19:2 - We are created in the image of God. If we are God's people, the only way we can be what we were truly made to be is if we are living reflections of God's holiness. Sin is our failure to reflect the holiness of God. But in honor of our love for God's perfection and His love for us, we do everything we can to be as much like Him as possible.
19:10 - It is important for us to highlight verses like this. Many times people look at the image of God in the OT and think He is harsh and heartless, but that is absolutely not the case. Yes, He holds his people, the Israelites, to a standard of holiness because of their covenant relationship with Him...but He consistently shows His heart for the poor and oppressed by commanding His people to think about those less fortunate than themselves. There are a lot of Christians that have a hard time with this today!
19:18 - Comment as to what you think it looks like to love someone like you love yourself.
19:28 - I laugh when people try to use this verse to show that tattoos are vile and sinful, because generally the people who use it in such ways have well groomed sideburns and and shapely beards (If they have them). You can't pick and choose pieces of bible verses to apply as you will. The heart of this passage is that Israelites were cutting their hair and getting tattoos to follow pagan cultic practices for "protection" and worship of false gods. Most of the people I know with tattoos, have tattoos that advertise their love for God.
19:34 - You should always remember the grace of God before you determine your status towards strangers, aliens and the poor. Hoe pitiful, broken, poor, lost and in a shambles were you (soul-wise) before God got a hold of you? Be gracious - show love - honor God with your life.
20:13 and 18 (NC-17 Warning: Seriously, this is going to be a bit graphic, I will try my best to tone it down, but it is an issue that needs to be addressed). There are some that look at these to verses and try to use 18 as an excuse participate in 13. Christians generally do not have a problem with or address the issue of a husband having sex with his with during her time of the month. If they don't believe that command is culturally relevant, does that mean the command against homosexuality is also irrelevant? No that's not what it means. First of all, look at the punishments for the two sins. Yes, being cut of from your people is bad, but it is not as bad as instant death for the "abomination" committed. 13 carries a heavier price. Secondly, in the NT the removal of ritual uncleanness as takes away the mandate for verse 18, making it a moot point. But throughout the NT homosexuality is condones as a practice that goes against God honoring sexuality. Finally, one of the reasons that laws like verse 18 were put in place go beyond just cleanliness...in Leviticus 20:18 the Hebrew word used to describe the menstruating woman actually comes across in English as "faint." Part of the reason God put this law into place was to offer women some rights and protection, so their husbands could not force them to have relations during their period (See, God is very forward thinking!)
20:24 - Here we see that the covenant is confirmed again - God is faithful to follow through on what He has promised...never forget that.
21:17ff - Again, this sounds really brutal and harsh on the part of God! People with uncontrollable birth defects are automatically rejected from priestly duties! Let me ask you something...how many professional NBA players do you know that have any performance undermining physical deformities? None! To perform the duties of an NBA player, they have to be highly skilled and in peak physical condition. The duties of the High Priest were the ultimate job in the Jewish world...they had standards that had to be met. The High priest needed to be a human mirror of the holiness and perfection of God. It's not about discrimination...it's about the requirements of the job. We even see that people from the priestly family who have birth defects are still welcome to eat the holy sacraments and take part in worship of God like all other Israelites, which again is very different from the typical treatment of special needs people in the ancient world.
3 comments:
hmm. I guess loving someone as yourself means putting as much effort into others as you put into yourself. but the big thing is that we've received the gift of Jesus and God's eternal love, the greatest love of all. And if we truly love others you will share this gift with them as well. Giving away money, food, and drilling wells in Africa means nothing if we aren't showing Christ to those people in need.
Matt you are a wise one for your age. As I am sitting here in Charleston contemplating what it means to love your neighbor as yourself, I have determined that there is a major problem with this in our culture today.
What percentage of the people today have a very poor self esteem, even Christians? I'm at times included in this. I never considered that when I have a poor self image it affects the way I love my neighbor. I don't want to love my neighbor like myself when I'm beating myself up, what kind of love is that, pitiful.
With this command in mind we should have an awesome self image of who we are in Christ (even though we can't avoid disappointing our selves we just can't stay there). We have to trust our self and forgive ourselves if we are to love our neighbors in a worthy manner.
Wow, I've never spent that much time thinking about that. Sweet. Thanks B.
Great comments guys - I love blogging with you!
- Brando
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