Cancer in the Body (Rewind)
watching diligently that not any lack from the grace of God, that no root of bitterness growing up may disturb you, and through this many be defiled; Hebrews 12:15 (translation J. Green)
Defiled – Does it seem like sometimes it’s just too much to continue on this path? Are you wearing down in your quest to serve the Messiah, to speak the truth to your possibly hostile community, to go against the grain? One of the themes of the letter to the Hebrews is the possibility of discouragement, the “certain weariness in pursuing the Christian goal, or making progress along the road of Christian discipleship.”[1]
Ellingworth notes the number of passive expressions found in Hebrews that characterize this dangerous condition: “drift away, neglect, fail to reach, not lose hold, become dull, sluggish, unproductive, grow weary, lose heart, have weak knees, be carried away.” If the letter to the Hebrews is anything at all, it is an exhortation against the signs of spiritual fatigue for spiritual fatigue is not only a tumor on the life of the believer, it is a cancer that spreads quickly through the rest of the Body.
What is the end result of this weariness? Defilement. The Greek is the verb miaino, used in John 18:28 and Leviticus 5:3 (LXX) to speak about ritual conditions, and used is Jude 1:8 and Titus 1:15 to describe a moral condition. The Hebrew verb is tame’, “to defile, to make impure, to be unclean, to desecrate.” But what does this mean? Two crucial factors must be recognized. The first is that being defiled meant being unacceptable to God. Defilement caused ritual impurity. It was simply impossible to come before the Holy One of Israel, the King of the Universe, and be unclean. Such an insult to the Lord of Hosts could not be tolerated. The second factor, clearly recognized in this passage in Hebrews, is that defilement spreads. There is a threat to the community when even a single member is impure. We have a common saying, “One bad apple spoils the whole barrel.” The same is true in the Body. Ritual impurity and sin (deliberate disobedience) cause cancer in the whole and it must be removed.
Most believers realize that the presence of a member who is actively disobedient is a threat to everyone, but few believers are willing to stand against this situation and plead for purity. However, even fewer believers realize that ritual impurity is also a threat to the Body. While we clearly see that lying, stealing, adultery and dishonoring are threats, we aren’t so quick to acknowledge that violating the dietary instructions, rejecting the economic laws or ignoring the requirements for worship are just as threatening. We have no problem rejecting moral impurity but we seem to have a great deal of difficulty rejecting ritual impurity. One might ask why that is the case. If we learn anything from Hebrews, perhaps it is this: our weariness is connected to both moral and ritual defilement. Perhaps if we lived in ritual purity we would find we weren’t so tired. What do you think?
Topical Index: defiled, miaino, tame’, purity, Hebrew 12:15
[1] Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews, NIGTC, p. 78.
I think I am still not grasping the significance of ritual purity. Is it simply a teaching mechanism, a disciplinary and cautionary set of actions designed as a reminder toward moral purity? Is it outward actions designed to mold inward attitudes?
I used to think of it mostly as legalistic, however now I see how following simple rituals in my life in an outward fashion helps to direct and guide my ultimate behaviors and life more singularly and focused on YHWH. Like the adage to smile (even though you don’t feel like it) until you do feel the real desire to smile, or the “fake it ’til you make it” saying. On the one hand it appears hypocritical but in reality it works most practically as the ritual habits continue.
Is the ritual purity actions simply flags illustrating outwardly that we are attempting to walk the line of obedience with the hopeful results that similar inward heart conditions will follow? As in always in a learning and yielding mode.
I will be looking in to the nature and character of the ritual purity environment as I am lacking a clear understanding of this subject on a practical level.
Anyone please feel free to point me to some resources or help clarify the meaning, significance, and need for the ritual purity realm.
Perhaps the question you ask is too complicated. Do we need to know the meaning of ritual purity in order to practice it or in order for it to accomplish its purposes? In other words, is it necessary for God to tell us WHY He wants us to do something before we decide to do it? That is the problem of Genesis 3. It is also the Greek idea of explanation before execution. What if ritual purity is simply God asking and nothing more than that? Would you do it? And what if in DOING it you discover that it adds order to your life, discipline, reminders of who He is and fulfills His commandment so that you can have a deeper fellowship with Him? Is it necessary for Him to tell you all that (and more) before you decide to do it?
Yes, I get that. I understand your answer and point. I do realize that I’ve grown up with ritual purity in my own Christian upbringing. I also questioned them for which I never did get any adequate answers to even while I did all or most of them.
I’m not questioning the doing of them necessarily as I am growing in to doing them as I become cognitive of the command to do so. At first many seemed trivial and challenging to do, but I endeavored to find the best ways to accomplish them. It was a process. I have grown in to them, so to speak and, indeed, find many good things and results about them besides the simple and direct fact that YHWH commands them.
