Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them: When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them? I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her? I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15:19- 24. The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense. Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians? I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself? A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here? Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die? I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves? My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? - Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14) I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.
I LIVE IN CANADA, SO THIS IS NOT OKAY. Why a Canadian slave? Mexicans are more motivated. Take that in mind when slave browsing.
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2016 4:28 am
This seems like satire and/or ridicule/mocking to me.
Quote:
When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
No Christian with a basic understanding of the Bible would ask this. Maybe an atheist or several looking to ridicule. There are people out there with personal investments in making Christianity/Christians look stupid.
Here's a quote from one of the leading atheist voices of our time, Richard Dawkins;
“mock them, ridicule them, in public … with contempt,”
It seems to be a very popular attitude to sport online; an attitude like that of Dawkins.
I can attest to the fact that this is satire. The same message was copy-and-pasted to me by a non-Christian in response to a comment I made a year ago on YouTube (where I was correcting Voddie Baucham's pick-and-choose theology, under his "Is Gay the New Black?" sermon).
Someone got angry because I was correcting "cherry-picking"—thus identifying it as unstable for Christians to ignore everything that YHWH calls abomination. I was actually agreeing with the whole Bible and YHWH's Commands; but they still tried that response on me (their mistake). I don't think they read my initial comment; otherwise, they would not have assumed I was one of those hypocrites.
I replied, in detail, (it took a four-part reply because of the character limits on YouTube) but the person just got angry, offended, and called me a moron—would not engage with what is actually Biblically documented at all, or own up to how they were ignoring what the Commands actually say (the satire is made up of erroneous paraphrasing that atheists like to parrot in place of what the Commands speak). emotion_sweatdrop
I'll post in a spoiler below the genuine answers to these questions (I didn't know he wasn't sincere; so I'm addressing him and his replies as if he were a believer):
Quote:
Yes, remind them of Leviticus 18:22. Like everything else our Heavenly Father calls abomination, there is detriment to our bodily systems involved for not adhering to the command (not referring to punishment for breaking the command, but not living by the command itself leads you into danger, you're not shielded from harm in that area of your life), be it viewable to the naked eye or microscopic / internal; for example, microscopically, inviting pathogens into your body because of the mis-use of the bodily organs, or interacting with something that you were never meant to interact with in a certain way; introducing bacteria, that, had you obeyed YHWH, would've never found it's way in there; compromising the function of an organ with prolonged mis-use; ruining marriages because of a fleeting carnal desire, et cetera, et cetera. The Law of our Heavenly Father also defines the merited response for violations against His creation. Some acts are so grievous and life-impairing against a blameless one that one forfeits their own life for having committed the act against YHWH's blameless creation. Whether the elders/judges in the courts choose to have mercy (or not) on the guilty party is another matter. But the law states what is merited.
To demonstrate the New Testament cohesiveness, you should also provide the New Testament passages condemning same sex lusts...
• Romans 1:26-27 (NIV)
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
... also helpful, the New Testament affirmation that sins, which our Heavenly Father views as capital crimes (thus are met with death by stoning), are acts that are still wrong to do today, and thus, behavior and lusts we need to turn away from.
• Romans 1:32 (NIV)
32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Jesus' first coming was about getting people reconciled and forgiven—thus telling people to turn away from their sins so that they avoid the natural detriment they invite into their life by not living by the commands, in addition to avoiding the punishment for violating the commands. Whether avoiding the sin, or avoiding the punishment of the sin, death avoided in either case (not just physical death, but also the second death that awaits).
When Jesus comes back, however, the unrepentant will receive something much worse than a physical stoning if they have decided against turning turn away from their wicked lusts and wicked interactions with YHWH's creation.
• 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 (NIV)
6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well.This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might
And even before then, Jesus will send judgments against many nations for their behaviors, to make them turn back from their evil ways.
• Revelation 9:20-21 (NIV)
20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Just like YHWH in the Old Testament: Jesus, the Lamb of God—who is opening the seals that send forth disaster in the book of Revelation—promises to send out the sword (fighting, war), famine , plague and wild beasts to attack. Thus, death to the people of the earth who don't repent.
