1.
First up, the most obvious Q that come to mind is that if large parts
of the Old Testament are only intended for now long dead tribes of
Jews, why is it still included in the Bible today? When the Nicene
council decided what to include and remove from (and some might say
add to) their new holy book, why not remove the parts that were no
longer relevant? If the Jesus story is all accurate, then the
decision to leave in the Law, with its verbiage as it is, has
resulted in thousands of years of confusion, suffering, and death
(‘thou shalt not suffer a witch to live’ comes to mind). If the
book is perfect, clearly these irrelevant passages should have been
redacted to reduce human suffering and death.
The truth is, that the things recorded
of these tribes were not recorded for them, but for the future. They
are recorded for us that we are able to see and understand the
purity and perfection of absolute Holiness. It is through these
stories and this history that we see the absolute, and severe,
nature of the holy requirements of God.
Look around you today. If we did not
have the stories of Israel and their interaction with GOD, we would
not be able to see what is happening in the world today and
understand it. But, by seeing that this is how GOD relates to HIS
children, we see a perfect loving Father who disciplines HIS
children to keep them in line with what is best for them. If you do
not understand the holiness of GOD, and if you do not understand how
Christians relate to the Israel of that time, then you cannot see
why the things that are chastising us and punishing us today fit in.
As JESUS stated, HE didn't come to
abolish the law but that through HIM the law might be fulfilled.
Salvation through the shed blood of JESUS the CHRIST has paid the
eternal/spiritual price for sin. But, the relationship with GOD in
the physical world is still based in the promises that require a 2
sided relationship. GOD has said, “IF you will do this......I will
do this”
2.
Also (this is somewhat of a side tangent) – what was the purpose
of making a group of people live under such tormentous and dogmatic
principles as the Law, just to undo it two thousand years later? Are
we to believe that these rules were absolutely necessary in 500 BC,
but were no longer needed in 35 AD? What changed that made 35 AD the
proper time to offer a reprieve to humanity that couldn’t have
been offered earlier? The only people abiding by the Law were the
Jews, anyhow, but the sacrifice was purportedly good for everyone,
including people on the other side of the planet. And, what did
people do before the Law was written? What did the Greeks do, or the
Sumerians? Are we to believe that human civilization had not only
survived but flourished for thousands of years while under the
impression that murder and adultery were morally permissible?
The law of GOD is not a torment or
difficult. They reflect the holiness of GOD and what it would take
to be as holy. They are a road map to achieving the perfection of
GOD in order to live with HIM. What they actually did was show
people that there was no way for them to be as holy as GOD. In fact,
no person on Earth is able to be as holy as GOD.
GOD chose to raise a people to
Himself. HE gave them the laws and the precepts and the revelation
of Himself for the purpose of showing who HE is to the world. The
other nations do not matter. GOD has a love and commitment to those
who are HIS people. The promise of a Savior was to Israel alone.
But, in the promise, GOD also included a salvation of the gentiles.
JESUS is the Savior raised up to graft in the gentiles. HIS return
will fulfill The promises of GOD to Israel.
The problems Israel faced as a result
of a failure to live up to the commandments of GOD were not based in
a failure to keep the laws, it was in having a complete disregard
for the GOD who raised them up.
As far as when or why, GOD has His
time table and He does things accordingly. The very real truth of
GOD has well been stated by you. HE chose Israel and let the other
nation flourish. GOD created a perfect world. Just as drug dealers
and sinners flourish today. They exist outside of the law of both
GOD and man. Law doesn't establish a nation, GOD does. With Israel,
GOD chose to raise that nation up to reflect Him, that He might show
His power and grace and fatherly chastisement. What the other
nations did, they did. GOD chose Israel to be the object of His
love. Of all the families on the Earth, GOD loved Israel and so, of
all the families on the Earth, GOD punished Israel for their
inequities. We do not see that with any other nation.
You might say that the other nations
are better off for it. If all you have is carnal reasoning and you
measure by worldly life, then that might be true. But, Israel was
the recipient of the greatest gift and they rejected it.