On the other hand, I am inquisitive about them not really knowing the full picture of them all quantitatively and qualitatively. I mean, after all, here within the theater of daily TW’s inquisition continually takes place. We are constantly asking who, what, where, how, and why about meaning, value and clarity of the words of YHWH. I am not waiting for an explanation of why before participating. Truly, as you’ve pointed out, it seems more learning comes in the aftermath of the doing than the anticipatory prior seeking of a why before deciding to take action.
I’m on the field and in the game. I’m just programmed to figure out why and how things fit and work. It’s a struggle to do at times, but it drives me. If I can’t find a reason why to do something right now, I’m not going to shelve it but that doesn’t mean I won’t stop asking or reasoning some conclusions about it. Maybe it will become clear one day. Since beginning on the TW journey, I’ve had numerous “ah-hah” moments! 🙂
Great. So now we go forward. I’ll write more. Now got to go teach Song of Songs in Bloemfontain, South Africa.
Spiritual Chronic Fatigue
Oh yes, this resonates with me! All through the Bible I find the understanding that health is a phenomenon that is expressed on multiple levels. When I thoroughly ‘got’ the understanding that what was going on on one level affected all the others EQUALLY, then I had the key to healing. The desolation and fracture of the heart shows up in the mind and body just as surely as God made little green apples. My mind was as depressed and schitzo as my spirit was suffering from beliefs about love that WERE NOT TRUE. My body followed with crazy blood pressure, an endocrine system that wore out from the constant over-production of stress hormones and cell membrane semi-rigidity that built up toxins and could not produce normal energy for me (chronic fatigue) associated with a body that was staying in stress mode from those false beliefs and the resulting stinkin’ thinkin’.
Faulty economic practices, poor dietary practices, improper worship practices resulting in poor health. Hmmm. When I believed that love was not working in my life, I felt it was ‘all up to me’ and acted accordingly. I turned to looking to myself for salvation day to day (self-idolatry) I was vulnerable to improper responses to the loved ones in my life and put their reality above my own (addicted to addicts) and I could not trust my heavenly Father for daily bread and so I was starving because what the hand is not open for the hand cannot receive.
I think that what we do in our physical bodies we also can do in our communal bodies. There are entire communal bodies that succumb to false core beliefs about love that leave them vulnerable to poor thinking skills and problem solving and the resulting breakdown of relationship among themselves ends up in communal stress and fatigue. This happens in family units too. (and NATIONS? Hmm)
I now think that the worship laws, the dietary laws and the economic laws are equally as important for health on a personal and communal level as the moral laws. The establishment of those laws created a boundary of safety for us that is clearly designed to create a framework within which relationship can flourish; relationship with OURSELVES being equally included in that. I have found that the more closely my diet resembles the one originally given in that Garden, the more my health springs forth speedily, and when I am feeling GR-R-REAT it is fun and easy to be able to go the extra mile that love can ask for. When I turn from false gods created by self and others, and also start to pay attention to how YHVH wants to be in relationship with me (worship practices) then our running conversation can flourish. The economic laws are equally amazing for producing results that are inexplicable to the flesh. For example, when you are tithing and putting the financial instructions found in that Good Book into practice in EXTREME poverty, and they WORK, people around you are going to sit up and pay attention! But all of this, I also think, is equally applicable to communal health. They track directly across! This is all just simply astounding to me.
It is truly all about relationship. Just ask any two lovers. The little things are the ones that can matter the most because it is the little things that can demonstrate most clearly the love of the heart.
I agree Michael, I’m sure that the “average” (?) modern believer has no idea of the concept of ritual purity and probably more important, the implications of it and/or the rectification of it. There is a lot of area to cover in this realm and I, for one, would love to see a rigorous debate on the subject. I personally believe it’s one of the major inhibitors to the accomplishment of “thy kingdom come, thy will be done”…insofar as the body is concerned, and yet, where are the perimeters, and how does one apply these things outside of the land and in a very “corrupt” society?
YHWH bless you and keep you…….
But the average believer has plenty of ritual purity traditions, even in Christian circles. For example, bowing your head before prayer, crossing yourself (Catholic), kneeling at appropriate times, invoking the Spirit, praying in the “name of Jesus,” speaking in tongues, using grape juice instead of wine at communion, communion itself, baptism, dressing in a certain manner when going to church or a wedding or a funeral. I am sure you can add more. Why do you do these? Social protocol, expectations? Religious reverence? What purpose do they serve? Perhaps the reason we have trouble with Jewish ritual purity practices is simply because we didn’t grow up with them.
