15"If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, 16then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn, 17but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the firstfruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.The first paragraph makes sense to me. God is reminding his people that firstborn is firstborn regardless of your feelings about the matter. Sometimes, even if you don't like it, you have to do what is right. If you don't love the mom of your firstborn, it's not that boy's fault, and shouldn't be penalized for it.18"If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, 19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, 20and they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.' 21Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
The second, my goodness, obedience to God in this would be so hard. One would have to try hard not to let feelings over-ride what you know to be right. Can you imagine, telling the elders of city that your boy is stubborn and rebellious, knowing that he would die as the result of it? I don't think I could do that, yet God told his people that this they must do in order to get rid of evilness from within them.
So how does one do this? How does ones maintain a strong sense of God's people needing to reflect the God that we serve even if our feelings tell us to do something different?
For instance, in the denomination that Jim serves in there are things going on that go against the holiness of God. Things that are NOT biblical (as in promoting a pro-gay agenda). We don't live in a day and age of stoning people. Often what people will say is but so and so is so talented and such a nice good person, what does it matter? See....feelings are entering the picture. You don't want to hurt a nice person! And yet God says remove the evil from among you. So just how does one do this?
Do we need to start kicking people out of the church/denomination?
Does one just leave the church/denomination?
Does one stay in the church/denomination and fight to maintain biblical standards?
Which method most pleases God?
I have to admit, I don't know. What are your thoughts?
5 comments:
That is a tough one. As far as what pleases God, I think that would only become clearer to you through much prayer. I'm guessing that attempting to effect change would be the first recourse, but if you are not listened to, there may come a time that you have to leave.
We had a similar situation (regarding things going on that were unBiblical) on a smaller scale within a local assembly, and when the pastor refused to listen, and instead became abusive to us, we had to leave. After we left, we found that we had not been the first to attempt to talk to the leaders about the issue. It was an ongoing problem within that church.
I guess what a wonder the most is.... which is the most biblical approach. In the Old Testament God's general approach was to kill off all those who opposed him.
In the New Testament God says don't spend time with these folks. Beware of them and don't listen to them.
And yet... we do.
And yet... we don't "kill them off" by kicking them out or not listening to them.
And yet.. we keep listening.
So what is the most biblical approach?
Well, being under the new covenant takes precedence over the OT laws. I think trying to make your Biblical points to them would be first, but if they don't listen, there may come a time to disassociate with them.
What are Jim's thoughts?
He's thinking that we need to leave this denomination, but he's not sure either of what is best. It's easier to leave in some ways.. except being left with where to go. :) This does affect his job. And he still has hope, but it's getting harder to quieten those who need quieting.
That is a tough situation. I'll pray that God will make the direction to go abundantly clear, and that whatever happens, the transition will be easy to bear.
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