• Revelation 6:78 (NIV)
7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
Identical to what YHWH, our Heavenly Father, promises against us when we refuse to walk in His commands.
SWORD
• Leviticus 26:23-25 (NIV)
23 “‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, 24 I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. 25 And I will bring the sword on you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands.
• Deuteronomy 28:25 (NIV)
25 The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth.
FAMINE
• Deuteronomy 28:38-42 (NIV)
38 You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. 39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. 40 You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. 41 You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. 42 Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.
PLAGUE
• Deuteronomy 28:21-22 (NIV)
21 The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. 22 The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish.
• Deuteronomy 28:27-28 (NIV)
27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. 28 The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind.
SENDING WILD BEASTS TO ATTACK
• Leviticus 26:21-22 (NIV)
21 “‘If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. 22 I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.
Like I've been showing you in the Scriptures, the Father and the Son are the same. What Jesus sends forth in the book of Revelation is identical to what the Father sends forth. I'm not cherry-picking. I accept all of Him. He is merciful but He is also just. Those who stubbornly live in sin, doing things to His creation that He does not approve of, will not receive mercy—even His Church.
• Revelation 2:18-23 (NIV)
18 “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
20 Nevertheless,I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
That said, despite the apparent rancor in your tone, I'll sincerely address the concepts of the law you don't know how to apply. After this, I expect you would want to obey the command of Jesus—your Messiah and King who seeks to protect you—when He commands you to obey what is read from Moses' seat.
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[continued...pt. 2]
Sacrifices
YHWH prohibited the Israelites from offering sacrifices anywhere they liked once they inherited the promised land. On the journey to the promised land, they used the tabernacle. During David's reign that became the temple, but the animal sacrifices always have to be sacrificed at the designated place.
• Deuteronomy 12:8-13 (NIV)
8 You are not to do as we do here today, everyone doing as they see fit, 9 since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. 10 But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety. 11 Then to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name—there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord. 12 And there rejoice before the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no allotment or inheritance of their own. 13 Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please.
Even after Jesus' once and for all sacrifice, the apostle Paul continued to make animal sacrifices; and when he did so, the apostle Paul would have to travel to Jerusalem to do it because that is where the bronze altar is located (you can't sacrifice wherever you like if you're obeying the commands that are read from Moses' seat):
• Acts 20:16 (NIV)
16 Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.
During the Festival of Pentecost (which is the Greek name for the Hebrew “Shavuot” / “Feast of Weeks” described in Leviticus 23:15-22), grains and male lambs are sacrificed.
That's not the only example. Here's a more explicit one: After Acts 20, in the chapter that follows (Acts 21), once in Jerusalem, the apostle Paul also schedules the sacrifices for those completing their Nazirite Vows (whose offerings are described in detail in Numbers 6 [the Book of Numbers, chapter 6]; this includes shaving off their hair as part of the offering, along with some grain and animal offerings. Paul complies with this as a visible demonstration that he is not speaking against living in obedience to the Law of Moses, and that anyone insinuating otherwise was passing on a false rumor (and what is insinuated: they are someone obviously not understanding his argument in his letters and in his debates because he's not against living in obedience to the Law of Moses).
• Acts 21:20-26 (NIV)
20 When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21 They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. 22 What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, 23 so do what we tell you.There are four men with us who have made a vow. 24 Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. 25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.” 26 The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.
...(like I said in my original comment, in reply to this sermon, Paul's epistles get distorted to support living lawlessly; people were mishandling his very specific arguments to suggest that Paul taught against keeping the Law of Moses—which is the Law of our Heavenly Father—and that couldn't be further from the truth. It was a false rumor).
But not to lose the thread: we're only allowed to make animal sacrifices in Jerusalem. Even Jesus was sacrificed in Jerusalem.
Your neighbors wouldn't be smelling bull sacrifices if you were actually being obedient to the whole law, what's preached from Moses' seat.
