Thank you so much for sharing this about your life. I am so sad to know you were so traumatized and never received the help you desperately needed. May God bring that healing to you in full measure and keep you strong in your knowledge of His love and mercy for you.
I just wanted to share this. When I was at the lowest point of my life (20 years ago) and I was thinking that if God was as others had said that He was, then how could I follow Him? The Holy Spirit spoke to me, "To whom else can I go, for You alone have the words of eternal life." ( john 6:68) With that input from the precious Spirit, I turned myself around and said to God, I will not believe what others say about You, I will believe what Your Word says about You, for Y9ou are my only hope!" So my doubt was destroyed that moment. Praise the Lord! That was a very hard place to be in, very painful, very discouraging, very confusing. But God used it to set me rock solid on the testimony of His Word in Christ and I am all the better for it.
One Eighty-how hard it must have been to be without your brother and to see him die. How sad that you did not have any other siblings to grieve with. Your mom was so full of grief that she needed the treatments she received to be set aright to be able to raise you. It was not the best of circumstances for either of you, nor your parents. But I am so happy that your mom continued to believe and train you up in the word and way of Christ. My prayer for you today is that God will restore to you over and above what the enemy stole from you when you were 3 and from your life from year to year. May you receive abundant mercy and comfort from our Lord by the Spirit who lives in you. I pray that you God will bring you joy in place of the sad spot in your heart concerning your brother and the grief you have borne all of these years. Amen.
We are to put to death the deeds of the sinful nature. This is the outcome of the work of Christ on the cross- that we can have victory over personal sin. It is the result of walking in the Spirit. ( Romans 6-8). To fail to mortify the sinful nature in us is to give in to Satan and follow his lead instead of the lead of the Holy Spirit. Let us honor the covenant Jesus made with His blood, knowing that we can never come before God on our own righteousness, but stand before our heavenly Father with the righteousness of Jesus imputed upon us. This does not excuse us from the responsibility to live as children of the Light. We are to put into practice the power of grace in this life to say no to ungodliness and yes to what God has determined is holy and pure and righteous and noble and of good report, whatever is true, whatever is lovely, whatever is praiseworthy, think on these things and do the works of God ( Philippians 4:8-9) This is how we love God and love one another. This is what we will be doing in eternity. We may as well learn to love all that is holy and good now so we can bless others and hopefully win some for Christ.
Leviticus Chapter 20 GOD MADE A COVENANT WITH MANKIND
God made a covenant with the Israelites at Mt. Sinai which included promises and blessings, commandments and curses. The purpose of God's covenant was to distinguish these people from the people of surrounding nations. These were to be a holy people, sanctified by God, blessed by YHWH but also commanded to be obedient in order for Him to dwell among them. No other nation had been chosen by God to have His presence dwell in their midst. This is a unique act of God, consecrating the Israelites as His chosen holy nation. The covenant was God's expressed will for them, the basis for His blessings or discipline, the standard of holiness. Whether or not an act had great social significance, it had great spiritual significance. Sinning would defile the land and God's sanctuary with the people, thus causing Him to depart from them or drive them from the land promised. The stakes o this covenant were high. It is a most serious offense-a capital offense- to disregard and disdain the covenant of God. And this is true of both the Old Covenant and the new Covenant.
The capital offense of rejecting Jesus Christ leads to eternal death. So unbelievers are outside of the New Covenant and cursed.
Christians disdain and disrespect the New Covenant when they persist in sin. See Hebrews 10:26-31.
Christians disdain and disrespect the New covenant when they distort the gospel.
Christians disdain and disrespect the New Covenant when they refuse to live their life by a higher standard than that of the society they live in.
We are to be salt and light. We are to take sin seriously, as Leviticus 20 shows us, and to desire to live godly lives. We are to yield to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit as He works in us to change us from glory to glory to become more and more like Jesus until we are made perfect (holy) as He is perfect (holy). ( Heb. 6:1, Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet.1:16; Rev. 22:11)
2)The fact that God determines that all sins are capital offenses means that no sinner should feel themselves to be more righteous than another. James puts it this way.-to be found guilty of sin at one point is to be guilty of all sins. ( James 2:1-8)
God's Law refuses to distinguish between sins and crimes. As a rule, governments do not concern themselves with moral sins, but rather with social evils that they determine to be crimes. Governments do not concern themselves with what is termed sins (those actions that are against God) but with crimes, (offenses against other human persons).
