Our Hard Hearts

Jesus met a lot of challenges based on scripture. Arguably, the most significant challenge involved divorce. From the gospel of Matthew:

19:3 Then some Pharisees³ came to him in order to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful⁴ to divorce a wife for any cause?"⁵19:4 He answered, "Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female,⁶19:5 and said, For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh'?⁷19:6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."
19:7 They said to him, "Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?"⁸19:8 Jesus⁹ said to them, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hard hearts,¹⁰ but from the beginning it was not this way."₁

What does the statement "Moses permitted" say? Jesus did not answer, the Father permitted. Jesus placed the responsibility on Moses. It is not a large leap to realize that a part of the Mosaic law was produced by Moses doing his best to solve a complicated problem. I am certain that Moses prayed constantly. However, because of the hardness of the Israelites hearts, he allowed for the breaking of a covenant. Something which God hates.

This article is not about divorce. It is about the condition of our hearts and how this has potentially affected scripture.

Another example, 1 Corinthians 11:11-16

11:11 In any case, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.
11:12 For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman. But all things come from God.
11:13 Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?
11:14 Does not nature⁵ itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace for him,
11:15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering.⁶11:16 If anyone intends to quarrel about this, we have no other practice, nor do the churches of God.₁

These scriptures clearly demonstrate Paul's struggle with the equality of the sexes in Christ. Something he talks about in Galatians 3:28-29:

3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave⁵⁸ nor free, there is neither male nor female⁵⁹ for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
3:29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants,⁶⁰ heirs according to the promise.₁

These scriptures really show Paul's humanity. Coming from an extremely patriarchal society, Paul could not help but struggle with equality. It is enough of a miracle he got past his Jewish heritage enough to become the apostle to the Gentiles. The humanity in the Bible should not be swept under the rug of Biblical perfection.

The above scriptures demands the question, what else is in the Bible due to our hard hearts? What truth has been lost or skewed because of our own humanity? What have I missed because of the condition of my heart?

I must confess my own hard heart. Early in my life, I was exposed to religion gone wrong. For a large part of my life up to 10 years old, my family attended a church. I have many good memories of attending that church, except one. My family moved to another county. Due to the large change and for financial reasons, we were not able to attend regularly. Eventually, we quit going. The only contact we received from that church was an offering envelope in the mail. I have not trusted organized religion since. However, because of my hard heart I have probably missed out on some fantastic fellowship.

Hence, no matter what form of media I expose myself to(including the Bible), not matter how inspiring a sermon, I must ask certain questions. Is this information that is being presented as truth of God or man? Also, are my own personal biases(like my desire to be right) getting in the way of my ability to hear from God?

1. Scriptures copied from the NET Bible. http://net.bible.org