Discussion for Monday 13th March

Throughout the Old Testament/Tanakh there are severe warnings to the people of Israel to keep themselves apart from 'the nations': the different religious/cultural/national groups that they lived near to, even among.

On Monday, 13th March, from 18.30 to 19.30 we'll look at a few examples of this and then ask these questions:

1. What was driving this message? Did it reflect a valid concern, irrational prejudice, a bit of both, or was it about something else?
2. A similar(ish) message about keeping separate from other religions can be discerned in the New Testament. Is this more of the same, or is there a different context or message going on here? Has there been a shift?
3. What might we learn from these verses as members and attendees of Unitarian & Free Christian Churches today? Is there a positive message for us here as well as a negative one? How might we use these passages as part of Unitarian & Free Christian worship?

There are LOADS of verses relevant to this. To get you started, you may find the following verses useful, but please find others and feel free to highlight them in the discussion.

Old Testament/Tanakh

Deuteronomy 18: 9-14

Leviticus 20: 1-7

Exodus 32

Isaiah 2: 1-5 compared with 6-22

Isaiah 8: 9-22

Isaiah 42:6

Jeremiah 10: 1-5

New Testament

Matthew 5: 6-7

Matthew 8:11

Matthew 10:5

Matthew 15:21-28

Romans 2:14

Galatians 3:8

Acts 15: 7-9

Ephesians 4: 17-19

Luke 21: 24

Romans 3: 29

Join Zoom Meeting Monday 18.30

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82378042367...

Meeting ID: 823 7804 2367

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