And hypothetically-speaking, let's say you were disobediently offering sacrifices in your backyard, I doubt your neighbors would complain because of the smell: it would smell no different than a BBQ. The animal is roasted over an open flame on the bronze altar, which is like a grill. The Law of God does not talk about smiting people because they don't like the smell of roasted meat. You're being flippant—not to mention hostile and irreverent to the commands of Jesus' Father, whom is our Father (and your Father as well if you truly accept the biblical Jesus).
Selling Your Daughter as a Slave
If you were poor, aging, and no one wanted to marry your daughter, thus you're worried about securing her livelihood after you pass or you're too poor to provide for her needs during your lifetime, yes it is lawful to sell her into slavery (it is servanthood; there's nothing inherently immoral about a person living on someone else's property, helping them tend their crops, carry out their household tasks [cooking, cleaning, babysitting], or manage their livestock [like a farmhand]). The alternative is she sells herself into the emotionally and physically-detrimental lifestyle of a prostitute to get enough money to live; she is not skilled in a craft (otherwise, she would not need the option of slavery; and obviously, if you are considering selling your daughter off into slavery, you're not rich, and cannot afford to meet her basic needs). Your lack of trust in YHWH is the reason you cannot see the love behind this command. It's protective and looking out for the good of all involved. The price shouldn't be your concern, but seeking someone who will meet the needs of your daughter—the whole intention behind this command.
Menstruation
Do not come into contact with menstrual blood. That is the pathogen-containing substance you are not to touch which YHWH, through His commands, seeks to guard you and others from. Women used menstrual rags, which they had to sit still on, because they did not have sanitary napkins that self-adhere to clothing. For example,
• Genesis 31:35 (NIV)
35 Rachel said to her father, “Don’t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I’m having my period.” So he searched but could not find the household gods.
She has to sit down. Though she was not telling the truth about being on her period, her father did not find it unusual that, had Rachel actually been on her period, she could not stand up. The rag had to be sat on to prevent a mess, blood running down her legs and dripping onto everything she walked on or sat on. That said, rags are not “leak proof” either and once it became saturated it would drip and absorb onto whatever she was sitting on; so anything the menstrual blood came into contact with would render you unclean (contaminated by a pathogen; blood is carrier for disease; thus the commands to guard against coming into contact with it). The command does not tell you to ask women if they're menstruating. So alleviate yourself of that misconception.
Foreign Slaves
Since no nation but Israel worshipped YHWH, there is “citizen / non-citizen” terminology, and distinction, made between slaves. The citizen (the Israelite / the person in Covenant with YHWH) cannot be enslaved forever; they can only work as a mere indentured servant who serves for 6 years to pay off their debt and is released of their debts in the seventh year guaranteed (and not sent away empty handed)—whether they paid the debt back fully or not—because that is the Year of Cancelling Debts as promised by YHWH to fellow Israelites / fellow citizens / fellow covenant keepers (the whole point [of why] they sold themselves into slavery was to be able to pay back a debt they owed). In light of Gentiles being grafted into Israel, Gentiles who are grafted into Israel as citizens are to be treated as native-born. They're in Covenant with YHWH too now. So if we're talking about a nation that submits to YHWH's law, as the law of the land, fellow believers in Covenant with YHWH are treated as indentured servants if they sell their physical labor to you in order to pay off their debts.
But “foreigners”, non-citizens / thus non-believers, people who are not in Covenant with YHWH (again because Israel was the only one worshiping the Most High), the Law does not require you to grant them freedom from their service to you. But you can hire labor from both foreigners (non-citizens) and citizens (fellow believers) alike. The added benefits of release and not going off empty handed is for the citizen, the fellow covenant/law-abiding citizen. The heart purpose is to not enslave your fellow citizens the way you do a foreigner (non-citizen) because you want your nation to thrive above all others; you don't want a nation full of people indebted to one another / other citizens, but a nation full of people whom non-citizens seek to borrow from; can't do that if you're enslaving your own people for life.
• Deuteronomy 28:13 (NIV)
13 The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.
That is the promise to the nation who obeys YHWH.
