#184 Talkers

16 “If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. 17 If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins.

18 “Do not allow a sorceress to live.

19 “Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal is to be put to death.

20 “Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed.[e]

21 “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.

22 “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. 23 If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. 24 My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.

25 “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest. 26 If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, 27 because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

28 “Do not blaspheme God[f] or curse the ruler of your people.

29 “Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats.[g]

“You must give me the firstborn of your sons. 30 Do the same with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but give them to me on the eighth day.

31 “You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs. Exodus 22:16-31NIV

"Simon Peter, do you love me?" I can make the words with my mouth, so of course I do. Much of the law is written against our natural humanist inclination to be seduced by ourselves and our words. I remember my college Psychology professor, who also had a practice which included marital counseling. He was an esteemed member of the community, a church goer with a lovely family and if you asked, a good man. Yet, he was a marital counselor whose marriage was falling apart because he was sleeping with students and rumor had it, his patients. He was a James Bond type of hero to us young men. He seemed to be able to enjoy all the privileges of religion, family, academic esteem and no one would ever claim that he looked down upon women. He was, after all, so likable, but did he really love his wife, and did he really love all those other women? Well, he said he did. I remember myself, and I am a father of two young women now. How many times did I sit across the table from another man, his posturing and stern look, that was really just his pleading, asking me to see his daughter differently. "Please have respect for my daughter, she is special to me." These laws have much to do with love, and if we look back to the posts before, and we honestly compare our definition of love to that of 1 Corinthians 13, then we have much to confess. I was satisfied for a very long time, with my own definition of love, that was based on emotions and feelings. I was satisfied with a definition of myself that saw me as a good person inside. This definition does not and cannot take into account the reality of outward behavior, nor those sins of the heart. "Don't judge me for what I do, judge for who I am telling you that I am?" Anything that does not admit our utter depravity, our lost and fallen state, is not a Biblical gospel. If you are well then you do not need a physician. 

treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,5holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 6For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,…2 Timothy 3: 4-6

I know I did not cover all the points of this passage in detail, but I would ask that you look at your own definition of love, then the Bibles, and this:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.…1 John 4:7-9