Daily Reading Reflection: Levitivus 18

This is the first in a series of posts on my daily scripture readings. I read a cross section of scripture every day (two chapters from the Old Testament, one Psalm, one from the Gospels/Acts, and One from the latter New Testament books). These will be relatively free thoughts from what I've been reading. I hope they are constructive for you.

"So keep my charge never to practice ant of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God." Leviticus 18:30 (the end of a chapter of laws from God on sexual regulations)

I grew up in a church culture which was fairly clear about what sexual ethics were. As a child these sorts of things seemed pretty black and white. Any behaviour can seem black and white when divorced from actual human beings participating in it. As an adult I found some of these assumptions were challenged both by my own experiences and through watching other people around me struggle with these issues. When your in high school, things happen to your body that you're not prepared for in Sunday school and suddenly things which once seemed certain suddenly become a lot more difficult to reconcile.

As someone in the tradition of Reformed Christianity, I find myself still wrestling with these challenges because on the one hand I respect the place that Scripture has as an authority in our lives. These words are words that God spoke through his people throughout history and they are words that he uses to speak to us today. When I read Leviticus 18, I read it as God's words to his people which are echoed in Paul's letters in the New Testament.

But the conflict comes because of my lived experience. I know people who have had Leviticus 18 used as a club to beat them down. My relationship with them and my understanding of what they experience and what they struggle with challenges me to wrestle with the words of scripture. How can I both respect the humanity of people and also continue to use Scripture as God's word to us? It is the type of challenge which I think about often. I was reminded of it again as I read through these pronouncements in Leviticus 18 today. I don't have a full answer, but the wrestling is still there.