The capital sins of Leviticus 20 are those sins that the Canaanites would not have considered to be crimes at all. God's people are especially responsible for sins that are not crimes (as those in Leviticus 20 show).
a) the sins which are not crimes are those acts which our culture will encourage us to commit.
b) the sins which are not crimes do not seem to have immediate natural (nor dire) consequences.
When God made certain sins crimes for the Israelites, they were strongly motivated to obey God's Law and to avoid sin because they wanted to live and not be put to death.
Their lifestyle was to be distinct from the people of the surrounding nations. Disobedience and defilement will lead to expulsion from the land promised (Lev.18:24-30; 20;22-26)
God's standards of holiness are much higher than man's sense of morality even at its best. Today's Christians must wake up to the fact that living a godly life requires much more than being a law-abiding citizen. (Some laws are anti-christian and some things that are legal are still sinful). Let us live higher than the law demands for avoiding sin requires this ( Mt. 5:43-48, 1 Peter 2:4). Civil Law can define what is a crime, but God defines what is a sin, not me, not you, not any other being, human, angelic, or demonic.
Leviticus 20 - NO ONE CAN SAVE THEMSELVES FROM THE JUST PUNISHMENT FOR THEIR OWN SIN
Death begins its work in us from the moment of our conception. Even while our cells are dividing and multiplying and differentiating into various types of cells to make up bones, blood, tissue, nerves, organs, etc. our sinful nature is corrupting every aspect of our being and death is acting on our physical matter. Throughout our life our cells die off and are replenished. Our soul is dead to God from the moment of conception because of the corrupted sinful nature. From the very start we are separated from God because He is so holy we cannot be in His presence and live. We need His mercy from the very start of our life and every moment after that.e
But, just as through one man, Adam, we all sinned (for he is our federal head-the effectual representative of all persons to ever descend from him); also, through one man, Jesus Christ we made alive because of His perfect obedience. Death came by Adam, life came by Jesus. Condemnation came by Adam; justification came by Jesus. Corruption came by Adam, righteousness came by Jesus (who is federal head of the Body of Christ). ( Romans 5:12-19)
We are not sinful because we sin, we sin because we are sinful from the start. We all need God's mercy and salvation that comes from the substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross to bring forgiveness to all who put their faith in Him. Jesus bore the eternal capital punishment (which we deserve) for the sins of all men, that even though we suffer under physical death, we will not die eternally if we are in Him.
In His first coming, Jesus came not to bring condemnation to humankind, but to bring salvation. John 3;17-18) in His second coming, He will bring judgement upon all human beings, eternal life for those who are His by faith, and eternal punishment in the lake of fire for those who refuse to turn to Him and reject His provision for salvation for the sinfulness of each person.
are unknowingly crucifying their brothers, while simultaneously knowing Jesus says that He desires mercy, NOT sacrifice. Have we not had enough crucifixion by our crucifying of Jesus (Love)? It was not sin and darkness we nailed to the cross along With Love. Doing both is impossible; being opposites. Doing this does not bring about the peace Love desires. Is it our voice or the Voice of God that speaks of the unworthiness of God's Love for His Creation. One (one) steers away from It, while the Other draws it nearer.
Consider judging not who produces good fruit. Are we that arrogant to think we have the ability to know the lives and hearts of those we understand very little about. WE DON'T KNOW. This drives further away those who are in pain and despair. This is the epitome of self righteousness. Preferably, we should endeavor to see ONLY the Christ in others, and leave the rest behind where it belongs; in the past where God is not. God is eternally present NOW. And, oh what a joy, combined with peace to see all God's Creation as they were created by Love. Our sinless brother is our guide to peace. Our sinful brother is our guide to pain. And which we choose to see, we WILL behold. My friends, In the presence of Truth there are no unbelievers, nor sacrifice.
There are no degrees of sinners in God's view. There are no such thing as "small" and "big" sins to God. All sin is rebellion against Him. There certainly are degrees of consequences and results of our actions, but we cannot say like the Pharisees that we are not like the publican who is certainly a worse sinner than myself. We surely underestimate the holiness of God. And we should marvel at His mercy for not ending it all with Adam and Eve along with every person after these first two humans. But God's are not our ways. Higher than the highest heavens they are. If He did not reveal Himself to us we would not know how holy He is and how sinful we are. Mankind is completely and utterly corrupted by the sin of Adam and Eve. When they sinned their innate human nature was radically changed from being innocent and free of sin to being wholly sinful. This was a constitutional change in the nature of humanity and this corrupt, sinful nature is passed on from parent to child always with the exception of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh without a sinful nature.
