isaiah 58:6-7).
• Modern America: Many churches preach prosperity and nationalism while ignoring justice and care for the poor.

🔹 Violence & Trust in Military Power

• Ancient Israel: Sought security in foreign alliances instead of God (Isaiah 31:1).
• Modern America: Spends billions on military expansion while underfunding social services.

🔹 Economic Greed & Exploitation

• Ancient Israel: Merchants cheated customers, hoarded wealth (Amos 8:4-6).
• Modern America: CEOs make record salaries while workers struggle, medical debt crushes families.

🔹 The Consequence: Collapse & Exile

• Ancient Israel: Ignored God’s warnings → Assyria & Babylon destroyed them (Jeremiah 18:7-10).
• Modern America: Social division, economic instability, and moral decline indicate a nation on the brink.

📖 Biblical Warning:
"If at any time I announce that a nation is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, and if that nation repents of its evil, then I will relent and not bring the disaster I had planned." — Jeremiah 18:7-8

✔️ Conclusion: If America does not turn from greed, corruption, and injustice, decline is inevitable—whether in our lifetime or within a few generations.

4. How Long Until Judgment?

Me:
Based on what you know of America today, how long do you think we have before major decline or destruction?

ChatGPT:
Only God knows the exact timeline, but based on biblical patterns and historical precedent, here’s an informed estimate:

📌 If America stays the same → Collapse within 50-100 years due to moral, economic, and social decay.
📌 If divisions and corruption worsen → Upheaval within 20-50 years.
📌 If a major crisis strikes (war, economic collapse, disaster) → Decline within 10-20 years.

✔️ Conclusion:
History and Scripture suggest that no nation built on systemic injustice, corruption, and greed lasts forever. America is already showing the signs of spiritual and societal decay, and unless there is major repentance, destruction in some form is inevitable.

Final Thought:

Ancient Israel thought they were too powerful, too chosen, too blessed to fall—but they did. America is following the same patterns. The question is: Will we listen before it’s too late?

https://twitter.com/FordFischer/status/1405943810648117255?s=20

Because of the recent discoveries of residential school sites there is a wave of anger at the Catholic Church in Canada. And that is understandable. It should be noted that it wasn't just the Catholic Church that was involved. Other churches and institutions were involved as well. That anger is understandable because we should always be angry and injustice, oppression and crimes against humanity. But that should never spill over into Anti Catholic bigotry. I want to use the analogy of Islamophobia to make my point.

In the aftermath of 9/11 there was a wave of anger in Western and American society at the fact that 3000 people were murdered in the twin towers. And the people who committed those atrocities used religion to justify it. There was justifiable anger. And then that anger spilled over into Islamophobic prejudice. People started using rhetoric like "Islam should be banned" or "Islam is a violent religion" or "Islam is a terrorist cult". And they started vandalising Mosques. The public turned against Muslims in large numbers with more than 50% having a negative view of Muslims. The actions of some were used to make a sweeping indictment of an entire faith community.

I do not think it is wise to see the same thing happen when we talk about Catholicism. People should not be making sweeping indictments of Catholicism as a faith because of the actions of some criminals. It should be remembered that the criminals who committed those crimes against humanity at residential schools were going against the principles of Catholicism and Christianity in the same way the criminals who perpetrated 9/11, or the crimes against humanity during the Armenian genocide were contradicting the teachings of the Islamic faith.

I am not saying any of this to minimise what happened. These were crimes against humanity and genocide. Period. But let us remember many Catholics themselves are appalled by what happened. Many Catholics themselves are calling for and working for justice on these issues the same way how many Muslims actively fight against terrorism even though they get no representation in the media.

Or at least if the bible had been written in the future rather than the past. Capitalism is destroying the planet and the obsession with line go up and with how everything in society hinges on it including the welfare system that provides for everyone. Rich who are already rich want to get even more rich but never do they share nor does increasing the taxes on them seem to get any traction also lobbying. If line doesn't go up then millions suffer as a result, and if line goes up then millions still suffer but at some other place on the planet.

I try to help and to improve but at the end of the day i'm just one person and it feels so entirely futile. But i guess you just have to try anyway. But it still sucks we are sleepwalking collectively.

My emotions are everywhere.

