Posted on by Abe Austin

Us vs Them- Shifting Towards Tribalism

It is commonly understood that “us vs them” thinking only brings out the worst in people. It frustrates efforts for peace and even becomes a justification for terrible atrocities. All my life I have been told that we must reject this sort of thinking. I have been told that knowing one part of who someone is does not give me the entire picture of them. That I must appreciate the nuance in people. That I should seek to understand people as individuals.

I find this to be excellent advice. All throughout my life I have had the opportunity to associate with people who believe very strongly and very differently from me. People with contrary religious beliefs, inverted politics, and opposing social agendas. And in each and every case, I have always found it worthwhile to shelve my assumptions and actually get to know these people. I have had open and frank conversations about our strongly different views, with an emphasis on understanding the good reasoning that led us to such different outcomes. In every instance, I have discovered an individual. A sensible person. A rational and coherent brother or sister. I often still disagree with them, but I can appreciate where they are coming from. I have learned that even someone who I think is “wrong” still has that spark of divinity within them. Even those that feel differently from me are still children of God.

So I agree with those sayings that we’ve all heard countless times. “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” “Walk a mile in their shoes.” “90% of an iceberg lays beneath the surface.” We’ve all heard these nuggets of wisdom since our childhood. We’ve all repeated them when someone was making unfair assumptions.

But then…why is “us vs them” thinking still so common? In fact, why does it seem to be growing stronger every year? Perhaps it was always this way. Perhaps it is our default way of being, only overcome by deliberate choice. If that is the case, then more and more, we do not seem to be making that choice as a society.

As I have recognized this worrying trend, I have had thoughts about what it means for the future, the imbalance that it will create in society, and the obligation of the faithful in the face of the trials ahead. I will spend the next couple days discussing those thoughts, and hopefully we will be able to find an ark in the midst of the rising flood.

Posted on by Abe Austin

May You Never be Content


May you never be content.
May you embrace the spirit of the chase.
May you always be improving on your character.
May you be content with forever journeying.
May you always progress.

It is in accepting the eternity of growth, improvement, and progression that we surrender the need to be perfect, and that we gain joy in achieving each new portion of it.

Posted on by Abe Austin

If You Can Change One

If you can clean up your house, you can clean up your bad habits and build good ones instead.
If you can build good habits, you can build new friendships and cure your loneliness.
If you can cure your loneliness, you can cure your boredom and find something good to do.
If you can find something good to do, you can find something good to help others.
If you can help others, you can help your home have more peace and bring order to it.
If you can bring order to your home, you can bring order to your mind and calm it down.
If you can calm your mind down, you can calm your lusts and free your spirit.
If you can free your spirit, you can free the downtrodden and given them hope.
If you can give hope, you can give attention to what really matters.
If you can give attention to what really matters, you can give attention to God and praise Him.
If you can praise God, you can praise what is good in you and let Him purify your soul.
If you can let Him purify your soul, you can let Him purify your family and clean up your house.

If you can change but one, you can change them all.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 11:41-47

41 And every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth shall be an abomination; it shall not be eaten.

42 Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon all four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat; for they are an abomination.

43 Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth, neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that ye should be defiled thereby.

44 For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

45 For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

46 This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth:

47 To make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten.

It is interesting that anything that moves on the belly (worms or snakes), or anything with a multitude of legs (centipedes and spider), or anything that creeps on all four (rats and lizards) are pronounced unclean, and also these are the sorts of creatures that naturally cause us the most anxious when we encounter them. Things that move in weird ways discomfort us. So, too, we sometimes see people orienting themselves around identities that God has forbidden, and these are often unnerving and uncomfortable to us as well. A man with prosthetic breasts and a falsetto voice is naturally unnerving, the same as one whose face is covered in tattoos using aggressive language. God’s laws of cleanliness tell us to trust our instincts, that our intuition is there for a reason, and we should listen to it.

In verse 44 God calls us to “sanctify ourselves” and “be holy.” Yes, we live in the world, and are unavoidably tarnished by it, but we are still to strive to be different and set apart. We should stand out as those consecrated to something higher. That upward reaching is the overarching symbol in all of the laws of clean and unclean animals. All of these symbols show that we should be striving for the supreme, the transcendent, the very best that we can be. Not that it will ever make us divine on its own, but it will orient us so that we may be caught by divinity as it passes us by.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 11:36-40

36 Nevertheless a fountain or pit, wherein there is plenty of water, shall be clean: but that which toucheth their carcase shall be unclean.

