Monday, October 24, 2011

The Ten Commandments of Holiness

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy (1 Peter 1:15-16).” 

I learned holiness in Pentecostal churches which got their's from the Weslyan Holiness Momement of the 19th Century.  So for me, holiness was was following the Ten Commandments of the Holiness Movement which were given to us from the very hand of God (not really, but believe me when I say, they were treated like they were from the hand of God).  So here they are:

And God spake all these words saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, out of the house of bondage.

1.  Thou shalt not have alcohol before me.  Thou shalt not drink it in the bars or the restaraunts, or in your homes, and especially not in the communion cup.  For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that drink alcohol; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and drink non-alcoholic beverages.

2.  Thou shalt not use profanity; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that swears.

3.  Remember to wear long dresses that are not colorful.  Keep them holy and not holey.

4.  Every day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God:  thou shalt not dance, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy pets, nor thy friend that is within thy house: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: the Lord thy God did not dance on any of those days.

5.  Thine women must not cut the hair: that their hair may be long upon their backs which the Lord thy God giveth them.
 
6.  Thou shalt not wear make up.
7.  Thou shalt not listen to Rock and Roll.
8.  Thou shalt not smoke.
9.  Thou shalt not go to a movie.

10. Thou shalt not gamble. Thou shalt not gamble for thy casino's jackpot, thou shalt not gamble for thy  country's powerball, nor the state's, nor shalt thou play cards, nor look at any thing that looks like gambling.

The reasons I heard as a young Christian for these unwritten rules:

1.  I was told that in the Bible days, there was new wine (which is non alcoholic) and old wine which has fermented and turned into alcohol.  Jesus and other Bible characters only drank new wine.  Unfortunately for this line of thought, Hosea 4:11 suggests that new wine may have packed a punch.  New wine was any wine under a year old and was inferior to the older wines which tasted better.  By the way, non-alcoholic wine (grape juice) was invented in 1869 by Thomas Welch who pasteuized grape juice to keep it from fermenting.  He did this so communion would be without alcohol, but his church didn't like Welch's grape juice and kept to regular wine.

2.  I don't know the history to the ban on swearing, and I don't know why it is considered bad among many Christians.   Neither have I ever heard any sermons on it that I remember.  The Bible does emphasize the importance of words and what one says.

3.  Peter tells women to dress modestly without focusing on makeup for their beauty, but this can also be interpreted as, "focus on the inner qualities more than the outer."   Holiness followers (Pentecostal and non-Pentecostals) are veering more and more away from the extreme modesty they practiced in the past.  So although some churches still require long and colorless dresses, others have abandoned this practice entirely.

4.  I hear that dancing is erotic and leads to sex, so it is bad, unless it is in a church service, with a good hymn, and carries little or no rythm to it.  Dances that are encouraged were the shakes, the jitters, the swoon, the jumps, the passed out on the floor, and the run around the sanctuary shouting and praying in tongues.  This rule is also changing in many of the churches as new generations enjoy and practice dancing outside of the church.

5.  The apostle Paul said a woman's hair should be long because it is her glory and covering because of the angels.  This has been interpreted differently, and the only one

6.  Same as number 3.

7.  Rock and Roll was the music that came from Africa and was the music of choice when Israel worshiped idols (when Moses came down from the mountain he heard noise in the camp).  No kidding, I actually heard a well known Pentecostal preacher say that the noise he heard, coming down the mountain when Israel was worshipping another god at the base of the mountain, was rock and roll music.  Rock and Roll is the cousin to Country Music (both branched off from the Blues), and was and is accepted by all as good music.  In fact, Southern Gospel is solidly Country and has always been accepted without question. 

8.  Smoking is bad for you.  Not many would argue with this.

9.  Going to a G rated movies somehow supports the X rated ones.  At least that is what I was told.  I think this came out of the fact that some of the early silent movies played in the same theaters that held burlesque shows on other nights. 

10. Gambling is considered evil too, moreover, playing cards were of the devil with roots in evil images.  When I went to school we were not allowed to have playing cards, so everybody brought Uno.  I think cards are now accepted, although I can't confirm that.

These were the rules that kept me holy, seperated, and apart to God.  Even while many of these fell apart and are disintigrating in most Pentecostal and Holiness circles, there was still the pressure to keep these rules - not because they were biblical but because of their witness to non-believers.  I was taught that if a non-Christian saw me go to a movie or dance, he or she would be hindered from becoming Christian.  The same is true for any one of these.

On the other hand, if they saw that I avoided dancing and drinking, they would so want to become like me and become Christian.

Like I said, most Pentecostals and Holiness believers are changing, and many of these commandments are no longer important.  When I recently visited some of my old schools, I saw that kids were allowed to go to movies, play with real playing cards, and dress normally.

Pentecostals and other groups are still admonishing Christians to dress modestly, keep from getting drunk, keep to good movies, avoid addiction to gambling and so on.  I think that they are rightly seeing that using wisdom and moderation is better than following rules that are losing their meaning.

WHY THE CHANGES?

1.  I think many Holiness and Pentecostal churches are moving away from their list of taboos in part because large churches and the mega churches do not have as much control on behavior as small churches.  As more and more Christians flock to big churches, there is far less acountability and less demand on living a certain way.  Nobody watches, nobody keeps tabs on what you do or how you live, so the need to conform is no longer there.   As a result, swearing, drinking, gambling and smoking are not always frowned upon - they may be ignored or effecitvely hidden; but the are not the evil they once were. 

2.  Any group that comes into contact with another group leaves changes in both groups.  As the Holiness groups came into contact with the outside world, both were changed, and both continue to influence each other, so women are wearing make up, cutting their hair and wearing fashionable clothes.

3.  The reasoning behind many of these commands are falling away.  Rock and Roll is no longer the music of sex and drugs and Satan.  It is every day music in almost every office.  Christian Rock and Roll permeates the churches and is even played as worship in many churches.  Theaters that play G movies no longer play the X rated movies.  And slowly each generation is abandoning many/most of the basic 10 Commandments of Holiness.

I sometimes wonder what will happen to Christianity if there is another revival like that of 1858 or the Welsh revival of the early 1900s.  Will we see some of these commandments make a resurgence?  No doubt, some commandments will not return, but we may see others come back in force.

MY PREDICTION

Even though the 10 Commandments of Holiness will further disintigrate in the next few years or decades, there will be a revival of some of them years from now.

I think drinking in moderation will be emphasized and drunkenness will be put away from the churches.

Smoking will continue to lose popularity with church goers.

As a revival hits the churches, I think we will see less swearing among Christians (especially at their homes).

Gambling, while accepted in moderation, will lose its popularity during time of renewal.

While dancing and movies will continue to become more and more acceptable, Christians will visit the dance halls less than normal.

Rock and Roll will not go away, but will become more and more accepted in Christian circles, even in church worship.  Eventually, other forms of music will threaten to drown out Rock and Roll, but there will always be come backs. 

Finally, as revival sweeps the churches, I believe that hymns will become more popular, even among the young.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Anarchy, the Judges, God's Government

GOD'S POLITICAL SYSTEM

Throughout the hundreds of years the Bible was written, only 2 eras followed God's design for government.

The first was the era from Moses to Samuel.  During this 200 year period, Israel had no king except God. The form of government was called a Theocracy. 

Beginning in the desert with Moses, Israel set up a tent for God called a tabernacle.  Whenever Israel moved from place to place, the tabernacle was set up in the center of the camp, which was where kings usually set up their tents.  But there were no kings in Israel because God was their king and that made Israel a Theocracy.

Because there were no kings in Israel's Theocracy, there were no standing armies and no armory to speak of.   As a nation, Israel was supposed to depend upon God for protection and direction.  This left Israel incredibly vulnerable, so from time to time, neighboring nations invaded, took cities, stole crops and cattle and did whatever they wanted.

Israel saw this as a sign that the local gods were not pleased, so they intensified their dedication to these gods only to find things getting worse.  Eventually, when they realized that the local gods were incapable of or unwilling to helping them out, they turned to God who then helped them by raising up a military leader (called a judge) who led them into battles that would help deliver them from the foreign pillages. 

After battles were won, the people served God for the life of the military leader/judge.  When the judge died, the people went back to the gods of the past.  And when the judge died, Israel was without a central leadership until once again a new deliverer would be needed, and was propelled into leadership. 

In this Theocracy, prophets and priests were crucial, because they were God's messengers who gave people and the nation whatever message God had for them.  On the other hand priests took care of the tabernacle, and eventually (in Samuel) took a more prophetic role by speaking for God.  Compared to kings, prophets and priests had very little power.

After about 200 years of this, for the sake of personal survival, Israel began copying the nations around them in 2 consecutive steps:

1.  In Samuel (a priest), they began looking for continuous leadership - expecting that his sons would take his place when he died.  Even Samuel himself accepted this unspoken and unwritten deal by planning and preparing his sons to follow him in leadership.

2.  Realizing Samuel's sons were neither good leaders, nor capable of protecting them from ever growing threats on every side, the people demanded that there would be a king chosen who would raise up a standing army with real weapons that were designed to kill people.  Their neighbors were already building their armies under their kings, leaving Israel legitimately vulnerable and scared.  The people saw the need for the strength that only a king and his trained army could give.  And so after 200 years of Theocracy, Israel started a Monarchy with their first king who was Saul.  And when Saul became their king, God's choice of government ended.

