Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 12:6-8

6 And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest:

7 Who shall offer it before the Lord, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female.

8 And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.

Yesterday I started examining the purification rites surrounding childbirth and discussed why I don’t think they are so shameful as some assume. Certainly, a shameful interpretation can be read into these verses, but it is a personal choice to do so. It is also possible to see no shame in the event, only an acknowledgement of the inherent gravity and mortality in birth. I explained what such a perspective looks like for the purification period of a mother in yesterday’s study, and now we will do the same for the sin and burnt offerings described in today’s verses.

Whether the child was a son or a daughter, the offerings were both a sin offering and a burnt offering. As we have already seen, a sin offering was meant for the absolution of sin, and a burnt offering was about dedicating one’s life to God and His purposes. The burnt offering is not controversial, but many have taken the need for a sin offering at birth as meaning that a child is born sinful; conceived by a sinful act, issued forth in a sinful state. But I don’t believe that view is necessary. I believe this ritual could be pointing to the common curse of mortality, without reflecting on the individual moral guilt of the child.

It is certainly a fact that we live in a fallen world. We all experience tragedy, we all experience suffering, and we all experience death. Every one of us is doomed by this fate and need to be saved from it via resurrection. Separate from this, though, is our own individual guilt when we commit our own sins. Sins where we had a knowledge of good but choosing to do evil. Thus, we have a universal mortal demise, and we have a personal spiritual demise, each of which must be overcome in Christ.

I believe the sin offering for an Israelite child’s birth was to acknowledge that the mother had brought her child into this universal, mortal, deathly reality, and that grim fate could only be overcome by the sacrifice of a lamb. This sacrifice is symbolic of Christ’s promise that his death and resurrection will conquer the tomb for all of us. Whether that resurrection will also redeem us from personal sin depends on whether we seek his forgiveness and enter into his covenant, but redemption from death, at least, is guaranteed.

So, it is true that there is a deep gravity to the fallen state into which we are born, but I don’t hold that we are also born in sin. We are born into the consequences of Adam and Eve’s transgression, but not into the guilt of their transgression. We only become guilty when we personally disobey. And in both cases, mortal death and spiritual sin, the sacrifice of the lamb shall overcome.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 12:1-5

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.

3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.

4 And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled.

5 But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.

This chapter speaks about childbirth, and how the mother would go through a purifying period before participating in regular tabernacle ceremonies. These passages have been used as evidence by some that the Mosaic Law treated women and childbirth as shameful, given the use of terms like “unclean” and the requirement of a “sin” offering. And this has not only been the argument of those antagonistic to Christianity. Even believers have used passages such as these to suggest that we are born in sin, shameful from our very beginning, and that sex acts are inherently vile.

While I can see where such interpretations are coming from, I feel that they are unnecessarily negative. It would be very helpful to know how ancient Israelites felt about these requirements, and whether they felt ashamed of them. We do not have that information, so we must be careful to not assume how they must have felt about these requirements.

On the matter of uncleanliness, I wish to point out that unclean is not one and the same as guilty or evil. There were many things that could make one unclean, including things that a person would have no willful agency over. A man having a nighttime emission was unclean for a time. A man stumbling over the corpse of a pig was unclean for a time. It is more accurate to think of uncleanliness as the spiritual equivalent to getting mud on our clothes. Getting muddy is nothing for us to be ashamed of. Sometimes it just happens, and we are not lesser people because of it. And yet, while we are muddy, we still keep distant from formal functions, public events, and clean places. We know we have to take a bath and wash ourselves before we go to these sorts of places because there is just too much earth on us.

Being unclean in the Old Testament seems to be the same, but in the realm of the spirit. The things that make one unclean are do not need to be shameful or guilty, they just happen to leave too much “earth” on us. They are things that mark us with the residue of the mortal world. Given that perspective, it is hard to think of anything so mortal as giving birth, and it makes sense that that would therefore make one ritually, but not morally, unclean.

