Jehovah could not make it much more clear… He wants us to follow His statutes and not those of the pagans who reject Him. We are not to blend in in this world. He takes sin very seriously. There is absolute right and wrong and many in this world are doing wrong. He does not promise us His blessing regardless of our behavior. He does lay out clear consequences and accountability for those who choose to sin, to live outside of His statutes and guidance. Jehovah has not changed His mind on what He approves of since Leviticus. He is unchanging in His character.
On Human Sacrifice and Immoralities
1Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“You shall also say to the sons of Israel:
‘Any man from the sons of Israel or from the aliens sojourning in Israel who gives any of his offspring to Molech, shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3‘I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given some of his offspring to Molech, so as to defile My sanctuary and to profane My holy name. 4‘If the people of the land, however, should ever disregard that man when he gives any of his offspring to Molech, so as not to put him to death, 5then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family, and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the harlot after him, by playing the harlot after Molech.
6‘As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. 7‘You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. 8‘You shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
9‘If there is anyone who curses his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother, his bloodguiltiness is upon him.
10‘If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 11‘If there is a man who lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death, their bloodguiltiness is upon them. 12‘If there is a man who lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed incest, their bloodguiltiness is upon them. 13‘If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them. 14‘If there is a man who marries a woman and her mother, it is immorality; both he and they shall be burned with fire, so that there will be no immorality in your midst. 15‘If there is a man who lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death; you shall also kill the animal. 16‘If there is a woman who approaches any animal to mate with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.
17‘If there is a man who takes his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace; and they shall be cut off in the sight of the sons of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he bears his guilt. 18‘If there is a man who lies with a menstruous woman and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her flow, and she has exposed the flow of her blood; thus both of them shall be cut off from among their people. 19‘You shall also not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for such a one has made naked his blood relative; they will bear their guilt. 20‘If there is a man who lies with his uncle’s wife he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they will bear their sin. They will die childless. 21‘If there is a man who takes his brother’s wife, it is abhorrent; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They will be childless.
22‘You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not spew you out. 23‘Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I will drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them. 24‘Hence I have said to you, “You are to possess their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples. 25‘You are therefore to make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make yourselves detestable by animal or by bird or by anything that creeps on the ground, which I have separated for you as unclean. 26‘Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.
27‘Now a man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones, their bloodguiltiness is upon them.’”
There is quite a list of immorality and rebellion identified in this scripture. Our Father is trying to be very clear about these sins. They are unacceptable. No excuses. No rationalizing. He has not changed His mind about these things being wrong. Take care in reflecting on these. Just because it is no longer common that someone may be sacrificing their child to Molech does not mean this is an obsolete passage. People today sacrifice their unborn children through abortion essentially to the god of self. For their own selfish desires they kill their unborn children rather than care for the children and raise them, taking accountability for past mistakes and showing respect for life. Globally there are over 40 million abortions a year. By the numbers, it is a much greater horror than any singular event in history, even the Hollocaust which was gruesome and killed 6 million. God is not pleased with sacrificing children through abortion any more than He was in killing them before Molech.
I do not believe that we are still commanded to execute those specific punishments, in light of Christ’s death and resurrection for our sins. But we are called to rebuke wrong behavior and call evil what it is and good what it is. We should not call what is evil good and what is good evil, as so many do today in our society. We should have laws against most of these behaviors, though some should need no laws, because our laws should reflect our Christian values. There should be punishments for these crimes to help discourage others from embracing sin and harming themselves and others. Some should be laws, some should be active engagement from the Christian society to rebuke offenders (in love) so that they should repent. We should not cheerfully embrace offenders of these laws as if what they do is acceptable before God.
We can also bring forth the good news of forgiveness that is offered through Christ to those in sin. Jesus Christ died for our sins. We need to admit we are sinners who can not save themselves and accept His offer of forgiveness through grace by faith. Turn from our sinful behavior. Ask forgiveness from the Father. Turn toward the Father’s ways and ask for His help through the Spirit.
Take time to read the list thoroughly. Some of the sin covered here are rejected widely by society for now, but others have already been deemed acceptable and “good” by the world. Given a chance, the world will continue to redefine all of these sinful behaviors to caste them as “good” and caste those who rightly denounce them as “intolerant” and “cruel”. We must repent personally, pray for God’s help for our nation and local government and the people, and stand against what is evil boldly by confronting it in our communities, churches, and influencing our legal system by actively engaging as a voters or in public office as followers of Christ. We should never separate church and state. That is just an excuse to open the door for evil to prosper and it was never the intent of our founding fathers of the USA and is certainly not Jehovah’s desire. The founding fathers embraced Christian values and principles and teaching and integrated it into all aspects of the government they created (but that is a topic for another day).
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