In Anarchy and Christianity, Jacques Ellul points out that this 200 year time period best reflects what we would today call Anarchy which is not the type of Anarchy described by today's conservative radio political blasters.  The Anarchy that Ellul describes is closer to that of the type that flourished in Europe and Russia and somewhat with  many of the U.S. workers almost 100 years ago.

This type of Anarchy seeks to get rid of every part of the political state (whether it is Communist, Capitalist, or Socialist) and give power of political decision making to the people. 

During the time of the Judges, the Bible says that there were no kings, so everybody did what was right in their own sight.  Ideally speaking, during that 200 years, God was their king, with prophets serving as messengers and priests serving as God's house servants; but in reality most of the time, people ignored God and thus were on their own, living very closely to a pure Anarchy.

When the people turned to a king in order to protect themselves, the Bible makes it clear that this was a rejection of God's form of government for His people.  Nevertheless, even though it was not God's will to change governments, God gave in to the people and supported Israel's decision, letting them know that having a king was not the ideal government that they all thought it would be.

This whole episode in the Bible tells me two things:

1.  God wants us to trust Him more than standing armies, nuclear weapons and a strong state.    This is something very few people of today would allow, agree with, or put into place; even though it is in the Bible.

2.  God will support and work with most governmental systems we put in place.  After some warnings and some hurt feelings, God blessed and supported the Monarchy Israel wanted.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Homosexuality and the Bible - Debate in a Nutshell

This is the debate about homosexuality in a nutshell:

SIDE ONE - The Bible is clearly against homosexual behavior. God loves the sinner but hates the sin.
1. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because it had become so homosexual.
2. Leviticus 18 and 20 are clear moral laws forbidding homosexuality, calling it an abomination and condemning it by demanding the death penalty.
3. Jude emphasizes that Sodom was destroyed because of homosexuality (which he calls "going after other flesh").
4. There are lists of sins in the New Testament that keep people from the kingdom of God and even send them to hell, one sin mentioned in those lists is homosexual behavior.
5. Romans chapter one clearly reveals homosexuality as the most obvious result of sin that begins with idolatry.

SIDE TWO - The Bible is not against normal homosexual behavior, but against homosexual rape or using homosexuality for worship of other gods.
1. The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is violence against the visitor, not homosexuality. Ezekiel is the only writer in the Bible who clearly names the sin of Sodom, and he does not say homosexuality, but says the sin is economic injustice and lack of care for the poor.
2. Leviticus 18 and 20 are against temple prostitution and not against normal homosexual behavior. Secondly, the Law is not for us today - we cannot pick and choose what verses we want to use from the Law, or else sex with one's wife during her time of the month would be an abomination, and children who are too rebellious should be killed. These and other laws are laws that most Christians do not care to resurrect, so why do we want to make a big deal about one law in Leviticus 18 and 20?
3. When Jude talks about Sodom and "going after other flesh," he is getting his information from books he quoted - one being the Book of Enoch, where angels have sex with women. "Going after other flesh" is not homosexuality, but trying to have sex with angels.
4. When it comes to the lists found in Paul's writings and in Revelation, the New Testament translators have mistranslated the words in question, assuming from their own prejudices that the words refer to homosexual practices. In reality the words are closer in meaning to temple prostitutes, or any type of sexual behavior (heterosexual or homosexual) that goes too far.
5. Romans 1 is set in the context of idolatry, so the type of homosexual behavior addressed is temple prostitution which is wrong. Regular homosexual behavior is not in question. Even if Paul were speaking about regular homosexual practices, the bottom line is it is against nature. Well, he also said that nature teaches us that it is a shame for a man to have long hair, and that a woman's glory is her hair. What was natural to Paul is cultural and not universal.
6. Jesus never said anything against homosexuality. In fact, when he talked about Sodom and Gomorrah, he used the story as an illustration to emphasize the wrath of God against villages that rejected him or his disciples. This illustration emphasizes the evils of inhospitality. From this the conclusion is confirmed that Sodom's sin was not homosexuality, but poor treatment of visitors.

MY CONCLUSIONS

1. I looked at Sodom and Gomorrah and how the story was interpreted by other writers in the Bible. None of them focused on homosexuality, but on the sins of their own day. For example, although Isaiah used the story to emphasize the seriousness of God's wrath, Isaiah ignored Sodom and Gomorrah's intent to violently rape 2 men, and focused on the economic injustices of his day. It was those economic injustices that result in the wrath of God-a Sodom and Gomorrah, fire and brimstone wrath of God.

Ezekiel was the only one to mention the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah - economic injustice and carelessness of the upper classes.

As I studied Sodom and Gomorrah's legacy, I learned that there were plenty of other sins far worse than those of Sodom and Gomorrah's - sins such as breaking the covenant that God had with his people, idolatry, rejecting the Gospel or rejecting Christ.

2. I believe that Leviticus 18 and 20 were not only temple prostitution, but any type of homosexual behavior. However, that being said, I am concerned with the fact that too many Christians cherry pick Old Testament moral laws. Because we are under a new covenant, and because the Old Testament Laws are so chosen, I do not hold Leviticus as the ultimate authority on the matter. I do believe that Christians must be led by scripture (primarily the New Testament) and by the Spirit of God.

3. Having studied the book of Enoch and seeing how much it influenced some of the biblical writers, I am quite sure that "other flesh" in Jude was referring to men seeking sex with angels.

4. I am left undecided about word studies in the New Testament. Without a doubt I believe that we have read our own biases (both sides) into words that are ambiguous. The ambiguity comes from this large gap we have between culture and time. We don't know what nuances some words took on when they were used among the common people of the day.

5. I think Romans 1 speaks against any type of homosexual behavior as well as other sins in a list of sins that result from idolatry. I think Paul emphasized homosexuality because the type practiced in his day (that included having sex with 12 year old boys) was the most obvious of sins in his day. The list of sins that Paul includes with homosexuality in chapter one include sins that we think almost nothing about, such as gossip, disobience to parents, and quarreling.

I believe:
1. The Bible says that a homosexual act is a sin.
2. There are many sins that are worse than homosexual practices.
3. Some of those bigger sins, such as economic injustice, are ignored or even justified by many in today's Christian communities (contrary to scripture.

I believe:
1. Among openly gays, there are some awesome people and some jerks. Its like every other grouping of humans.
2. Even though Paul says homosexuality is against nature, there are many who grow up with feelings for the same sex. For some people, these feelings are taught or learned, and some are born with attraction for the same sex. I cannot prove this, but neither can it be proved otherwise.

I believe:
1. Some of the people who will have the biggest struggles are those who have strong feelings for members of the same sex, whether or not it was learned or from birth.
2. Many who struggle with homosexuality the most; hate it the most, and preach against it the most.

I believe:
1. This issue will not disappear or calm down, but will have to be discussed in more and more churches and denominations. Divorce was not accepted in churches in the past, but now seems quite commonly accepted. I am not saying that it will ever be accepted practice in the churches, but I do wonder, as more and more people in the churches and in our families are discovered to be gay, will we see more acceptance of homosexuality?
2. As Christians, we will have to ask ourselves deeper questions about why we have chosen homosexuality as the ultimate of sins and have ignored larger and more lethal sins that are clearly stated in the bible.

Finally, I believe:
1. As I learn more from scripture and ancient times, I may just change my mind in some areas of this study.
2. I have tried to be fair with both sides of this issue, but probably have erred on one side or another in my attempt to discover, not what I think about this, but what the Bible says about homosexuality. The opinions I have mentioned are my flawed attempt to understand what the Bible does say.

If I had written the Bible:
1. If it were up to me, I would condone and accept homosexuality as normal human passion that is not a sin.
2. Homosexual relationships should be like hetersexual relationships where sex is confined to a vow of committment such as marriage in the Christian churches.
3. All rape of any type would be forbidden.
4. Temple prostitution would be outlawed.

But then, I didn't write the Bible, so its not up to me.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Homosexuality in Romans 1

ROMANS ONE

In Romans chapter one, Paul borrows an argument from the apocryphal book of Wisdom chapters 13-14. In Romans 1, Paul uncovers the root of Gentile sin which is idolatry, thereby carrying with it the wrath of God. In Romans chapter one, the wrath of God is presently revealed (not in the future) by 3 acts of God: Three times God "gives people over to" something human - desires, passions, and reprobate minds. Ultimately we see God's wrath in the immoral actions of the very same people that God created. The fact that people go so far into sin is an outward sign that God has given up / given them over to their own sins.

Paul wrote a step by step account of how idolatry resulted in a list of evils which reveal God's wrath, of which, one seems to be emphasized a bit more than the rest. And that is homosexuality.

Some of the arguments in defence of homosexuality are as follows:

1. When Paul wrote that God gave the idol worshippers over to uncleanness, he was talking about an event that took place long before Roman times, so he was not talking about Roman homosexuality.

This argument does not hold any water, because even though Paul was talking about the beginning of times, he saw God's judgment on the sins of his day. In fact, he was pointing to those sins and claiming that those sins - the list of sins he mentioned in chapter one - all of those sins have their roots in idolatry.

