Leviticus 20 -- How Far We've Come (Strayed)

What a telling tale.  My commentary says, “Except perhaps in some Muslim societies, there isn’t a crime in this list that would merit capital punishment in most nations today … God gave His law to RESTRAIN sin, not to reform sinners; the penalties He imposed were for the purpose of upholding His law, NOT improving the offenders.”

So what were these offenses that God declared the death penalty as payment?  What did He see as a cancer that would eventually take over a society and cause Him to remove them from the land?

                Striking or cursing a parent

                Breaking the Sabbath

                Blaspheming God

                Engaging in occult practices

                Prophesying falsely

                Adultery

                Rape

                Having sex before marriage

                Incest

                Homosexuality

                Bestiality

                Kidnapping

                Idolatry

                False witness regarding a capital crime

                Killing a human intentionally

Most Americans would find it difficult to impose the death penalty for most of these if serving on a jury.  Have we stepped as far away from God’s law as the Israelites did before God sent them to the Babylonian captivity?

One thing I particularly noted:  Over and over in this chapter, God says of the sinners, “They have brought it on themselves.”  No blaming society or parents or schools or neighborhoods or Congress or the President.  Each person chooses to willfully sin, and in the Bible there was no excuse and no offering that could remove willful sin.

Father, show us what we’ve brought upon ourselves.  Show us the way back.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford