It is interesting here, that God gave to the Israelites and us this set of laws regarding the boundary of marriage, and most of them our culture follows. Incest, for example, is a horror and a shock to our culture. Zoophilia is something that we may here about once in awhile, but again it is usually not accepted. Culturally, it is not acceptable, but there are always exceptions to it. But my point here is, out of all laws given by God in this chapter, people aren't fighting to get zoophilia legalized. People aren't fighting for equal rights for those who commit incest. But when it comes to homosexuality, then it's a very sensitive issue, like abortion. People assume that you're on one side of the fence or the other. But what nonbelievers and some Christians don't understand, is that this belief is coming from human desire to change the rules to fit what we want to do. We don't want to be wrong, and we don't want to have to change. We find excuses, that God's word is meant to be interpreted to fit today's culture, that the people who teach it don't know what they are talking about and we know better than them. But the scriptures condemn this mindset. God's word is God's word, He made it, and it is not subject to change. Every word of God is flawless, and when we add our ideas and our thoughts about how it should be then we are condemned. We need to trust in God's word %100, and not question it, because we read in the Scriptures that nations were destroyed by God himself because of what they did. And which is worse? Committing one sin, and then repenting, or surrendering to the god of human logic and the god of culture, turning the back of a hardened heart to God, and committing who knows how much more sin until we are finally restored to repentance, if we are. Let us begin to apply the Word of God in our lives, so we can be better servants to this community and to ourselves.
2 comments:
Eric,
Thanks for your keen insight into the Leviticus passage. Though not common or generally accepted in our society, there are those who advocate as a "personal right" each of the sins listed in the passage, but as you observe, those sins have not risen to the level of cultural acceptance. Nevertheless, the logic of their advocates is the same as the logic of those who accept homosexuality as an acceptable practice. The logic is that the primary purpose of sex is pleasure. This notion has given rise to the contraceptive industry and the abortion industry.
The Bible points to procreation, not recreation, as the primary purpose of sex. In Genesis 1:28 God commanded Adam and Eve to "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it." A secondary purpose of sex is to create a bond between husband and wife (Genesis 2:24, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united (another way of translating this would be "stick to") his wife, and they will become one flesh."
This is not to deny that sex is pleasurable. However, pleasure is the attendant circumstance, not the purpose. Think of eating as a comparison. Is eating pleasurable? Well, I suppose that depends on what you eat! But assuming that you eat something you like, it is pleasurable. But is pleasure its purpose? If so, you would want to maximize the purpose of eating by maximizing what gives you the most pleasure--you would want to eat dessert all the time! That, of course, would be incredibly bad for your health. Obviously, the purpose of eating is to obtain healthy nutrition; pleasure is an attendant circumstance.
When procreation is properly understood as the primary purpose of sex, it is obvious that it must be between a man and a woman. Procreation produces a child. Studies have overwhelmingly shown that the best context for nurturing a child is in the context of the biological mother and father--a family. In countries where homosexual "marriage" has been legalized (e.g., Scandinavian countries), studies have shown that there has been a very negative effect on children.
There is a difference between having a desire, and acting on the desire. I may have a desire to eat junk food all the time, but for my own good I must restrain that desire! There has always been and will always be a need to restrain sexual desires. The Bible, nature, and history all agree that the proper context for fulfilling sexual desires is within the context of a lifelong relationship with someone of the opposite sex--i.e., marriage.
One of the problems of our modern culture is that we have elevated individual "rights" over the "common good." The US Constitution was established to "promote the general welfare." It is clear that biblical standards of right and wrong "promote the general welfare." It is also clear that asserting individual "rights" over those standards results in a lowering of the "general welface."
A Christian approach to this state of affairs is to affirm the biblical standards while remaining compassionate towards those who struggle with desires contrary to those standards. The apostle Paul must have taken that approach, because he writes in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."
Praise God that we can be transformed by Jesus and the Holy Spirit!
Thank you Dave, I very much enjoyed your comment.
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