2. Paul defines homosexuality as unnatural. He did the same when he said that it was unnatural for a man to have long hair (1 Corinthians 11:14).

3. The particular homosexuality that Paul was referring to was temple prostitution, because in Romans 1, the entire context is saturated in idolatry. The focus of Romans 1 is idolatry, so any mention of homosexuality is related to idolatry and not regular homosexuality.

It is true that Paul saw idolatry as the beginning of all types of sins, including some sort of homosexuality that was practiced in his day, but he began this entire argument by pointing out that God's wrath was already seen in the sins that permeated his society - in all types of sins. A summary of Romans 1 would be like this:

I. We can see the wrath of God at work today, in that 3 times God gave the Gentiles over to their own evil passions and poor excuses:

A. Even though God revealed Himself through nature, the Gentiles worshipped idols and not God, so God gave them over to their lusts.

B. The Gentiles did not worship God, but worshipped things made by God, so God gave them over to vile affections (EX: women lusting after women, and men lusting after men - which is against nature).

C. The Gentiles abandoned the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a twisted mind, doing things that shouldn't be done, such as: greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, gossip, backstabbing, hating God, insolence, pride, and boastfulness, inventing new ways of sinning, disobying parents. breaking promises, being heartless, and having no mercy.

CONCLUSION

In the end I feel like every side takes advantage of the fact that we are not 100% clear about the ancient biblical worldviews, cultures and settings. There is enough ambiguity for anybody to argue that their position is the correct one.

Nevertheless, it is pretty clear that Paul believed that homosexuality (the type practiced in his day, if not all types) was against the natural order of creation, and that it was one of many sins that demonstrated that God had given the Gentile world over to its own desires. However, because homosexuality is highlighted in Romans 1, I believe that Paul viewed homosexuality as the most visible or most obvious of the of sins of his day - not necessarily the worst of sins. The fact that Paul mentions homosexuality more clearly than other sins on his list may reflect the worldview of Paul's audience.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

The New Testament and Homosexual Word Studies

The biggest problem we have with the homosexual debate is getting to the root of some of the words that were used in the New Testament that translate into different sexual practices. Part of the problem is that we don't always have the best understanding of what certain words meant to people in Bible days, and part of the problem is that the values and customs of the Greek/Roman ways are not the same as what we have today. Therefore, it is important for us to study the meanings of the words that the Bible uses that some translators claim is homosexuality.

Fair warning: Even with the best studies at our disposal, there are still questions unanswered about the precise meanings of some of the words we are dealing with.

ANCIENT CUSTOMS

The following are quick facts about homosexuality in the ancient times. If you want more information there is plenty on the internet and in books that lean one way or another in the debate.

1. Homosexuality was either in vogue or despised, depending upon the era. In other words, it was not constant; during one decade it may be unpopular, but a decade later it may be accepted.
2. Although we don't know much about the lower classes, when homosexuality was in vogue, we know that it was popular among the upper classes.
3. There were two types of male homosexuals - the male (the dominant) and the female who was considered soft, effeminant and deemed to be like a woman.
4. Not all soft and effeminate men were homosexual, but all of them were generally looked down on in society.
5. Wealthy mentors oftentimes took on young boys (under 12 was not considered good) to teach them about life and to receive erotic love. When the boy grew a full set of hair (beard and etc.) he was no longer the recipient of this sex.
6. Wealthy men also took young teenage slave boys as recipients of their sexual desires.
7. Homosexuality was not considered "a way of life" as it is thought of today in the 21st Century.

NEW TESTAMENT WORD STUDIES

The following words are oftentimes associated with homosexuality.

1. Pornos - Those who practice pornos will not inherit the kingom of God; so if they are Christians who practice pornos, they are to be shunned. In 1 Corinthians, Paul uses the word to describe the behavior of a man who lived with his father's wife. He asked the Corinthians to shun the man until he repented; which he did.

2. Malakos - The meaning is "effeminate" - the Greek culture emphasized the importance of men living up to man like qualities. Many did not like qualities relating to women such as listening to too much music. Although some have suggested that malakos is a homosexual partner that plays the woman (the receiver), others have pointed out that malakos was not used anywhere else in any other greek literature as a word for homosexual.

3. Arsenkoites - Paul is the first person ever to use this word which literally translates as follows:

"Koites" generally denotes licentious sexual activities, and corresponds to the active person in intercourse, and "arsen", simply means "male". Both koitai and arseno were used side by side in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 (in the LXX/Greek translation which was used in the First Century). And I have already looked into Leviticus and concluded that some sort of homosexual behavior was being condemned (whether temple prostitution or regular). It is possible that Paul combined the two words from Leviticus to create a new word that had never been used before.

People have translated arsenkoites as either a man who has a lot of loose sex with women, a man who takes on a young boy or girl for his pleasures (as has been discussed) or a homosexual.

CONCLUSIONS

From a purely grammatical point of view, there is ambiguity with these words. We don't know enough about the 1st Century culture (both Greek and Roman) to be able to develop clear conclusions or exact definitions for them.

There is just enough ambiguity in these words to leave us with several possible definitions, so anybody can read into them what they want it to say. I am sure that there will be plenty of people who will say that the words are very clear; but that's only because their own pro or anti homosexual world views are blocking other possibilities.

Until now, there has been a lot of ambiguity with the words in both Old and New Testament that we translate homosexual, whoremonger, sodomite, and so on.

And in studying how the story of Sodom and Gomorrah was viewed by other writers in the Bible, it became obvious that the writers in the Bible were usually more concerned with the sins of their own day and age than the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, so homosexuality was never clearly mentioned (although it is clear that some sort of abomination was mentioned - probably the intended violent rape that was homosexual in nature). Maybe Romans 1 will give us more clarification.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The Old Testament and Homosexuality - Conclusions

1. There is no doubt that the Old Testament condemns homosexual rape as well as temple prostitution of any kind (heterosexual or homosexual).

2. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah was later used in Israel, not as a lesson against homosexuality, but as a lesson of God's judgment that can and will be used against his own people for sins of their own time; which were mostly idolatry, economic injustice, and breaking God's covenant. Those sins affected the nation to the point of total Sodom and Gomrrah like destruction. This rule continued into the New Testament.

3. The word sodomite is not found in the original Hebrew, but rather was a KJV translation of an elusive practice (possibly a temple prostitute).

4. The only clear statemtent against homosexuality is found in Leviticus 18 and 20. Although these seem to be clear, there is still some debate as to whether or not Leviticus was speaking about temple prostitution. There is also a debate about how much we should allow a moral Law from the Old Testament to hold authority over us today.

MY THOUGHTS

When I teach I may have students from other countries. Some are convinced there is no hint of homosexuality in their homeland. I disagree with them telling them that it is there, but it is hidden, kept in the closet because of cultural rejection.

I believe that this was the same for Israel. There were eras when homosexuality was had gone to extremes (such as during the time of the judges when "everybody did what was right in their own sights"), but there were eras when it was unpopular and hidden, and therefore ignored by the prophets who focused on the blatent sins of their own day.

As I looked to how the New Testament dealt with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (2 Peter and Jude), I came to the conclusion that those writers, like the prophets, focused on the types of sins that were practiced in the groups that were recruiting from the Christians. And even though some of those sins were sexual in nature, it is not certain they were homosexual.

As Christianity burst out of its Jewish roots, it faced a Roman style of homosexuality and responded (as we will see more in the New Testament studies).

Monday, September 12, 2011

Who are the Sodomites?

The Old Testament Hebrew word for Sodomite is qadesh. One would expect that the word "sodomite" would have its roots in the story of Sodom. One would expect that the evil behavior of those who lived in Sodom would define who a sodomite was.

Interestingly, as one studies this issue, one finds that the Hebrew word had nothing to do with Sodom. In reality, the word sodomite came from the King James Version translation of the word qadesh which means "holy, separated," and that suggests the person worked in a temple of some sort.

But once again, as with other scripture, this one faces different possibilities. In all likelihood, qadesh was a man or a woman who prostituted himself/herself at a local temple for the idols' sake. There were women who prostituted themselves at the temple (for the religious pleasure of men) and men who did the same (for the women, although some think it was for the men as well).

In different versions of the English Bibles, the word qadesh has been translated:
1. Ritual harlot
2. Sodomite
3. Cult prostitute
4. Shrine prostitute
5. Temple prostitute
6. Whoremonger
7. Perverted person
8. Male or female shrine prostitute
9. Male shrine prostitute
10. Male cult prostitute
11. Unclean
12. Immoral living
13. Defiled

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Homosexuality and Moses' Law

I recently heard the argument that the same Law of Moses that outlawed homosexuality, outlawed shrimp; therefore the law about homosexuality is no longer valid. Then again, there are Fundamentalist Christians who hold up signs saying "God hates gays (Leviticus 20:13)." So when I think about the debate going on in our decade, I think about these two sides, and I realize that I need to dig into the scriptures on my own in order to get to the bottom of the issue.

I already looked at the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and discovered that the most of the writers of the Bible who used that story for illustration, did so by ignoring the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah and focused on the sins of their day. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah served as a warning, not against homosexuality, but against the sins of neglecting the poor, idolatry, out-of-control sexual passions of any type, recruiting people away from the church, rejecting the gospel, and so on.

