Living In A Lawless And Inhospitable World

[Shibboleth]

The growing trend in today's society has reached a pinnacle point in history. Is our society as bad as or worse then the times when Jehovah used His judicial judgements on the world? It is far worse then anything the world has even seen. One form of lawlessness and inhospitality is the way kids and young adults treat others. Here is a news article from CNN discussing one form of hatred towards fellowman and that is beating up and killing the homeless. Teen 'sport killings' on homeless. (http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/19/homeless.attacks/index.html)

Not only is this disgusting but it is reminiscent of bygone times.




Genisis 6

5 (http://) Consequently Jehovah saw that the badness of man was abundant in the earth and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time.[/b]

Jehovah saw fit to destroy this world during Noah's time. It would be the first time Jehovah stepped in and used His Divine power to stem off the badness from the world. But did that stop man from acting lawless and inhospitable? No. Jehovah again had to use His Divine power to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Why? Because they were not only immoral but inhospitable to those who were their fellowman. Here is an exerpt from wikipedia concerning these two cities.




Jewish viewsClassical Jewish texts do not specifically indicate that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because the inhabitants were homosexual^{[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources)]}. Rather, they were destroyed because the inhabitants were generally depraved and uncompromisingly greedy. Rabbinic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbi) writings affirm that the primary crimes of the Sodomites were terrible and repeated economic crimes, both against each other and outsiders^{[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources)]}.

A rabbinic tradition, described in the Mishnah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mishnah), postulates that the sin of Sodom was related to property: Sodomites believed that "what is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours" (Abot), which is interpreted as a lack of compassion. Another rabbinic tradition is that these two wealthy cities treated visitors in a sadistic fashion. One example is the story of the "bed" that guests to Sodom were forced to sleep in: if they were too short they were stretched to fit it, and if they were too tall, they were cut up.(compare Procrustes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrustes).)

The Talmud (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud) also recounts the incident of a young girl (some sources say it was a daughter of Lot) who gave some bread to a poor man who had entered the city. When the townspeople discovered her act of kindness, they smeared her body with honey and hung her from the city wall until she was stung to death by bees. (Sanhedrin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanhedrin_%28tractate%29) 109a) It is this gruesome event (and her scream, in particular), the Talmud concludes, that are alluded to in the verse that heralds the city’s destruction: "So Hashem said, ‘Because the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and because their sin has been very grave, I will descend and see…" (Genesis 18:20-21 (http://php.ug.cs.usyd.edu.au/~jnot4610/bibref.php?book=%20Genesis&verse=18:20-21&src=JP).)

[/url]


The view of Josephus
[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavius_Josephus"]Flavius Josephus (http://), a Romano (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome)-Jewish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism) historian, wrote:

“Now, about this time the Sodomites, overweeningly proud of their numbers and the extent of their wealth, showed themselves insolent to men and impious to the divinity, insomuch that they no more remembered the benefits that they had received from him, hated foreigners and avoided any contact with others. Indignant at this conduct, God accordingly resolved to chastise them for their arrogance, and not only to uproot their city, but to blast their land so completely that it should yield neither plant nor fruit whatsoever from that time forward.” — Jewish Antiquities 1:194-195and Josephus recounts that angels came to Sodom to find good men they were instead greeted by rapists and sodomists[1] (http://pace.cns.yorku.ca/York/york/showText?book=1&chapter=11&textChunk=nieseSection&chunkId=202&go.x=0&go.y=0&go=go&text=anti&version=english&direction=&tab=comm&layout=split):

“And the angels came to the city of the Sodomites...when the Sodomites beheld the young men, who were outstanding in beauty of appearance and who had been received into Lots’s house, they set about to do violence and outrage to their youthful beauty....Therefore, God, indignant at their bold acts, struck them with blindness, so that they were unable to find the entrance into the house, and condemned the Sodomites to destruction of the whole population.” — Jewish Antiquities 1:199-202



Liberal Christian viewsA view advocated by liberal theologians and biblical scholars is that the events in Sodom have to do with Abraham's hospitality and the gifts of God bestowed on him for his gracious action. First we see hospitality and the way we should act, then inhospitality in that the people of Sodom seek to mistreat and rape the newcomers. The biblical text itself seems to suggest that the sin is based in part on inhospitality to some (if not a major) extent (although traditionally, the reason for the punishment has always been immorality):

