11th August 2005
What do you think of when you hear or see the word, “Satan”?
If you are like most people, you might have images of the little red figure with horns, tail and the pitch fork. You might associate the image with words like the devil, evil, the enemy of our souls and all sorts of other nasty names.
Perhaps you have in mind the cartoonish figure with that fiendish grin. Or perhaps you have a much more sinister, even frightening image.
But how about an image of a great leader of men? Someone who speaks out boldly for his people. Someone who is eloquent, courageous and one who can wield influence over others, and who has the capacity to motivate others to go along with him in activities and often does so with much ease and suave.
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11th August 2005
Messy Christian got me thinking with this pair of posts and the ensuing conversations that are generating a lot of heat. Several commenters made reference to the “sin of Onan”. I have also heard others refer to the “sin of Onan” in similar discussions about masturbation. A quick search on Google brought up this article by an Evangelical-turned-Roman Catholic priest. You might need to read the article first for context to the rest of this post. Another article that provides a different light can be found here.
Obviously, the “sin of Onan” suggests that there is something particularly evil about what Onan did. Most of the interpreters point to his act of coitus interruptus, and suggest that this was abominable to the Lord because:
* it “wasted the seed” in that he abused sex for his own gratification instead of for the purpose of procreation
* it violated Levirate laws that required him as her brother in law to give Tamar an offspring and so his refusal to do so robbed Tamar of her inheritance.
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