Stone your rebellious son? Really?

1 Corinthians 2:14 - But a natural man [John 14:17] does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

Atheists love to use some of the teachings in this week's Torah portion (Parashah 49:  Ki Tetze -  Deuteronomy 21:10 - 25:19) to show why they refuse to believe in God.  because a "GOOD god wouldn't say those things!"

Unfortunately, atheists who don't know ELOHIM, cannot possibly understand the context of some harsh passages, such as, for example, this one:

Deuteronomy 21:18  "If a man has a stubborn, rebellious son  who will not obey what his father or mother says, and even after they  discipline him he still refuses to pay attention to them; 19  then his father and mother are to take  hold of him and bring him out to the leaders of his town, at the gate of  that place, 20  and say to the leaders of his town,  'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he doesn't pay attention  to us, lives wildly, gets drunk.' 21  Then all the men of his town are to  stone him to death; in this way you will put an end to such wickedness  among you, and all Isra'el will hear about it and be afraid. (CJB)

At first glance it would seem that "God is mean."  But the context - when understood from ADONAI's viewpoint - is very simple:

If anything or anyone in your holy community (where everyone belongs to YHWH and adheres to His Holy Commands) purposely defiles or rejects the set- apart way of life, get rid of it (or them).  Don't allow it (or the rebellious person) to continue being a bad influence, lest it (or they) "rub off" on others and the "bad" will eventually be viewed as "good" and acceptable...

Sound familiar?  It's all around us today!  The whole world seems to have become lax and "tolerant" when it comes to morality. 

So, yes, atheists (and the lukewarm who don't bother reading or studying Scripture) cannot possibly understand that YHWH had (and still has) some stringent requirements for HOLINESS!  Those things didn't vanish just because Yeshua died on our behalf.  Yeshua didn't abolish YHWH's Torah....

But only YHWH's people are able to recognize that fact.