Lightsource

Lilith Fair: is your goddess a demon?

Somebody asked me: -What s a Lilith?” Lilith Fair, a concert by female rock musicians (Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Merchant, Liz Phair, and others), was being promoted on the radio, but nobody at the station could tell him what -Lilith” meant. He got concerned when he looked up -Lilith” in the dictionary and found -vampire, night demon.” This concert was meant to appeal to women?

Here s a description of the occult -goddess from a Lilith-friendly Web site:

Lilith appears in Jewish folklore as a demoness who throttles new-born babies and seduces men in their sleep, sucking their blood. Originally Lilith was probably the lilitu, an Assyrian demoness who had wings and long, disheveled hair. Her name was confused with the Hebrew word for night, layil, and so she was described as a night-fiend.

. . . Legend also has it that she was the first wife of Adam, created by God out of filth and mud. From Adam s union with her sprang the demon Asmodeus and hosts of other demons. Eve was not created until later. This story does not appear in the Bible, but justification for it was found in Genesis 5.3, which says that Adam lived 130 years and then begat a son in his own likeness, after his image on Eve. This was thought to imply that he had previously begotten sons, the demons, who were not in his own likeness and image.

I also found The Invocation of LilithtA Rite of Dark Sexuality. It describes Lilith as "a primal egregore of the dark anima. She is unfettered sexual dominance and power," and warns, "This invocation should not be attempted by those with little background in ceremonial magic, nor by those who harbor unresolved psychological problems related to sexuality."

The rite begins with the group statement, "It is our Will to invoke the egregore of Lilith, so that by her spirit we are liberated from the fear of Sex and Death and obtain her Word Of Power!" It escalates toward a chant of, "Lilith! Lilith! Lilith! Flesh she will eat, blood she will drink!" It confesses of her, "She is the irresistible fulfiller of all lust, seer of desire. First of all women was shetLilith, not Eve was the first! Her hand brings forth the revolution of the Will and true freedom of the mind! . . . Look on her in lust and despair!" Participants are to cut themselves and drip blood into wine to drink.

"If the invocation is successful," the rite says, "all participants should feel the emotions of simultaneous fear, lust and the urge to submit. . . . As they are overcome by these emotions, they should fall to the ground and prostrate themselves before Lilith" (embodied in the person of the "main operator" of the ritual).

"What proceeds next is not specified, but left up to the will of the egregore. She may choose to scourge the participants, or mock them or entice them or seduce them. She may command them to commit various acts of lust upon her or each other. All participants must submit to her will, whatever it may betit would be dangerous in the extreme to do otherwise; do not risk the wrath of Lilith!"

Lovely images, aren t they? So why would a group of modern women invoke the name of Lilith in titling their concert tour? Well, rock music and rock musicians have not been known to promote religious or even wholesome themes. Lilith has become a goddess-like figure to promote militant feminism and even lesbianism. I doubt every concert-goer at Lilith Fair knows that or notices that. Most just go for the music. But that s how ungodly ideas are introducedtin pleasing packaging.

I found a article in Newsweek interesting ("The Mommy Track," Newsweek Aug. 10, 1998). Liz Phair, one of the musicians, is now married and has a babytand it s changing some of her values and her lyrics. I don t expect too much to change. Music, a gift of God for praise, will continue to be used for all sorts of less-than-praiseworthy purposes. We as Christians always must be discerning in our choices of musictand of role-models.

David Sellnow, pastor at Shepherd of the Plains, Lubbock, Texas, and campus pastor at Texas TechtLubbock, is the editor of Lightsource.

Article reprinted from October 1998 Lightsource

Politically correct . . . or spiritually concerned?

There is a lot of talk these days about political correctness. Bill Maher s late night show, Politically Incorrect, has popularized the concept. But what does it mean to be politically correct? Basically, political correctness is speaking about people and issues with words acceptable to everyone.