37 And if any part of their carcase fall upon any sowing seed which is to be sown, it shall be clean.

38 But if any water be put upon the seed, and any part of their carcase fall thereon, it shall be unclean unto you.

39 And if any beast, of which ye may eat, die; he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be unclean until the even.

40 And he that eateth of the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: he also that beareth the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even.

Today’s verses continue on the rules we saw yesterday, explaining the corrupting effect of dead unclean animals. Larger sources of water would not all be corrupted. Presumably, there would be enough clean water that any untoward elements would dissipate to only trace levels. A dead carcass on a seed was fine, the plant was still shielded within, but if the seed had been watered already, and had begun the process of growing and sprouting, the actual plant was corrupted and now unclean.

The next verses talk about touching or eating a clean animal’s carcass. This obviously means an animal that died by natural means, not one that was slaughtered for the express purpose of eating. In these cases, any who touched the carcass would be unclean, but all he had to do was wash his clothes and he would be clean again the next day.

Logically, there had to be ways in which the transference of uncleanness would cease. If an unclean carcass made a vessel unclean, which made the person who touched that vessel unclean, which made anything that person touched unclean…obviously at some point everything would be unclean. And, well, now that we are aware of germs and viruses, there is some truth to that model. The fact is, we all carry unclean things in and on us, and none of us are pure, and none of us can become so. That is why sacrificial atonement remains necessary for us all.

But in our day-to-day lives, we do find that God has provided us a buffer that prevents infinite corruption. Yes, diseases pass through us, but they do eventually die out. Filth transfers from the ground to our hands to our food to our insides, but usually in small enough quantities that our body passes it through without issue. Or, if we do get ill, we almost always quickly recover. And speaking spiritually, every day there are evil influences that tempt us and our sins beget guilt, but we do move on and feel ourselves restored again on the next day. And where our sin is more serious, still with a period of washing and waiting, we are able to move forward again. God has built resilience and restitution into us, allowing us to bounce back from the constant uncleanness of the world.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 11:32-35

32 And upon whatsoever any of them, when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean; whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be, wherein any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the even; so it shall be cleansed.

33 And every earthen vessel, whereinto any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it.

34 Of all meat which may be eaten, that on which such water cometh shall be unclean: and all drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean.

35 And every thing whereupon any part of their carcase falleth shall be unclean; whether it be oven, or ranges for pots, they shall be broken down: for they are unclean, and shall be unclean unto you.

Today we hear how an unclean animal’s carcass touching an instrument would also make that instrument unclean. It does specify throughout these verses that this only applies to dead unclean animals, not living ones. So, there are degrees to the polluting effect of uncleanness.

Tools or clothes or sacks made unclean in this way only needed to be washed, left for a day, and then could be used again. But food or water or clay pottery that was contaminated were forever unclean and had to be discarded. Again, degrees to the pollution.

Looking at these examples from a modern, practical sense, we recognize that a dead body carries more disease than a living one. We understand how some things can be washed and reused, whereas others are better to purge entirely, particularly the food and drink that we would otherwise bring into our bodies. There are degrees of corruption and there are degrees of protection against them. The tools that we use, the clothes that we wear, our outer skin, and our inner organs, we protect each of these to increasing degrees because we become more susceptible to virus and infection the deeper the contamination reaches.

Looking at this through a spiritual lens, some unworthy behavior is more corrupt and destructive than others. A person deceived by the world, engaging in sin while still maintaining a sense of conscience is like a living unclean beast. A potential source of corruption, but not to the same degree as another person who has become entirely cynical and jaded, turned nihilistic by his sin.

And as with the Israelite’s cleanliness laws, we must protect ourselves from these sinful influences by progressive measures. Blasphemous language in our culture is a problem, but it is worse when it is projected through the television into our homes, and it is even worse again when it is coming out of our own mouths. And so on for all sins. Sin is pervasive enough that we cannot avoid all contact with it, but we can put in progressive checks and protections the closer it comes to our heart.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 11:29-31

29 These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind,

30 And the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole.

31 These are unclean to you among all that creep: whosoever doth touch them, when they be dead, shall be unclean until the even.