Society finds it necessary to categorize sins according to degrees, and rightly so. Society categorizes crimes as misdemeanors and felonies. Some sins are not considered as crimes, and some crimes are not really sins. Society gauges the seriousness of sins as to the harm it causes society and has various levels of penalties for various levels of evil actions.
God views sin so differently, looking at sin not only in terms of actions and their consequences, but also looks at the attitude, the soul from which the sin is generated. He has determined that all sin is a capital offense and deserving of death. The fact that all sins are capital offenses has a number of implications.
1) Since all sins are capital crimes against God, ALL human beings need desperately to experience God's provision for sinners-His mercy in Jesus, His Son.
Verse 7-8"Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD, Your God. And you shall keep my statutes and perform. I am the LOTD who sanctifies you."
This chapter refers back to the commands of Chapters 18-19, listing all the sins that are deserving of capital punishment (death). At times, God will is the one who executes the penalty by causing the death of the offenders, but in this chapter, God is instructing the Israelites to perform the penalty upon those who commit the sins spoken of in this chapter.
How hard it would be to put your child to death for disobedience to a parent! But God commanded them to do so and to not do it would be a sin as well.
So, it seems that all of the sins spoken of in this Chapter require a penalty of death. These sins would be considered to be capital crimes. Pretty sobering to consider.
I read that Capital crimes reflect a given value system. That is, acts that are called capital crimes are those which are considered most evil, and thus reflect the value system of the one (or ones) making the laws. Since capital punishment is the most serious penalty, then these crimes are viewed as those acts which are the worst evil.
Capital crimes in Leviticus 20 reflect God's value system. If we are troubled by what God has condemned as worthy of death, then we must recognize that our value system must be "out of sync" with God's. What then are God's values which are the basis for His choice of "capital crimes" (sins deserving the death penalty).
Well, actually, God views every sin as capital offense worthy of death. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit does that seem to us to be such a heinous crime that it brought about not just the death of Adam and Eve, but for all of their offspring.
Romans 6:23 "The wages of sin is death." Do we truly believe this? Do we concur with God that each and every sin brings the penalty of death to the sinner?
Regards to your belief on unsecure salvation: how many sins does it take to lose your salvation? The bible tells us here in Romans 3:23. All have sinned and come "short" of the glory of God, meaning we don't deserve it, that it is a gift. As far as the east is to the west no one can pluck us out of His hands.
There is only one sin that sends you to hell and that sin is to reject Christ. Do you believe that?
Because according to what your saying is that, a person would have to be completely sinless to hold onto their salvation.
I was saved 23 years ago and I was so born again, became a new creature, repenting of all sin, giving my whole life to God. No longer of the world, and still that way, except in the last 12 years I backslid lacking in visitation, and commiting to church activities. But before that I head usherd, cleaned the church, went on visitation, led my mom and brother to Christ and spread the word to others, worked in the church office adding up tithes. I had to stop a lot of that because of health reasons; it kept me from being faithful to my services. I don't think God is going to close the doors on me for that.
That thief didn't have much time left to do anything did he ? If you read the account carefully you will learn that he did : confess his sinfulness , acknowledge Christ's sinlessness , acknowledge Christ as his Lord , and believe that Christ was going to be resurrected and receive a kingdom . He managed to pack a lot in to his last few sentences don't you think ?
I would agree with your understanding of the Scriptures Eagan, on this matter. Though there are Scriptures that show that the one in Christ is eternally secure ( John 10:27-29; 1 John 5:13; Ephesians 1:13,14; 1 Peter 1:5; and many more), there are also many others verses that seem to show that salvation can be lost & one must work hard in their faith to ensure that they will make it to the end & be accepted.
So, when one considers ALL of the verses pertaining to this subject, somehow it has to be reconciled what Jesus or the other writers are actually saying. Just like whether the Rapture is pre, mid, post, or anything else, we can get into a similar problem. For this one, my underlying Truth is that the Great Tribulation is God's Judgement against the unbelieving Christ-rejecting world, therefore those in Christ will be saved from it.
For Eternal Security, the underlying Truth is the truly repentant soul has come in faith (& nothing else), been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, indwelt by Him, put on a new path towards Heaven, with the Mighty God and His Son being his all-consuming focus & passion & not the world. Can such a person ever be lost again - deciding, 'No, I prefer to follow the world & reject Christ?' We can never know how real another's salvation has been - nor should we ever place ourselves in that position of making such a judgement. Or, whether one's faith is being tested & some errors & backsliding are taking place - to which the Holy Spirit will move, alert, warn or chastise to bring him back. But the fact of the matter is, that 'the Lord knows who are His', He 'knows His sheep & His sheep hear His Voice', and His sheep will obey the Shepherd even if there has to be some stern words & goading.