However, this life and this creation
is not what it is all about. It is about eternity. In the grand
scheme of eternity, what GOD has done here on this blue ball is to
establish a people that will be with Him for ever. With those that
He created to be with Him forever, He also created the others. He
created those who are the object of His love and those who are not.
All for His purposes.
Yes, it was common for murder and
adultery to flourish. The strong did what they wanted and women had
no status. It was the norm for people to have a wife and still go
whoring around. Solomon, the king of Israel, had 800 wives and 1,300
concubines. It was very common. The non-Jewish people in JESUS' time
put their newborn, unwanted babies on the red hot arms of an alter
to sacrifice them. We abort them today. But, it is the same basic
concept, worship sex and kill the offspring.
3.
Most importantly, whether or not Jesus paid the price for our sins
is irrelevant to the question of determining moral boundaries.
Jesus’ sacrifice didn’t remove the boundaries of ‘moral’ and
‘immoral’, it only purports to have removed the eternal death
penalty for immoral actions. The lines that define ‘moral’ and
‘immoral’ still exist as defined throughout the Bible, whether
or not we have to suffer the full consequences of those actions.
True. In fact, Christians, in many
ways, have a greater requirement to the moral constructs of the
scriptures. Christians have a moral obligation to a law of love that
far exceeds the written law.
4.
Therefore, the problem I proposed still exists. You may turn a blind
eye to the rock theft, and rightly so, but you don’t have the
authority to do so under Biblical principles. Whether or not this
child and I would be held spiritually culpable for that action is
irrelevant – the Bible provides strict, black and white right and
wrongs and this theft is deemed a ‘wrong’. Without Jesus’
sacrifice in play, that action would’ve been worthy of eternal
death under Old Testament Law (and elsewhere repeated), because the
Bible does not grant you the freedom to update its definitions. This
is only something man made moral boundaries can do; the rules in the
Bible were set in stone 2,000 years ago and are not negotiable.
NO doubt about it. Theft is theft.
Turning a blind eye to it is wrong as well. Now, did she know it was
theft? If so, then it is also a sin. Sin is in place when intent is
in place. As George Carlin would say, “You have to wanna”. So,
you being complicit is sin, but her doing it in innocence is not.
This is why there is a Bible. It teaches us right and wrong. Until
she is taught right and wrong, there is no guilt. Where there is no
law, there is no transgression. It is a shame you did not take this
moment to teacher these things.
It is also the very reason for the
law. The law shows us the requirements of absolute holiness. Most
important, the law shows us that we have all sinned and fallen short
of the holiness of GOD. So, the law shows us we need a savior. The
prophesies of the Old Testament show us that JESUS was the promised
Savior who fulfilled the law.
5.
This is why the problem with homosexuality still exists. Jesus’
sacrifice may purport to remove the punishment for homosexuality,
but it does not grant us the freedom to deem homosexuality as moral
(or amoral). It is, and will forever be, immoral in the eyes of God,
because God doesn’t offer Biblical writ updates or clarifications.
Whatever is in the Bible is in the Bible, and any advancements we
make in our thinking are either elections to ignore parts of the
Bible or massive leaps to fit the Bible’s texts into our modern
day understanding.
This is quite true. Sin is sin and it
will always be sin. It is GOD who sets a person free from sin and GOD
who may choose not to. IN the end, JESUS is a come as your are
savior. There is no doubt that a person who is saved will have a
great struggle with the sins they are captive to. However, it is no
greater sin than failure to tythe to your church. In fact, failure to
tythe is far more an act of the will than being a homosexual. There
are too many people willing to overlook their own sin in order to
look at someone else.
The idea that our current evolution of
the social norms is an advancement is debatable. Moral decay is not
advancement of improvement. It is moral decay. As we get closer and
closer to the end times, moral decay will be more prevalent. In large
part, this is do to spiritual sickness that has invaded the church.
The one who holds back evil is all but gone and evil reigns in our
churches and our society. Christians could change that by humbling
themselves and prayer. But, I have read the book and I know this is a
necessary part of the plan.
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