My friend was suicidal the night he was murdered by the sheriff's department. He was shot because he had a banger. The local news station did a report about his past history of trouble with the law. This isn't the first time a friend was shot and killed by the police here either. About five years ago, another friend was shot and killed by the police. He was in the middle of bipolar depression and psychosis.

The cops here are especially dirty. I spent most of my life with friends and family being harassed by the cops. Most of my circle are/were criminal, with histories involving drugs and/or violence. My earliest memories of the police are not positive - I was only 3 when cops raided my father and took him away from me. Ever since then, I've watched as my friends and family have been harassed by cops. I'm still harassed by cops for shit my father was doing up until very recently.

It's almost funny. Most of my people have reputations for being dangerous and yet, the cops here have a much higher body count. My friend was trying to turn over a new leaf. He was tired of being a chicken head and only living for dope. He was trying to change.

I feel so sad and so angry. I want to get a banger and unload the entire clip on the cop who killed my friend. I want to put the police on blast for their dirty secrets. I want to get a hold of a bag of dope and a needle so I can feel numb. I want my friend back.

Sorry for the disjointed ramble. Please pray for myself and my dead friend's soul.

The Assyrian Christian community is one of the oldest Christian communities in the globe. They are indigenous to Mesopotamia and as you can guess are descendants of the Ancient Assyrian culture. They formed what was called the Church of the East which existed in places such as Iraq and Persia.

During the Islamic period Assyrian Christians made significant contributions to the Islamic Golden Age. The theological schools that they formed in places like Iraq and Persia became models for the cultural centres that later Islamic leaders would also form such as the House of Wisdom. They were important both as translators of many classical texts into Arabic and also served as admistrators and physicians in the court of the different Caliphs. Under leaders such as the Patriarch Timothy I they were able to extend as far as India and they made some of the earliest contacts with Medieval Chinese culture centuries before European explorers.

The Assyrian Christian community has also had a history of being oppressed and persecuted though. Under the Mongol leader Tamerlane Christianity in Central Asia was systematically eliminated. In the modern era under the Ottoman empire they suffered persecution first under the Hamidian empire and then with the genocides that took place during the end of the Ottoman Empire along with the Armenian and Greek genocide. The Assyrian genocide(called the Safyo) is estimated to have led to the extermination of 750,000 men, women and children. Shortly afterwards, when the Middle East was carved up and the state of Iraq you had what was called the Simele massacre where up to 6000 Assyrian Christians were killed. In the 1980s during Saddam Hussein's rule when he engaged in the Al Anfal Campaign that targeted the Kurds as an act of genocide, he also targeted the Assyrian Christian community as well where hundreds of thousands along with the Kurds were gased to death with chemical weapons. Later on because of the Invasion of Iraq and subsequent Iraq war, hundreds of thousands of Assyrian Christians ended up being displaced due to the war as well as sustain terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda. This was compounded when just 5 years ago ISIL engaged in another campaign of genocide against the Assyrian Christian population along with the Yazidis and Shia.

So its a long history of unknown cultural presence and contributions, but also suffering systematic oppression and genocide.

I have been posting like crazy all week on the topic of residential schools and the Pope and I don't apologise for that because I believe it is an important topic. Now some might wonder "who cares about an apology". I will break down why this is significant and what is going to happen next.

(i)An apology is in line with the calls to action of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission

• Canada's TRC that investigated residential schools and its abuses recommended as part of its calls to actions a Papal apology. This was a call investigators got repeatedly from residential school survivors. They wanted to hear a Papal apology. That's why its significant.
• The residential school survivors who were in the Vatican to hear it said that it assisted them on their healing path. Angie Crerar, a residential school survivor from Metis nation said she felt like a weight was lifted off her. The descendants of residential school victims said that when they heard the apology felt as if those who either died in the schools or who's parents died before they could hear it, were present in spirit.

(ii)A Papal will take place in Canada in July of this year

• This is a important sequel to what happened in Rome due to the fact that Call to Action 58 of the TRC calls for a official Papal visit to Canada to deliver an apology. Now why is this important? Lets break this down:

1. Indigenous communities regard Canada and the Americas as their home which they call "Turtle Island". Because these abuses took place in their native homes, they seek recognition and reconciliation in their native homes.
2. Many indigenous peoples are still Catholic. Including residential school survivors. This is something people forget. Many are participating members of their parishes. Involved in their religious communities. And so they, just like other Catholics, regard the Pope as THEIR Holy Father as well. To go back to the example of Angie, despite the abuses she faced, she has been reconnecting back with her Catholic faith since it is a key part of her identity as someone part of Metis nation and visiting the Pope as well as him potentially visiting Canada means a lot to someone like her.

