If there is one consistent theme throughout the entire Bible it is love.
From the very beginning, God made his first rule regarding the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in an effort to save us from the heartache that comes from sin.
Satan was right there deceiving Eve just like he has done to all of us ever since.
And just like today, Adam, a family member, was drawn right into the lie. Maybe out of ignorance, maybe out of curiosity, maybe he just didn't want her to suffer alone in her sin. We don't know why. The text doesn't say.
But the same thing happens today. We don't like to see our family members or friends suffering the effects of sin so we either join in, or try to condone or excuse them.
The best way I can think to describe the Love that God has for us is to use a child as an example.
Nicole is my granddaughter. I love her with all my heart. I don't want her to get hurt. I want to spare her of the pain that comes with life. So I make rules towards that goal.
One elementary example would be the rule to refrain from touching the stove. When Nicole was very small I told her not to touch the stove. I didn't tell her this because I wanted to control her. I told her because I love her.
The problem that eventually rears it's ugly head is the oldest lie. "Thou shalt NOT surely die". The devil is not stupid. He knows that we are creatures of the present. He knew that Eve would not immediately die when she ate the forbidden fruit. He knew that this would allow him a foothold that still works with mankind to this day. Eve, who was not made to die, but rather to live eternally, DID in fact die. She just died on God's time schedule, not as an immediate result of her sin.
Bringing it back to today, How does this affect Nicole?
So after being told NOT to touch the stove, maybe she accidentally touches it.....or touches it on purpose when the stove is not turned on. Now, in her eyes I've gone from a grandfather who loves her to a grandfather who is a liar. I've gone from a grandfather who cares for her to an ogre who lives just to control her.
Can you see how silly that sounds? Eventually Nicole is going to get burned. Possibly very badly. All because she lost trust because she doesn't know all the facts. She doesn't know that not touching the stove is a practice she need to learn to live full life without the health issue of burns.
It's so simple to see in that context but why is it so hard to understand that in the context of our Heavenly Father who's capacity for love is more than we can even fathom?
Early on God made little in the way of documented rules for mankind.
From the text it's a lot easier to tell what God "didn't" like during that time.
It was pretty obvious that God did not favor murder as being something we should do. We learn that quickly from the murder of Abel.
It was pretty obvious that God did not favor Rape, more specifically male rape. We learn that quickly from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Once the law was given in a written form it becomes a little more evident of the rules God set in place for the Israelites.
When people think of Laws they think of the Ten Commandments. The ten commandments were just the tip of the iceberg. In total there were 613 commandments.
Some of those were meant for all time. Some were very temporary. Some were longer term and some were simply regulations in regards to worship.
Throughout the Bible God has provided types and antitypes to paint a picture of what was to come. This is one of the ways a scholar can dig deep into the scriptures and find evidence of its truth.
For example Joseph was an type of Christ. Things that happened in his life paint a picture of the king to come, Jesus.
The crossing of the Red Sea was a type of baptism.
Sometimes men broke God's temporary commands and messed up the picture God was trying to paint.
For example, when the Israelites were in the wilderness and were thirsty for water God told Moses to "strike" the rock and water would come out. This was a "picture" of the old law. The law that was difficult to understand and impossible for any one of us to follow 100%. God's dealings were harsh because man was not mature enough for phase 2 to come. It was like when a child responds to spankings when they are too young to understand much more than physical punishment.
Later, a second time when the Israelites needed water God told Moses to "speak" to the rock. (rather than strike it). This was a beautiful picture God was painting to show the difference between the old law (harsh, punishment, difficulty connecting with God) and the New Testament (personal responsibility, love, a personal relationship with God.
For some reason, in anger, Moses struck the rock again instead of speaking to it. This ruined the "picture" God was painting. God punished Moses for that by not allowing him to go into the promised land.
So some laws were temporary, some were meant for all time. Some were religious laws and others were simply laws God gave us to lead us to a good life. Some were laws to protect the innocent from the guilty and other were just Laws that lead his children to happiness.
There were laws against murder, theft, rape, extortion, assault, adultery and many others to protect the innocent from the guilty. There were other laws like those against incest, homosexuality, beastiality, laws against certain foods etc that were given to protect his "children" from harming themselves.
Much like Nicole, many of these laws can be broken without any immediate effects. For example, a man might get away with committing adultery many times before it destroys his family. A person may get by with incest many times before the union produces children with health problems or other issues. One might get away with bestiality for a while before they introduce diseases into humanity the way Aids was brought into our world through sexual relations with chimpanzees. It is the lie of all times. THOU SHALT NOT SURELY DIE.
God didn't give us these rules to "control" us. He gave us the rules to HELP us.
He wants us (his children) to be happy. He doesn't want us to be "deceived" into believing lies that make us miserable.
That is what Phil Robertson was saying when he quoted Corinthians.
Breaking these laws is "sin". The word sin means "to miss the mark". Just like a dart game when you throw a dart off the board.
We all sin. We all "miss the mark".
God has laws against gluttony. I am guilty of breaking that law. I don't want to break it. I literally hate myself for breaking that law. One day I may conquer that sin. But now I rely on the grace of God to know my heart enough to know that I am continually working towards conquering that sin.
I'm sure there are many of us out there who deal with everything from alcohol and drug addiction to anger and fidelity issues.
God has given us grace. He sent his son to die in our place. He loves us. He wants to see us conquer sin, but he has given us a savior (Jesus) and a helper (the Holy Spirit) to work with us as we try to conquer sin.
When does that grace run out? That's the million dollar question. It appears that it runs out when we no longer accept it and defend the lie.
For example if I were to celebrate my gluttony, brag about it, try to convince others to join me in it or otherwise glorify it, it just appears to me that God's grace has it's limits right there. There are many examples in the New Testament where God no longer extended grace to those who believed the lie, lived it with no conscience and/or tried to get others to join in. The Pharisees were just one example of them. Jesus called them hypocrites and serpents. That doesn't sound like grace was still in the picture. Especially when you consider Jesus called Prostitutes and Tax Collectors his brothers and sisters.
I think what Phil and many other Christians (like me) believe is that a homosexual is no different from me (the glutton). Or the Adulterer, or the thief or the murderer. We are all sinners.
There is a difference between a follower of Christ who believes the truth and who's heart aches because of their sin, vs those who celebrate their sin. It is those who celebrate sin (the GLAAD group who spread the lie and call guys like Phil all kinds of names) who turn others away from the simple truth that God loves us and he just wants what is best for us. He designed us in a certain way to form families and he knows what is best. We just need to trust him.
There is nothing that irks me more than seeing a fat preacher calling out the sins of others as if he is any better than them. He is no different from the ones who are having affairs.
But no matter who the faulty messenger is, the truth is still the truth. God has made it very clear that homosexuality is a sin just like many others.
Just because one is born with a tendency towards kleptomania doesn't mean it is acceptable under grace to form a group celebrating the joys of theft.
Just because one is born with a tendency towards beastiality or pedophilia or adultery doesn't mean God's grace extends to those who flaunt and celebrate those sins.
The same thing goes for homosexuality.
If you are a homosexual I would love for you to pray for me so that I overcome my gluttony and other issues and I would pray for you, as a child of God and a brother or sister, that you might overcome what ever issues come between you and God. We love each other. We don't hate each other.
I don't even hate the "sin". That's really a stupid saying. I hate the father of the sin, the devil, the deciever, who was a liar from the beginning and loves to see us living in misery rather than serving the living God.
That's my opinion. If PWI wants to put me on hiatus maybe I can get back to making a living like I was before I came here. Lol.
And Phil is right. A vagina does make more sense than an anus. lol.