Thus Galatians 5:22-25 are so important, especially "they THAT ARE Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." These are the marks of the one truly saved, living for Christ.
I was severely traumatized as a 3 year old by the witnessing of the death of my only sibling, my ten year old brother, as my mother attempted to frantically revive him as he lay collapsed on the kitchen floor.
Before that, my life was filled with happiness, knowing nothing about death. As you can imagine, a child that age is incapable of grasping and understanding any of this. He or she only feels the devastating emotions that follow. In an instant, my little life was turned upside down from a seemingly heavenly state into a hellish nightmare. My father withdrew himself from me and mom by immersing his self in his work. Mom experienced 2 separate nervous breakdowns, receiving electrical shock treatments at a mental institution. Those times seemed to last forever, when I was in dire need of her love and comfort. My life was now filled with loneliness, coupled with a down pouring of unimaginable sorrow and grief.
I was left as an only child, to deal with it. It was all about the parents loss and despair; mine being ignored. Since then, the psychiatric sector has recently discovered that siblings are typically affected more than the parents, and are very aware if there is no help offered, horrible effects are likely to appear later on. They did. I lost my best friend, and he was not returning. I basically lost my parents also, as I had previously perceived them. There was no healing; "he's just a child, he'll be ok". NOT.
Mom was a Christian. I was baptized at a conservative Baptist church at age 5. In retrospect, I realized that at this age, one probably doesn't fully understand baptism; thus in my twenties I rededicated my life to God and was baptized once more. Along with my wife and children, I became heavily involved in church for many years, i.e. Sunday School, prayer meetings, Bible study groups, teaching, much music ministry, etc., until about fifteen years ago. No regrets nor "falling outs", as the memories I have of my church family is...
You can download the KJV Bible (the App from the KJB Online Site) from the App Store (Apple) or Play Store (Android). I find it very useful on my phone when I don't have my heavy Bible with me.
This topic about secured (or not) salvation has been discussed a lot between us here on this forum in the past. Beliefs differ. Mine is that salvation can be lost if one leaves God's path and starts following a foreign path and eventually dies in their sin. In my opinion there are many verses in the Bible that state that. One I have gone through recently is in 1 Timothy 4:15-16, (Paul advices Timothy) "Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: FOR IN DOING THIS THOU SHALT BOTH SAVE THYSELF, and them that hear thee." Why does Paul say to Timothy that by doing those he WILL save himself, isn't Timothy saved already (by been born again)? Yes but he has to keep his salvation by doing specific things, like obeying and properly teaching God's path(commadments). And the outcome of his life's strives to walk the narrow road will be the final salvation, the crown of righteouness, the crown of victory. A lot more can be said. GBU
What about the thief on the cross? Jesus promised that he (the thief) will be with Him in paradise. Being that he never did anything for the Lord, yet still allowed to enter the gate? Does God pic and choose?
I believe in eternal security of a believer, once saved always saved. (John5:24), and can never lose their salvation ( John 10: 27-29), believers who wilfully sin after salvation without repenting of that sin may come under the chastisement of the Lord ( Hebrews 12:4-8) but can never cease being saved, sons of God. Anyone believing otherwise never had salvation. Believing in eternal security is part of salvation.
Good post: brings to mind, Matt. 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Isa. 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! And many more.
If you have not seen the 2022 Commonwealth open ceremony look it up and watch it, it will make you quiver. 72 nations of the world participated. This shows where this world is today.
Giannis, thanks for mentioning the part about adultery. I found that in several passages related to re-marriage when the spouse is still living, regardless of the circumstances. When I think about it, it would be like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. Things could be worse.
You have done the right thing dear sister and God has blessed you for obeying Him in your life. The church I am serving doesn't remarry divorced people and also doesn't give divorces for any other reason than adultery. We are very firm about it. But this is very rare to find nowadays in christianity, most churches have given up to their members' demand for remaryring, but that leads to adultery since in God's eyes remarriage is not valid. So what is our (born again christians) difference with the worldly churches, non really (even worse since we actually know the truth but don't follow it).
We're treading on dangerous ground when you see how God dealt with this in the past and the warning he gave Israel not to become as they.
Leviticus 18:27-30 (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.
For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.
I believe this moral decline is evidence of a prideful people cup of iniquity is about full.
Notice the indictment against Sodom here in Ezekiel 16:49-50 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.
