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<P align=justify><FONT size=4>While the issue in this text centers on the
tradition of the elders; they grow out of a serious command given in Exodus
30:17-21 [<I>nipto</I> is the word used throughout for "wash" in the
LXX]:</FONT></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>The LORD spoke to Moses: You shall make a bronze
basin with a bronze stand for washing. You shall put it between the tent of
meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it; with the water Aaron and
his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. When they go into the tent of
meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to make an offering by
fire to the LORD, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. They
shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die: it shall be a
perpetual ordinance for them, for him and for his descendants throughout their
generations.</FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>The repeated threat of death indicates that this
washing was a very important ritual.</FONT></P>
<P align=justify><A href="http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/mark7x1.htm"><FONT
size=4>http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/mark7x1.htm</FONT></A></P></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>Brian Stoffregen</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4> I've found it humbling to ask what
"outcasts" do I sanctimoniously spurn as impure, unclean, dirty, contaminated,
and, in my mind, far from God. The mentally ill, people who have married three
or four times, wealthy executives, welfare recipients, people who hold
conservative political opinions, or maybe people with AIDS? How have I distorted
the self-sacrificing, egalitarian love of God into self-serving, exclusionary
elitism? What boundaries do I wrongly build or might I bravely shatter?
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20090824JJ.shtml">http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20090824JJ.shtml</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>Dan Clendenin </FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>Today, in our Christian faith, we also learn to
love the “old traditions” that are part of our faith. We love the “old favorite
traditions” of Christmas, Christmas hymns, Easter, Easter hymns. Most
congregations (and individuals) have numerous traditions that are not part of
their constitution, by-laws, or any legal documents; nor are these numerous
traditions part of the Scriptures or even our denominational heritage. Rather,
within the congregation, there are traditions that become holy, sanctified, and
“don’t you mess with our way we of doing things around here.” In other words,
don’t mess with our traditions. In fact, people will hold fast to their human
traditions more than the commandments of God to love God and love one
another.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_traditions_GA.htm">http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_traditions_GA.htm</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>Edward F. Markquart</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>If Jesus has been so free from the anxiety of
keeping himself clean that he has shared our uncleanness to death in order to
infect us with his cleanness, then no wonder his disciples feel free to forget
to wash their hands. They are no longer thinking about who is clean and who is
not and how they can stay on the clean side of that calculation. Jesus gave his
disciples authority over unclean spirits, too (Mark 6:7), and so we are sent out
to handle what is unclean with Jesus' cleansing life. Will we be defiled in the
process? Absolutely. But we know what to do with that; it goes with Jesus to the
cross to get sanitized in his risen life for us and for others. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.crossings.org/theology/2009/theolo744.shtml">http://www.crossings.org/theology/2009/theolo744.shtml</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>Carolyn Schneider, 2009</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4> In fact, the three sexual evils that he
includes in his catalogue of perversity can apply equally to heterosexuals or to
gays: fornication, adultery, and licentiousness. These three vices
are orientation-neutral.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><A href="http://gospelforgays.com/?p=461"><FONT
size=4>http://gospelforgays.com/?p=461</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>Jeremiah Bartram, 2009</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>For many Christians, there seems to be a need to
find ways to guard the borders of religious identity All sorts of issues are
lifted up as identity-defining, and the stance one takes with respect to them
determines whether one is a "real Christian." In the American context, most of
these issues have to do with human sexuality. Abortion, contraception and
homosexuality have all been made into boundary-defining issues; they have become
the "lines in the sand" for whether one judges others to be Christian or not. In
the minds of many, these are not matters on which Christians may hold divergent
opinions and remain in fellowship with others. Rather, opposition to these
practices is seen as part and parcel of maintaining the core of Christian faith
in an increasingly secular world.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>...how does one maintain Christian identity and
integrity? When we respond, we can do no better than Jesus did when asked what
was the greatest of all of God’s commands -- love God and neighbor.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><A
href="http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3435"><FONT
size=4>http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3435</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>Cynthia M. Campbell, 2006</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
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