In this blog I am going to look into what the Law of Moses said about homosexuality and compare it to other sins that were sexual or moral in nature. I am not concerned with what the Bible says about shrimp, because as we shall see, for many Christian theologians (those who study the bible), as far as the Law and its authority over us is concerned, rules about shrimp are unrelated to homosexuality.

CHRISTIANS AND THE LAW OF MOSES

There are different views about the Law of Moses and how it relates to Christians today. On the one hand we have Christians who believe that it is completely abolished in Christ and therefore has no hold on us whatsoever. Other Christians try to follow certain Laws they consider binding upon us (Church of God with Garner Ted Armstrong, Senenth Day Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist, and a few others).

A very popular view (the Calvinist view) claims the Law is broken down into three categories:

1. Civil Law - These were judicial laws that were binding only for Israel and only as long as Israel continued to be a nation.
2. Ceremonial Law - These were holidays, sacrifices and the like which were abolished in Christ because they were symbolic rites directing us to Christ. Once Jesus fulfilled their purposes, they were no longer in effect.
3. Moral Law - Because moral laws reflect the nature of God, they are still in effect for us today.

This is the way John Calvin broke down the Law of Moses. Many Christians who are not Calvinist unconsciously follow the rule that says moral laws apply to us, but others can be ignored.

It is this Calvinist point of view that most often claims that Leviticus' rules against homosexuality are still in effect for us today, and some would go so far as to say that homosexuality should be a capital offense.

Looking up the two most used passages from the Law of Moses, I decided to place them in their contexts, by showing other sins that were likewise called abominations or else fall under the judgment of death. For simplicity, I have left them in their original male centered language; but the laws applied to both men and women.

LEVITICUS 18:22

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.

The Immediate Context

Leviticus 18 is a list of abominations whose roots come out of Egypt. The intention of the Law was to separate Israel from the common practices of the land in which they lived and from which they came. The following is a list of abominations (from chapter 18) that were outlawed:

1. Having sex with (uncovering the nakedness of) relatives:
a. Dad or mom.
b. Step mom.
c. Sister, step-sister, half-sister.
d. Grand-daughter.
e. Uncle or aunt.
f. Daughter-in-law.
g. Mother and daughter.
2. Having sex with certain non-relatives:
a. Two sisters.
b. Any woman having her period or shortly after.
c. Someone else's wife.
d. Other men (homosexuality).
e. An animal.
3. Sexual offerings and offspring dedicated to Moloch.

LEVITICUS 20:13

If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

The Immediate Context

There are several acts that call for the death sentence in Leviticus 20:

1. Offering your children to Molech (there is debate as to whether or not this refers to human sacrifice).
2. Cursing parents.
3. Sex with someone else's wife.
4. Sex with step-mom.
5. Sex with daughter-in-law.
6. Sex with mother and daughter.
7. Sex with the same gender (homosexuality).
8. Sex with an animal.
9. Any psychic or fortune teller.

There are other crimes in Leviticus 20 that say the offender will be cut off from God's people and from God. This may be another way to call for the death penalty, or it may be a lesser form of punishment.

1. Those who visit psychics, mediums, etc.
2. Sex with a sister or half-sister.
3. Sex with a woman having her period or shortly after.

And other punishments are given to those who do the following:

1. Having sex with an aunt.
2. Having sex with a sister-in-law.

Even though the Law of Moses calls for death penalty in certain cases and shunning in other cases, we rarely see punishment carried out in the Bible.

Some crimes deserving death that are not already mentioned:

1. Hitting parents (Ex. 21:15).
2. Kidnapping (Ex 21:16).
3. Cursing father or mother (Ex 21:17).
4. If one owns an animal that kills or injures someone; if that person does not destroy the animal, and if that animal kills somebody (Exodus 21:28-29).
5. Worship of other gods/goddesses (Ex. 22:20).
6. Working on the Sabbath (Ex. 35:2).
7. False prophesying (Deut. 13:1-10).
8. Rape if the woman already belongs to someone else (Deut. 22:25). If a woman is not already engaged or married, the one who rapes her must pay the dowry and marry her, unless the father objects - its that or the girl who was violated remained unwanted by any other pursuer (Deut. 22:28-29).

Even some of the most conservative Christians may struggle with one or two of these. In fact, many conservative Christians work on the Sabbath, and few, if any would give their daughter over to a man who raped her.

This leaves us with questions for debate: The same moral Law of Moses that forbade homosexuality forbade having sex with one's wife during her time of the month (although this may or may not have called for the death penalty); however, that same Law did call for the death sentence for a child who got too hard to handle.

On the other hand, the Law of Moses did condemn many practices that no society would accept, such as murder, kidnapping, and so on.

Finally, some have suggested that homosexuality that is condemned in Leviticus was temple prostitution. I do not see this in the context of Leviticus, although I do see it in the term "sodomy."

Looking into a culture over 2,500 years ago is very difficult. We don't have a lot of writings from that time, and what we do have was written by the elite. We don't have the thoughts and habits of the vast majority of the culture and the times. So we piece together bit by bit with the little we do have. As a result every side can take advantage of the situation and state what they want about these passages.

For example, interpretations of Leviticus 18 and 20 vary from these being laws against temple prostitution to laws against any type of homosexual behavior. Unfortunately, I don't have a great answer for either side. The best I can say is this: On the surface of things, it appears that Moses' Law was against any type of homosexual behavior; and I do emphasize - "on the surface of things."

Even if the Law of Moses forbade any form of homosexuality, one argument still remains: Is this a moral law for us today (like you shall not murder)? Or is it like some of the other moral laws that that we can ignore? Laws like the abomination of having sex with your wife during and shortly after her time of the month. Or sending my disobedient teenager to the pit to be stoned by the church?

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Sodom and Gomorrah - New Testament Beliefs

As I studied what the Old Testament I learned that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah was a story that never lost its popularity or its power to illustrate that God could and would destroy a city or nation for whatever sin there might be.  I also learned that throughout the Old Testament, when Bible writers used Sodom and Gomorrah as examples, they did not focus on the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, but on the sins of their own days.

Only Ezekiel directed his attention to the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah; and those sins were not gleaned from the Sodom and Gomorrah story we find in Genesis, but rather, Ezekiel read the sins of his time (economic and social injustice) into the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.  I suppose some would say that through inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Ezekiel knew something about Sodom and Gomorrah that wasn't in Genesis.

Finally, I learned that according to Ezekiel there are worse sins than those of Sodom and Gomorrah. And this brings us to the New Testament.

JESUS - SINS WORSE THAN SODOM AND GOMORRAH'S

In the books of Matthew, Mark and Luke, like the Old Testament, Jesus assumes his audience knows the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. He does not explain the story or tell it again, but rather, he drops their names like everybody knows everything about them - the sins and the total and permanent annihilation of the city.

Jesus used the story of the two cities in two ways: to illustrate greater judgment for those who reject the Gospel and to illustrate that Jerusalem would be destroyed for rejecting him.

Rejecting the Gospel

When Jesus sent out his disciples on a short missions trip to preach, teach and heal; he told them that if a city or town did not receive them, it would be better for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment (Matthew 10:15, Mark 6:11, Luke 10:12).

Rejection of the Good News about Jesus is a sin worse than that of Sodom and Gomorrah's.

Rejecting Jesus

When Jesus had finished his ministry in the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida, he pronounced woes that judgment would be worse for them than it was for Sodom and Gomorrah (Matthew 11:23-24). They were doomed because they had seen so many works of Jesus, but still rejected him.

First of all in Jesus' teachings, the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were never spelled out; instead, the story of Sodom served to illustrate that God destroyed nations for sin - the focus was not on Sodom's sin, but on the wrath of God - that God can and will destroy a city or nation for sin - whatever sin that may be.

Secondly, for Jesus, there was a sin far worse than anything that Sodom and Gomorrah did. And that was for a city to see the miracles that Jesus did and reject him. And in the same way, if a city rejected one of his messengers, its fate was worse than Sodom and Gomorrah.

JUDE AND 2 PETER - TWO VERSIONS OF THE SAME SERMON

If you read through 2 Peter 2 and Jude you will notice that they both follow the same outline.
1. There are people coming into your group that are bad (I believe they were political recruiters).
2. They will be punished by God.
3. They talk big about things they don't really understand.
4. They will be judged.

My take on this is that there were two versions of the same sermon. Most of the ancient world relied on memory, passing down stories, and proverbs and sayings, more than on reading.  This is because most people did not read. So a good sermon may have been passed on like a good story. People just repeated it to others.

I think 2 Peter 2 and Jude are like that. Even though there are some differences between them, they both have the same outline and both use some of the same illustrations to emphasize their points. One of those illustrations is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

2 PETER

The issues Peter wrote about were the same as Jude's, but Jude went further into the issues than Peter did. I will start with this verse from 2 Peter.

Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people (2 Peter 2:6).


Peter used the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the same way that the Old Testament writers and Jesus did. They used the story to emphasize God's certain judgment on those who boldly sin. Both Peter and Jude used the story in the same way.