Thank you Chris for your encouragement. I stopped giving my testimony years ago because of such an unpleasant response, even from church members: some who had been unequally yoked, even if the spouse had gotten saved and all was well; some who had been touched by re-marriage somewhere in their family. It was my story, but they were offended My 1st pastor was at a loss & would not comment on the situation; 2nd pastor would not perform a ceremony for divorced people because of an oath he had made to God when he went into ministry, but said I could get married at justice of peace and then both parties could serve at his church; 3rd pastor said being released from bondage meant that I was free to re-marry and he would do ceremony as long as the union was "in the Lord". Even pastors were not willing to embrace the truth and stand on it. But I could not get past the stigma that would be there if my husband was living. It seemed the only way to have a clean slate and start over with the best odds of having a successful relationship, & be married in the church with full support was for my husband to die first. Then there would be no questions or argument about it, and less stress for me. It became my sanity. In the meantime, I never ran into anyone that I was interested in that met the criteria of "in the Lord". I had a few boyfriends along the way and each time I asked myself how would I have more peace ? with or without them -- it was always without them. I have had a wonderful life and a career that provided very well for me and great friends and family. I had not looked at these verses in decades. I received word recently that my husband's health is failing and he is on kidney dialysis now, and I started wondering if I had mis-interpreted scripture way back then. So I re-read all the verses and they seemed clearer now than before and found this website when clarifying the meaning of bondage. I am encouraged now to give my testimony if asked about my situation.
That was heartening to read, Jrpon, of your faithfulness to the Lord & to your marriage vows. In spite of maybe times of loneliness & a patient waiting on the Lord for His provision, you have proved the sufficiency of His Grace to surmount those trials. Yes, many have carelessly entered into an unequal/unloving marriage & have suffered through it & regretted it. But the comfort that He gives, is His special peace, that He has not forgotten you & will only give you His very best to live this life for Him. John 14:27.
Hopefully these are helpful in your discussion & study
christ our righteousness
he is all we need to be with god.
Thank you so much for sharing this about your life. I am so sad to know you were so traumatized and never received the help you desperately needed. May God bring that healing to you in full measure and keep you strong in your knowledge of His love and mercy for you.
I just wanted to share this. When I was at the lowest point of my life (20 years ago) and I was thinking that if God was as others had said that He was, then how could I follow Him? The Holy Spirit spoke to me, "To whom else can I go, for You alone have the words of eternal life." ( john 6:68) With that input from the precious Spirit, I turned myself around and said to God, I will not believe what others say about You, I will believe what Your Word says about You, for Y9ou are my only hope!" So my doubt was destroyed that moment. Praise the Lord! That was a very hard place to be in, very painful, very discouraging, very confusing. But God used it to set me rock solid on the testimony of His Word in Christ and I am all the better for it.
One Eighty-how hard it must have been to be without your brother and to see him die. How sad that you did not have any other siblings to grieve with. Your mom was so full of grief that she needed the treatments she received to be set aright to be able to raise you. It was not the best of circumstances for either of you, nor your parents. But I am so happy that your mom continued to believe and train you up in the word and way of Christ. My prayer for you today is that God will restore to you over and above what the enemy stole from you when you were 3 and from your life from year to year. May you receive abundant mercy and comfort from our Lord by the Spirit who lives in you. I pray that you God will bring you joy in place of the sad spot in your heart concerning your brother and the grief you have borne all of these years. Amen.
We are to put to death the deeds of the sinful nature. This is the outcome of the work of Christ on the cross- that we can have victory over personal sin. It is the result of walking in the Spirit. ( Romans 6-8). To fail to mortify the sinful nature in us is to give in to Satan and follow his lead instead of the lead of the Holy Spirit. Let us honor the covenant Jesus made with His blood, knowing that we can never come before God on our own righteousness, but stand before our heavenly Father with the righteousness of Jesus imputed upon us. This does not excuse us from the responsibility to live as children of the Light. We are to put into practice the power of grace in this life to say no to ungodliness and yes to what God has determined is holy and pure and righteous and noble and of good report, whatever is true, whatever is lovely, whatever is praiseworthy, think on these things and do the works of God ( Philippians 4:8-9) This is how we love God and love one another. This is what we will be doing in eternity. We may as well learn to love all that is holy and good now so we can bless others and hopefully win some for Christ.
