FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2025 SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS

 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7TH, 2025 - SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS

Hmmm

I found the following online: (in The West Wing television series: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0745700/characters/nm0000640) 

“I like how you call homosexuality an abomination… I’m interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She’s a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleaned the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be?

My chief of staff insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police?

Here’s one that’s really important cause we’ve got a lot of sports fans in this town—touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean—Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point?  Leviticus 11:7-9.

Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother, John, for planting different crops side by side? (Leviticus 19:19) Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? (Leviticus 19:19) Think about those questions, would you?”

 “Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards. (Leviticus 19:27)”

“I was thinking of getting a tattoo.  I guess I’d be wrong” (Leviticus 19:28)

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The five books of Moses are called the Pentateuch, the Torah, or the Law of Moses. The books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  Was the world created as described in Genesis chapter 1?  I believe in an infinite, all-powerful God - who can say “Let there be light”.  I wasn’t there.  If Moses (who also wasn’t there) describes it - it seems to more illustrative of God’s power - There was nothing - and God - spoke or did something - and then there was a planet with people, plants, trees, water, land, mountains, etc.  

I’ve written before that astronomers have estimated some trillions of galaxies - and with trillions of galaxies, starts, planets, and whatever else there was some supernational force behind the universe.  

But let’s move on to the Mosaic Law.  Don’t eat pork, don’t eat shellfish, etc. etc. These were people taken out of slavery in Egypt (supposedly), and in the desert.  If they had pigs (and that could be debated) could they eat port?  Could they touch snakes, wild pigs, dead people, women who were having their period?  I doubt that the Hebrews in the desert knew much about bacteria, and viruses.  Even yet, we have food scientists working to keep our food safe.  

Pig got trichinellas  when pigs scavenge trichinella-infected carcasses of swine, rats or other animals.  In humans this could result in intestinal roundworms.  Pork that is sufficiently cooked gets rid of the trichiniasis larvae. 

If a person living in a tent in the desert found a pig, they may will have killed it and had a “pig roast” - and if they didn’t cook enough, those who eat the pork could develop roundworms in their bodies.  

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I have many friends who have tattoos.  Can you imagine getting a tattoo in the desert with the Hebrews?  Did they have clean needles? Did they properly clean the area?  Was it is a sanitary environment.  

These rules and others were more based on their environment (the desert) and less on offending God.

God, who is so infinitely just that man is rightly punished for sin, is also so infinitely merciful.  According to the Bible, God is merciful because he is kind to those in need, even if they are undeserving. God's mercy is infinite, eternal, and rooted in his love for us. 

So, if you get a tattoo, engage in homosexuality, eat pork, wearing clothing from two different sources, I believe that God is merciful.  

I also believe that those who want to punish homosexuals (males and/or females), or LGBTQ people are guilty of being judgmental.

Let’s not judge - let God do the judging (and he is infinitely merciful!!!)

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

Karen Anne White, February 7th, 2025