Jeremiah 5:1“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.
Jeremiah 9:5 Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning.Jeremiah describe the behaviors that were going on in Jerusalem before the destruction of 586 B.C.E.. Dishonesty and deceiving one another, no one speaking the truth nor seeking it. Jeremiah also describes the adultery that was committed.
Jeremiah 3:8 I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery.Behaviors that go against what love teaches, which we see the same thing happening all over the world. Society stealing, telling lies to one another, mates cheating on their spouse. Their of course are many couples that are faithful toward one another, but we can see that Hollywood and the media continues to teach the idea that adultery is just OK. In many cases people cheat, lie, and steal and think that they are hiding their behavior.
The Israelites buried themselves in behaviors that they learned from the Canaanites and never circumcised their hearts. Nobody was seeking the truth, which we see today in our society that very few people take time to study and seek the truth compared to our whole population.
Jeremiah 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done-- burn with no one to quench it.Today is the same case because generation after generation of religious dogma and the cultural of the land people are taught to pursue selfishness and greed. The only time change can take palce is when a person can recognize and admit to their selfishness, at that time the person can work on changing or circumcising their heart.
Jeremiah 7:24 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. Jeremiah 9:14 Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their fathers taught them."
The same situation today with our society ego inflated mentality results with a person unable to listen or even recognize when to listen and stubbornly follow their selfish hearts instead of trying to change to having a generous heart.
Having a stubborn attachment by worshiping the Baals/Masters (lower entities) has affected mankind all the down to our day, which today refers worshiping the "Baals" through religion. Humankind has brought upon themselves "disaster" from which Moses warned the Israelites what would be the result of there Idolatry.
It is from that Idolatry that the Divine has give mankind up to having the problems with themselves and gave this world up to the wicked control that the ones in power have over people.
The Apostle Paul summed it up by tell it like it was starting at Romans chapter 1:21, keep in mind he was writing to the followers in Rome, Keep in mind Roman behavior.
The religions of today, most notably Christianity has missed the point what Paul was trying to say. Notice how Paul is explaining the result of the Idolatry in the world.
Side Note: Paul is not condemning couples of the same sex that are in dedicated normal same sex relationships and that believe in God. Moses nor the Prophets never said anything about same sex relationships. I have personally known same sex couples that have kids and have wonderful loving families. Moses mentions five types of sex behaviors at Leviticus chapter 18, the only thing that is mentioned is regarding the same sex is about males having anal intercourse and that is the only thing.
I use to live next to two males that have been a couple for 30 years, they were the nicest neighbors that I have ever lived next to. Very generous, friendly, willing to help out in anyway and very loyal to one another. Their willingness to help out their neighbor is what will be noticed by the Divine.
Paul is talking about the bizarre attitude among unrestrained humans who are darting after sexual gratification like a stallion. Having no control whatsoever these type of people have no regard for the Divine. It is Because of the Idolatry that the Divine have given them up to their instant gratification that does not result in any satisfaction. Why would the Divine have someone be born into this earth and that person has always been attracted to the same sex all their life just to condemn that person? There is no wisdom to that concept. The Christians drowning in Idolatry have missed the point of what Paul was talking about.
Paul does not reveal who "they" are. "They" are those who does not have any regard for the Almighty Divine who is their Creator despite "knowing".
Romans chapter 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.Paul is explaining the result of Idolatry which any person with some discernment should be able to see that this world is utterly filled with people breaking the first two commandments. This is the reason we see a selfish and greedy world which teaches people the attitudes that are explained by Paul in the above text.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Dan 9:13 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.For a person to avoid disaster a person has to seek the truth and take time to do so. Considering that the truth has been deeply buried, the scriptures in the Baghavad Gita points to the seriousness of "seeking the truth", and never give up until you understand the truth of why we are here and what is expected of us humans. In this world their are many people that do actively seek the truth, but compared to the population of the world they are very few. For a person that is comfortable and satisfied in religion, that person is not actively seeking the truth.
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Very very interesting. I would be quite fascinated by your views on Taoism. Not the religion it has descended into, but the core philosophy.