God made a covenant with the Israelites at Mt. Sinai which included promises and blessings, commandments and curses. The purpose of God's covenant was to distinguish these people from the people of surrounding nations. These were to be a holy people, sanctified by God, blessed by YHWH but also commanded to be obedient in order for Him to dwell among them. No other nation had been chosen by God to have His presence dwell in their midst. This is a unique act of God, consecrating the Israelites as His chosen holy nation. The covenant was God's expressed will for them, the basis for His blessings or discipline, the standard of holiness. Whether or not an act had great social significance, it had great spiritual significance. Sinning would defile the land and God's sanctuary with the people, thus causing Him to depart from them or drive them from the land promised. The stakes o this covenant were high. It is a most serious offense-a capital offense- to disregard and disdain the covenant of God. And this is true of both the Old Covenant and the new Covenant.
The capital offense of rejecting Jesus Christ leads to eternal death. So unbelievers are outside of the New Covenant and cursed.
Christians disdain and disrespect the New Covenant when they persist in sin. See Hebrews 10:26-31.
Christians disdain and disrespect the New covenant when they distort the gospel.
Christians disdain and disrespect the New Covenant when they refuse to live their life by a higher standard than that of the society they live in.
We are to be salt and light. We are to take sin seriously, as Leviticus 20 shows us, and to desire to live godly lives. We are to yield to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit as He works in us to change us from glory to glory to become more and more like Jesus until we are made perfect (holy) as He is perfect (holy). ( Heb. 6:1, Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet.1:16; Rev. 22:11)
2)The fact that God determines that all sins are capital offenses means that no sinner should feel themselves to be more righteous than another. James puts it this way.-to be found guilty of sin at one point is to be guilty of all sins. ( James 2:1-8)
God's Law refuses to distinguish between sins and crimes. As a rule, governments do not concern themselves with moral sins, but rather with social evils that they determine to be crimes. Governments do not concern themselves with what is termed sins (those actions that are against God) but with crimes, (offenses against other human persons).
The capital sins of Leviticus 20 are those sins that the Canaanites would not have considered to be crimes at all. God's people are especially responsible for sins that are not crimes (as those in Leviticus 20 show).
a) the sins which are not crimes are those acts which our culture will encourage us to commit.
b) the sins which are not crimes do not seem to have immediate natural (nor dire) consequences.
When God made certain sins crimes for the Israelites, they were strongly motivated to obey God's Law and to avoid sin because they wanted to live and not be put to death.
Their lifestyle was to be distinct from the people of the surrounding nations. Disobedience and defilement will lead to expulsion from the land promised (Lev.18:24-30; 20;22-26)
God's standards of holiness are much higher than man's sense of morality even at its best. Today's Christians must wake up to the fact that living a godly life requires much more than being a law-abiding citizen. (Some laws are anti-christian and some things that are legal are still sinful). Let us live higher than the law demands for avoiding sin requires this ( Mt. 5:43-48, 1 Peter 2:4). Civil Law can define what is a crime, but God defines what is a sin, not me, not you, not any other being, human, angelic, or demonic.
God bless you.
Death begins its work in us from the moment of our conception. Even while our cells are dividing and multiplying and differentiating into various types of cells to make up bones, blood, tissue, nerves, organs, etc. our sinful nature is corrupting every aspect of our being and death is acting on our physical matter. Throughout our life our cells die off and are replenished. Our soul is dead to God from the moment of conception because of the corrupted sinful nature. From the very start we are separated from God because He is so holy we cannot be in His presence and live. We need His mercy from the very start of our life and every moment after that.e
But, just as through one man, Adam, we all sinned (for he is our federal head-the effectual representative of all persons to ever descend from him); also, through one man, Jesus Christ we made alive because of His perfect obedience. Death came by Adam, life came by Jesus. Condemnation came by Adam; justification came by Jesus. Corruption came by Adam, righteousness came by Jesus (who is federal head of the Body of Christ). ( Romans 5:12-19)
We are not sinful because we sin, we sin because we are sinful from the start. We all need God's mercy and salvation that comes from the substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross to bring forgiveness to all who put their faith in Him. Jesus bore the eternal capital punishment (which we deserve) for the sins of all men, that even though we suffer under physical death, we will not die eternally if we are in Him.
In His first coming, Jesus came not to bring condemnation to humankind, but to bring salvation. John 3;17-18) in His second coming, He will bring judgement upon all human beings, eternal life for those who are His by faith, and eternal punishment in the lake of fire for those who refuse to turn to Him and reject His provision for salvation for the sinfulness of each person.
are unknowingly crucifying their brothers, while simultaneously knowing Jesus says that He desires mercy, NOT sacrifice. Have we not had enough crucifixion by our crucifying of Jesus (Love)? It was not sin and darkness we nailed to the cross along With Love. Doing both is impossible; being opposites. Doing this does not bring about the peace Love desires. Is it our voice or the Voice of God that speaks of the unworthiness of God's Love for His Creation. One (one) steers away from It, while the Other draws it nearer.
