Leviticus 18:19-30
19 “Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness as long as she is in her customary impurity. 20 Moreover you shall not lie carnally with your neighbor's wife, to defile yourself with her. 21 And you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. 23 Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion.
24 “Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. 25 For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. 26 You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you 27 (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), 28 lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. 29 For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
30 ‘Therefore you shall keep My ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the Lord your God.’ ”
24 “Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. 25 For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. 26 You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you 27 (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), 28 lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. 29 For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
30 ‘Therefore you shall keep My ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the Lord your God.’ ”
After God made moral boundaries clear by His standards of right and wrong in sexual relationships, He now goes further to prohibit what He calls abominable intimate acts outside of the Creator’s design. Intimate relations when a woman is menstruating are prohibited due to the impurity of the blood, committing adultery with a married person (neighbor, close by or in the general sense), and serving false gods to the point even of killing your children. Also abhorrent to God but ever more pursued by today’s culture (as well as in Moses’ time) are homosexuality and bestiality. These twist God’s good design into a repulsive abomination of His creation’s misuse in His eyes. God names this ‘perversion.’ So should we, or we are showing that we are also against God and His word. The world dirties itself with these things, but we are called out of those to live for God’s glory and pleasure, not running after our own fleeting pleasure of sin (Hebrews 11:25). These are among the reasons why there is a divine judgement on the world, not just the perverse and sinful acts, but the underlying disobedience to His word and will contained in it. We are called to live by His every word (Matthew 4:4, Deuteronomy 8:3, 6), keeping this word by not living contrary to the clear commands of His holy pleasure. This mindset grates against the world, flesh, and devil, but is essential to life and godliness in Christ. As it is written, the Lord knows His people, and everyone who names the name of Christ must depart from sin (2 Timothy 2:19) to be pleasing to Him. These things are not negotiable nor optional nor to be reasoned away to serve our own misaligned desires. Morality is defined by God and our consciences bear witness to these things if we do not ignore or argue against His word (Romans 1:20, 24, 26-27, 32). This certainly does not make us judges of those who are not His who do such things, for all such judgement belongs to the Lord whose word they oppose; we are only to correct and warn those who are in Christ and pursue such disobedience (Romans 2:1-3). It is a matter of obedience, morality, and conscience in what we do with our bodies and thoughts, either in holy application of His word or in willful disregard.
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