The law (Torah) came from God on Mt Sinai, and Jesus agreed with everything the Torah said, including everything about sexual immorality, because it all points to him (Luke 16:29-31, John 5:45). He followed God’s Law (the Torah) was given to Moses from God on Mt Sinai. Jesus agreed with everything the Law said, including everything about sexual immorality, because it all pointed to Him (Luke 16:29-31, John 5:45). He followed the law perfectly, which made Him sinless, and that qualified Him to die for our sins (Romans 5:12-17, 2 Corinthians 5:21). The law says that incest (Lev18:1-18), adultery (Ex 20:14, Deut 5:18), same-sex intercourse (Lev 18:22, Lev 20:13), bestiality (Lev18:23, Lev 20:15-16), and fornication (Ex 22:16-17, Deut 22:28-29), are all sins. Most of those listed were punishable with execution. Sex between a married man and woman who have no conflicting familial relationship with other family members is the only legitimate way to have sex. Jesus agreed with this because he followed the Torah and believed it to be the word of his Father, God.
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A biblical view of the cultural and somewhat political Issues of the day.
Slavery in the Bible
Various cultures around the world had slaves, including those in the ancient Near East, such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Babylon. The practice of slavery varied across cultures around the world. Most cultures have debt slavery, where people sold themselves into slavery to pay off debts, and some were made slaves by conquest. Some had chattel slavery, where people were treated like animals and kidnapped, but when most people think of this kind of slavery, they think of the transatlantic slave trade. The closest thing we see to ethnic-based enslavement in the Bible is when the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites. The Egyptians hated the Hebrews (foreigners) long before Moses was even born, according to Gen 43:32 and Gen 46:31-34, and they used their nationalism as justification for their mistreatment and enslavement of the Hebrews, according to Exodus 1:8-10.
Continue readingThe Bible on Tattoos
Are Tattoos sinful? Leviticus 19:28 says (NLT), “Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the LORD.” Notice that it says “for the dead”, which means this direction was aimed at forbidding pagan ancestral worship and mourning practices. Deuteronomy 14:1 says, “Since you are the people of the LORD your God, never cut yourselves or shave the hair above your foreheads in mourning for the dead.” This confirms that self-mutilation, like cutting, was a practice associated with mourning that God was against. The ancient Israelites would express mourning in a few different ways, weeping and crying loudly (Psalm 6:6, Genesis 50:10; Ruth 1:9), bowing the head (Lamentations 2:10), and fasting (2 Samuel 3:35), sprinkling ashes, dust, or dirt upon themselves (2 Samuel 1:2; Joshua 7:6), tear their clothing (Genesis 37:29; 2 Chronicles 34:27), removed jewelry (Exodus 33:4), walked barefoot (2 Samuel 15:30), and possibly wear a coarse, goat-hair garment called sackcloth/burlap (Genesis 37:34; Jonah 3:6-8). These mourning actions were permitted, but cutting, shaving, and tattooing were not.
Continue readingThe Bible on Incest
People often ask the question, “Who is Cain’s wife?” A proper response to this question is to ask in return, “Who was Seth’s wife?” The answer to both questions is the same: they married their sisters. People often ask this question because they don’t know what the Bible says about incest. The modern-day definition of incest is based on ideas about breeding offspring from genetically close parents, but in the ancient world, siblings, half-siblings, and cousins married all the time. How else would there be “royal bloodlines” in various cultures?
Continue readingBiblical Virginity
The Old Testament primarily only defines physical virginity, which is defined by a woman having an intact hymen, so men have not ever been labeled virgins in scripture, nor in most ancient cultures. However, as I will explain further, there are some spiritual principles revealed in ritual purity laws of the Old Testament that feed into the definition of sexual immorality in the New Testament. Eunuchs are recognized as not interested in marriage, but that doesn’t mean they are all virgins; some may have had sex before getting castrated. Only procreative sex acts deal with virginity, so same-sex intercourse and bestiality didn’t count, but those were violations of the moral laws and punishable by death. Some may use this to argue that they can escape virginity loss by having oral or anal sex, however, the spiritual aspects of this apply to what happens in the heart and mind regarding the subject of sex.
Continue readingJudgment in the Bible
Most people will quote Matthew 7:1-3, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged…etc,” but then they don’t read the rest. Matthew 7:4 How can you think of saying to your brother,‘ Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First, get rid of the log in your own eye; THEN you WILL see well enough to DEAL with the SPECK in your friend’s eye.
Continue readingMarital Submission
The Bible instructs spouses to submit to one another, with wives being taught to submit to their husbands as unto the Lord, and husbands to love their wives as Christ loves His church (Ephesians 5:21-33, 1 Peter 3:1-7). Submission is not about being a spouse’s slave; it is about following their lead and choosing to love them even when we don’t feel like it or they don’t deserve it. This means trusting God to lead the husband, and the wife follows. This means continually loving the wife even if she rebels. The submission to the command to love our neighbor as ourselves applies in marriage in a deep, intimate way. If the husband, who is responsible for the family, is failing in his role, God can lead the wife to take action. If she has to choose between God and her husband, God would ultimately come first.
Continue readingWere the Apostles Sexist?
Some suggest that the apostles (especially Paul) are sexist, but I have doubts about that. If one were to look up famous women in Rome, one would find that most, if not all, of the women recorded were daughters or wives of government officials. There was little room for ordinary women to have any value in Roman history. If a common woman were to have accomplished anything significant in history from that era and culture, it would likely be overlooked. Remember that women discovered Jesus’ tomb, so if the apostles wanted to lie about the resurrection, why did they admit that women were the first witnesses? In first-century Judah, a woman’s word was invalid in court, so eyewitness accounts by women didn’t count because that is how sexist the culture was. Considering the culture, it would make more sense to lie and say the men found the tomb empty, since a woman’s words are considered gossip and unreliable by the men of society. It did the apostles a disservice to even mention that women were involved; this point brings us to Paul.
Continue readingTaboo, Swear, or Curse Words
Regarding swear or cuss words, there’s more cultural distinction than biblical instruction involved with the rules. Different languages have different kinds of taboo words for various reasons. So the Bible doesn’t explicitly state a specific word is taboo, nor are there any Hebrew or Greek translations of swear words in English. Unless we are cursing or insulting someone, using certain words is not a sin. Words are just words, whether it be in some generic colloquial expression of pain or angst (what the f*** or oh s***), or using a word in its proper context like referring to a donkey (ass), or female dog (bitch). A lot of our modern Western English swear words actually have legitimate context, so when using them in context, it’s not an issue.
Continue readingMisconceptions About the Bible
There are a lot of misconceptions about the bible because of pop culture theology and church traditions. There are many misconceptions about the Bible because of pop culture theology and church traditions. We all need to go back to reading what the text actually says. Here are a few examples that are only a taste of what there is to uncover.
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