Consider judging not who produces good fruit. Are we that arrogant to think we have the ability to know the lives and hearts of those we understand very little about. WE DON'T KNOW. This drives further away those who are in pain and despair. This is the epitome of self righteousness. Preferably, we should endeavor to see ONLY the Christ in others, and leave the rest behind where it belongs; in the past where God is not. God is eternally present NOW. And, oh what a joy, combined with peace to see all God's Creation as they were created by Love. Our sinless brother is our guide to peace. Our sinful brother is our guide to pain. And which we choose to see, we WILL behold. My friends, In the presence of Truth there are no unbelievers, nor sacrifice.
Peace
GOD IS
There are no degrees of sinners in God's view. There are no such thing as "small" and "big" sins to God. All sin is rebellion against Him. There certainly are degrees of consequences and results of our actions, but we cannot say like the Pharisees that we are not like the publican who is certainly a worse sinner than myself. We surely underestimate the holiness of God. And we should marvel at His mercy for not ending it all with Adam and Eve along with every person after these first two humans. But God's are not our ways. Higher than the highest heavens they are. If He did not reveal Himself to us we would not know how holy He is and how sinful we are. Mankind is completely and utterly corrupted by the sin of Adam and Eve. When they sinned their innate human nature was radically changed from being innocent and free of sin to being wholly sinful. This was a constitutional change in the nature of humanity and this corrupt, sinful nature is passed on from parent to child always with the exception of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh without a sinful nature.
Society finds it necessary to categorize sins according to degrees, and rightly so. Society categorizes crimes as misdemeanors and felonies. Some sins are not considered as crimes, and some crimes are not really sins. Society gauges the seriousness of sins as to the harm it causes society and has various levels of penalties for various levels of evil actions.
God views sin so differently, looking at sin not only in terms of actions and their consequences, but also looks at the attitude, the soul from which the sin is generated. He has determined that all sin is a capital offense and deserving of death. The fact that all sins are capital offenses has a number of implications.
1) Since all sins are capital crimes against God, ALL human beings need desperately to experience God's provision for sinners-His mercy in Jesus, His Son.
Verse 7-8"Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD, Your God. And you shall keep my statutes and perform. I am the LOTD who sanctifies you."
This chapter refers back to the commands of Chapters 18-19, listing all the sins that are deserving of capital punishment (death). At times, God will is the one who executes the penalty by causing the death of the offenders, but in this chapter, God is instructing the Israelites to perform the penalty upon those who commit the sins spoken of in this chapter.
How hard it would be to put your child to death for disobedience to a parent! But God commanded them to do so and to not do it would be a sin as well.
So, it seems that all of the sins spoken of in this Chapter require a penalty of death. These sins would be considered to be capital crimes. Pretty sobering to consider.
I read that Capital crimes reflect a given value system. That is, acts that are called capital crimes are those which are considered most evil, and thus reflect the value system of the one (or ones) making the laws. Since capital punishment is the most serious penalty, then these crimes are viewed as those acts which are the worst evil.
Capital crimes in Leviticus 20 reflect God's value system. If we are troubled by what God has condemned as worthy of death, then we must recognize that our value system must be "out of sync" with God's. What then are God's values which are the basis for His choice of "capital crimes" (sins deserving the death penalty).
Well, actually, God views every sin as capital offense worthy of death. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit does that seem to us to be such a heinous crime that it brought about not just the death of Adam and Eve, but for all of their offspring.
Romans 6:23 "The wages of sin is death." Do we truly believe this? Do we concur with God that each and every sin brings the penalty of death to the sinner?
There is only one sin that sends you to hell and that sin is to reject Christ. Do you believe that?
Because according to what your saying is that, a person would have to be completely sinless to hold onto their salvation.
I was saved 23 years ago and I was so born again, became a new creature, repenting of all sin, giving my whole life to God. No longer of the world, and still that way, except in the last 12 years I backslid lacking in visitation, and commiting to church activities. But before that I head usherd, cleaned the church, went on visitation, led my mom and brother to Christ and spread the word to others, worked in the church office adding up tithes. I had to stop a lot of that because of health reasons; it kept me from being faithful to my services. I don't think God is going to close the doors on me for that.