Sodom and Gomorrah became the ultimate example of God's wrath on any city whose sins have maxed out. And Peter used it in his sermon alongside of other wrath of God judgments which included angels who were dispelled from heaven and then from the earth in Noah's day by a flood.

The sin that Peter and Jude were warning against was the sin of deception and falling away.  Deceivers were leading Christians away from the purity of the gospel to look for freedom elsewhere. I believe the people who Peter and Jude were warning against were actually political rebels who hoped to overthrow the Roman legions. These rebels were recruiting Christians into their ranks.  Jude and 2 Peter were written during a time of a powerful political upheaval and the streets were filled with the feeling of rebellion and the hopes of becoming politically free.  And in their world and their times, being politically free would mean spiritual freedom. 

When Peter and Jude used Sodom and Gomorrah as illustrations in their sermons, they were thinking more of their own times and troubles, more than the time of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Peter and Jude looked at their own time and pointed out that political recruitment from the group was threatening the church.

JUDE

Jude is the first Bible writer to talk about the sexually immoral sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. I believe the reason he focused on sexual immorality is because he saw sexual immorality in his own day among those who were recruiting from the churches. Those who were recruiting were sexually immoral but not necessarily homosexual. Other Bible writers who used the Sodom and Gomorrah illustration were faced with other sins that needed to be addressed (such as breaking the covenant, economic injustice, and so on), and so they addressed those sins.

...as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire (Jude 1:7).

This is one of the most debated scriptures. For the first time in the Bible, and for the only time, the Sodom and Gomorrah's sins of sexual immorality are clearly mentioned, so it is important to look at this as closely as possible.

Jude wrote in Koine Greek - a common language in NT times. The word he used that we translate sexual immorality is "ekporneuō" which is not used anywhere else in the New Testament but in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (LXX), "ekporneuō" is best defined "to prostitute oneself out." As far as I can tell, Jude is saying that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were completely giving themselves over to whatever sexual passions they had.

This still leaves us with the question: Was the evil passion of Sodom and Gomorrah homosexuality? Or was it homosexual rape? After all, the one sin that was mentioned in the first destruction in Genesis (the flood) was violence.

"Going after strange flesh" is the next issue that is debated. Literally the Bible says "going after other flesh." The debate for this expression can be summed up as follows:

1. "Going after strange flesh" refers to homosexuality. In Romans 1, the Apostle Paul argues that homosexuality dishonors the body and is against nature, so it seems likely that the term "strange flesh" means homosexuality.

In Jude 1:8, Jude tells us that the recruiters "defiled their flesh," which sounds very much like the language Paul uses when he talks about homosexuality when he says it dishonors the body. But if this is the case, why didn't Peter mention this in 2 Peter 2? If this was a defining sin of the recruiters, why does Peter ignore it? Peter mentions that the group has eyes filled with adultery; could "defiling the flesh" refer to adultery?

2. The second side says that "going after strange flesh" is trying to have sex with angels. The men of Sodom and Gomorrah knew that there were two angels visiting their city and wanted to have sex with them so much that they were willing to take them by force. They may have wanted to obtain some kind of mystic transference of powers or knowledge through intercourse (as in some ancient thought), or they may have simply wanted to experience a whole new type of sex - sex with angels.

This side of the debate needs quite a lot of explanation, because most people of the 21st Century are unfamiliar with it. The reason most don't know about it is because Jude quoted from and leaned on the ideas from two books that were never included in the Bible; the Assumption of Moses (of which we have only some portions of the book) and Enoch (which we have in its entirety from Ethiopian translations).

The Book of Enoch was written by at least five different people all claiming to be Enoch, the man who lived seven generations down from Adam (who according to the Book of Enoch walked with the angels [elohim - which can be interpreted "angels" or "God" - the Book of Enoch translates it as "angels"], received revelations from the angels, and wrote those revelations down). In reality, the books were written by at least five authors (as mentioned) from around 300 B.C. to A.D. 100. Jude quoted from the first of those five books, which means that he had access to at least one of the five sections that now make up the Book of Enoch.

In that same section of the book of Enoch from which Jude quoted, there is mention of powerful angels, called Watchers, who were given the task (by God) of overseeing the world; but they misused their authority by teaching men how to war (and other stuff) and teaching women about makeup (and other bad things).  In other words, they taught us progress.  These same Watchers lusted after women and had sex with them, thus producing giants as offspring who terrorized the earth. According to Enoch, these Watchers were the "sons of god" who had sex with "daughters of men" mentioned in Genesis 6:2.

The point is this: In Enoch's view, Genesis assumed the possibility of intermingling of the species (angels with humans), and when the men of Sodom and Gomorrah saw angels in their city, they somehow knew that the men were heavenly beings and wanted to have sex with them because they were "other flesh."

Last words on Enoch: There is discussion and disagreement about whether or not Jude believed that the Book of Enoch was inspired by God (like the rest of the Old Testament).  But whatever the case may be, it is obvious Jude believed it was written by the Enoch of the Bible (7th generation from Adam). It is also obvious that Jude believed the account accurately recorded what happened before and during the flood, including the Watchers, their sexual adventures, and the giants that resulted.

SOME OF THE LISTED SINS OF THE RECRUITERS

According to Peter the group that was recruiting had sins that included:

Following the corrupt desires and passions
Despising authority
Slandering the glorious ones (political and spiritual principalities and powers)
Being bold and arrogant
Speaking evil of that which they did not understand
Openly rioting
Reveling in their own pleasures
Eyes focusing on adultery
Greedy
Leaving the right way

Compare this list to Jude's:

Defiling the flesh
Rejecting authority
Slandering the glorious ones
Speaking evil of that which they did not understand
Walking after their own desires and passions
Murmuring and complaining
Speaking boastfully
Showing favoritism
Separating from the group

What is common to both groups and what seems to stand out are these:

Uncontrolled Passions
Lusting, coveting, wanting, desiring, defiling the flesh, reveling

Rejection of authority
Speaking evil, slandering, murmuring, complaining, speaking arrogantly, speaking evil of things they didn't understand

REVELATION

The last place in the New Testament that refers to Sodom (and not Gomorrah) is Revelation 11:8 where Jerusalem is called Sodom and Egypt where our Lord was crucified.

CONCLUSIONS

The New Testament like the Old Testament uses the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as illustrations and warnings to emphasize that God can and will destroy a people, a city, or nation for its sins.

Each writer focuses on the sins of his particular time. Most of the writers throughout the Bible are unconcerned with the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, because for them the story is not about what Sodom and Gomorrah did, but what God did to them because of sin.  Any type of sin gone out of control could have the same result.

The writers who mentioned the sexual sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, mentioned their sins because their own day was steeped in sexual sin - however, the type of sexual sin was left vague.

One last word about those cities, I believe that the writer of Genesis viewed the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were the epitome of evil and each Bible writer after was more concerned about the sins prevalent in their own day.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Sodom and Gomorrah - Old Testament Beliefs

Ask most people why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and they will tell you that it was homosexuality. In fact, homosexuality has become so popular of an answer that its own popularity has established it as absolute. It's one of those issues that if you say something enough it becomes unquestioned fact. In the following study, I am not looking to justify or attack homosexuality; I am only looking at how the Bible writers used the story of Sodom and Gomorrah to speak to the issues of their own day.

But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good...(1 Thessalonians 5:21).

What I am looking for in this study is what the Old Testament tells us about Sodom and Gomorrah. Does it tell us that homosexuality was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? Does it mention its brutality and gang rape? What did those two cities do that deserved total destruction? What sins destroy any country?

GENESIS

Genesis never comments on or explains anything about what happened at Sodom and Gomorrah. We get no further lessons or explanations...just the story.

Although Genesis offers us nothing more than the story, Genesis does give us a look into why God would destroy the entire world and all of its civilizations.

In the story of Noah, there was one sin mentioned that caused the destruction of the entire world. I'm sure there were plenty of other sins not mentioned, but only one was pointed out - violence (Genesis 6:11-13). In following context then, it would seem that violence was a major problem with Sodom and Gomorrah as well. At least, that is probably one of the reasons they faced certain destruction.

One thing to remember: The sexual violence of a mob was what sealed the doom of Sodom and Gomorrah. However, the angels came to Sodom and Gomorrah, not because of that sin, but rather because of the sins of those cities that had already committed before the angels visited. What those sins were, were never mentioned in Genesis.

DEUTERONOMY

In Deuteronomy God warned His people to stay away from idolatry, breaking the Covenant of Moses, and following other gods. To emphasize His point, Moses told he people that if they followed other gods and broke God's covenant, their land would become like Sodom and Gomorrah (IE: it would be uninhabitable and unable to produce).

Using Sodom and Gomorrah as an example of how powerful God's wrath can be is typical for most of the Old Testament. Deuteronomy is also typical for the Old Testament, because it says nothing about why God destroyed the two cities. Instead, the OT writers use the Sodom and Gomorrah story as a lesson against the sins of their own day. In the day Deuteronomy was written, the issue of homosexuality was not as important as the issue of idolatry or breaking the covenant that Israel had with God.

We will see from other OT passages that when the OT writers thought about Sodom and Gomorrah, they looked at their own day and saw how their own issues (issues usually unrelated to homosexuality) led to a Sodom and Gomorrah, fire and brimstone/wrath of God destruction.

