seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
1 Corinthians 5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? 3 For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. 4 So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”
I read the commentary. What would happen if a dog was bred with its mother? The DNA is so similar, the resulting puppy could be all messed up. On top of that... the mess up DNA combo would spread whenever the puppy was bred and again when those puppies were bred. Don't mess up the gene pool. Don't sleep with your mom. Even the pagans know that.
What would happen if a male dog humped another male dog? Oh, that happens all the time. Two dogs in the neighborhood are real "good friends". I gotta say, I have to turn my head. I don't' know why the owners don't pull them apart. No puppy can come from that. Even the pagans know that.
What would happen if a dog were bred with puppy messed up in the genes? Now all the dogs involved have to be separated so they don't ruin the breed through the resulting inbreeding. Inbreeding is the breeding of closely related people or animals, especially over generations. Even pagans know that.
The people in the Chrisitan Church held themselves separated from the pagans outside of the church groups. Men would have "new lives" so they would have "new wives". If the son and the step mom had Christianity in common.... it wouldn't be hard for them to enter into a loving relationship without even realizing it.... right? If two men, employed as male prostitutes, had Christianity in common... it wouldn't be hard for them to enter into a loving relationship without realizing it.... right?
On top of that, the pagan world was critically watching.... WWJD they could taunt.... It would be bad for the church. Even pagans know that.
I once attended a Christian Church that met in a Homosexual Bar a block off the Baltimore Block. The preacher was the bar owner. People don't believe Christians can be found in a Homosexual Bar less than a block from the well renowned Baltimore Block. Even pagans know churches don't meet in bars. The Christians in Corinth were reported to meet in a brothel. The Christians in Corinth included both male and female prostitutes in the membership. They had Christianity in common. I'm a thumper, a bisexual took me to the bar to show me that sins of all kinds can be forgiven. Even pagans know that.
I guess Paul didn't want the church to take the black eye. If you invite the whole world to dinner.... some stinky people might show up. Even pagans know that.
Jesus ate with them. Paul shunned them because their appearance might cause people to shun the church [Verse 11]. Jesus didn't care if the people were pagan at birth. He broke bread for everyone. He didn't ask about their sexual preference or their political party. He broke bread for everyone.
The title of the paragraph at my online Bible is "Dealing with a Case of Incest". The commentary also jumped to include homosexuality in the mix.
According to Paul, the people in the church are to be judged by men and the people outside of the church are judged by God. Oh, I don't like that at all. I think God will be more understanding, especially if Jesus is my defense attorney.
Paul was "practical". He didn't want the church to fail. He claimed the money generated by the church in Corinth was beneficial to the church in Jerusalem. Even pagans know that.
Meeting Jesus changed people's hearts. Meeting Paul just added more restrictions. Even pagans know that.
Even pagans know that.