I would suppose that except for the practice of communion and baptism, the other issues have very little to do with “purity” (biblically) as much as it does with social expectations. However, these practices are a long way from biblical descriptions of purity (and most probably the reasons for it). My “concerns” would be in the arena of such things as bodily emissions, touching of dead things, etc.. and how they work in regards to being “outside the camp” in our modern societies. I’m pretty sure these were among the considerations of the council in acts regarding gentile believers participation in the synagogues as well as Paul’s concern for the believers in Corinth. My major concern for the body in general, is the issue concerning Hezekiah (?) who re-instituted the Passover in his time. It states that although a large number of people were willing to participate, that they didn’t have time to properly prepare them for the feast, and that had not the king interceded for the people they would have been destroyed by the plague. I wonder if the believers falling asleep and being sick in Corinthians is linked.
Sorry for the lengthy reply, just some questions and considerations I’ve been wrestling with.
hank you for your reply and am looking forward to more on this subject.
YHWH bless you and keep you…..
ummm….. that would be Thank you!!! not hank you 🙂
Robert, I think that is my main issue. I am just not workably familiar enough with the ritual purity issues that I can grasp the full picture. I don’t know, for sure, all the ritual purities that YHWH specifically commanded as opposed to the traditional man-created ritual purities of the earlier centuries. The sad state of my thoughts on this is that I just haven’t digested them enough as such. Taking off this veil and heavy cloak of all things Christianity over the past years has been great, challenging, fun as well as scary, confusing, frustrating and down right depressing at times. However, I have been ever moving forward and, I believe, in to more light. I’m seeing better, thinking better and doing most things better even though the daily obstacles and challenges are ever before me.
As I said before, I will endeavor (as I add this to my ever growing list of things to study and grapple with) to focus on this ritual purity issue in the coming days. Again, I am not really at a point of dissension or rebellion in doing these things, just curious and yearning for understanding as it somehow reveals and reflects YHWH’s character and essence. After all, YHWH is all about bringing order and purpose out of chaos. And I am certainly one needing help and assistance in coming out of all the chaos I’ve managed to create in my own life and the lives of others!
Robert, I think that is my main issue (“I’m sure that the “average” (?) modern believer has no idea of the concept of ritual purity”). I am just not workably familiar enough with the ritual purity issues that I can grasp the full picture. I don’t know, for sure, all the ritual purities that YHWH specifically commanded as opposed to the traditional man-created ritual purities of the earlier centuries. The sad state of my thoughts on this is that I just haven’t digested them enough as such. Taking off this veil and heavy cloak of all things Christianity over the past years has been great, challenging, fun as well as scary, confusing, frustrating and down right depressing at times. However, I have been ever moving forward and, I believe, in to more light. I’m seeing better, thinking better and doing most things better even though the daily obstacles and challenges are ever before me.
As I said before, I will endeavor (as I add this to my ever growing list of things to study and grapple with) to focus on this ritual purity issue in the coming days. Again, I am not really at a point of dissension or rebellion in doing these things, just curious and yearning for understanding as it somehow reveals and reflects YHWH’s character and essence. After all, YHWH is all about bringing order and purpose out of chaos. And I am certainly one needing help and assistance in coming out of all the chaos I’ve managed to create in my own life and the lives of others!
Robert, I think that is my main issue (“I’m sure that the “average” (?) modern believer has no idea of the concept of ritual purity”). I am just not workably familiar enough with the ritual purity issues that I can grasp the full picture. I don’t know, for sure, all the ritual purities that YHWH specifically commanded as opposed to the traditional man-created ritual purities of the earlier centuries. The sad state of my thoughts on this is that I just haven’t digested them enough as such. Taking off this veil and heavy cloak of all things Christianity over the past years has been great, challenging, fun as well as scary, confusing, frustrating and down right depressing at times. However, I have been ever moving forward and, I believe, in to more light. I’m seeing better, thinking better and doing most things better even though the daily obstacles and challenges are ever before me.
As I said before, I will endeavor (as I add this to my ever growing list of things to study and grapple with) to focus on this ritual purity issue in the coming days. Again, I am not really at a point of dissension or rebellion in doing these things, just curious and yearning for understanding as it somehow reveals and reflects YHWH’s character and essence. After all, YHWH is all about bringing order and purpose out of chaos. And I am certainly one needing help and assistance in coming out of all the chaos I’ve managed to create in my own life and the lives of others!
Hello all! Michael, it’s great to see your face again!
Great conversing going on here. I used to be the “why” type, too, Michael (and still very much am in many aspects of daily life, especially in dealing with people), and THANK GOD I kept asking that question throughout my years in “church.” Had I not done that, I would have never come to realize that the answer, within the western, Greek-thinking, American churches, for the large majority, is, “Just do as I say because that’s what seminary… or priesthood… or whatnot taught.” Not good enough… way not good enough. I seek the LORD and His Ways… that’s ALL I want.
For me, I just praise God that He gave us His Word to Hear, Learn, Fear and Obey (Deut 31:12.) He is a King… THE KING, not somebody we vote into power after we weigh out the pros and cons of His platform. His Kingdom is a Monarchy.