ISAIAH

The very look on their faces gives them away. They display their sin like the people of Sodom and don't even try to hide it. They are doomed! They have brought destruction upon themselves (Isaiah 3:9).

Like Deuteronomy, Isaiah uses the Sodom and Gomorrah story as a lesson for his own people in his own time. Isaiah says that God's people parade their sins just like Sodom and Gomorrah (whose sin he does not mention) - thus giving an indirect warning of destruction with the rebuke. But what is the sin or what are the sins in Isaiah's day? The verse immediately before Isiah 3:9 says that what the people were saying and doing were evil... but what were they saying and doing? It doesn't say. But the verses following summarize what was on Isaiah's heart from the very beginning of the book:

The LORD comes forward to pronounce judgment on the elders and rulers of his people: "You have ruined Israel, my vineyard. Your houses are filled with things stolen from the poor. How dare you crush my people, grinding the faces of the poor into the dust?" demands the Lord, the LORD of Heaven's Armies (Isaiah 3:14-15).

Isaiah 1 also uses the example of the two cities for the same purpose and because of the same sin. In a nutshell, according to Isaiah, Israel's sin was their poor treatment of the poor.

In other Isaiah passages:

1. In chapter one (verse 10), Isaiah calls the leadership of Israel "Rulers of Sodom and Gomorrah," who practice God's Law in sacrificing and festivals but ignore the needs of the poor and the powerless.

2. In the same chapter (1:9), Isaiah uses Sodom and Gomorrah as examples of what Israel would become if the Lord did not intervene and leave behind a remnant of survivors.

3. Babylon will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah because of its pride and because it conquered Jerusalem and its temple (Isaiah 13-14).

JEREMIAH

Chapter 23

Like Isaiah, Jeremiah used the story of Sodom and Gomorrah for the sins of his own time. The sins in Jeremiah 23 were:

1. Prophets committed adultery.
2. Prophets lied.
3. Prophets led people astray.
4. Prophets didn't warn people about the consequences of their sins, instead they encouraged them.
5. Prophets didn't warn people of God's coming wrath.
6. Prophets said they spoke for God when they did not know what God really wanted to say. In other words they spoke from what was on their own hearts.

In other Jeremiah passages:

1. Because Edom terrified people and was proud, God will make it like Sodom and Gomorrah - nobody will live there again (Jer. 49:15-19).
2. Because Babylon gloated over the taking of Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and grew fat from the spoils, God will make them like Sodom and Gomorrah - nobody will live there again (Jer. 50).

EZEKIEL

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen
(Ezekiel 16:49-50).

Although every other biblical writer mentioned above and below focused on the sins of their own day, and compared those sins to the undefined evil of Sodom and Gomorrah; Ezekiel took this to a whole new level. Indeed, we will see that in other verses Ezekiel used the Sodom and Gomorrah story in the same way as the other writers - pointing out that like Sodom and Gomorrah they will fall, and like those two cities, evil has permeated his present era - but in this passage, Ezekiel sees the sins of his own day, and says those same sins are the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. In doing this, Ezekiel is the first and only Old Testament writer to tell us the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were.

What were the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah?

1. The sins were the same sins we see everywhere in our own day - people in Sodom and Gomorrah were living a good life while they were unconcerned about the needs of the poor and the needy.
2. They were arrogant.
3. They practiced detestable things.

Even though detestable things are not defined, I would assume that they are related to Sodom's men wanting to rape the two visitors of Sodom.

It is possible that Ezekiel felt that homosexuality was detestable (as the writer of Leviticus did - although both of these are under debate), but homosexuality is not openly stated in Ezekiel.

It is highly likely that Ezekiel named the sins that compelled two angels to come into Sodom in order to judge whether or not to destroy the cities. These were the sins that reached to the heavens because they were so evil and had built up to an incredibly burdensome amount. Homosexual rape was only the outward manifestation of deeper evil that had been brooding within the culture of Sodom and Gomorrah... the sins of injustice and pride.

THERE ARE SINS WORSE THAN SODOM AND GOMORRAH'S

You not only walked in their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they (Ezekiel 16:47).

In the same context of the previous section, Ezekiel tells his audience that Israel's sinfulness, corruption and depravities are worse those of Sodom and Gomorrah's. This means there ars sins that are worse than neglecting the poor and worse than homosexual rape. In fact, Israel's sins during the time of Ezekiel were so bad than it made Sodom and Gomorrah righteous in comparison (Ezekiel 16:51-52).

WHAT IS THE SIN WORSE THAN SODOM AND GOMORRAH'S?

Ezekiel 16:59 briefly mentions breaking the Covenant, which is possibly the sin that Ezekiel believes is worse than Sodom and Gomorrah's sin. I say "possibly" because although it is the only sin mention in this section, it is very possible that Ezekiel was generalizing about all types of sin. And yet, it is intriguing that he does mention breaking the covenant....

If breaking the covenant is worse than any sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, we have a whole new can of worms, a whole new study; how was Israel breaking the covenant? For that you will need to look elsewhere.

OTHER BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

Amos 4:11 uses Sodom and Gomorrah as comparisons to the overthrow of Jerusalem.

"I destroyed some of your cities, as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Those of you who survived were like charred sticks pulled from a fire. But still you would not return to me," says the LORD.

In Zephaniah 2:9, Moab is compared to Sodom, and Edom is compared to Gomorrah because they will be destroyed.

Neither of these two verses reveal anything new about Sodom and Gomorrah.

CONCLUSIONS

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah must have been a popular story in Israel. After Genesis the writers of the Bible never needed to retell the story because their audience knew it already.

We cannot go back and ask the common person what lessons and warnings they gleened from the story of the two cities; but we do have a few writers who gave their own commentaries on the story. For these writers the lessons were not about homosexuality, violence, treatment of the stranger or rape. For them the lessons from Sodom and Gomorrah were precisely this: God can and will destroy a city or a nation when it becomes too sinful.

The sins that destroy any nation depended upon the time the writer was writing. Throughout the Old Testament, idolatry, breaking God's covenant, corrupt leadership and neglecting the needs of the poor were on top of the list of the sins that best mirrored the evil of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The only place in the Old Testament that clearly mentions the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah is found in Ezekiel. Surprisingly, Ezekiel does not point to the rape, homosexuality, or violence of Sodom; rather he focuses on the economic immorality going on in Sodom and Gomorrah more than anything else. As a sidenote he mentions that they also committed detestable things. Unfortuneately, "detestable things' is left undefined, leaving us to our assumptions.

Friday, August 26, 2011

The Genesis of Homosexuality - Sodom and Gommorrah

By far the one story that feeds the arguments on both sides is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Although they are usually mentioned together, Sodom was probably the dominant city because it is sometimes mentioned alone. Lot lived in Sodom, and when the two angels visited, they went to Sodom. However, both cities were destroyed in the fire and brimstone-wrath of God calamity.

Here is a real brief summary of that story:

1. Two angels and the Lord visit Abraham and tell him they are going to check up on Sodom because they heard that it is wicked. Abraham tries to talk them into saving the city for the sake of his nephew Lot and any other godly people that may live there. A bargain is reached between Abraham and the Lord.

2. The same two angels (without the Lord) enter into the city of Sodom and plan to sleep in the city square. Lot offers room and board for their stay, and insists they stay at his place under his protection.

3. At night the city men came to Lot's house and demand him to hand over the two visitors for the purpose of raping them.

4. Lot offers his virgin daughters instead, but the men refuse.

5. The angels protect Lot and his family who leave the city.

6. While the city is being destroyed with fire and brimstone, Lot's wife turns around to look. She turns into salt.

IMPORTANT INSIGHTS

Genesis does not define the sins of Sodom and Gomarrah. It just tells us the story of a city of men coming to a Lot's house in order to rape 2 visitors who were under Lot's protection. It tells us that Lot felt so responsible to protect his visitors that he offered the unruly gang his own daughters to rape instead of the two strangers.

The story itself is so powerful, that it was mentioned at least 27 times again in other books in the Bible as lessons against evil and/or as a demonstration of the fury of God's wrath. Even today, in different circles, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is used as an example of:

1. The evils of homosexuality.
2. The wrath of God on homosexuality.
3. The wrath of God brought down on any city or nation where homosexuality is accepted or promoted.

Are these fair conclusions from the story of Sodom and Gomorrah?

For the next few blogs I would like to look at each verse that comments on Sodom and Gomorrah. I will ask each verse what it is saying about the two cities.

Different Types of Homosexuality in the Bible

I count three different types of homosexuals in the Bible, two of which even most of today's homosexuals would agree are not good.

THE GANG RAPERS

There were two stories in the Bible about men raping men. The first and most famous is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. In this story, Lot invited two men into his house who so happened to be angels. Late at night, the men of Sodom went to Lot's house to rape the two men who came to visit the city. Trying to protect his two visitors, Lot offered his two daughters instead (I wonder what Mrs. Lot had to say about that). Of course, as most of you know the story, the two men were angels who protected Lot and his daughters from the mob, and destroyed the city.

