My article from this week's newspapers answers a question about whether there are certain things that can make a Christian unrighteous by having contact with them:
Q: Are there certain things that
would be sinful for Christians to consume, hear, see, or come into contact with
like there were in the Old Testament? If
so, what would those be?
It seems that human understand
instinctively that something has gone wrong in this world and that living here comes
with a certain degree of spiritual danger.
In an effort to remedy this, prohibitions on contact with certain items
in the physical world are a common feature among religions throughout the
world.
A common example is eating the meat
of certain animals, or meat at all. For
others, they see certain places as forbidden or certain words that should never
be uttered. They may even propose that
those who hear forbidden words or see others committing a forbidden act or come
too close to a forbidden thing are made unholy or unclean by their
contact.
The Old Testament laws given to
Israel bear a resemblance to the description above, but those who read them
closely will discover that there is a distinct difference in the way that they
approach this compared to the religions of the world.
To begin with, Genesis describes several centuries where the Law of Moses is not in force, yet people like Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and his twelve sons are not regarded as any less accepted because they do not have it or follow it. This seems to indicate that these laws are for a certain time, place and purpose rather than being universal decrees.
In addition, the objects and actions
they forbid are not treated as defective in themselves, but they are to be
avoided to teach a greater truth about sin.
So the people avoid touching lepers or certain animals and they follow
certain grooming rituals as a way of showing them that sin corrupts them and
must be cleansed.
The ultimate goal of all of this was
a promise given as early as the third chapter of Genesis that a particular
descendent of Eve would one day arise to provide the permanent remedy for
sin.
When Jesus arrives, he disregards all
of the extra regulations the Pharisees had made regarding what to avoid and how
to wash if one might have contacted something or someone who was unclean. He tells them, “There is nothing outside a
person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a
person are what defile him… Whatever goes into a person from outside cannot
defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”
We also never see him go to the
priests or the temple to be cleansed after he touches and heals a leper or
someone with an unclean discharge or a demon.
This would have been required not only by the Pharisees but also the Law
of Moses. However, Jesus could not be
made unclean, therefor had no need for cleansing. Instead, his inherent cleanness flowed out to
the person to heal them rather than their uncleanness being transferred to
him.
When the Apostle Paul was confronted
with people who thought that Christians ought to avoid consuming or coming into
contact with certain things, he responds by writing, “Therefore let no one pass
judgment on you in questions of food and drink... “Do not handle, Do not taste,
Do not touch” …These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made
religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in
stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”
Jesus and Paul both demonstrate that
what causes our problem with God is not what comes into us from outside but
what comes out of our own hearts and desires.
For Christians, it is not a thing itself that is bad, such as food,
drink, sexual intimacy, or any other earthly element, but rather when it is
used in a way that is inconsistent with the Creator’s will. The sin comes not from the earthly thing, but
from our sinful desire to misuse it against our neighbors, against our own
physical and spiritual well-being, and against the Lord who gave it.
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