Deut. 14: Do God's laws change?

"Why do Christians make such a big fuss about same-sex marriage and sex before marriage? I mean it's clear in the Bible that God's laws have changed with the culture," said Julie to Parker.

"I don't agree. Where does the Bible teach that God's laws change with the culture?" replied Parker.

Julie responded, "If I'm not mistaken, God's law at one time forbid people from wearing polyester and cotton blended shirts. The same is true with eating pork, tinkering with genetics, getting tattoos, and cutting sideburns. As far as I'm aware, Christians don't follow these laws anymore. Isn't this because they believe these laws are culturally bound? So why should I think that sex before marriage and same-sex marriage are wrong in today's progressive culture? Times have changed Parker! We're not living in the 1950's anymore."

How would you respond to Julie? Comment below. 

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Parker replied, "I totally understand where you're coming from Julie. The Old Testament laws can be really confusing. And I don't deny that God's laws are applied differently in different cultures. However, I believe that the principles behind God's laws never change. Why? These principles reflect God's original design for this world. And as much as I think I may know, I still think God knows best how His world is supposed to function. After all, He created it!"

"So what principle stands behind God's prohibition of sex before marriage and same-sex marriage?" asked Julie.

"God originally told Adam and Eve that His world functions best when it is filled with communities of people. After all, God loves genuine community and hates it when people are lonely. But community requires people. This is why God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. But how could God's good design have been achieved if everyone wanted to be in a same-sex marriage? Wouldn't that be tough? And so God uniquely created man and women with the ability to multiply communities throughout His world. Does that make sense?"

"I guess. But what about sex before marriage?"

"Well, certainly there are lots of reasons I can think of for waiting until marriage to have sex. I mean it's not difficult to find somebody who was hurt because an intimate relationship that they were emotionally vested in ended abruptly against their heart's desire. Sex without a lifetime commitment can lead to a world of hurt.

But God seems to emphasize the important relationship between family and sex in the Bible. Why is this? God originally designed the family to serve as a safe and stable environment for children to be raised. Can you imagine if God never created the family unit? What would our world be like? It would be complete chaos. Would children know who their dads were (pre-DNA testing)? Would they feel reassured that they would be cared for and not abandoned? I just think that without God's design for family, children would get hurt and confused in this chaos. And in fact, I see this type of chaos happening in our world today and I chalk it up to the fact that many people are disregarding God's design for sex. Does that make sense?"

"Well you still haven't explained those crazy laws in Leviticus? Those don't seem to have any rationale behind them. So why should I believe that those are not culturally bound? Isn't there still a possibility that some of God's laws apply only to certain cultures?"

"Julie you need to check out two blog posts I made awhile back. Check them out and let me know what you think."

"Where are they at Parker?"

Leviticus 11-15 Blog Post
Leviticus 19 Blog Post