"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination." Leviticus 18:22
"You shall not round ff the hair of your temples or mar the edges of your beard. You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves; I am the LORD." Leviticus 19:27-28
"When a stranger sojourns with you in your land,you shall do him no wrong." Leviticus 19:33
Okay, what do these various Bible readings have in common? Well, they all come from the book of Leviticus, which outlined much of the will and commands of God pertaining to His people and how they should live with one another. They outline God's will and design for life in this world, which speaks to how He created us and what He look for from His creation.
Yet, one of our human tendencies is to look at certain parts of God's law and to see some of what He says as "more serious" than other matters. In the context of our life in the United States, the first prohibition has received a lot of attention in recent weeks, with the state defining marriage as it will be recognized in the nation. Rightly, Christians are worried about how far-reaching the state will seek to go in pushing that upon us.
Yet, I often find it interesting that we "play up" some specific commands while downplaying others. Think about the one above concerning the stranger in the land. You shall do him no wrong. Yet, I hardly see the fervor on the part of those who stress the vital importance of the command against homosexuality when it comes to seeing that immigrants among us are treated as fairly as the native of the land.
Could it be that we pick and choose particular sins to be outraged against, while we turn a blind eye to others? Could it be that we don't really want to look to our own sin in our own hearts, but rather find it more comforting to point out the obvious sins of others? Of course we do this. It's in our sinful nature to do so.
I do believe that we should all struggle greatly with the variety of commands that our God gives. Every single one of us fails to follow through on any number of these each and every day. And that, I believe, is really what Jesus points out for us in the Sermon on the Mount when He talks about trying to get the speck out of the other's eye, while ignoring the log in our own.
Tomorrow, I plan to post about how we can approach the whole command of God with humility, recognizing that we are called to correct one another when we stray from God's law, but always with the recognition that we ourselves are, as St. Paul wrote, the chief of sinners.
"You shall not round ff the hair of your temples or mar the edges of your beard. You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves; I am the LORD." Leviticus 19:27-28
"When a stranger sojourns with you in your land,you shall do him no wrong." Leviticus 19:33
Okay, what do these various Bible readings have in common? Well, they all come from the book of Leviticus, which outlined much of the will and commands of God pertaining to His people and how they should live with one another. They outline God's will and design for life in this world, which speaks to how He created us and what He look for from His creation.
Yet, one of our human tendencies is to look at certain parts of God's law and to see some of what He says as "more serious" than other matters. In the context of our life in the United States, the first prohibition has received a lot of attention in recent weeks, with the state defining marriage as it will be recognized in the nation. Rightly, Christians are worried about how far-reaching the state will seek to go in pushing that upon us.
Yet, I often find it interesting that we "play up" some specific commands while downplaying others. Think about the one above concerning the stranger in the land. You shall do him no wrong. Yet, I hardly see the fervor on the part of those who stress the vital importance of the command against homosexuality when it comes to seeing that immigrants among us are treated as fairly as the native of the land.
Could it be that we pick and choose particular sins to be outraged against, while we turn a blind eye to others? Could it be that we don't really want to look to our own sin in our own hearts, but rather find it more comforting to point out the obvious sins of others? Of course we do this. It's in our sinful nature to do so.
I do believe that we should all struggle greatly with the variety of commands that our God gives. Every single one of us fails to follow through on any number of these each and every day. And that, I believe, is really what Jesus points out for us in the Sermon on the Mount when He talks about trying to get the speck out of the other's eye, while ignoring the log in our own.
Tomorrow, I plan to post about how we can approach the whole command of God with humility, recognizing that we are called to correct one another when we stray from God's law, but always with the recognition that we ourselves are, as St. Paul wrote, the chief of sinners.
Yes, we are more quickly to judge others sinful ways than to judge our own. I find, for myself at least, I often worry more about how others may see or judge my sinful ways than focusing on how I have strayed from God's laws.
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