Recently an interesting exchange took place.
Poster A asked :
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So what about the apparel distinguishing men from women, do you consider salvational too?
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Poster B responed:
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I do not salvational is the term I would use on either subject. Salvation is obtained through faith in the shed blood of Christ by obeying the gospel preached by the Apostles in Acts 2:38. However there are edicts and commands enjoined on a child of God that one would obey to please God. Unisex clothing is an abomination to God and one cannot commit abominations and be saved.
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In our theology we often differentiate between sin and abominations. Some believe an abomination is somehow much worse than your garden variety sin.
Yet a study of this word in the KJV brings some interesting questions and insights ...
Abomination is an
English term used to translate the
Biblical term תֹּועֵבָה
tōʻēḇā or
to'ba (noun) or
ta'ab (verb).
The term in English signifies that which is exceptionally loathsome,
hateful,
wicked, or vile.
In Biblical terms to'ba does not carry the same sense of exceptionalism as the English term.
It simply signifies that which is forbidden or unclean according to the religion.
How is it used in scripture?
Abomination in the
Biblical sense of the word refers to:
- Every shepherd was "an abomination" unto the Egyptians (Genesis 46:34). This aversion to shepherds, such as the Hebrews, arose probably from the fact that Upper and Lower Egypt had formerly been held in oppressive subjection by the Hyksos (a tribe of nomad shepherds), who had only recently been expelled, and partly also perhaps from this other fact that the people of Egypt detested the nomadic habits of these wandering shepherds.
- Pharaoh was so moved by the fourth plague, that while he refused the demand of Moses, he offered a compromise, granting to the Israelites permission to hold their festival and offer their sacrifices in Egypt. This permission could not be accepted, because Moses said they would have to sacrifice "the abomination of the Egyptians" (Exodus 8:26); i.e., the cow or ox, which all the Egyptians held as sacred, and which they regarded it as sacrilegious to kill.
- In Daniel's prophecies in Daniel 11:31, it is generally interpreted as referring to the fearful calamities that were to fall on the Jews in the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, says, "And they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate."
- In his campaign of Hellenization, Antiochus caused an altar to be erected on the altar of burnt-offering of the Second Temple, on which sacrifices were offered to Jupiter Olympus. Following the wording of Daniel 9:27, this was the abomination of desolation of Jerusalem. In Matthew 24:15, the reference is probably to the image-crowned standards which the Romans set up at the east gate of the temple (A.D. 70), and to which they paid idolatrous honours. "Almost the entire religion of the Roman camp consisted in worshipping the ensign, swearing by the ensign, and in preferring the ensign before all other gods." These ensigns were an "abomination" to the Jews, the "abomination of desolation."
- This word is also used symbolically of sin in general (Isaiah 66:3); also an idol (Isaiah 44:19); of adultery (Ezekiel 22:11).
- Proverbs 6:16 - 18 lists six things which are also abominations: "haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief."
- The word "abomination" is also used in Jewish (and Christian Old Testament) scriptures to refer to homosexual activity (Leviticus 18:22), Leviticus 20:13), idolatry (Deuteronomy 7:25, Deuteronomy 13), cross-dressing (Deuteronomy 22:5), cheating in the market by using rigged weights (Deuteronomy 25:13-19, Proverbs 11:1), and dishonesty (Proverbs 12:22).
- it is also used for eating seafood that lacks fins and scales (Levitius 11:11), eating certain birds of prey (Leviticus 11:12) and all insects (Leviticus 11:23 and 11:41) and other biblically unclean animals (Leviticus 20:25), remarrying the person one previously divorced (Deutoronomy 24:4), telling lies (Proverbs 12:22), being proud in heart (Proverbs 16:5) or justifying the wicked (Proverbs 17:15), cheating in business (Proverbs 20:10 and Proverbs 20:23).
Some questions for y'all:
1. Do we level sins? Why do we do so? Is it fair to do so?
2. Does the bible differentiate between sin and abominations?
3. Does God have a color coded chart for sins with abominations being the worst?
4. Will we be rapture ready if there is any sin or struggle in our life?