You are taking the word “straight” much to literally, if you take a map of the journeys of Paul, and look at the cities he traveled to, and still he said we set a straight course to such and such, you will see that it would be impossible to draw a straight line from any one city to the next, they had to sail around one land mass to get to the next, and sometimes there were islands in the way, and they had to sail around them, but still Paul considered it a straight course because if he had set his goal on Troas, and he was heading there from Antioch, even though they had to sail in almost a half circle pattern, it was still going straight to Troas.
We can head on a straight course or path to God’s kingdom. But that doesn’t mean the path doesn’t have many bends and hills and valleys and bridges and many little pull offs that make it a scenic trip.
If I was leaving Florida and heading north for Ohio, I would take a straight course or highways going there, but if I stopped along the way in Atlanta Georgia or Chattanooga Tenn. they are still on the straight course to Ohio, but it would also be a scenic trip.
I can’t believe that God meant for us to point ourselves in one direction and as a horse with blinders on, look neither right or left or up or down, but as long as we are headed in the direction of our goal, it is a straight path, and the only way it wouldn’t be, is if we turned and headed in an opposite direction which could not get us there.
I’m sure that’s what Old Reggie meant when he said the scenic view, taking in all the interesting and spiritual things along the way but never loosing site of his goal.(^g^) PS, a straight path to a place can have many bends in it.
The law that this man was breaking reads: Ex. 32:14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it ia holy unto you: everyone that defileth it shall surely be put to death for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
Now I'm sure the man picking up the sticks to build himself a fire for warmth or cooking thought,"God didn"t mean I couldn't pick up sticks for warmth or cooking he knows I love him, and obey I his commandments usually, and besides this isn't really work, this is just a little bend, so it won't matter,"
No one can say for 100% sure where God will draw the line, that is not for us to say, and because of the examples in the OT that God gave us on how strictly he expected the Jews to follow his instructions, I believe he is telling us that he expects us to be as strict. So when He says straight, it's not the same as Paul saying straight. Even thought the law was very clear, Moses went to God and asked what to do with the guy, and God said you know what to do. So you see Moses was probably thinking like you and Regging thinking this is just a little bend, but God said uh uh. I said what I meant and I meant what I said.
I beleive you are living dangerously if you thing there are bends and curves in God's Word. IMO:)
Becky