Not only does birth involve the bringing forth of a mortal soul, but as verse 5 specifically calls out, it involves a considerable discharge of mortal blood. Many have noted that the purifying period is doubled when having an infant girl, and that this is likely due to the fact that this act of childbirth is inseparably connected to the female sex. The bringing forth of another woman means bringing forth another vessel of mortality. It is both issue and future issue all in one, so two purification cycles.

In tomorrow’s verses we will hear about the offerings that would accompany a new child’s birth, including a sin offering. In that post I will address why I think this offering is also not so shameful as some seem to think.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Subtle Devil

Satan’s greatest work is not obvious.
His finest temptations are subtle. They are devilish. They seem justifiable.
People are not merely seduced into what they know is wrong.
People are seduced by what they think is right.
In the last days, when Satan is at his most powerful, his ways will be popular.
His agenda will feel obvious and correct to the masses. Beyond reproach.
Humanity will destroy God, thinking that they do it for good.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Danger of Growth

Predetermined Expectations)

I grew up in an active Christian household. Every Sunday, I attended church with my family. There was never any consideration of not going, and through my childhood it never even dawned on me that that would even be an option.

Of course, at a certain point, I became a young adult and stopped living in my parents’ home. I started taking care of myself, making my own plans, my own decisions for the day. I remember it dawned on me that I didn’t have to go to church. I could just sleep in, or get chores down, or play. I could go once in a while, whenever I started to feel guilty about being away for too long. Or, I could keep going every Sunday, maintaining the same pattern I had been raised with.

I had a choice, and having realized such, my relationship with my faith could no longer be taken for granted. If I was going to remain a Churchgoer, it would not be by accident. It would be because I had actively chosen it for myself. And if I was going to be tepid in my faith, or backslide entirely, that would also not be by accident. It would be because I had actively chosen it.

I have heard that young adulthood is a point where many churches lose large swathes of their congregation, and given my own experiences at that time, I am not surprised. In our culture, his is the age in which we give full autonomy, and for many Christians, this the first time that they start considering other options. I have heard a lot of Church leaders asking how we can change this trend, how we can ensure we don’t lose people at this pivotal moment. Frankly, I think this falloff is inevitable. It is not a flaw in the system. It is simply a byproduct of choice.

Stronger Ties)

Having a choice means having the ability to choose the worse option, and there will always be some that choose it. If the ability to choose the worse option is removed, then there isn’t really any choice. And maybe that seems like a good thing. It prevents the bad outcomes. However, it also prevents the possibility for growth.

Growth requires a choice. Character development requires deciding to do what is right even when there are other tempting offers. Church attendance is just one example of this, but there are countless others. No one is truly courageous until he has chosen action over fearful retreat. No one is truly virtuous until he has turned down the opportunity to act out his lusts. No one is truly good until he has conquered the desire to be bad.

To have growth, you must have genuine choices, and genuine choices are dangerous things. It creates the possibility of failure but also creates the possibility of entering a new level of discipleship.

Some of those who recognize they can stop attending church choose to keep going anyway. Some decide to take a step away from church, but later on decided to come back. And for both of these groups of people, their status in the church is now more genuine, more real, more mature than ever before. Having made an actual choice, they are actually invested, they are there because they want to be, and they are giving up something else to make this a priority. They are attending church on purpose. They are successful, because they had the real possibility of failure.

There is no getting around this. Growth will always come with danger. The only way to remove danger is to deny growth, and that is an even worse outcome than failure.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Purpose for Faith

For what purpose do you have your faith?
Those that have found a sincere belief in God must ask themselves what He now expects them to do with it.
With every gift there comes an obligation.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Justification for Evil

If you believe that your opponent is evil,
And you believe that it is acceptable to play as dirty as your opponent,
Then you have justified yourself in being evil.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Us vs Them- Uncompromised Principles

Unsafe Discipleship)

In my last post I pointed out the inherent imbalance between those who engage in broad “us vs them” thinking, and those who treat everyone as individuals. Those who will persecute, abuse, and kill on the basis of identity alone will always be able to attack sooner than those who wait to see the true colors of another. The bigot can assume the offensive, while the just must begin on the defense.

