February 6th, Leviticus 16-18
Day of Atonement has a lot going on. A goat being sacrificed, the scapegoat heading off to the wilderness, and the expectation of people doing nothing on this day like a Sabbath. The goat that is put out into the wilderness is bearing the sin of all(nice foreshadowing ). The other part I find exciting is that this atonement is what cleanses us. A sacrifice is what cleanses us. I think I read about that elsewhere, like God's plan has a common theme.
Chapter 17 sounds like goats were being sacrifices to other gods. Sounds like a new rule... If you can't sacrifice it to God don't sacrifice it at all. Which isn't a new rule right. If you we're ever wondering about the blood, God says the blood equals life, don't eat the blood. I guess blood sausage is out.
Chapter 18 a discussion about nakedness breaks out. The first thing I noticed is an affirmation of marriage and the oneness of two. Father/Mothers nakedness are not just their but each others. That doesn't get mentioned concerning anyone else. There is a list of sexually perverse things not allowed. Don't have sex with your neighbors wife , offer children to Molech(read sacrifice them to), have homosexual relations, nor with animals.
Hard question for the day... Since we don't enforce Chapter 15, why do we choose to enforce the mandate against homosexual behavior?
Please don't leave nasty comments about this. Come up with a legit, articulate expression. Where is Gods heart in all of this?
People love to believe they know what God wants, that most of leviticus is irrelevent to nowadays like unkosher animals, we can eat them now because we know how to prepare them in a safe manner (if you've ever taken a foods class, they're still the ones that need the most careful storage and preparation) but people can't find a reason for why homosexuality was banned then, so that means it should be banned now. As for chapter 15, I think that's just because back then people not only didn't have proper ways of taking care of illnesses, but they didn't know how to keep things from being spread, they didn't have the proper clothing and were probably, grossly, leaving things behind on everywhere they sat and lay. So then everyone who could have picked something up by laying or sleeping would be physically unclean.
ReplyDeleteAs for the thoughts on some of leviticus matters, but other parts don't, how do you feel?