How does Ezekeil 22 apply to modern day Christianity?
"Mortal man," he said, "are you ready to judge the city that is full of murderers? Make clear to her all the disgusting things she has done. Tell the city what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying: Because you have murdered so many of your own people and have defiled yourself by worshiping idols, your time is coming. You are guilty of those murders and are defiled by the idols you made, and so your day is coming, your time is up! That is why I have let the nations make fun of you and all the countries sneer at you. Countries nearby and countries far away sneer at you because of your lawlessness. All Israel's leaders trust in their own strength and commit murder. None of you in the city honor your parents. You cheat foreigners and take advantage of widows and orphans. You have no respect for the holy places, and you don't keep the Sabbath. Some of your people tell lies about others in order to have them put to death. Some of them eat sacrifices offered to idols. Some are always satisfying their lusts. Some of them sleep with their father's wife. Some force women to have intercourse with them during their period. Some commit adultery, and others seduce their daughters-in-law or their half sisters. Some of your people murder for pay. Some charge interest on the loans they make to other Israelites and get rich by taking advantage of them. They have forgotten me." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.
(Eze 22:2-12 GNB)
Sin is still sin regardless and we should point each other towards the source of Life, who is Jesus Christ. Turn from following our own paths and put ourselves in the hands of the Almighty God. God wants what is best for us and for us to treat each other with kindness and unselfishness. This is God's top commandments He places on His Holy-Spirit filled Christians, that they love God and love one another. Love covers a multitude of sins. If we keep these top two commandments, the others will naturally follow. Sin stems from selfishness, but someone who is operating with love, is less likely to sin. Apart from God, we can do nothing. Not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit we are able to conquer our fleshly nature. He is the Vine and we are the branches, in order to produce good fruit (see fruit of the Spirit), we must abide in Him. God alone is the source of Goodness, Truth, Love, and Life. When we receive God's Holy Spirit, we are referred to as a new creation. we are considered buried with Christ and resurrected with Christ. Dead to the ways of the world. God wants us to put our flesh into submission to His Spirit. He writes His laws on our hearts. His Holy Spirit is an anchor for our soul. Righteousness is only accounted to those who turn to the source of righteousness. No man is righteous on his own apart from God. The Bible says even our most righteous acts are like filthy rags. None is good, but God alone and we all fall short of the glory of God. The more we dwell on God's love and truth, the more we are built up into His image, which is not of the flesh, but of the Spirit.
look what the outcome to Israel has been, the number of covenants broken ,all in the name of pride .
maybe the world today is not like that of yesteryear , but we know as Christians that with arrival of Jesus Christ, his is the final covenant, there never will be another chance to redeem ourselves if we reject Jesus . it's our choice
The prophet is to judge the bloody city; the city of bloods. Jerusalem is so called, because of her crimes. The sins which Jerusalem stands charged with, are exceeding sinful. Murder, idolatry, disobedience to parents, oppression and extortion, profanation of the sabbath and holy things, seventh commandment sins, lewdness and adultery. Unmindfulness of God was at the bottom of all this wickedness. Sinners provoke God because they forget him. Jerusalem has filled the measure of her sins. Those who give up themselves to be ruled by their lusts, will justly be given up to be portioned by them. Those who resolve to be their own masters, let them expect no other happiness than their own hands can furnish; and a miserable portion it will prove.
A whole host of sins, particularly among the nation's leaders, are listed in this section. "Whenever the attitudes detailed here appear in a society, it is near collapse. What are the signs? The undermining of parental authority (v. 7a). Injustices that take advantage of the poor and helpless (v. 7b). Indifference of leaders to the best interests of those they rule, as well as indifference to the things of God (v. 8). A legal reign of terror, including murders (v. 9a). Leaders engaging in sex sins (Viv. 9b-11) and seeking illicit personal profit (v. 12). When any society forgets God and strays from its spiritual foundations, its leadership will become corrupt and the nation will ultimately fall. Where is our society today? Apply Ezekiel's criteria and decide for yourself" (Bible Reader's Companion, note on verses 7-12).
God concludes that He will scatter the people of the nation in line with other prophecies of national deportation. This certainly happened to the Jews of Ezekiel's day. It had already happened to the northern kingdom of Israel more than a century earlier. In early Christian times, it would again happen to the Jewish nation. And at the time of the end, it will happen to the nations of Israel and Judah together. Notice that God says that through this he would remove the nation's filthiness, its spiritual defilement of sin, "completely." While the removal of sinful behavior was accomplished by degrees through previous captivities, the complete removal of the nation's sins would seem to point mainly to the captivity of the end time, in which the severe humbling of the people will pave the way for their acceptance of Jesus Christ. For only the acceptance of Christ's sacrifice provides a true atonement for sin, and only His life within a person through the Holy Spirit enables that person to truly obey God as God requires. The Jewish people obviously have yet to accept Christ. But so do the supposedly "Christian" nations of modern Israel, as they have not really submitted to the true Christ and His ways.
How does Ezekeil 22 apply to modern day Christianity?
