What concerns the prophets the most is the blatant disobedience to the covenant that Abraham first made with God. In Amos, he prophesied about the transgressions of each nation will or has committed and how God will punish them. Some of the transgressions are "threshing instruments of iron", "pursuing his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept wrath forever," "ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border," "burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime," "not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err," "sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes," "man and his father will go in unto the same maid", "profane my holy name," "lay themselves down up clothes laid to pledge by every altar," and "drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god." Overarching themes of transgressions are violence, lack of charity, incest(?), using the lords name in vain, and violating sacred areas.
Also, I noted that perhaps God disapproves of humans trying to do God's work. For example, Gaza "carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom." Maybe I misinterpreted the text, but I took it as that the people of Gaza were trying to be God in a way because God is the one to deliver the people. There are a lot of arguments today about physician aided death and abortion, which some argue that it is trying to play God. Even things like life support is controversial because technology is trying to override God's work. So where do we draw the line between helping people and playing God.
Another concern to the prophets is charity, which is very important for Christians and the BIble emphases it. Today Churches help raise money for the poor and provide food and shelter often for the homeless. They are also an advocate for the rights of the less fortunate and help raise awareness about their conditions. Essentially, Churches influence their followers to walk in the path of Jesus who was kind, generous, and helpful to everyone. Knowing that you are doing good and will be favored in God's eyes can be a good motivating force to do charity.
However, that can be seen as very selfish which was a concern back in the biblical times as it is now. A contemporary prophet would be concerned with greed and wealth, which is abundant in the U.S. Everyone wants the fastest cars and the finest jewelry and capitalism gives everyone the opportunity to accomplish that. By no means am I saying that capitalism is not the best for our country, on the contrary I think it's great that we live in a nation where everyone can pursue whatever they please. In addition, capitalism allows innovation and creativity to flourish because of the survival of the fittest mindset. I believe that it is the intense individualism that is rooted in our countries founding. We think in terms of how much money can I make for my family and what are the best policies to benefit me, whereas in other nations citizens are more community focused. For example, the asian culture believes in duty to your society so submission to authority is integral. Obedience is the glue that keeps the community intact and benefits everyone at the end. Another example is universal healthcare; during my last study abroad trip I studied healthcare all around the world and found that nations that due have universal healthcare don't mind that the more fortunate have to pay more based on income in order to subsidize for their fellow countrymen that are less fortunate. My uncle lives in Paris and said that the general public feels that welfare tax, you may call it, is part of their duty to their country and they actually feel compelled to pay it because it's part of being a good citizen. Selfishness and the lack of charity, I believe are two of the main concerns that contemporary prophets would have.
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