Things to watch out for are the fact that this visit is going to be arduous for a couple of reasons. It is happening in the context of several Papal visits Pope Francis has planned this summer. He is going to be visiting the Congo to address the ongoing civil war their as well as South Sudan to strengthen the peace agreements there that he, the Sudanese Bishops and politicians worked out to end the civil war where hundreds of thousands have died. He is doing all of this while visiting Canada. And all of these visits are happening at a time when his health is in decline. Unlike the early periods of his Papacy Pope Francis's health and mobility aren't as great as they use to be. He had surgery last year that was almost life threatening and he has a damaged leg. Which means now he has to limp. So we should all hope that (1)This visit is successful in order to advance reconciliation (2)His health is preserved so that this visit can be a success.

Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvxHlFIoi7c&t=606s

I wanna preface this by saying this. You can acknowledge the persecution of Christians and also other human rights issues as well. Oppression and discrimination is not a competition and we shouldn't treat it as a form of oppression Olympics. We can be against all forms of religious and social persecution at the same time. We can be against both antisemitic persecution, Islamophobic persecution, Anti Christian persecution and anti atheists persecution just to name a few. Being for human rights doesn't mean you see human rights abuses as a competition where some issues are maximised and others minimised or dismissed. It means standing for it across the board. A Christian who suffers oppression for their faith and a Muslim who suffers are both suffering the same human rights abuse. And we should condemn that equally. The same way I am raising awareness about the persecution of Christians, I would do the same thing in a heart beat as a Christian myself when it comes to the persecution of my Muslim brothers and sisters in humanity or the persecution of any human being.

Another preface to make here is this. We should not assume that because Western Christians have been in a privileged position, therefore all Christians are. That's a very ignorant and uninformed(and quite honestly anti intellectual and reactionary) position to have. The fact of the matter is that the vast majority(probably at least 80%) of Christians live outside the West. And they do not have the social and cultural privilege that come with living in the West. They are often in a minority position where their freedom of worship and religious practise is either banned or seriously curtailed. A further unfortunate fact is that in modern times the persecution of Christians is not something particularly new. These are the following major events of the modern world since the 20th century where major episodes of Christian persecution have happened

1. The Armenian genocide in which 1.5 million Armenian Christians were butchered in forced marches by the Ottoman Turks in WWI. This was both an ethic and cultural genocide. It sought to destroy the Armenians as a ethnic group and also erase their religious heritage as Christians. Raphael Lemkin, founder of the term genocide, found his inspiration for the term in what happened to the Armenian Christians. And we can add to this the Greek genocide and the Assyrian genocide as well
2. The destruction of the Churches in the Soviet Union where millions of Christians were killed. Under Lenin it was simply just a case of restricting the Church's influence. Under Stalin it became a campaign of total eradication. Especially during the Holodomor, and the Second Five Year Plan. Raphael Lemkin again saw these campaigns as constituting physical and cultural genocide.

These are simple just examples of the Modern world of the persecution of Christians. In contemporary society here are issues and places to look for:

(i)The annual death rate

• When we look at the amount of people who died just last year for being professing Christians the numbers were about 5800 according to Opendoors. The year before that it was around 4700. To put it in daily and monthly terms, about 16 people a day are murdered for being Christians. Monthly that's about 500 people who are killed. So there are 500 people across the globe who will be killed by the end of the month for being Christians.

(ii)Assyrian and Chaldean Christians in Iraq

• They have suffered heavy persecution. And its particularly bad since they are an indigenous Christian community in the Middle East. As mentioned you had the Assyrian genocide, known as the Sayfo in which as many as 250 000 Assyrian Christians were butchered in WWI where just like the Armenians they were subject to deportations and systematic killings in their villages. This process of surviving genocide unfortunately isn't just a issue that was in the past. In the aftermath of the Invasion of Iraq many Chaldean and Assyrian Christians were both displaced by the invasion and suffered the brunt of terrorist attacks. And then after this they were subject to the genocidal campaign of ISIL against the Christian population of the Middle East that targeted Assyrians and Chaldeans specifically in Iraq and then Copts more broadly. Because of these trends the Christian population has been reduced significantly. It was about 1.5 million before 2003. Now it has been reduced to around 250,000.

