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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Violent correction? | Neh 13:25 | Just Read Mark | 119266 | ||
Pulling out their hair: Ouch! What a brutal picture of leadership. I guess this follows from my question from Ezra 10:3 (feel free to look that that thread, too...) Ezra and Nehemiah were originally, I believe, one book. I was excited about looking to these bold leaders as examples of how to rebuild the people of God after a period of dispersion... I keep coming across these scenes of brutality. Any advice on how to understand this text? It is particularly hard when the passage ends with the refrain, "Remember me, O my God, for good." (v.489) |
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2 | Violent correction? | Neh 13:25 | Rowdy | 119275 | ||
I can only quote from the NT as follows: Matt 18:2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 "And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! 8 "If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. 9 "If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. I've heard some folks say that here Christ was speaking figuratively. I don't think so. He and His Father are very, very serious when it comes to sin. IF and that's a big IF...IF that's what it literally comes down to, a choice between loosing our soul for eternity and loosing a body part, most people would gladly choose the latter. The big problem we humans have is perserverance. We all tend to be impulsive like Peter and would rather get it over with in a hurry and then enjoy the fruits of our "dedication" afterwards. Instead our God likes to see a steady progression of maturity, love and devotion in spite of living in a world filled to overflowing with distractions, temptations and much evil. This is truly the more difficult thing to do. Hope this helps and God bless. --Rowdy PS: Hair isn't such a big thing to lose. I've been losing it ever since I was a teenager. Ha-Ha |
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3 | Violent correction? | Neh 13:25 | Just Read Mark | 119344 | ||
Hi Rowdy. You are saying that it is better to suffer physical loss than to lose one's soul. Fine: most people would agree. You are reading the text, putting yourself in the position of the corrected person, and saying you would like to receive correction. My question, I guess, comes from the other end. Of all the options open to a leader, is Nehemiah's example a noble one? Surely, in our society, we would consider it abusive. There are Biblical instances of people repenting, and pulling out their OWN hair. But to be forced into this stance of repentance seems both brutal and -- I would suggest -- counter productive. Is the person receiving this correction likely to love God more? Any thoughts? |
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4 | Violent correction? | Neh 13:25 | Rowdy | 119409 | ||
I'm not sure where you inferred or inserted the idea of repentance into this discussion but I would invite you to check out my recent post to CDBJ, post no 119407. In most scenarios where we see this kind of extreme drama in the Bible, like the High Priest "renting his clothes" while interigating Christ during His trial, it was done to emphasize the speaker's/renter's point. A person might say that this could possibly take the place of profanity or some other form of vocal extremeism. Instead of this kind of drama with oaths, tearing of hair or our clothes, we're now commanded by Christ Himself as follows: Matt 5:33 "Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.' 34 "But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING. 36 "Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 "But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil. Now of course, I recognize this is tough to do for we're all human and we ALL tend to lean to a little more drama in our lives than we see in the life of Jesus. I'm not saying it's wrong to enjoy drama or comedy and the other aspects of the human side in all of us. BUT I am saying that God would like for us to graduate from the love affair with which we all seem to suffer. I'll admit, I laugh at inappropriate jokes and I still enjoy a good ole movie with lots of action. Our wives (most women in general) want to go to a movie, the proverbial chick flick or a romantic comedy. We all need to see ourselves as growing up spiritually and preferring the world of our Father without all this human excess of drama. I realize this is probably NOT going to be a very popular position for most people to adopt BUT that's the way I see it in the scriptures. Your response? God bless. --Rowdy |
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