I love learning from Skip and others who have spent years earnestly seeking THE ONE TRUE GOD and praying as they learn the Hebrew Word and ways. I pray all the time that my husband and I can be a strength and encouragement to Skip and our other teachers. I’m so thankful for the voices out there who are willing to teach in the midst of HUGE criticism and ostracism. I’m not interested in man-made rules (I’m very leery of rabbinical traditions and tend to fit into the Karaite Jewish mindset.. tho they still haven’t figured out Who Messiah is… don’t misunderstand that at all!)
We will NEVER understand God. We weren’t created to do that. We were created to walk with Him, to hear, to learn, to fear and to obey Him.
Praise YHVH, all the day long, in the valleys and mountains. He is my All.
Hi Daria,
Thanks for the encouraging words. Some good news from our part of the world regarding sharing the new challenges we’ve been learning about regarding Scriptural thinking rather than a certain denominational paradigm.
My sister-in-law was over the other day. She is a talker par excellence! I think her daily allowance of words each day come close to three or four million. Maybe five or six million. She talks fast and appears never to take a breath! Anyway, while she was talking to my wife, her sister, she injected some questions about the Bible as I was constantly walking back and forth past them working on our bathroom renovations. I briefly but succinctly answered a couple of her questions then was interrupted when my daughter stopped in to see me about a matter. After finishing the matter, my sister-in-law was on another subject and then left.
The next day she called my wife and asked to speak to me about continuing the conversation we started the day before. She also had several other questions. The short story is that we ended up talking an hour and fifty six minutes about a ton of subjects all related to understanding a new and different paradigm than the one we grew up in. Amazingly, she was quiet and listened responding with sharp, intelligent and probing questions. Needless to say, I was exhausted afterwards but exhilarated! I told her if she pursues these topics further she will begin a life time of seeking, exploring and learning stuff that will not only unsettle her initially, but will most likely firm her theological foundations much more securely.
I told her to go search out the matters as best and as hard as she could, then get back with me with questions that show that she has really studied the matters at hand. I said that should take a couple of months! And then a few years. And then a couple of decades. And eventually, after getting hooked, the rest of her life. She was thoroughly involved in everything I shared.
In summary, YHWH seems to bring opportunities in your life just at the right time that we need them. It was so encouraging to listen to her gobble up all that I was offering for her to consider. And what I realized in explaining many elementary and foundational things about beginning to open up to a new paradigm was just how far and much I have come to grasp since the inception of this particular journey of discovery. So I am thankful to YHWH in how he has held my hand, steadied my stance, and also pushed me out in the deep end of so many things along the way of this learning adventure. AND it was yesterday, on Shabbat, that she called. My heart, mind and soul was dancing.
OH MY GOSH HOW COOL IS THIS!!!! My heart, mind and soul ARE ALSO dancing!!! I LOVED how you told her to go study on her own (I am guessing you sent her to some good materials) and, after she can show you how serious she is about this stuff, THEN you will meet with her again… That’s EXACTLY what I think Skip talks about in his teaching, Money Sex and Power (I think that’s the one) where he says that “discipleship” means WE are to pick someone who SHOWS PROMISE because our relationship and efforts are going to demand a lot of our time, diligence, and patience… in fact, a lifetime of walking and growing together. It’s no longer about “passing out the 4 Spiritual Laws!” GOOD ON YOU, MICHAEL!
We’ve recently starting talking seriously to our church-going (and struggling with “the club”), LORD-loving son and his wife. I think our d-i-l is intrigued; in fact, almost a year ago, she told me that she wanted to stop eating pork to honor God but that she didn’t know if our son would go for that. I told her, “That’s easy. Just stop buying/cooking it!” She never did.
Please pray for our son. He is fairly confident that we’ve not jumped off the deep end, following some Moen cult wink/ but he’s super nervous that we are starting to cling to everything he has been taught (thanks to US and “the church”… ugh) as “works” and “legalism.” He knows us better than that… but he struggles. It’s that paradigm shift thing…
Also, his best friend just quit his job and is “going into ministry full time” tho I think the first time he ever picked up a bible was about 2 years ago… not exactly “teacher” material tho a wonderful example of how God transforms lives. He is completely immersed in whatever the pastor teaches. The guys, for the first time in their relationship, are now sort of bucking heads a bit. Our son’s friend is FREAKING OUT at what we are teaching our son (and him if he’ll listen. We have to do it from a distance… Ric and our son met for a “retreat weekend” and spent TONS OF TIME together studying and praying but we live 6 hrs away from each other.)
Please, those of you who have “done the paradigm shift” and are LOVING YOUR NEW, INVIGORATING WALK WITH YHVH, pray for us.
I’ll definitely be praying with you, Daria.
Sorry, all regarding the triplicate entry. Something got stuck and I assumed it didn’t post, that is, until the third time when I refreshed. :-O