The problem is, somebody always seems to be changing the rules about what terms are acceptable. It is a lot like what happens when you play a game with children. They love to change the rules on you. Not long ago I ventured into the backyard to play kick ball with three of my four boys. We divided up teams, the two older boys against Dad and little brother. My team did pretty well at first . . . and why wouldn t we? I was twice the size of every player on the field. After a couple of innings though, my oldest caught on. He began to make up rules that made things more fair, rules such as, "Dad has to kick with his left foot instead of his right foot." Suddenly the score became more even.

Trying to be politically correct in a world that keeps changing the rules can be frustrating. One used to refer to someone with legs that didn t work as a cripple. Then we were told to use the term "handicapped." But the word "handicapped" became a negative label. So, we were told to say "physically disabled." Now the word "disabled" is not universally acceptable. If you want to be politically correct, you need to say, "physically challenged."

What is a Christian supposed to do? Are we supposed to worry about being politically correct? First, remember that Christians operate in a completely different paradigm than the world. Our paradigm does not originate with a desire to be politically correct. It has to do with glorifying God. We want to say what is pleasing to God. That s spiritual correctness, not political correctness.

Sometimes being spiritually correct will make us say things that are politically correct. Referring to a person as "physically challenged" is a kind way to speak. If that is how a person wants to be addressed, why not do it? It shows Christ-centered love to address people in positive terms.

At other times, speaking the truth about a matter will make us avoid being politically correct. This happens often when we talk about homosexuality. God would never have us refer to homosexuality as an "alternative lifestyle." Why? Because it is not an acceptable alternative for any human being. God says it is a perversion. To call homosexuality deviant or a perversion or a sin is not politically correct at all these days. But that s okay. We obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).

But even in a paradigm in which we want to glorify God, we can find scriptural guidelines to guide us in relating with people in society. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Children of God are more concerned about what God thinks than what people may think. Years ago David showed that speaking with words that are spiritually correct before God was a top priority for God s people. "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD" (Psalm 19:14). David was more concerned with what God thought about his words than with what society thought. We are too.

2. Always ask yourself, "What is my motive for using politically correct speech?" For a Christian, motive is always more important than action. If our motive is love for people we will want to use terms that people recognize as encouraging and positive. In Colossians 4:5-6, the apostle Paul encourages us to speak carefully to people, with love as the motive: "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

The love motive becomes gospel motivation: we make the most of every opportunity to share Christ. That makes us careful how we act and talk. Paul was careful to be politically correct to gain an audience for his message about Jesus. He became a Jew to Jews and a Greek to Greeks (Corinthians 9:19-23). Always check your motives to see if it is a time to be politically correct or not.

3. Learn to listen to people to find out how they look at the world and themselves. Remember, the rules of political correctness are always changing. It is also true that not everyone knows all the "new" rules. We must listen to individuals so we can address them with words that they recognize as respectful and kind. Referring to a single woman as "Ms." might be offensive to some, while others really don t care if you use Miss or Ms. You simply have to get to know people before you will know what is a blessing or a curse to them. That s why we have to listen carefully and lovingly to each individual. If you are not sure what to say, it is always acceptable to ask. It shows you care. Proverbs 16:23 tells us, "A wise man s heart guides his mouth and his lips promote instruction." Gain as much insight as you can about people in your life so you can tell your mouth what to say. That s wisdom.

4. Finally, always remember that we Christians march to a much different drumbeat than the world. That drumbeat tells how God became human in order to make us spiritually correct before him. That drumbeat sounds forth God s truth instead of society s definition of correctness. That drumbeat begs for love in the heart rather than perfectly ordered terms. That drumbeat calls for patience and a listening ear rather than boorish, careless talk. That drumbeat is the drumbeat of our Savior, who listened carefully to the woman at the well (John 4), spoke scathingly to the Pharisees (Matthew 23), and had little children rushing to be near him (Matthew 21). Jesus loved everyone and reflected that love in everything he said and did. It determined how he spoke to each person or group.

As Christ lives in us, he will teach us how to love others as he loves . . . and how to talk to them too.

Don Patterson is pastor of Holy Word Lutheran Church, Austin TX. He spoke on political correctness at 1998 Campus Ministry rallies in Texas and Arizona.

Article reprinted from October 1998 Lightsource.