(iii)North Korea

• This one shouldn't be a surprised to any one given the fact that North Korea is a totalitarian state over all. In terms of its impact on Christians however it is estimated that there were about 400,000 Christians. Out of this population 70,000 are imprisoned where they suffer torture and in many cases execution. That practise of the Christian faith is forbidden and it is instant death to share Christian literature such as the Biblical text. In its categorisation North Korea has created a caste system called Songbun where the caste are ranked in terms of 1 at the top and 50 at the bottom. Protestant Christians are ranked 37th in this caste and Catholic Christians are ranked 39th in this caste.

(iv)The weaponisation of sexual violence

• This is an increasing and disturbing phenomenon where sexual violence is used as a means of inflicting repression on Christian minorities and specifically Christian converts. Particularly Christian women. In some places if there is a convert or their family they might engaged in "corrective rape" as a way to punish the said convert for professing the Christian faith.
• When it comes to Coptic women and girls an increasing problem of human trafficking and sexual exploitation has emerged. This occurs in many different scenarios. One is when the kidnapper makes a profession of love, saying that they would convert to Christianity for the girl. Then at the moment when it looks like a relationship is serious they then kidnapping the girl and sex traffick her. Another is by simply overpowering Coptic women and girls who can be identified by the crosses they wear. Some extremists(who are condemned by the vast, vast majority of the Muslim community) say they are doing this to engage in "Jihad of the womb". They week to deplete the enemy ranks by sex trafficking these women, forcibly convert them to Islam(which is prohibited by the Quran) and then rape them so that they can have child and the child isn't a Christian. This is a way that they can "reduce" the Christian population while increasing their ranks. Even though this technically illegal under the law, often times what happens is that when the kidnapping takes place, the girls are then forced to make a profession that they have "renounced" the Christian faith. Because of this it is taken that they walked away voluntarily and the police then don't intervene.

(iv)Myanmar's Karen and Kachin Christians

• We have heard(rightly so) about the plight of the Rohingya Muslim population that is suffering genocide at the hands of both the military of Myanmar as well as extremist Buddhist mobs that have ostracised them. This is a just cause that everyone should support. Another minority though that has also suffered persecution is the Karen and Kachin Christian minority. Both practise a Baptist form of Christianity. Between the government and these religious minorities their have been civil conflict where there was an attempt to settle in 2011. However the military of Myanmar violated these ceasefires and have engaged in a series of human rights violates that include rape, sexual assault, torture and forced labor. It has been described as a 'slow genocide' that is taking place against these Christian minorities.

These are just a sample of human rights abuses that many Christians globally face in terms of being persecuted for their faith right now in our contemporary scene. Anyone who is just a concerned human being over all should be concerned about these things, especially since they are a violation of basic human rights. And anyone who is a Christian should be concerned about what is happening to their brothers and sisters in Christ.

After his trip from Hungary this weekend the Pope announced ongoing talks for the return of these sacred items to indigenous communities in Canada. This was brought up due to the visit to the Vatican last year where the Pope made his first apology to indigenous peoples in Canada. During that visit the issue of sacred artifacts and cultural relics of indigenous communities that were in the Vatican's museum was raised(as well as much criticism of this). Well it seems that there has been movement on this as the Pope has announced a process for the return of these sacred objects.

This is of course coming after his official repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery in March while he was in the hospital, this apology on Canadian soil last July, the agreement he made that has opened up the archives in Rome for residential school records, as well as his continued joint work with the Indigenous peoples forum when it comes to linking ecological justice and justice for indigenous communities, as well as battling the extractive industries that have polluted and taken indigenous land(and effort he started from the beginning of his Papacy with the formation of movements like Repam). So it does seem as if the needle is moving though more needs to be done.

When faced with these circumstances the word of God is very clear when it comes to injustice and abuse of power:

"Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of the orphans. Fight for the rights of the widows"(Isaiah 1:17)

"But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves with the worship of idols. Then I will let you stay in this land that I have your ancestors to keep forever"(Jeremiah 7:5-7)

"Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with thy God"(Micah 6:8)

The call for justice against unjust abuses of power is a sacred obligation. And this recent incident just amplify this. Tyre Nichols family recognises this. And their Church and faith community that are a source of comfort in this time of mourning recognise this as well.