Urination

I overheard somebody ask the question, "Why is it that, in the Old Testament, urinating against a wall was such a terrible sin?" That question threw me for a little bit. That isn't even addressed in Old Testament Law, where did this person get the idea that it was a terrible sin? "Well, several times in the Old Testament, God told Israel to kill everyone that did it." Oh, that. All right, let me try to explain that--but, it isn't what you were thinking.

In ancient times, it was commonly believed that if your people and my people went to war, then my gods and your gods fought also (or, at least, influenced the outcome of the war). If you won, that proved that your gods were stronger than my gods, so I shouldn't worship my gods anymore, I should worship your gods. After all, my gods didn't help me win the war, did they? Most of the time, that wasn't that big of a deal. If I were Greek and you were Roman, then I stopped praying to Zeus, and instead prayed to Jupiter. If you were Norse, then I prayed to Odin. Maybe I would start praying to Thor instead of Apollo. Whatever. Most of the time, it was just learning new names. A lot of the stories were very similar, if not the same.

If you were Jewish, though, then I have a problem. I have to replace my entire pantheon with your one God. If I've grown up with a god over the other the other gods, and a god of war, and a god of the sea, and a god of the forge, and a messenger god, and a god of brushing my teeth... And suddenly I can only have one God... No matter how many times Israel defeated the Philistines, the Philistines kept going back to their gods. They just couldn't wrap their minds around the idea of one God creating the whole universe and maintaining control of it (What does that have to do with urination? Bear with me, we're getting there. I just need to lay some foundation first).

For some reason women accepted it more easily than men, but a lot of them couldn't do it either. Children were easier, depending on their age. Usually, once a male child was indoctrinated into polytheism, he couldn't accept monotheism. Further, you ran into the problem that a son who witnessed his father being killed by the people that are now occupying his country, then there will be, almost inevitably, thoughts of revenge. These thoughts can make accepting a new religion difficult, if not impossible. So, how does one determine if a male child is old enough to reject Judaism? Well, if he pees standing up, that's probably not a good sign. Keep in mind that God didn't always tell Israel the same thing when they conquered another nation. Sometimes He told them to kill everything--including their farm animals. Other times He was more selective. But God knew the hearts and minds of the people. He knew when people were ready to accept Him, and when they were not.

Bottom line, it wasn't that urinating against a wall was a sin, it was just a measure of maturity, or of the ability to accept the truth as opposed to what one was raised to believe.