Ezekiel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezekiel) 16:49-50: Now this was the sin of Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. This idea is paralleled in the Gospels (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel) when Jesus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus) compares an inhospitable reception to Sodom:

Matthew (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew) 10:14-15: If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. This view of the biblical story reflects that of other ancient civilizations, such as Greece and Rome, where hospitality was a main feature in deciding the quality of a person^{[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources)]}. Also in these civilizations, men were held in a much higher regard than women, in Greece women being seen as little more than property^{[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources)]}, therefore, to demand not only a guest but a male guest to be violated against his will would be seen as more of a crime than to allow women to be used to save the guest.[/b]


So Jehovah destroyed these people because of their views towards those who were lower then them.

Another favorite of mine was when Elisha was taunted by the children.




2 Kings 2

23 (http://) And he proceeded to go up from there to Beth´el. As he was going up on the way, there were small boys that came out from the city and began to jeer him and that kept saying to him: “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” 24 (http://) Finally he turned behind him and saw them and called down evil upon them in the name of Jehovah. Then two she-bears came out from the woods and went tearing to pieces forty-two children of their number. 25 (http://) And he kept going from there to Mount Car´mel, and from there he returned to Sa·mar´i·a.[/b]

I am just grateful that we have a hope that Jehovah will pull us out of this world and all the inhospitable and lawless people will be destroyed. We know we live in the time of the end and that the entire world is living in the power of the wicked one and that man will hurt man and will be lovers of themselves.

From reading news reports like the one I posted it is indeed a sobering look at the world we live in, but we all have a hope. Every single one of us.

Keep looking forward to Jehovah's Day. It will not be late. Stay focused on His things and we will come out unscathed.


With love,

Shibboleth

[Elihu]

Hi Shibboleth,
i agree wholehearteadly with your comments especially the last thee paragraphs.
i live in england and i am finding every day more difficult as i observe people displaying no sense of justice , no sense of what is right and wrong, their moral compass is severley damaged [if they ever had a one] and they are morally shipwrecked.

they display the attitude that a lie is only a lie if it is proved a lie showing that their moral guidance system does not exist

the word SPIN is used unashamedly in political circles
Spin means lies

in Britain there is also a hugh STATUS ATTITUDE in the work place, and imperialistic approach to work. people lording it over others,
managers only have one tool in their managerial tool box,
a big threatening hammer.

we have numerous statistical systems set up in all kinds of public services to monitor performance of organisations.
These statistics are tampered with and manipulated to meet goverment demands.
politicians have lied to the public and have had their ears tickled by public department officials by manipulation of statistics and they end up believing their own lies!

lack of respect for our home the earth is another clearly visible aspect of Britain today.
litter and fly tipping is everywhere, this country is dirty and getting dirtier.

like you and everyone here at this db i long for the day of Jehovah
the day of justice and righteousness.

psalm 104 v 33 -35

" i will sing to Jehovah throughout my life, i will make melody to my God as long as i am,
let my musing about him be pleasurable, i for my part shall rejoice in Jehovah
the sinners will be finished off from the earth, and as for the wicked they will be no longer
Bless Jehovah oh my soul praise JAH you people"

much peace to everyone here
Elihu

[Nambo]

I read how some who where here critise the notion that Jehovah would Kill Billions of innocent people, women and babies.

I dont think the survivours of Armmaggedon will have a single reason to ever look back and consider Jehovah a harshly Judging mass murderer for as the scripture which says how you will certainly see a differance bertween those who are knowing Jehovah and those who are not, I think people will be so horribly eveil that just like with Soddom and Gommarh, it will look bad on Jehovah if he Doesnt act!

Maybe Iam just getting older but I see lots of young people at work, I see thier eyes, the commoners seem to have dead fish eyes devoide of humanity, the rich Public school teenagers have a cold arrogant haugthy look that makes them look much older than thier years.

Both groups look like they wouldnt baulk at feeding Christians to lions.

[Shibboleth]

Nambo that is so true. Which is why I chose to link that news article. There has been so much going on in the news of late. It truely is the end times. This type of stuff has been happening since the dawn of man, but Jehovah has always stepped in at some point. I cannot wait til he decides to put an end to it here. It sickens me to see people who have no homes get victimized for nothing other then someone else's self pleasure. Reading the young man's words on how and why they did it, sent chills up my spine. People can be so ruthless.