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continued... pt 3]
Sabbath Stoning
Stoning to death, as capital punishment, is something done strictly in a nation who has submitted to the Law of God as the law of the land. I doubt you're living in such a country. Had you been, that adult who wants to work on the Sabbath, would not choose to live there if they did not agree to come into covenant with YHWH. Secondly, it's not you personally stoning anyone: you must bring the criminal to the elders (equivalent to the courts/justice system) to receive their capital punishment.
By the way, no one gets put to death at the testimony of one person, but two to three truthful witnesses. If the witness turns out to be lying, they get killed instead. There is zero tolerance for putting a blameless person's life at risk. Justice will be done.
• Deuteronomy 17:6 (NIV)
6 On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.
• Deuteronomy 19:18-20 (NIV)
18 The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, 19 then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party. You must purge the evil from among you. 20 The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you.
Degrees of Abominations
No, there isn't. Literally eating an unclean animal is no different than penetrating bodily organs not designed for sex to your own detriment and someone else's. Like I stated in my original reply above, YHWH finds it both detestable.
And so does Jesus.
• Revelation 18:2 (NIV)
2 With a mighty voice he shouted:
“‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’[a] She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal.
Footnotes:
a. Revelation 18:2 Isaiah 21:9
The Book of Revelation is a vision which Jesus gave to John (after Jesus had ascended into the sky). Jesus quotes Isaiah, re-emphasizing the truth that YHWH had spoken through the prophet Isaiah—that literal unclean animals are unclean (go figure). When something was unclean in the Old Testament, it was because it was a carrier of a pathogen. Though the spiritual applications were there (for whoever had eyes to see it), the reference to something being unclean was not so much focused on the spiritual principle illustrated by it, as it was for the biological protection. Jesus, in the New Testament, helps us see the spiritual level (unclean attitudes and unclean thought-life which defile you from the inside out); but the spiritual layer of interpretation does not override nor negate what conforms to reality: that those animals are still hazardous on a practical level.
The nature and function of these animals have not changed, unlike the nature of a Gentile changes when they come to Christ (Gentiles leave their former, worldly, contrary-to-YHWH, ways behind [assuming they actually obey Jesus' commands to obey what is preached from Moses' seat]), but these animals have not changed; they still function as living garbage cans—they are the "clean up crew" of the ecosystem).
Lobsters, still to this day, like other unclean animals, feed on toxic substances—either directly, or indirectly (because they feed on animals who do)—the toxic substance being one of two things: "carrion" (the decaying flesh of dead animals), which releases putrescine and cadaverine during decomposition. This is not good for you. Animals that do this, for example, crabs eat the corpses of decaying sea gulls they find in the sand, vultures eat rotted roadkill, sea urchins eat the remains of decomposing fish on the ocean floor, as do shrimp, pigs eat decaying insects [and their own poop...], etc. Or two, they filter out other "disease-causing agents" from the environment (like bivalves do—e.g. oysters, mussels, and clams filter out pathogens from the ocean water, even pesticides; so they have these pesticides in them when you consume them). And Lobsters feed on these.
So, to eat unclean animals, not in symbol but literally, even to this day, is to seek our own detriment. They don't give us unclean thought and attitudes. But they contain toxins and pesticides. Thus why YHWH said to consider it abomination for us [mankind] to eat those animals. Aside from intoxicating ourselves [with pesticides and the like] for eating them, if the animals which YHWH created to clean out the ecosystem are being eaten, that means they're not carrying out their clean-up/filtering job in the environment—they're not there; thus, pathogens are left to pollute the environment which means even we get diseased, as do clean animals (and thus us, again, get diseased in turn: we feed on the clean animals, but the clean animals are being intoxicated by the lack of living unclean animals on earth carrying out the function that YHWH programmed them to do). It's like people eating the filter of an air conditioner because they find it tasty. But not only do they jeopardize their own health for doing so, they leave the rest of the house without filtration; thus, causing the rest of the members of the household to become sick because nothing is there, relatively speaking, to block the pollen, dust, other agitators to our organs.