The second group of gang rapers (found in Judges 19) was another group of city men who wanted to rape another stranger who was passing through and found lodging with an old man in the city. Sound familiar? As the story goes, a man brings his concubine (live in girlfriend) on a journey, and rather than staying in some Gentile villiage, he travels to a Jewish town.

He is invited into an old man's house and so he and his concubine stay the night. But things turn bad when the men of that city show up at the door in order to rape the visitor. There are no angels to protect the stranger and the old man, so they toss out the concubine who is then gang raped instead. By morning she is dead.

Nobody from any persuasion would condone the behavior found in these two stories. The only ones who would cheer on this violence would be hardened criminals for whom our countries have plenty of prisons. Gang rape of any type is not encouraged or condoned by most gays or heterosexuals.

TEMPLE PROSTITUTION

In the ancient days there were many temples for the local gods. If you would visit one of these temples you might find men and women who took money in exchange for sexual intercourse. I am convinced that the practice began as a spiritual connection and unity between planting seed into the ground and planting seed into a priestess in the presence of the dieties. It may also have meant spiritual unity with the gods themselves as they were represented by the prostitutes.

This practice was condemned by the scriptures in part because it represented unity with another god...which was completely rejected by the God of the Bible. The Bible lists quite a few religious practices that were rejected by God, such as making idols, religious tatoos, and sacrificing children.

This whole issue is unimportant to most people today, although there are a few who are trying to resurrect this practice of sacred prostitution for some reason or another.

COMMON HOMOSEXUALITY

The third group of homosexuals in the Bible are the every day common homosexuals, such as we see today. This is the group I will be studying in the next few blogs.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Homosexuality

With every generation, the Church needs to reconnect with the Bible and ask questions that the last generation was not asking. This generation is facing a massive debate over homosexuality, so I thought I would like to write about this issue.

TWO BIBLICAL EXTREMES

There are two polar opposite extremes within the Christian community. On the one side there are Christians who believe that the Bible teaches that homosexuality is an abomination, hated by God and deserving of death (Leviticus 20:13). Not only is it evil in God's sight, but because of homosexuality God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

On the other side are Christians who completely support homosexuality. Bible verses, such as Leviticus 20:13, that speak against homosexuality are considered culture or time bound. In other words, these verses were not meant to be for every age and every society. It is more important to support the persecuted and oppressed than it is to promote ancient Laws designed for a different culture.

Even further in the extreme, I could also mention that there is a small group of Christians who believe that Jesus and his disciples were in fact gay and promoted homosexual secret rituals.

THE GOAL OF THE FOLLOWING PAGES

My goal is to look closely to the scriptures to find out what they do and what they do not say about homosexuality. I know that a lot of people have done this before, but I think I may offer some new insight gleaned from ancient writings as well as a closer look at what the Bible says.

My goal is not to make you followers of one side of the group or the other, but rather to look at what the scriptures do say and do not say. The rest is up to you as readers, and the 21st Century Church that will be struggling with the issue of homosexuality.





Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Pray Like the Prophets

When most people think about prophets, they picture some fortune teller, predicting disaster to come. This picture is distorted.

Prophets did warn people of consequential disaster if proper decisions weren't made. They saw a bad future as a result of disobedience. The future they saw was not hundreds of thousands of years down the road (EX: 2000 and beyond); it was their immediate future.

Prophets saw tragedy coming because of disobedience to God, idolatry and social injustice, but they also saw restoration after the doom. Let me repeat this: They saw visions of their near future. Later, early Christians saw glimpses of their own times in those messages, times predicting the coming of a new day, led by Jesus.

Prophets warned, promised a better future, and stood as lawyers defending their clients.

That last part is what is least known, but possibly the most important job description of a prophet. The job responsibility of a prophet was to stand in the courts of heaven and plead for their clients who were their own neighbors and fellow countrymen. Their clients usually hated them and didn't want them to defend or to warn them. They just wanted them to go away so they could go on with their lives without interuption and negativity.

Remember Moses? He delivered his own people from slavery in Egypt, and when the people got out of Egypt, they complained against him and wanted to kill him, because the land they went through made for difficult living. When the people complained about him and decided to set up other rulers to take them back to Egypt, God got ticked off at the people and threatened to let them die in the desert and let Moses become a great nation....

But Moses did not agree with God, and he stood up to God; willing to sacrifice his own life on behalf of the people (he even went so far as to ask God to remove his name from God's book, if God did not back off from judgment). Moses stood on behalf of the people to protect them from God's wrath.

This was the picture: God's wrath was on its way like a rushing army prepared to destroy Israel. Moses and the prophets after him (and Abraham before him), stood up to protect the people from that army/God's wrath. They protected the people in several ways:

1. They took the people's side. They never cheered on God's wrath. The only exception to this rule is when God's wrath was directed toward Israel's enemies. Jonah wanted to see God's wrath poured out on Ninevah, but God showed them mercy, which disappointed Jonah.

2. Prophets fought with God in prayer for the people. Prophets reminded God of his mercy and the honor he would lose by seeing his people destroyed. They also reminded God of His promises for his people, thus challenging Him to keep the vows He made with Abraham, Moses, and David.

3. Prophets included themselves with the people they were defending. Let me explain this one. When prophets prayed for their people who may or may not have hated them, they included themselves as a part of the same people. For example, the prophet would pray, "Forgive us O Lord, for our sins... We have sinned against you..." and so on. They did not seperate themselves from their clients. Even if the prophet alone was righteous before God, he would not and dared not seperate himself from his clients.

So how does this relate to us today?

As Christians, we should not cheer on or gloat over disasters that happen to others that we don't like; such as when disease ravishes the gay community, or a flood destroys a city that we consider immoral (remember Abraham prayed like a prophet for Sodom and Gomorrah, asking God to pass over judgment), or an earthquake destoys a third world country that is steeped in Animism.

Contrariwise, we need to pray for God's compassion and forgiveness for these places. We need to beg God to help hearts to be turned to Him and to turn His heart to these people who do not hold on to our values. We need to pray for our politicians and not seek their destruction. We need to pleed before God for our nation and others that face or may face disaster after disaster.

Don't focus only on the suffering of your own people or church, open your eyes to the injustices that take place in other groups that do not share your values. Stand on the side of Muslims who are overwhelmed with war, poverty and injustice. Let your voice be heard on high for the poor and the powerless, for the tormented and abused, for the sinners and those who turn their backs on the Living God.

Jesus told us to love our enemies. The Apostle Paul said that while we were God's enemies, Jesus loved us and died for us so that we could be reconciled to Him.. how much more we should love our enemies.

Learn to pray like the prophets. Learn to love like Jesus.

"But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you (Luke 6:27-28)."

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Pornography - Kicking the Habit

20th Century porn magazines led the way to this century's internet porn which has taken the world by storm.

WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT PORN?

1. Pornography takes up too much valuable time. When someone spends hours a day on internet porn, it is time taken from other things that can and should be done.
2. Over the long run, pornography does not satisfy; it loses it's excitement, and the desire for more or something different to keep the excitement can lead to some bad places. Here are just a few examples of what I have seen:
a. An ex co-worker of mine spends all of his savings and even goes into debt to support his need for strippers and erotic messages. He hates what he does, but he will not stop.
b. Another co-worker lost his job and his reputation because of child pornography.
c. Jimmy Swaggart (the tele-evangelist) was once the most watched evangelist in the world, but because his pornography habit eventually became a habit of visiting prostitutes and he was caught. His ministry and his reputation has suffered a huge loss.

THE 3 SENTANCE HISTORY OF PORNOGRAPHY

1. Some nude statues of the Roman Empire era had ancient sperm on them.
2. From the very beginning of photography, there have been pictures of nude women.
3. From the beginning of film, there has been pornography.
4. The internet has brought porn into every home.

SOME OBSERVATIONS

1. Most people like to keep it secret.
2. Usually the people who preach against it the most have problems with pornography. This is true about a lot of things.
  a. Ted Haggard railed against homosexuality, during which time he visited homosexual prostitutes.
  b. Jimmy Swaggart wrote a book about the evils of pornography right before he was busted for porn.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT PORN?

The only porn anybody saw in the Bible times were the forms of statues, clay statuettes, or drawings.
1. The Bible does forbid the making of statuettes designed for idolatry, but didn't see statuettes leading to pornography.
2. The Bible does speak against uncontrolled desire.
3. The Bible does speak against fornication (sex outside of marriage). The Greek word is "porneia" from which we get the word "pornography"...but this is not the same as pornography as we know it.
4. The Bible says that sin separates us from God. When Isaiah stated that it had to do with economic injustice, but the concept is the same for other sins as well. Sin eats away at what is spiritually good in our lives.

PORNOGRAPHY IS A STRUGGLE

Many Christians struggle with pornography. One Fox news article (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,586303,00.html) says that the amount of women who admit using pornography to get off is around 76% - those are just the ones who admit it. New York Daily News placed the number for women at 30% and for men at 70% (http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-02-11/entertainment/27056038_1_study-big-issue-problem).

WAYS CHRISTIANS DEAL WITH PORN?

1. Deliverance - The concept behind this is that Satan has kept you bound for so many years, and by getting rid of his hold over your life you will be freed from porn.
a. Plus - it provides a temporary fix.
b. Minus - Porn is an issue with your flesh. In time you will probably go back into it if you do not take other precautions.
2. Prayer and fasting - Absolutely pray and fast! But prayer and fasting alone will not usually suffice. Jimmy Swaggart grew tired of fasting for his addiction.
3. Just say no! - This is great, but for most people it is not enough.