So, when one considers ALL of the verses pertaining to this subject, somehow it has to be reconciled what Jesus or the other writers are actually saying. Just like whether the Rapture is pre, mid, post, or anything else, we can get into a similar problem. For this one, my underlying Truth is that the Great Tribulation is God's Judgement against the unbelieving Christ-rejecting world, therefore those in Christ will be saved from it.
For Eternal Security, the underlying Truth is the truly repentant soul has come in faith (& nothing else), been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, indwelt by Him, put on a new path towards Heaven, with the Mighty God and His Son being his all-consuming focus & passion & not the world. Can such a person ever be lost again - deciding, 'No, I prefer to follow the world & reject Christ?' We can never know how real another's salvation has been - nor should we ever place ourselves in that position of making such a judgement. Or, whether one's faith is being tested & some errors & backsliding are taking place - to which the Holy Spirit will move, alert, warn or chastise to bring him back. But the fact of the matter is, that 'the Lord knows who are His', He 'knows His sheep & His sheep hear His Voice', and His sheep will obey the Shepherd even if there has to be some stern words & goading.
Thus Galatians 5:22-25 are so important, especially "they THAT ARE Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." These are the marks of the one truly saved, living for Christ.
Before that, my life was filled with happiness, knowing nothing about death. As you can imagine, a child that age is incapable of grasping and understanding any of this. He or she only feels the devastating emotions that follow. In an instant, my little life was turned upside down from a seemingly heavenly state into a hellish nightmare. My father withdrew himself from me and mom by immersing his self in his work. Mom experienced 2 separate nervous breakdowns, receiving electrical shock treatments at a mental institution. Those times seemed to last forever, when I was in dire need of her love and comfort. My life was now filled with loneliness, coupled with a down pouring of unimaginable sorrow and grief.
I was left as an only child, to deal with it. It was all about the parents loss and despair; mine being ignored. Since then, the psychiatric sector has recently discovered that siblings are typically affected more than the parents, and are very aware if there is no help offered, horrible effects are likely to appear later on. They did. I lost my best friend, and he was not returning. I basically lost my parents also, as I had previously perceived them. There was no healing; "he's just a child, he'll be ok". NOT.
Mom was a Christian. I was baptized at a conservative Baptist church at age 5. In retrospect, I realized that at this age, one probably doesn't fully understand baptism; thus in my twenties I rededicated my life to God and was baptized once more. Along with my wife and children, I became heavily involved in church for many years, i.e. Sunday School, prayer meetings, Bible study groups, teaching, much music ministry, etc., until about fifteen years ago. No regrets nor "falling outs", as the memories I have of my church family is...
to be cont.
This topic about secured (or not) salvation has been discussed a lot between us here on this forum in the past. Beliefs differ. Mine is that salvation can be lost if one leaves God's path and starts following a foreign path and eventually dies in their sin. In my opinion there are many verses in the Bible that state that. One I have gone through recently is in 1 Timothy 4:15-16, (Paul advices Timothy) "Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: FOR IN DOING THIS THOU SHALT BOTH SAVE THYSELF, and them that hear thee." Why does Paul say to Timothy that by doing those he WILL save himself, isn't Timothy saved already (by been born again)? Yes but he has to keep his salvation by doing specific things, like obeying and properly teaching God's path(commadments). And the outcome of his life's strives to walk the narrow road will be the final salvation, the crown of righteouness, the crown of victory. A lot more can be said. GBU
Good post: brings to mind, Matt. 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Isa. 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! And many more.
If you have not seen the 2022 Commonwealth open ceremony look it up and watch it, it will make you quiver. 72 nations of the world participated. This shows where this world is today.
God bless,
RLW
You have done the right thing dear sister and God has blessed you for obeying Him in your life. The church I am serving doesn't remarry divorced people and also doesn't give divorces for any other reason than adultery. We are very firm about it. But this is very rare to find nowadays in christianity, most churches have given up to their members' demand for remaryring, but that leads to adultery since in God's eyes remarriage is not valid. So what is our (born again christians) difference with the worldly churches, non really (even worse since we actually know the truth but don't follow it).
GBU
We're treading on dangerous ground when you see how God dealt with this in the past and the warning he gave Israel not to become as they.
Leviticus 18:27-30 (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.
For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.
I believe this moral decline is evidence of a prideful people cup of iniquity is about full.
Notice the indictment against Sodom here in Ezekiel 16:49-50 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.
GB.
Heavenly Father in the
Mighty
Name
Jesus
Waking us up this morning as we begin to seek thy face lord praying guidance as we acknowlege your presence
AlMighty
merciful
God in Christ Jesus
Holy Spirit you are welcome in this place.