It is the classic dilemma in Old Westerns. The unprincipled scoundrel has no problem shooting a man in the back, whereas the lawman requires evidence of lethal intent before returning in kind. Thus, the villain always gets to draw first, and the hero must catch up from behind.

This is but one example of a truth that we would all do well to remember. Virtuous and principled living is not safe. It is, and always has been, inherently dangerous. Perhaps we were raised in a special window of time where much of our society was virtuous, and so the imbalance of so living was not so clear. But this was the exception, and now we are seeing the rule restored. It is the pattern of history that those who act honestly and in congruence with their better nature are living with a handicap. This is not a flaw in the system, it is a simple reality, one that weeds out the fair-weather disciple from the one who holds true in all seasons.

I have noted the changing tides of society today, and the return of this hard truth. If we are going to be virtuous and principled and just, let us be so with a clear understanding of the dangers that are increasing day-by-day with that. Refusing to engage in the “us vs them” way of thinking is the right way to live, but also it is the dangerous way to live. we must accept both of those together, or not at all.

The Way of the Peacemaker)

Here at the end, I want to make one thing clear. I am not saying that the just man cannot use violence, that he cannot neutralize a threat once he is aware of it, that he cannot strike out against those who have already made their position clear.

It is not immoral to protect ourselves, even unto bloodshed (Alma 43:47), but it is immoral to be the first aggressor simply because we think someone might be violent towards us if given the chance. In dangerous times, this is what it means to be a peacemaker. It means that you do not ever initiate the violence, but that when the violence has begun, you overcome it quickly and efficiently.

I know that I am acknowledging dark ideas in this post. But presenting the real dangers and the real fears that will lead some to abandon their principles is not meant to cause discouragement or cynicism. It is meant to allow for true courage, which is only possible when we understand the real dangers before us, the real sacrifice that may come of maintaining our conscience, and with that full knowledge still do what is right anyway. The way of virtue is not an easy one, but may we all embrace that path.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Us vs Them- The Danger of Virtue

An Unbalanced Scale)

In my last post I described my shock at the gleeful, public praise for the murders of Brian Thompson and Charlie Kirk, as well as the support for continuing assassination attempts against Donald Trump, as well as the deriding of members of the LDS church after the shooting of their congregation in Grand Blanc, Michigan. I was particularly shocked by the cases of Brian Thompson and the LDS church massacre, where the victims seemed to have not been chosen because of any personal offense they had committed, but because of their appearance, association, or presumed beliefs.

I have realized the very real possibility that I might be crossing paths with people who have unashamed murderous intent against me, even though they don’t know me on a personal level, simply because I have some characteristic that they have determined is worthy of death. Perhaps because I am White, or male, or Christian, or traditionally conservative. They might be able to look at me and immediately identify me as their sworn enemy, but I will have no idea that they are mine.

And that is the terrifying imbalance that the virtuous and the principled have to contend with. Those of us that still believe that people are innocent until proven guilty, that believe that individuals are individually good or bad, and that you do not know which are which until they show you, we are put at a disadvantage where we cannot pick out our enemies so quickly as they can pick out us. They can kill us before we even know that we need to defend ourselves from them.

The Temptation)

If the threats and the killings continue in our society, there will be many of the virtuous and principled who begin to waver. They will look for patterns in those who are targeting them, and they will not be content to live at a disadvantage to them. They will start to adopt the same sort of “us vs them” thinking where they paint an entire swathe of people “bad,” and they will go to war with them. There will no longer be any regard for the individual, only for the collective.