What people fail to grasp about Jesus' conversation with the Pharisees (in Matthew 15 / Mark 7) is that Jesus is not doing away with the Father's definitions of unclean / clean, but the Pharisees' definitions which had started to override what the Law said. Kept in context: the whole conversation prior to that point is about rebuking the Pharisees for not submitting to the commands of the Father as they are written in the Old Testament. The Pharisees were making the unclean / clean distinctions way harsher than what Leviticus and Deuteronomy actually read. Because, to the Pharisees, it did not suffice that God declared something clean (and thus food), but you had to partake in their handwashing ritual (called netilat yadayim), where you pour water over one hand, recite a blessing, pour water over the other hand recite a blessing, so on and so forth; otherwise, they would consider your hands defiled and by extension anything you touched became defiled (unclean) too, even if it was something the Law calls clean (thus food) for mankind to eat.
• Matthew 15:1-9 (NIV)
15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]”
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 15:4 Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16 b. Matthew 15:4 Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9 c. Matthew 15:9 Isaiah 29:13
People over-generalize certain passages without being aware of the existence of other details or verses—even in the very same chapter that they think supports the eating of unclean animals; so, as a result, they come away with an erroneous interpretation (a lawless one). If the interpretation is lawless, it is wrong and, guaranteed, a detail is not being given attention. Or they're taking a symbol and trying to make it literal (e.g. drinking wine, in representation of Jesus' blood, does not now make the literal consumption of blood safe to do. We're not even eating literal blood [which is unclean to eat; blood carries pathogens]—it is wine, in symbolic representation of Jesus' atoning sacrifice. Likewise, the unclean animals in Peter's vision is not the approval / green light to go ahead and eat unclean animals literally; it is a symbolic for something else—accepting believers from all nations, not literally approving of the eating of unclean animals. Unclean animals are still a risk to the well-being of your physical body (though obviously they have no bearing on your sinful thoughts which come out of your heart / mind). When reading passages like Acts 10, 1 Timothy 4:1-5, Mark 7:19, or even Romans 14, if people don't define words by how they appear biblically, they'll gloss over the argument that is actually being made. Here too, the eating of unclean animals is not supported. If you're interested to know what those ignored details are, in all those chapters I just listed, I'll link you up to a forum thread addressing them in-depth: http://goo.gl/fps57O
So, yes, homosexuality is just as much an abomination to YHWH (and Jesus) as the eating of unclean animals is. It is a detestable interaction with His creation that leads to your own and someone else's detriment in body.
[continued below... ▼]
[continued... pt 4.]
Defects and Approaching the Altar
If you can't see well, then you can't guide the people well, and you may not offer the sacrifices as a priest in the Levitical Priesthood, neither on the bronze altar (where animal sacrifices are cooked) nor the gold altar (where incense is offered). Just as Jesus is spotless, without imperfection and sinless, the priesthood was held to a higher standard if they were going to guide the people and intercede on behalf of the people. The priest had to be fully able-bodied to carry out his tasks, no mistakes, or he gets struck down dead—like Nadab and Abihu. The priest cannot be faulty or defected, neither in discernment or body.
Physical disabilities aside, you don't fit the criteria to serve as priest in the Levitical priesthood for much more than just that: you must be a direct descendant of Aaron.
• Numbers 3:10 (NIV)
10 Appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests; anyone else who approaches the sanctuary is to be put to death.”
The Levitical priesthood was given to him. Even if you were a descendant of Abraham or Moses (the latter of whom is a Levite), nope, you must be Aaron's descendant in order to be a Levitical Priest.
About Trimming Hair
To quote the verse:
• Leviticus 19:27 (NIV)
27 “‘Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.
Like every other command set forth in the book of Leviticus, this is to establish a clear distinction between YHWH's holy (set-apart) believers, and the rest of the nations / groups of people who worship other gods / don't worship the Most High. It would be deceptive to take on their appearance—and, considering the parallel verses, these are spiritually-significant hairstyles of the pagans that YHWH is prohibiting.
• Deuteronomy 14:1-2 (NIV)
14 You are the children of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, 2 for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.
