On Tuesday I had a discussion with Dale about National Identity--does God promote it? I told Him that I had trouble with the OT stuff about God making an exclusive race to represent Him. He asked me why Jesus overturned the tables in the Temple Courts. I don't remember what I replied with. Something about marketing. His answer was that it was because that was the part of the Temple that was supposed to be dedicated to the Gentiles--where they could come in and learn about God and then, after conversion, be allowed into the more inner-parts of the temple. And the Jews were wasting this important part of the temple to sell things. In that way, they were being exclusive.
I've heard Dale speak of this before, but it reminded me that, from the beginning, God has never been exclusive. He separates us by letting us enter into His kindgom, but He has never closed the door. Jesus actually made that door wider in the way that He is even more accessable to gentiles. They don't have to trek all the way to Jerusalem to know about God anymore. Through Jesus, we are the temple and are brought to people face to face.
As a believer, I am separate but never exclusive.
Another cool point he made (and has made before) was with the question, "What was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?" He said almost everyone believes that God destroyed them because of homosexuality, but later on in the OT, God explains that they weren't taking care of their poor, their orphans, and their widows. It had nothing to do with sexual sin--at least, the sexual sin wasn't mentioned as a direct cause. Along the line with national identity, Dale reiterated the point that Israel came to ruin again and again when they forgot about their poor.
1 comment:
Thought that was interesting, so I looked it up. Your friend is only half correct:
"'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. 50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.'" (Exekiel 16:49-50)
"In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire." (Jude 1:7)
So it looks lik Sodom and Gomorrah were punished for extreme godlessness in many senses, not just neglecting the poor and not just sexual sin (which is not necessarily homosexuality or "just" homosexuality).
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