WHAT SHOULD A CHRISTIAN DO ABOUT PORN

Besides praying and perhaps fasting, the best way to deal with porn is to block access to it using 2 steps.

First of all, get somebody you can trust. If your best friend likes to reveal other people's secrets, avoid him or her. You want someone who can keep secrets. If you've ever heard your friend say, "Don't tell this to anybody else..." or "I shouldn't say this, but..." or anything like that - do not confide in him/her. Find someone you respect who is good at keeping secrets. Pray about it.

Tell that person that you would like him/her to be your accountability partner and then sign up with covenanteyes.com. On covenanteyes.com you will be asked to put your friend's email address, and he/she will receive weekly updates, revealing everywhere you've been on line. It also categorizes into different ratings.

This is the best way to hold yourself accountable and to avoid digging into pornography.

If there is a sexual addiction group at your church, you may want to check into it and join.

WARNINGS

Do not confide in your issue with a member of the opposite sex.

If you are attracted to people of the same sex, do not choose someone you are attracted to. Furthermore, be on guard, because opening up to someone even spiritually, and praying with them, may increase desire.

Unless you are in a group designed to meet the needs of sexual addiction, don't open up your issues to a group of people. Some people are too open with their issues and for some reason feel that it is important to tell the whole church or bible study of men and women about their sexual issues. Don't fall into this. A trusted accountability partner will be good enough.

If your church has a group dedicated to overcoming pornography, by all means join it.

WHAT TO TELL THE ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER

1.  Be honest.  Tell him/her (for simplicity I will use "him" from now on) that you have an addiction.
2.  You can tell him that you are embarrassed about telling him.
3.  Tell him that you would like him to receive covenanteyes report.
4.  Tell him that you need him to call you once a week.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM YOUR ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER WHEN YOU TELL HIM

1.  "I don't have that problem."  This may be true, but don't let this trouble you.  Your partner has other issues.  Count on it, after all he is also human.  Also, don't let this deter you - you may be embarrassed and humiliated, but it is how you will become a better Christian.
2.  "You should tell your wife."  I am not convinced of this.  For some people, this is the right thing to do, for others, it may ruin their marriage. 
FOR THE ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER

1. Meet regularly with the person who is struggling, even if it's only by phone. You will need to meet more at first...at least once a week.
2. Don't act shocked or disappointed.
3. Don't ever tell anyone else, unless the person coming to you is abusing children, raping women or harming others. In this case, you are bound by law and decency to bring it to proper authorities.
4. Don't be afraid to ask him/her point blank how its going, challenging him/her to be honest. Call your friend every week or every other week.
5. If you are struggling as well, then you may want to confide this to your friend and work together with covenanteyes.com.

WILL THE FEELINGS EVER GO AWAY?

Feelings of desire will never go away entirely, but can be brought down to a manageable level. We are sexual beings. We will have desires. They can be controlled. You may struggle from time to time, but you can overcome.

The Bible does not reward those who never sin, because there are no such people. It does reward those who overcome (Revelation 2 & 3). In other words, life is filled with battles in temptation that need to be fought and overcome.

ITS NOT ALL OR NOTHING

Be careful about falling into the lie that its all or nothing. In other words, just because you failed does not mean you should give up and give in. Its a battle...you may lose some, but get back up and keep fighting. Take territory, bit by bit if necessary, but take territory.

...for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again...(Proverbs 24:16).

SOME OTHER IDEAS

-If you are steeped in porn, set apart a few days or a week for fasting from porn.  Add this to a food fast, or fasting meals, or whatnot.  This is to pray for important things in your life.  You may also do this in seeking for God's help in overcoming porn.

-The sooner you deal with porn, the better.  The problem won't go away with time, but gets worse.

-Even as you get older and your sexual drive begins to wane, porn will not become less of a temptation, because you will need more stimulation to get excited.  So don't count on age being your way out.

Friday, July 22, 2011

How to Fight Temptation

1. QUOTE SCRIPTURE

Jesus showed us the best way to fight temptation by quoting short verses when he was faced with the desire to do wrong, during a time of doubt. The verses he quoted were as short as 3 to 5 words long in the Hebrew. The English translations make them longer.

The point is, you don't need to memorize paragraphs of scripture to fight temptation.

Jesus prefaced his verses with, "It is written...."

So lets say you are tempted to get drunk with some friends. You might say, "The Bible says, 'don't be drunk....'" You don't need to quote the entire verse. Verses and chapters were actually added hundreds of years after the Bible was written. Jesus had no chapter and verses, so when he quoted from Deuteronomy, he did not try to quote an entire section or verse as we know it, but only what was necessary for the temptation.

2. KEEP QUOTING SCRIPTURE

Just because you succeed in quoting a scripture does not mean the temptation will go away. Its going to keep coming back and you will need to continue to quote and fight. In a short time the temptation will go away. If you memorize verses, which is awesome, focus on the meaning of those verses.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO GET THE EXACT WORDS

But you do need to catch the core meaning of the verse. Exact words are good, but understanding the meaning of verses is better than rambling off memorized words.

SOME GOOD SCRIPTURE TO USE WHEN TEMPTED (Some I have put in my own words)

Go away Satan, for you do not serve God's interests, but human interests.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Every temptation is common to people.

God will make a way to escape every temptation.

Don't test the Lord your God.

Don't depend on your own understanding.

Don't worry about tommorrow.

You will have no other Gods.

There are so many more verses you can use in the middle of temptation. As you read your Bible, pick out the verses that mean a lot to you, write down and memorize the parts that mean a lot to you.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Temptation Part One

WE ALL SHARE THE SAME KINDS OF TEMPTATION

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure (1 Corinthians 10:12).

THERE IS NO ONE TEMPTED WHO DIDN'T WANT TO BE TEMPTED (UNKNOWN)

Too much credit for temptation goes to Satan. Indeed, he does have something to do with temptation, but as we see in James 1, we are tempted when our own desires lead us astray. Satan may add to or feed temptation, he may even introduce something new into our temptations; but he always works with one main ingredient - human desire.

JUSTIFYING WHAT IS WRONG

For Eve to eat what was forbidden, she needed to justify what she was doing. This is huge in understanding temptation. People don't usually run out and do wrong without some sort of excuse, justifying what is wrong. Eve found the excuses she needed.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate (Genesis 3:6 ESV).

1. She saw it was good (not bad as she was told).
2. It looked good (businesses know that to sell a product, it is extremely important that the package looks good).
3. Eating from the illegal tree had a huge benefit - it would give Eve the knowledge of a world she knew nothing about - knowledge of and experience in the world of evil.

These were some of the attractions she saw that sold the product. The main justification however, was offered to her by the tempter who explained why God didn't want her to have something so good. God was covering up the truth that if Adam and Eve ate from the tree, they would become like gods, knowing good and evil. And that was in part true. When Adam and Eve did partake in evil, not only did they become wiser, knowing good and evil; but as God himself confessed, "They (literally ha-adam, meaning the man or adam, which was the word used for humankind or Adam or man) have become like us, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:22)."

So the tempter offered enough truth in the overall lie, to convince Eve that disobeying God was the right thing to do.

And now back to the point of this section. Temptation leads us into areas that are wrong, but areas that we desire. Justifications of different types are needed and used to get us to chomp into the bait.

In counselling, a wife tells me that her husband has been ignoring her (justification) and therefore falls into an affair with a nicer guy (desire). A 14 year old burns illegal music he desires onto his hard drive, because the record companies and the bands make so much money (justification).

Some common justifications:
1. God wants me happy.
2. They won't miss....
3. God didn't mean....
4. I deserve....
5. Everybody else is doing it....
6. Its the smart thing to do....

SOMETIMES YOU NEED A FRIEND TO SIN

There are some things you would never do unless a good friend pulled you into it. Take Adam, for example. He waited until Eve ate and then he ate after he saw that she didn't die. In the end, he also was able to blame her for his own sin. The story suggests that Adam would not have sinned if somebody else was not there to lead him into it. It was his excuse.

WHEN YOU ARE CAUGHT, BLAME OTHERS

Blaming others is a common way to escape self-condemnation or guilt for sinning against God or others. Eve blamed the serpent, Adam blamed Eve and God as well, "She gave it to me...that woman you gave me." In the end all but God were guilty.

The story of the Fall of Humanity is amazingly accurate for all of us. Notice how every time you are tempted those dynamics repeat themselves. You are attracted to something and then you start making excuses why that something would be good, or right, or the only choice you have.

DOUBT

Some of Jesus biggest temptations were in the area of doubt. When the tempter came to him, he prefaced everything with "If you are the Son of God...." Along with desire and justification is doubt. The types of questions that come with doubt are:
1. Did God really say...?
2. Does the Bible really mean...?
3. God didn't mean that....

CONCLUSION

Three major dynamics of temptation are desire, justifications and doubt. All three of these ingredients were in the main temptation stories of the Bible; in the temptation of Eve, Israel in the desert, and Jesus' temptation. They are also in the temptations that we face.