I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I am going to be on vacation through August 10th. I have prepared my daily Bible Studies for each day throughout that time in advance since I will have limited access to the Internet during this time. The timing on when I publish these blogs may be erratic during this time.
Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 7-9.
Today’s passage warns those who think that they are safe and secure. Those who believe they will never suffer any negative consequences for their sins. God does not tell us not to do certain things because He desires to limit our pleasure. God tells us not to certain things because those things damage us. Sometimes that damage is physical, sometimes it is mental or emotional, and sometimes it is spiritual. If we do any of the things which God has warned us against we bring damage on ourselves, even if we cannot see how. Further, these self-destructive behaviors which we call sins are cumulative, both within the individual and in society. The more sins you commit, the more each of those sins will damage you. The more people in society sin, the greater the breakdown of society. This will continue until an entire country becomes a wasteland.
Jeremiah speaks of the fact that people refuse to turn away from their self-destructive behavior. I see it all around me. I will use the discovery of AIDS in the 1980s as an example. Initially, it was seen as a disease which occurred in those who had homosexual sex. After a short time it was discovered that anyone who had sex with multiple partners was at risk (side-note: it is still more common among men who have sex with other men, but that is not relevant to my point). However, people rejected the idea as “old-fashioned” that one should not have multiple sexual partners. Those who held such ideas were often called “prudes” (and sometimes still are). People recognized that certain behaviors were self-destructive, but refused to give them up. Even many of those who claimed to teach God’s word twisted it so as to support this self-destructive behavior. Worse, some of those who proclaimed God’s warning against such behavior twisted God’s word so as to justify failing to show God’s love to those who suffered.
The example I gave is but one such example, and not even the worst. People commit sins and when they suffer the consequences refuse to change their behavior. They lie and cheat, and, when they are cheated and lied use it to justify more lying and cheating. God tells us that when we are cheated and lied to we should stand up for the truth. Our society believes in treating the symptoms rather than the disease. Those who point to the source of our problems is condemned as intolerant and hate-filled.