There is a reason why wars tend to divide on simplistic lines. It is hard and it is dangerous to treat everyone as an individual. It is easier to condemn an entire nationality, race, or religion. To point at them as a whole and say, “that is my enemy, all of them are my enemy, and I can kill any of them and know that I am furthering my cause.”

That is the easier path. The pre-emptive path. But I think anyone who still has an inkling of conscience, knows that it is also the wrong path. We know it is unjust to assume evil in others, even if it seems more strategic. Tomorrow, I would like to use my last post in this series to talk about how to be faithful in dangerous times such as these. How do we keep our souls, even when it might cost us our lives?

Posted on by Abe Austin

Us vs Them- The Breaking Point

A Shocking Realization)

One of the most horrifying things of the past few years has been to witness the open enthusiasm and support for symbolic murders. In December of 2024, when Brian Thompson was killed in the streets by Luigi Mangione, it was not in response to any particular action or policy that the CEO of United Healthcare had enacted. Certainly, people had their criticisms of the company and the broader industry as a whole, but there was nothing particularly anti-consumer about Brian Thompson. Indeed, he had only been CEO for four years, and critiques of his company long predated his tenure and will continue long afterward. He was killed simply because of what he represented: the entire healthcare system.

It is safe to say that virtually no one in America had even heard of his name before his death. None of us knew his politics. None of us knew his morals. None of us knew what sort of husband or father he was. None of knew whom he had helped or hurt in his personal life. None of us knew if he was ultimately a good man or a bad. And yet, thousands of voices came out on social media to praise and celebrate his killing. Nothing about the actual man mattered, all that mattered was his job title.

This was when the mask came off and I was horrified to see the monsters that lurk in our daily society. The murder itself was terrible, made even worse by masses who approved of it, made worse by the fact that those masses felt absolutely no inhibition in crowing about it in public. There was absolutely no fear of social ostracization, of real-world consequences, of meaningful rejection. People saw absolutely no downside to cheering on a murderer like they were cheering on a football team.

Then came the assassination attempts against Donald Trump. Mainstream celebrities made light of them and even called for further attempts. Then there was the successful assassination of Charlie Kirk. People publicly called for the rest of his family to be slaughtered next.

It hasn’t just been violence against political or public figures, either. On a more personal note, members of my own church were slaughtered during their services last year in Michigan by a man who openly professed his hatred of the LDS faith. While there has not been large social support for what he did, many so-called Christians used the opportunity to ensure others knew we didn’t believe in the “correct Jesus.” Once again, there was no hesitation for public derision of murdered innocents. It is this open and blatant disregard for propriety that has so shocked me.

Scary New World)

Of course, we have always known that there were monsters hiding in the closets. But they were supposed to be exceedingly rare. Only the clearly and seriously broken in the world would be so depraved, and I guess I never realized how many people there are today that fit that category. And also, the monsters were supposed to be in hiding, constrained by social pressure from stepping into the light in their hideous forms. Now they march out boldly and without apology. When what is said in the public square is already inexcusable, what does it say for society’s darker secrets?

One clear takeaway is that “us vs them” thinking is alive and well in our culture, and that it is deadly serious, too. There are people who are willing to kill others just because of select characteristics, and others that are willing to publicly support it.

It is nothing new to think that you know what the problem in today’s world is. To think you know what ideas are causing harm. To think you know which people are driving the detriment of society. But it is an extra leap to then decide, “and everyone of that group is culpable and worthy of death.” To not deal with people as individuals, to not see them as potentially redeemable. To see the world as only able to improve with the violent removal of that category.

Of course, these developments put immense fear into the hearts of those who most often hear themselves vilified in the public square. We become weighed down with the knowledge that anyone around us might be a potential killer. We start to view everyone, especially those different from us, as a potential threat. And this, of course, leads to “us vs them” thinking in the opposite direction.

I want to delve into that shift tomorrow. How a population that is willing to talk out their problems becomes radicalized towards violence instead, and the dangers that loom ahead of us if we do not have a powerful course correction now.