Christ is risen!
We've all heard several objections to our faith raised on numerous accounts, and one of those is the Levitical Law due to the command to stone homosexuals, stoning of women who aren't virgins on their wedding nights, stoning those with tattoos, a rapist having to marry his victim, etc. What is our Church's response to these objections and what do the Church Fathers say about them? What I've formulated so far is something like this:
"While there are many things in the Levitical Law that seem odd to us and even offensive, we have to remember that God met the Israelites where they were. Several things that seem odd to us, probably were odd to them, but for different reasons. 'Eye for an eye' restricted the death penalty to just the taking of a life. A guy couldn't demand the death of his neighbor, if his neighbor punched him and knocked out a tooth. It actually brought a sense of order and settled any potential chaos. When it comes to things such as stoning homosexuals, stoning those with tattoos, stoning women who weren't virgins on their wedding night, etc. these laws were included because the Israelites just came out of Egypt and were about to go into Cannan, both of which had very perverted sexual practices. Tattoos were part of the religious practices of the Egyptians, and sex was used in several ancient cultures in their religious practices as well, and in many of those cultures virginity was valued only because virgins were used as sacrifices to the gods. These things could not be tolerated in the infancy of the nation of Israel, and God had to make it known that the practices of the Egyptians and Cannanites were detestable, and one way that is done is to have a stigma of death surrounding it. That being said, we do find where God is merciful and the law itself is suspended, and one very well known case is King David's sins of adultery and murder. When he repented, the Prophet Nathan said God had heard his prayer and accepted his repentance, but there would be consequences. In the Law, the crime for both murder AND adultery was death, but due to David's repentance, God did not have him put to death. There are other examples of people receiving God's mercy instead of death, Rahab, the Gibeonites, and the Ninevites are just three that come to mind at this moment. With every sin, God gives us a way out and offers forgiveness. The main underlying thing we need to keep in mind about the stoning of homosexuals in the OT Law, was more about avoiding the detestable practices of the Egyptians, Cannanites, and the other Pagan nations surrounding Israel than any burning hatred God has against homosexuals per se, although homosexuality is still detestable, because even before the giving of the Law, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for that sin, but that sin had spiraled out of control and was a perversion of the worst kind, in fact it was so perverted, the actions of the Sodomites are unthinkable to many homosexuals in our culture today. Visitors couldn't even spend the night safely in those towns without the inhabitants wanting to rape them. The Apostle Paul says the Law was given to us as a tutor until the advent of Christ. The Sermon on the Mount demonstrates where God wanted the Israelites to get to. In one part of it, Christ is saying to the people, 'You thought the Law meant this, but it really means this.' For example, 'You have heard it said, 'Do not commit murder,' but I tell you anyone who hates his brother is a murderer already.' That's just one example of Christ elevating the standard, The Law was a starting point, but was never intended to be the end. God's righteousness existed before the Law, and still exists after it. Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, and the Law can only be truly fulfilled in Him and contained within Him."
What would you add, change, take away, or amend? Any help would be great.
Forgive me,
Justin
We've all heard several objections to our faith raised on numerous accounts, and one of those is the Levitical Law due to the command to stone homosexuals, stoning of women who aren't virgins on their wedding nights, stoning those with tattoos, a rapist having to marry his victim, etc. What is our Church's response to these objections and what do the Church Fathers say about them? What I've formulated so far is something like this:
"While there are many things in the Levitical Law that seem odd to us and even offensive, we have to remember that God met the Israelites where they were. Several things that seem odd to us, probably were odd to them, but for different reasons. 'Eye for an eye' restricted the death penalty to just the taking of a life. A guy couldn't demand the death of his neighbor, if his neighbor punched him and knocked out a tooth. It actually brought a sense of order and settled any potential chaos. When it comes to things such as stoning homosexuals, stoning those with tattoos, stoning women who weren't virgins on their wedding night, etc. these laws were included because the Israelites just came out of Egypt and were about to go into Cannan, both of which had very perverted sexual practices. Tattoos were part of the religious practices of the Egyptians, and sex was used in several ancient cultures in their religious practices as well, and in many of those cultures virginity was valued only because virgins were used as sacrifices to the gods. These things could not be tolerated in the infancy of the nation of Israel, and God had to make it known that the practices of the Egyptians and Cannanites were detestable, and one way that is done is to have a stigma of death surrounding it. That being said, we do find where God is merciful and the law itself is suspended, and one very well known case is King David's sins of adultery and murder. When he repented, the Prophet Nathan said God had heard his prayer and accepted his repentance, but there would be consequences. In the Law, the crime for both murder AND adultery was death, but due to David's repentance, God did not have him put to death. There are other examples of people receiving God's mercy instead of death, Rahab, the Gibeonites, and the Ninevites are just three that come to mind at this moment. With every sin, God gives us a way out and offers forgiveness. The main underlying thing we need to keep in mind about the stoning of homosexuals in the OT Law, was more about avoiding the detestable practices of the Egyptians, Cannanites, and the other Pagan nations surrounding Israel than any burning hatred God has against homosexuals per se, although homosexuality is still detestable, because even before the giving of the Law, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for that sin, but that sin had spiraled out of control and was a perversion of the worst kind, in fact it was so perverted, the actions of the Sodomites are unthinkable to many homosexuals in our culture today. Visitors couldn't even spend the night safely in those towns without the inhabitants wanting to rape them. The Apostle Paul says the Law was given to us as a tutor until the advent of Christ. The Sermon on the Mount demonstrates where God wanted the Israelites to get to. In one part of it, Christ is saying to the people, 'You thought the Law meant this, but it really means this.' For example, 'You have heard it said, 'Do not commit murder,' but I tell you anyone who hates his brother is a murderer already.' That's just one example of Christ elevating the standard, The Law was a starting point, but was never intended to be the end. God's righteousness existed before the Law, and still exists after it. Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, and the Law can only be truly fulfilled in Him and contained within Him."
What would you add, change, take away, or amend? Any help would be great.
Forgive me,
Justin