They are suppose to be unlike the world, unlike the other nations in their spiritual practices and way of living. That these are parallel verses is clear because Leviticus 19:28 (one verse after Lev 19:27 that you cited) also mentions a prohibition against the cutting of oneself for the dead (cutting yourself because of emotional distress brings no benefit; you're just opening yourself up to infection). We are not to be like them, nor adopt their spiritually-significant customs.
Touching Footballs
The hide of an animal is not the same thing as their decaying corpse (which is what a carcass is); your football is not in a state of decay. A carcass leaks hazardous bodily fluid as it decomposes (again, putrescine and cadaverine), not to mention whatever contents leak out of the organs when the creature dies.
• Leviticus 11:7-8 (NIV)
7 And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. 8 You must not eat their meat or touchtheir carcasses;they are unclean for you.
And it wasn't just the carcass of unclean animals. Even those animals that YHWH set apart (consecrated) in His word as food for us, thus clean animals, their decaying body (carcass) is not hygenic / not conducive to our well-being to come in contact with.
• Leviticus 11:39-40 (NIV)
39 “‘If an animal that you are allowed to eat dies, anyone who touches its carcass will be unclean till evening. 40 Anyone who eats some of its carcass must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening. Anyone who picks up the carcass must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening.
Like I mentioned before, when specific word choice is glossed over, the specific argument flies over people's head.
Mixing Seed
The commands listed in Leviticus 19:19, if violated, do not call for stoning to death; it is not a capital crime like blaspheming, idolatry, adultery or sexual immorality. The consequence of this, you do to yourself by not living in adherence to it: because doing such a thing adversely affects the flowers, crops, nutritional value and soil health in the long run. And thus to your animals (and yourself) when you ingest these hybridized crops as your food.
But the reason of the prohibition was probably deeper:for those who have studied the diseases of land and vegetables tell us, that the practice of mingling seeds is injurious both to flowers and to grains."If the various genera of the natural order Gramineæ, which includes the grains and the grasses, should be sown in the same field, and flower at the same time, so that the pollen of the two flowers mix,a spurious seed will be the consequence, called by the farmers chess. It is always inferior and unlike either of the two grains that produced it, in size, flavor, and nutritious principles. Independently of contributing to disease the soil, they never fail to produce the same in animals and men that feed on them" [Whitlaw].
Weaving a Garment Woven from Two Different Kinds of Fabrics
In light of its sister verse, the reason this prohibition exists becomes self-evident:
• Deuteronomy 22:11 (NIV)
11 Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.
Taking two threads, of two different fabrics that serve two different purposes, to weave them together as one, gives you a useless garment. Wool warms up. Linen cools down. If you make an article of clothing interwoven of both, then it won't meet your needs: in hot weather, the linen garment can't cool you down nor release heat because of the wool (trapping heat) that has been mixed in. In cold weather, the wool garment can't warm up and trap heat because of the linen (which releases heat / cools down) that has been mixed in, so you won't get warmed up sufficiently in cold weather. It's best to make a garment interwoven of two threads that are 100% of the same kind of fabric, because then you'll know it is 100% dedicated to achieving a certain function, not divided, not lukewarm, thus you don't have to deal with compromised effectiveness. But have full effectiveness. Every fiber of that garment is in agreement, on every level, working towards that one function in complete oneness / unity, nothing contrary to that function is present.
I take it you have been sarcastic throughout all this, but yes, as long as we live on this earth, those commands still protect us from the corrupt conditions on this earth; they also seek the fair treatment of YHWH's creation. To see the fairness and protection, you must sincerely accept the Jesus presented in the gospels, His every word and command, and then meditate upon our Heavenly Father's instructions out of a repentant heart and mind.
• Proverbs 1:23 (NIV)
23 Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings.
• 2 Corinthians 3:15-16 (NIV)
15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
• Luke 24:45 (NIV)
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.
• Psalm 1:1-2 (NIV)
1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.
You replies so far have only been mockery against our Heavenly Father's (and His Son's) commands. Genuinely accepting and trusting what the Father and Son have to say is the only way to understand.
Shalom, in Jesus' name. ♡
1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)
15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
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