I can just imagine how Lot felt. He must have been so worn down by what was going on that he had virtually no energy to even get out of his house when the angels told him to. I feel just like Lot. I feel so worn down by what is happening in the world that it numbs me.

[Kenneth]

Hi Shibboleth,
i agree wholehearteadly with your comments especially the last thee paragraphs.
i live in england and i am finding every day more difficult as i observe people displaying no sense of justice , no sense of what is right and wrong, their moral compass is severley damaged [if they ever had a one] and they are morally shipwrecked.[/b]

Britain, Britain, Britain a country of 'wreck and ruin' where do we start. I'm going to blame the Sixties again for the liberal mined claptrap that we in Britain have to put up with. Joan Armatrading summed it all up in the mid 80s with her song 'Me Myself I' because that's what Britain is all about greed. The 80s gave us Thatcherism and laissez fair economics and Blair gave us 'Third way' politics. The dived is ever greater between the 'haves' and the 'have not's. More poverty equals more lawlessness the equation is simple. In 1997 Blair stated: "This government was elected on a promise of change. A promise to create a new and modern Britain for the 21^st century… it could be much better if we could break once and for all with that vicious cycle of drugs and crime which wrecks lives and threatens communities…We owe it to our children to come up with a truly imaginative solution and create the better Britain they deserve" as the Americans say 'HOT DOG'.

Politian's have all but wrecked the country, instead of setting the lead they just carry on regardless, just look at knew who know and the cheeky girls. At least with the "Profumo Affair" remorse was evident, today its business as usual. One former British PM used the sound bit 'back to basics' (apologies to BackToBasics) in the 1990s yet at the same time was having a fling with the egg lady. PM questions is by far one of the best programs on TV and radio but on the subject of morality they leave a lot to be desired.

As for the mentality of its people they are under the impression that it's their god given right to express their rage. I heard a new one yesterday known as 'Flat Pack Rage' come one what's next. Then we have the soaps, the country is soap mad, just look at the magazine selves and the tabloids it's full of it. The 'X Factor', 'dancing on ice', along with celebrities singing their hearts out, and what's at the bottom of it all, the mobile phone and the text. Can you imaging picking up your mobile at 50p-£1 a call and voting for this twaddle. Yet millions do every week. Not only has Satan got them watching it around the clock but he can sucked them right into it, and get them to pay for it in the barging. You have to admit it's brilliant. It's all a bit like Pleasantville. The British mentality did reached its zenith this year in celebrity Big Brother between Jade Goody and Shilpa Shetty. The world could have fallen apart, if fact it was but the British public was more interested in a racist feud. The tabloids were saturated with it.

In my opinion the youth of today are not different to those in the 1960s. We are all made of the same stuff, clay. What's different is the media and internet exposure. As Queen once sang it 'I want all I want it now'. And whose fault is it, it's the greedy generation of the 1960s who made and sold all its claptrap to the next generation. When Jesus spoke of a crooked and twisted generation I can only conclude this was the one he was speaking of as they can't differentiate between rights and wrong, they have no idea who they are and where they are going. The world can't get much sicker. or can it.



Kenneth

[Watchful Soul]

America is a spiritual desert. Rape, murder, abortion, and moral abandonment are the norm (probably like everywhere else). I have several grand children and the idea of the kind of world they will face if Jehovah does not end things soon makes me shudder.

[Shibboleth]

In my opinion the youth of today are not different to those in the 1960s. We are all made of the same stuff, clay. What's different is the media and internet exposure. As Queen once sang it 'I want all I want it now'. And whose fault is it, it's the greedy generation of the 1960s who made and sold all its claptrap to the next generation. When Jesus spoke of a crooked and twisted generation I can only conclude this was the one he was speaking of as they can't differentiate between rights and wrong, they have no idea who they are and where they are going. The world can't get much sicker. or can it.[/b]

Exactly right and which is the point I was trying to make that our society is no differnet the lawless and inhospitable world Noah was in and Sodom and Gomorrah and even those kids who shouted slurs at Elisha. Another factor is what did the 60's breed? They bred the dissedents and me self attitudes of who we see today. Their children had children and they were all taught the same "me first" idea. So what happens if this world stays on the course that is laid out for it? If the dissedents of today breed what is our world going to look like in another 10-20 years if Jehovah doesn't step in? Very scary.

[Kenneth]

The world in 20 years will be in such a state that if Jehovah doesn't step in he will have to apologise to Sodom and Gomorra.

Kenneth