"This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them." (19:9a)
Every single man (young and old) in the city of Sodom had ganged up on Lot. They wanted to rape the men (visitors who happened to be angels) who were staying at Lot's house. It's pretty sick. What Lot offers them instead is pretty sick too: his virgin daughters. Yikes. Boy, these men are in a lather. When Lot tries to block their way, they get super-pissed that he is judging them, when he wasn't even a native Sodomite.
Nobody likes to be judged. These days, in our time, you can shut a person up pretty quick by saying "You're so judgemental." Heaven forbid I should think that something a person is doing is actually WRONG. According to the amoral, it is morally wrong to say that something is morally wrong. Which means that even amongst the amoral, immorality does exist. And in the "amoral" crowd, being judgemental is the biggest sin of all. That's what you call irony. (I don't pretend these are new concepts, and I also don't pretend that these old concepts [double standards] cannot newly aggravate me.)
Who is to say what is right? Who is to say what is wrong? Do we let society dictate? What if one society (Sodom) says rape is okay, does that mean it is okay? But when Lot tried to stop them, they yelled at him for being judgemental, instead of stopping and thinking "Hey, wait a minute, maybe this is wrong. I mean, wrong and right do exist- I think things are right, and I think things are wrong- I think that Lot judging me is wrong, so I must believe in some sort of moral system. But is my moral system correct, or Lot's? Hmm..."
Who decides? Who really gets to decide whether these things are right or wrong?
I have to tell you, that it is a relief and a great freedom to me to not have to decide. To not have to follow my own heart on these issues. Because if I did, it would lead me in such a bad path. I would hit my kids, cheat on my husband, lay around all day, eat potato chips and peanut M&M's for every meal, and generally live a life of no restraint and decay. Maybe you're not like that. Why? Because you think it's wrong? I wonder.
Once upon a time, I thought I knew what was right. I was following my heart, living for myself and whatever I wanted, whatever I thought was right. Then I began to read the Bible (I wanted to "know my enemy" but more on that another time). I read in there for the first time what God thinks is right and wrong, and it changed my life. I thought cheating on my husband was okay, because I wanted to do it. I thought it was okay to kill the baby inside me, because I wasn't ready for it. I thought I could get as wasted as possible whenever I felt like it, because it was fun. I didn't know what truth was, I didn't know what right and wrong was, I didn't know that sin existed. And I didn't know that God is real and He loves me and offers a way for me to turn to Him. I have only ever found within the front and back cover of the Word of God unfathomable wisdom and grace. My compass, my thermometer, my moral guide comes from only one place: the Living Word of the One True Living God, the Bible. It tells me what is right and what is wrong, I do not tell it. The Bible changed my life.
Maybe you don't like the Bible, because it tells you that something is wrong, or that something is right. I say "Thank you for removing from me that responsibility, for if I had it, I would NEVER get it right, no matter how much time I had on this Earth." None of us would, for we are not perfect, we see with skewed vision, with biases, with love or hate, or desires. There is only One who sees all, who sees clearly, One who is Perfect and Good- all the way Good, and that is God. If you think God is bad because He says that something is bad, you've got it all wrong. But why wouldn't you? After all, you're only human.
Every single man (young and old) in the city of Sodom had ganged up on Lot. They wanted to rape the men (visitors who happened to be angels) who were staying at Lot's house. It's pretty sick. What Lot offers them instead is pretty sick too: his virgin daughters. Yikes. Boy, these men are in a lather. When Lot tries to block their way, they get super-pissed that he is judging them, when he wasn't even a native Sodomite.
Nobody likes to be judged. These days, in our time, you can shut a person up pretty quick by saying "You're so judgemental." Heaven forbid I should think that something a person is doing is actually WRONG. According to the amoral, it is morally wrong to say that something is morally wrong. Which means that even amongst the amoral, immorality does exist. And in the "amoral" crowd, being judgemental is the biggest sin of all. That's what you call irony. (I don't pretend these are new concepts, and I also don't pretend that these old concepts [double standards] cannot newly aggravate me.)
Who is to say what is right? Who is to say what is wrong? Do we let society dictate? What if one society (Sodom) says rape is okay, does that mean it is okay? But when Lot tried to stop them, they yelled at him for being judgemental, instead of stopping and thinking "Hey, wait a minute, maybe this is wrong. I mean, wrong and right do exist- I think things are right, and I think things are wrong- I think that Lot judging me is wrong, so I must believe in some sort of moral system. But is my moral system correct, or Lot's? Hmm..."
Who decides? Who really gets to decide whether these things are right or wrong?
I have to tell you, that it is a relief and a great freedom to me to not have to decide. To not have to follow my own heart on these issues. Because if I did, it would lead me in such a bad path. I would hit my kids, cheat on my husband, lay around all day, eat potato chips and peanut M&M's for every meal, and generally live a life of no restraint and decay. Maybe you're not like that. Why? Because you think it's wrong? I wonder.
Once upon a time, I thought I knew what was right. I was following my heart, living for myself and whatever I wanted, whatever I thought was right. Then I began to read the Bible (I wanted to "know my enemy" but more on that another time). I read in there for the first time what God thinks is right and wrong, and it changed my life. I thought cheating on my husband was okay, because I wanted to do it. I thought it was okay to kill the baby inside me, because I wasn't ready for it. I thought I could get as wasted as possible whenever I felt like it, because it was fun. I didn't know what truth was, I didn't know what right and wrong was, I didn't know that sin existed. And I didn't know that God is real and He loves me and offers a way for me to turn to Him. I have only ever found within the front and back cover of the Word of God unfathomable wisdom and grace. My compass, my thermometer, my moral guide comes from only one place: the Living Word of the One True Living God, the Bible. It tells me what is right and what is wrong, I do not tell it. The Bible changed my life.
Maybe you don't like the Bible, because it tells you that something is wrong, or that something is right. I say "Thank you for removing from me that responsibility, for if I had it, I would NEVER get it right, no matter how much time I had on this Earth." None of us would, for we are not perfect, we see with skewed vision, with biases, with love or hate, or desires. There is only One who sees all, who sees clearly, One who is Perfect and Good- all the way Good, and that is God. If you think God is bad because He says that something is bad, you've got it all wrong. But why wouldn't you? After all, you're only human.
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