Such a wonderful response, I left it below.
But I was caught by your last line :
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Originally Posted by Trapped
Edit to add: sorry, I don't mean to veer away from the thread topic.
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It's true, a discussion of Job is off thread topic. Sorry for that StG.
I didn't mean for that to happen. The BoJ doesn't speak for or against LGBTQ's.
Tho poorly, obviously, I was trying to use The BoJ to make us realize that we can't know the mind of God, can't write all of it, or understand all of it. And that might be true for Leviticus 18 as well.
So, not only do I think that Christians clobbering LGBTQ is sin, but there might be questions of using Leviticus 18 to clobber them.
Clobbering anyone is sin ... especially for Christians. Clobbering LGBTQ's is not proper Christian behavior. Not welcoming them in our Churches is not proper Christian behavior. Giving them a cold shoulder, or worse, is not proper Christian behavior. Not hugging them is not proper Christian behavior.
Christians doing that are sinning. Rejecting gays is a sin against God.
As you say, we're not the author of life ... so we're not the judge of it either. Let's leave that to God. Our job is to love our neighbors, even if we think they don't deserve it.
We're no longer in the age of stoning people, thank God. Leviticus 18 comes out of that age. We left the stoning age behind. Why not question the rest from that age? After all, The Book of Job comes out of that age.
Thanks for your marvelous and well thought out response ....
Harold
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Originally Posted by Trapped
I do actually understand where you are coming from on the Job thing. That's one of those I have "put a pin in" to grapple with later when I have more time, because it's a common stumbling block to many.
A few thoughts though:
1. Since you and I are not the author of life, when we take the life of another, it's murder and a sin, because it's not ours to take. But God is the author of life, and He thus has the full right to give it and take it as He sees fit. Period. We are the clay and we talk back to the Potter, but it's just the facts. He has determined the length of our days.
2. We each think that we deserve a life without pain or suffering, fully energetic and healthy all the way to 102 years old, but that's not how it goes. Some live to 2. Some to 32. Some to 82. Most suffer a lot during those years. None of us have earned any right to live to the age we think we should be given to live to.
3. If you are a Christian, you know that people don't really die.....they just change location, if you will. When someone dies, we know their body is no longer alive, but their soul is still indeed alive. So while Job's kids lost their temporal, earthly life of suffering, only their body died, as for us all. In Job 3, Job even speaks of being in death as peace, rest, ease, and freedom.
As for Job himself? The torment he was put through? Yeah. Ya got me. Job 4:18 says "For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal." Sounds like a human being I would be scared of, honestly. So I'm partially with you on this one.
Edit to add: sorry, I don't mean to veer away from the thread topic.
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