Teaching Leviticus includes coming upon chapters referencing sexual sin, immorality and homosexuality. It's just going to happen. I will admit, when I first decided to teach Leviticus, I was a little worried about this. I didn't yet know who was going to be in the group and it is not a topic that everyone is excited about discussing. Unless you are in the media and then it seems to be one of the only topics dealt with in the church.
Today, on facebook, I was invited to "like" Chick-fil-A" who is currently under attack for the owners identifying their public support of the biblical model of marriage. This meant one man to one woman for the rest of their lives. One article written attacking them was titled "Chicken with a side of Bigotry, Chick-Fil-A’s Ungodly Business Plan" Since then, there have been a flurry of articles condemning the owners for their bigotry and gay and lesbian organizations trying to organize boycotts against the company. None of this is shocking to me. Unfortunately, I didn't stop at just reading the article. I read the comments to the article. There I found a stream of comments (1529 and counting) about whether or not they agreed with Chick-fil-A. Nearly all the comments I read referenced Leviticus 18 (which we just studied this week). Nearly all of the comments were written by people claiming to be "Christians". These "Christians" argued online using the following types of statements:
"And please know that being gay is a demon"; " By judging them, by condemning them. YOU are the problem with religion, not me. I simply want to live my life and do unto others as I would have them do unto me. Not, you know, judge and condemn and accuse, like you. You are not a Christian."; "Do your research before you begin to spew your hate and bigotry."; "the laws (meaning Leviticus) are irrelevant now and have been irrelevant since the first coming of Christ."; "the Bible takes no stance on committed homosexual relationships"; "The Leviticus Codes are not bound to Christians"; "classic case of pot calling the kettle black you self righteous hypocrite. "; "You are an idiot!"; " I know the Bible does not say homosexuality is a sin."; "If they are consenting adults, it’s all good. And if they love one another, then God blesses that relationship. God really likes it when people love one another."
I'll stop now, but I could go on for a long time just from this one post. The point is, we need to consider how we daily interact in a world where everyone call's themselves "Christian" and touts their knowledge of the bible, but speaks lies and promotes discord. Satan's name translates into "accuser", "deceiver", "opponent", and "adversary". Satan delights in this wildfire of lies - but is even more excited about the division that it brings. What is our responsibility? When do we speak? When are we silent? What do we say?
This is real and it surrounds us daily. Pray about your interactions within this world - be they believers or not - truth is truth. But God's truth is perfectly integrated with His grace and love. We cannot operate the balance nearly as well as Christ. But through the power of His Spirit, He can equip us for every situation. We need to be in a posture of listening to Him and following His prompting both for when to speak and when to be silent. He will lead our way.
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