Day 17 - BIOY

Genesis 34:1-35:29

Some interesting comments on chapter 34:

This chapter is about sin – the name of God is not even mentioned!

It is important to note that this is not shown as an example to follow - it was a terrible thing for Dinah to be raped, but that did not give her brothers licence to go and murder all the men there! (After getting them all to be circumcised!)
We must remember that God is the only one who has the right to judge others, and pour out his judgement upon them. This is reflected in Jacob when he rebukes his sons for what they did, in Gen 34:30. By this time, Jacob had learnt to better rely on God, and understood that it was not right for them to have taken matters into their own hands.

And some from chapter 35:

Rachel named her son 'Ben-Oni', meaning 'Son of my Sorrow', just before she died. However, Jacob (Israel) renamed the child 'Benjamin' meaning 'Son of the Right Hand'.

Matthew 12:46-13:17

Why did Jesus seemingly ignore his mother and brothers for his disciples?

Well, we don't know what happened after he made his point, but basically, all he was doing was using that moment to point out that we are all now part of a much large family, we are brothers and sisters, and they too are important. After that he may have actually gone out to see his family, we don't know!

You gotta love: The Parable of the Sower

Ah yes, this is a classic parable which I like very much. I remember learning it in Sunday school and it was very good. Something I hadn't noticed before which really amused me today was that it says "He who has ears, let him hear" (13:9) while using an agricultural parable where he was speaking about crops (ears of wheat)! This may or may not have been an intentional pun, but I like it...

Other

This is a topic that is not related, but came up in the comments today, and I thought there were some really interesting views displayed so I wanted to post a few here

My friend is a Christian, but also thinks he's homosexual, I'm not sure how to respond, any thoughts?

Response from 'Mummy Snuggs':

I once asked a Catholic priest about this, and his answer did seem to make sense, so here we go. We have little control over our feelings, but we can control our response to those feelings. For those unmarried, celibacy is the Christian way, regardless of what your feelings, emotional or physical, make you want to do. As a general rule (but correct me if I am wrong) the Christian church does not recognise same sex marriages, therefore someone who feels attracted to the same sex in the physical sense must remain celibate, and do their best to resist any temptation. Don’t let it make a difference to how you see your friend, because Jesus loves us all, as does God. And if your friend has been given this extra challenge in the Christian life, then the Lord knows their faith is strong and they can handle it.

He is a fantastic Priest, very devout but modern, and any questions on Catholocism, he’s your man!

Another comment:

I once had a conversation about this and my friend said having the feelings for the same sex is not the sin, it's if you act on those feelings that then its a problem…

A response to the above comment

This is quite a difficult subject, as I think we all agree with. I think scripture is quite clear that even if you purposely look at someone lustfully (whether think in your head or see physically), then this is sin. Matt 5:29-30, looks at this (the vision of removing your eye/hand is more of a expression, than what you should do). Also I feel Matt 6:22-23, covers this by showing, what you look at, can lead you to how your body reacts.
This is quite hard for me to write at the mo as the enemy is battling against me in regards to lust (not same sex) and it was something I overcame about 6 months (lust was a major factor in my life before I got saved).
What we must do, is follow these scriptures, and really dig in when it hurts. IF a person fails at this, then we all know forgiveness is possible but I think this is granted if there is true repentance.

Disclaimer: This post is made up of various people's views, including my own, but not all necessarily reflecting my own, though I may have found them particularly interesting.