Loopholes

It's interesting to read the prohibitions in Leviticus. One kind of caught my eye this morning. It said that you were not to curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block in front of the blind. Well, duh! It's kind of sad that you have to spell out every possible kind of meanness, or else humans will see that as a loophole and try to find a way around it. But, really, that's what we've done, isn't it? We have somehow found loopholes for even those things that are expressly forbidden in Exodus. God prohibits homosexuality, but we say a God of love would want loving couples to be together regardless of gender. God prohibits bestiality, but we say God would not want to place restrictions and limitations on our sexual freedom. God prohibits incest, but we say that love is more important than rules. God prohibits sacrificing to the goat demons, but we say that everyone should worship their own god in their own way.

It's no wonder really that the new dispensation is a whole new way of thinking. God recognized that people would always find a way around the written rules, so he designed a better path. The "new and better way" was a relationship, a friendship with One who would steer us away from self-destructive behavior. Instead of focusing on the do's and don't's of a rulebook, we would be obey out of a desire to please our Friend, who had done so much for us.