I’m hopping threads because the “…Endorse God’s Hatred” thread seems to have run its course. For this thread I’ll repeat some of my response there.
The Holy Scriptures give us a narrative that occurs of a vast period of time. It tells a story of God slowly and surely delivering humanity out of corruption and providing us direction timed to match our ability as a species to receive His redeeming love. Parents use different approaches when their children are toddlers than they do for when they grow into teenagers. The OT commandants and various ordinances remain in the canon because they are still instructive, even if time of their enforcement has expired. Sundry commands relating to a mobile tabernacle are no longer needed when you have a temple. Jesus then preaches the Beatitudes to prepare His church for the destruction of the temple. God reveals to Peter modifications in dietary laws needed to extend the Gospel to the gentile nations.*
So when it comes to the Laws of Moses that governed the ancient Hebrew theocracy, these ordinances matched the needs of God’s chosen people at that particular time in history. At the same time they contain many oddities, like not muzzling the ox while he works, that point to hidden spiritual meanings, because it was never about the ox.
Anyone can see that many of the OT laws were harsh. It was the ancient world. Back then all laws were harsh. After 400 years of captivity an ancient people does not instantly settle into a modern Western-style democracy. At the time of the First Advent, it is estimated that at least 2/3 of humanity was in some form of slavery, peasantry, or indentured servitude. It is only right and fitting that God would adapt his message to this world, mitigating Humanity’s injustice, while at the same time enfolding within the Holy Scriptures the seeds for overcoming this evil, i.e. the Christian abolitionist movement that started with Wilberforce.
As far as I can tell, throughout this progression, God never contradicted his general disapproval of adultery or fornication, including homosexual behavior. As such, your so-called dilemma of having to choose between a world of slavery or a world of that endorses homosexuality is a false one.
*In my own denomination, we affirm that the progress of God’s revelation continues through the writings of Swedenborg to address the needs of post-Enlightenment world society.
The Holy Scriptures give us a narrative that occurs of a vast period of time. It tells a story of God slowly and surely delivering humanity out of corruption and providing us direction timed to match our ability as a species to receive His redeeming love. Parents use different approaches when their children are toddlers than they do for when they grow into teenagers. The OT commandants and various ordinances remain in the canon because they are still instructive, even if time of their enforcement has expired. Sundry commands relating to a mobile tabernacle are no longer needed when you have a temple. Jesus then preaches the Beatitudes to prepare His church for the destruction of the temple. God reveals to Peter modifications in dietary laws needed to extend the Gospel to the gentile nations.*
So when it comes to the Laws of Moses that governed the ancient Hebrew theocracy, these ordinances matched the needs of God’s chosen people at that particular time in history. At the same time they contain many oddities, like not muzzling the ox while he works, that point to hidden spiritual meanings, because it was never about the ox.
Anyone can see that many of the OT laws were harsh. It was the ancient world. Back then all laws were harsh. After 400 years of captivity an ancient people does not instantly settle into a modern Western-style democracy. At the time of the First Advent, it is estimated that at least 2/3 of humanity was in some form of slavery, peasantry, or indentured servitude. It is only right and fitting that God would adapt his message to this world, mitigating Humanity’s injustice, while at the same time enfolding within the Holy Scriptures the seeds for overcoming this evil, i.e. the Christian abolitionist movement that started with Wilberforce.
As far as I can tell, throughout this progression, God never contradicted his general disapproval of adultery or fornication, including homosexual behavior. As such, your so-called dilemma of having to choose between a world of slavery or a world of that endorses homosexuality is a false one.
*In my own denomination, we affirm that the progress of God’s revelation continues through the writings of Swedenborg to address the needs of post-Enlightenment world society.
