cities of refuge

I emailed this to my inlaw  but i thought this might be some food for thought for other people as well.

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Deut 19:11-13

11 “But if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 13 You shall not pity him, but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Matt 5:21-22

21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

Matthew 5:21-22 was not meant to impersonalize the act of ACTUALLY KILLING someone.  The death penalty was indeed there for bloodshed.  It was there for other crimes as well, but hating someone was not one of them.  Hatred and anger are often passing emotions.  There was/is the sacrificial system in place for Christians (fka Jews) who fail to be loving and generous all of the time.  The death of Jesus is not primarily a payment for crimes that are so sick they stink up the earth for generations infinity.  His death is for crimes that we ourselves often undermine and overlook, crimes that, collectively, cause far more stench than anything Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy ever did on their own.

I can't find the verse, but it says somewhere in the law of Moses something to the effect of

if he killed his neighbor and did not hate him in his heart, he shall go free.

I think it might have been Deut 19:11-13 but I'm pretty sure there were others, and I'm not finding them at the moment.

If nobody is aware that the killing man had hatred for the victim, then this law can't possibly apply.  There is no indication that the assembly needed to kill or should have killed the hating man prior to the point of killing.  And usually, although exceptions abound, like always, a death does not get inflicted upon someone because of one singular event.  A person who gets to be 9 years old and hasn't learned enough self control for that not to be true of them will probably get a nasty reputation well before they get inducted into adulthood.

You also might notice that the death penalty is there for people that physically murder whereas the disregard for our fellow man as God's image bearers, although it carries consequences, is not treated with the same severity.  That, to me, indicates that God cares far more about us than we might sometimes be tempted to think He does.   Of course, the consequences for a person who intends to spit on the pattern that Jesus set for us and does not reconsider and have some semblance of belief in the provision of God to rescue from that...those consequences are actually much worse than those a person who sheds blood faces.  We can't make ourselves love God, but we do have the power to avoid hardening our hearts and at least be open enough to listen to what people are saying and be sincere in our evaluations.

  Praise be to Jesus that although the stench of our sins is indeed far more than any elite Hollywood Hills air freshener can cover over, Jesus Christ has paid for it, and not only that but He has given us a hope for a future so bright we'd need shades just to be near it, and a peace that endures through whatever dust and decay we experience in the meantime.

Yeah right 🙄

https://a.co/d/02Ttj4LH

Like you can learn how to do-be Batman just by reading a book.  Thankfully it's written in a more tongue-in-cheek fashion.  For the Batman fan who almost has everything (and there really is a whole lot of everything...  )

 I once had a loving CITYY CAT®, that had two previous owners.  Its' most recent prior owner wanted it back  and so I relinquished my caregiving and all the delights that had with it.

My mom bought a brand new one from the store.  She must have had to go into debt to pay for it.  They aren't cheap.

I was hesitant about opening it.  It just didn't seem right.  I knew it wasn't a real cat, but somehow I just couldn't bring myself to it.  

After a few days, it occurred to me, as far as I knew, it might die in the packaging, not having any food... the whole thing made no sense to me.  I shouldn't have assumed I could just open it whenever.

My mom gave a word of caution before I proceeded to opening the package. "She might not be as clingy as Sophie was.  They had to tone them down some because people were complaining about them being too clingy and some even returned them to the manufacturer."

I nodded. I took a moment to try to prepare myself mentally, and then pushed the activation button per the outside instructions. I unsealed the box and opened it, and then proceeded to untangle her from the intricacies of the packaging.

Arise, give thanks to The Lord.  Remember what great things He has done.

"my heart is steadfast"

 I like Michael W. Smith's WORSHIP album.  It's very beautiful and celebratory feeling, while also being reverent and dependent.
The opening snippet from the Psalms always had been a sticking point.  "My heart is steadfast"  If anybody's heart is not steadfast, it's mine.  I got to thinking tho -- a baseline.  I think it's more or less normal for people to have spiritual highs and lows, but what's the least amount of faith I've demonstrated since I was given God's salvation?  Not nearly as much as I need to always want to listen to MWS WORSHIP album.  Sometimes I just don't want to read The Bible and I altooften find myself feeling downcast over (what I perceive to be) God's dealings with man.  Regarding that, I think the book of Job, as much information as it gives us about the heavenly realm, God still does not, in that or any other writing, tell man why He has The Devil roaming through the earth.  And He didn't tell Job why He caused Job's suffering.  My pastor posits that the explanation for God allowing Job to go through that suffering is that "He wouldn't have had that encounter with God if it hadn't been for that."  That explanation is difficult to grasp.  At first it makes not a lick of sense...I can see it maybe making sense tho.  Jesus did say something to the effect "I came to save people who need saving, not people who are already perfect."  Of course, nobody's perfect, but there are people who got a good handle on sin, they're worshipping God with a fair amount of zeal, no major blemishes in their lives.  So...I guess you could say God gave Job a problem so He could fix it and have a logical reason to come down to give Job a hug, so to speak.  I mean, you don't normally hug someone who is already happy, unless you're greeting them, but even then, why would you greet someone and be that happy to see them if you're already good and content with whatever you're doing?  I'm sure there's a way to pick all that apart and tear it up too...I'm not good with relationships in general, so I'm certainly not an authority on any of that anyway, and even if I was, there's so much between the marrow, so to speak, we just don't understand enough about ourselves to really even begin to rightly understand God's dealings with us.  He, however, does know. " "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows."