Justice! - The Book of Amos

Today I randomly stumbled upon the book of Amos. I think as Christians we often only think of the Old Testament in terms of the Bible stories we learned in Sunday school and what we know about the book of Leviticus. But today, I was flipping towards Joshua--perhaps my most favorite book in the Old Testament, Joshua is one of my Biblical heroes--but I ended up in Amos. Since I've only read through Amos once, I figured why not read through it again. I am impressed with what God had me stumble on.

Amos really concentrates on injustice, more than any other book in the Bible. Now there were many things that were wrong with Israel right now (ie. its two calf-idols), but Amos focused on what he saw for himself: the oppression of people! The people Amos addressed had plenty of "religion." They worshiped regularly and looked forward to "the day of the Lord" and they thought they were on track, but Amos had different news from God: "I hate, I despise your religious feasts" (Amos 5.21). God didn't want their sacrifices, their songs, etc. God was demanding justice! "Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" (5.24) God would destroy them for their crimes against humanity (of course this is Old Testament God).

I think the Book of Amos can serve as an example for all Christians. You would expect me to say it should be oriented towards "anti-gay Christians." But no. I think it's a message for all Christians. Even as gay Christians, I think we often forget about the oppression of other people. God doesn't really care if I read my Bible, sing worship songs, go to church, etc. Because it's nothing if I'm still be a hypocrite. Amos was just a simple farmer. Simple enough to notice a big problem. Many of us are often too caught up in the Evangelical scene to see the big problems.