Praise God, how is every one?
I would like to put some thoughts to words if that’s OK.
Slavery has been around about as long as mankind has been around. If I had to guess I would say that when God confused the languages at the tower of Babel is went it started. The stronger forced the weaker to perform their chores. And indeed throughout the Bible we read of Nations being forced into slavery for other stronger Nations. In fact I remember a story from the Old Testament that said if a man had served out his slavery time and chose to remain a slave that the owner was to drive a stake through his ear into the doorframe of the house and thus he would remain a slave forever.
However as time has gone by and men have become more civilized through invention, the need of slaves to perform the work decreases. Fact remains that in the Biblical times as well as today in some places, certain people that we classify as slaves prefer catering to another’s wishes and being there by provided for. In other words some people would rather do the job and let some one else worry about making sure the product is sold, the seed is purchased, the cost of operations are met, etc. etc. If the owner gets the big bucks and they only get enough to live on, so long as the worry isn’t there everything is OK.
The possession of slaves was not rebuked in the Bible this is true, homosexuality is rebuked in the Bible and that also is true.
Slaves were needed and used to insure the survival of Nations and/or wealthy landowners, who were either incapable or unwilling to do the work themselves.
When it comes to a sexual relationship I cannot believe that there was a shortage of either sex and the practice of same sex relationships was the norm. If it had been normal every day events, acceptable to those all around, why has it been “kept in the closet” until the recent past?
We must remember that our bodies are the temples of God, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. And we are to strive to be Holy as God is Holy. How can we engage in a sexual relationship to fulfill the desires of the flesh and still strive to be Holy?
God designed sex, to be the sealing of a relationship, a sign that one belongs to the other forever.
Engaged in for pleasure and reproduction by married people only. This is God’s plan.
Now I would like to address a couple of scriptures,
The Bible tells us that God is Spirit and we must worship Him in Spirit and truth, now for some this may sound like foolishness. And I understand your confusion, the Bible tells us that Spiritual truth will seem foolish to those who choose to walk in the flesh.
The Apostle Peter walked with Christ Jesus Himself, heard Him preach, saw Him heal and saw Him resurrected. And yet when he reads the spiritually enlightened writings of Paul he says, “surely much of his writings are difficult to understand”.
Giving, or trying to give God’s great truths to a person with no desire to see is like “giving pearls to the Schwein”.
Often times, scratch that, every time someone believes to have found fluctuation in God’s distinctive qualities, they have been looking through fleshy eyes into Spiritual matters, attempting to find fault.
And out of a desire to please self or reassure self as the case is, they find what they seek.
Verses like;
God is not a man, that he should lie: neither the son of man,
that he should repent.
- Numbers 23:19
And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his
people.
- Exodus 32:14
I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
- Genesis 32:30
No man hath seen God at any time.
- John 1:18
Are used to support their unbelief, but are only partially quoted to better support their suspicion.
Numbers and Exodus, contradictions or misunderstood translations of words, not that the truth of the Word is changed.
God does not lie, He has never sinned that He should repent, however in the story of the rebellious Israelites who were ever complaining, rebelling and accusing, God did become angry. This anger was not a sinful anger, it was and will be a Holy anger that cannot allow sin to continue to destroy the rest of creation. God’s repentance was Him cooling down, He accepted Moses words as wisdom and heard his intercessory prayers for the forgiveness of those that God had led from captivity. Those who chose to remain in rejection did still suffer if you read in its entirety.
Genesis and John, total misunderstanding here. The fact that these two verses are used to support a contradiction claim is evidence that no reading took place. More like a word search on some program.
When we read we find that God said that no man could look upon His face and live (Exodus 33:20), and yet whenever Moses had been in the presence of God his face shown like a lamp, he had to keep it covered until the glowing past, so those unspiritual people would not be frightened.
The presence of God came down on Mount Sinai and covered it, Moses entered into that presence and ascended to the top where he spoke with God for 40 days.
God says that if we will seek Him we will find Him. The choice is ours, He will not force any one to choose life.
God Bless us every one
Brother Jerry – The Berlin Bear