So i'm exhausted but Connect went ace I thought and I am definitely enjoying this more again so I need to keep up the pace! Starting work tomorrow in Runcorn so any prayers would be appreciated! Onto business then,
Today’s readings
Leviticus 17:1-18:30
Mark 14:17-42
Psalm 31:9-18
The first thing that strikes me is how God will speak to the Israelites when they need it. All of these laws come from God and He can be relied on to speak to us when we're at our most needy. What follows are the laws on blood in food. Now a lot of this is used by both Jehovah's Witnesses for justification not to have blood transfusions and by Muslims for how they prepare their meat. Now I think this shows the danger in being literal with every part of the Bible and not viewing it as a complete story within the context that it was written. Yes the Bible applies today but God wants us to pray and strive towards understanding Him, rather than just taking things at face value.
Then we have 20 verses that are a little too specific about incest. It makes me think of The Simpsons when God gives out the 10 commandments and how at each one someone's gutted. How mad were the Israelites that they couldn't keep their pants on around their family?! Again, God talks to us when we need it most and will steer us back towards Him with His word. Whether we choose to follow it is up to us but if we need the direction then God will provide it one way or another.
Verse 21 is weird. Time to Wiki who Molech is... Ok, apparently Molech was an idol with 7 tiers that people would fill with different animals including a human child in the top tier and then it would be burned. Yikes. God must face palm at how stupid humanity can be. This sort of stuff is obviously wrong to us but we must do wrong things that God feels just as infuriated about.
Verse 22 needs to be discussed and I genuinely can't cover all opinion. Is this a cut and dry verse banning homosexuality? I'm not sure myself. Personally I think it's not a verse to get hung up on. Homosexuality is not a person and we should first and foremost avoid condeming people for a sin when every sin is equal and why start the list there? I don't expect people to agree with me necessarily but personally I find it hard to think that God has created people's hearts with emotions that they can't change. They can choose not to act on them just as I can choose as a single man not to go lady hopping. But I can't start fancying guys just as a gay guy or girl can't change their mind. Hmmm... I'd imagine we'll return to this. Last thing on it is also to remember the cultural context that we have put all Leviticus in and many of the surrounding cultures were openly bisexual and promiscuous and God was so desperate to give His people an identity seperate from their surrounding, spiritual, influences. In fact the end of the chapter reinforces that with God stressing that the Israelites focus on their unique identity, centred on Him.
Into the New Testament we schlep and it interests me how Jesus knows when we will sin and actually will alert us to it. I think today we're seeing just how directly God can affect our life whether through direction, aid or even warnings. I love that Jesus sings in verse 26. 13 blokes, none of them trained singers, having a praise session without any instruments. Now there's your model for worship. It doesn't matter about quality but intent! Again Jesus warns His disciples against sleep, knowing that they'll fall asleep anyway. We get warned against behaviour all the time, even if it's just a feeling that we know something is wrong. And God also gets involved in Jesus life, giving Him a renewed sense of purpose and conviction in what He has to do. Direction, advice, help and warnings can all come from God. Hurrah!
Finally we continue our Psalm and we read about how enemies attack us and attempt to destroy our character. This might seem melodramatic but enemies can be people or just attitudes and behaviour we have. It can be Satan's demons trying to influence our minds and hearts. But we see the solution is focusing on God and His truth so that we can keep ourselves safe from the spiritual attacks.
And that's your lot for today. Previous song here. Questions, criticisms and comments welcome as always,
Jon
www.facebook.com/british.hedgehog
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