Today’s verses call out individual animals that would also be unclean to the Israelites. First among them are rodents and reptiles, then also snails and moles. Of course, each of these would have already been forbidden under the existing laws: rodents and reptiles do not have split hooves, snails don’t have raised legs for leaping, and moles violate both requirements, whether you consider them a beast or a “creeping thing.”

Presumably these animals are called out as edge case examples, showing that if an animal seems like it might be unclean, it is unclean. So it is in moral life. We may not be able to define every type of sin and every manner of evil, but we can establish principles, provide examples, and then rule out anything else that seems like it might be in violation of those guidelines.

Let us consider one example. Is AI-generated pornography not immoral since it involves unreal characters? The scriptures may not call it out directly, but they do establish a pattern of what God has allowed in regard to sexuality, and we should omit anything questionable around that. God has allowed for a man and a woman to cleave together as one flesh, and He has forbidden extramarital sexuality. Looking at the matter of AI pornography, that starts to sound a lot like a weasel or a tortoise, something on the fringes of more familiar sin, and something we should also treat as unclean.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 11:24-28

24 And for these ye shall be unclean: whosoever toucheth the carcase of them shall be unclean until the even.

25 And whosoever beareth ought of the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even.

26 The carcases of every beast which divideth the hoof, and is not clovenfooted, nor cheweth the cud, are unclean unto you: every one that toucheth them shall be unclean.

27 And whatsoever goeth upon his paws, among all manner of beasts that go on all four, those are unclean unto you: whoso toucheth their carcase shall be unclean until the even.

28 And he that beareth the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: they are unclean unto you.

Next, we hear that if an animal was unclean for eating, then it was also unclean to touch its carcass. One could touch a living pig, but if he either tried to eat it or touch its corpse, he would be unclean.

The symbolism is clear here. We want nothing to do with the unclean things of the world, and the death that they cause, whether physical or spiritual. We do not take stolen money, we do not spread rumors, and we do not take joy at the suffering of others. If we are to have success in this world, let us have it honorably and honestly, and not take undue advantage or ill-gotten spoils.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 11:21-23

21 Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth;

22 Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind.

23 But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you.

We finally come to the last major category of animal cleanliness, which has to do with the insects. Perhaps not surprisingly, almost the entirety of the insect kingdom is forbidden. The only specimens that are permissible are those with raised legs that can leap or fly. Specifically, it describes locusts, beetles, and grasshoppers.

Perhaps the symbolism here is that only the low creatures that aspire to reach higher could be accepted, just as we are lower than God, but we strive for godliness. This is a beautiful symbol of discipleship. We are not perfect, and we are not going to be so in this life. But still, we leap for it. Not to fool ourselves into thinking we are something that we aren’t, but because it is in the striving and falling short and striving yet again that the best comes out of us. Man’s ambition should always be at least a bit beyond his grasp.

This concludes the main sections of animal cleanliness. In the following verses God describes various other unclean elements and specific animals to be avoided, but the main animal category symbolism is complete. It is a fascinating part of God’s pattern that we are above the animals, yet we can look to them for our own edification. God has provided examples both of good and bad among them and even given us hints for how to recognize each.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 11:13-20

13 And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,

14 And the vulture, and the kite after his kind;

15 Every raven after his kind;

16 And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,

17 And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,

18 And the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle,

19 And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.

20 All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you.

We have heard the laws of cleanliness for beasts and fish, today we hear them for the birds. For this we are not given a clear defining principle, though, most of this is simply a long list of birds which cannot be eaten.

Looking at the list, however, a pattern does emerge. When we look at hawks, eagles, and osprey, we see that birds of prey are being forbidden. This maintains the pattern seen previously, where other predator animals were also forbidden. God’s people are not to be ravenous or murderous, only standing against the Lord’s foes when commanded, and otherwise establishing peace with all.

We also see forbidden the scavenger birds, such as the vulture and the raven. God’s people are not meant to be opportunists taking advantage of others’ misfortune. We are to prosper by honest labor.

Finally, we also see the dark and the strange flying creatures forbidden. Nocturnal animals like owls and bats must not be eaten. So, too, we must not deal in the dark, make alliances with the shadows, or serve the prince of darkness.

Again, we see the pattern continuing of the laws having a clear symbolism for what God’s people should be, and what they should not be. In our next post we will hear the instructions for the last category: insects.