Table of Contents
Bible reference
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children (Hosea 4:6 KJV).”
Meaning of my people perish for lack of knowledge
The part ‘my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge‘ is popularly rendered as ‘my people perish for lack of knowledge’. Hosea 4:6 means the same as it reads. Ignorance or lack of knowledge is one such destructive state. Many lives have been lost, many cruel deeds have been done, and many souls have perished on account of lack of knowledge. But God never wanted it to be so that is why He gave us his word. The following are some examples about Hosea 4:6 and it gives us a picture of how people perish from lack of knowledge:
The death of George Washington
For thousands of years, doctors treated sick people by a practice called ‘Bloodletting’. They would cut a vein and drain blood from the patient. Why? Because people thought that diseases started in the blood. So, by getting rid of some blood, it would help the sick person get well. In December of 1799, George Washington became very sick. His doctor bled him four times in one day. In a few hours, he died. Today, most doctors know that bleeding does not help a sick person; rather, it does just the opposite. That is because the blood carries to every part of the body the things we need to stay alive. Removing blood makes it harder for the blood that is left in the body to do its work. Sadly, the physicians in George Washington’s days did not know the truth about the blood though this truth was made available to them in the Bible. The Bible said in Leviticus 17:11: “… the life of the flesh is in the blood…” Apart from George Washington, many other people might have lost their lives through bloodletting; the saying is true that people perish for lack of knowledge.
Human sacrifice by the Mayans
One of the most barbaric ancient practices is human sacrifice; it was a widespread practice in many cultures all around the world. Not only is taking the life of a fellow human being wrong; but also the very method employed in human sacrifice was extremely callous. The whole practice of human sacrifice happened as a result of lack of knowledge. This act of ignorance cut the lives of many people short in the Maya kingdom in Mexico.
The Mayan fought many wars with their neighboring tribes. Through warfare, they seize and transport many captives back home. They convert some of the captives to slaves for labor and reserve the high-status captives for sacrifice. The captive is stretched on an altar face-up, and the priest cuts through the torso of the captive; while he is still alive, bleeding, and hurting the priest insect his hand into his body and reaches for his still-beating heart and plugs it as though he was plugging an apple.
Then the victim dies and his corpse is taken through other stages of the sacrifice such as the cutting of the skin and the muscles of the corpse’s face, etc. Aside from captives, Mayan natives, especially children, were victims of this human sacrifice. Other methods the Mayans employed in conducting human sacrifice were decapitation, bloodletting, and arrow shooting.
Why human sacrifice? Mayans believed blood was a source of food for their gods, and sacrificing living creatures was a source of blood. Though Mayans did sacrifice animals sometimes, human sacrifice was the best and the favorite way to offer blood to their gods such as Itzamna, Ix Chel, and Chaac. They did all these horrific practices as a result of the lack of knowledge. Why feed the gods? They feed the gods with the motive of ensuring the continued existence of the world.
This is what the Bible says about these Mayan gods who are fed with the blood of humans: “5 They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: 6 They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: 7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat (Psalm 115:5-7).”
These dummies of wood, stone, or metal which the Mayans worshiped are dead; they do not undergo any life process such as feeding, walking, etc. Even if the Mayans offer the bloody heart on a platter to their gods to eat, they cannot eat it. Neither can they drink nor lick the blood that was shed in their name. Yet the Mayans continued this barbaric practice for hundreds of years, destroying precious lives, until they themselves were finally destroyed by the Spanish. Truly, people perish for lack of knowledge.
Amputation of finger by the Dani tribe
The Dani people are from the central highlands of western New Guinea in the Indonesian province of Papua. This remote tribe has made headlines and drawn attention because of the weird part of their culture. If you look at the fingers of some of their women, especially, the older generation, you realize that the upper halves of some of their fingers have been amputated.
Why? This tribe grieves their dead and carries emotional pain to the extreme. When their loved ones such as their husbands, sons, etc. die, female members of the Dani tribe willfully have the upper half of their fingers amputated during the grieving period. This is also a religious ritual; they believe that by amputating their fingers, they keep the deceased person’s restless spirit away from haunting them.
This is what God has to say about what the Dani tribe has been doing: “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD (Leviticus 19:28).”
If only they knew the Scriptures, they would have been kind to themselves while grieving their dead. In the Bible, God strongly warned the Israelites not to cut any part of their body nor make any form of cutting on their bodies, nor make any tattoo mark on their bodies as a form of grieving their deceased loved ones. Unfortunately, this remote tribe does not know the Scriptures and for many centuries they have had their women hurt themselves this way. Indeed, people perish for lack of knowledge.
The menace of alcohol
Consumption of alcohol comes with a package of many problems ranging from health to social problems. Consumption of alcohol breeds many diseases such as alcoholic cardiomyopathy, stroke, alcoholic myopathy, alcoholic gastritis, cancer, alcoholic liver disease, and many more.
According to WHO, more than 3 million people died from the harmful consumption of alcohol in 2016. This represents 1 in 20 deaths. More than three-quarters of these deaths were recorded among men. Overall, the harmful consumption of alcohol caused more than 5% of the global disease burden. Many people, their families, and communities suffer the adverse effects of the harmful consumption of alcohol through violence, injuries, mental health problems, and diseases like cancer and stroke.
Of all alcohol-induced deaths, 28% was due to injuries, such as those from traffic crashes, self-harm, and interpersonal violence; 21% was due to digestive disorders; 19% was due to cardiovascular diseases, and the remainder was due to infectious diseases, cancers, mental disorders, and other health conditions. The consumption of alcohol does not add anything positive to one’s life; rather, it destroys and kills a person, ruins families, and creates more social problems.
What does God’s word say about alcohol: ‘Give strong drink (alcohol) unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts (Proverbs 31:6).’
Oh, so alcohol is for those who are ready to perish. The moment you start consuming alcohol, you should bear in mind that you are on the path of perishing and death may come through diseases, violence, or alcohol-induced accidents. Though Bibles are available everywhere, many people refuse to read them to know the truth; hence they perish for lack of knowledge.
Lack of knowledge in Christianity
The quest for quick solutions to life’s problems such as repelling spiritual attacks, getting a well-paid job, successful marriage, healing, etc.; and the quest for prosperity or the quest for becoming rich overnight; etc., coupled with lack of knowledge, have led certain professing Christians into the hands of some merciless wolves who call themselves pastors, prophets, etc. who take advantage of them and mislead them to do outrageous things.
Disclaimer: all pictures used in the post are not ours.