Results 1 - 6 of 6
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | keliy | 211233 | ||
Pete, Hello again, Thank you for bringing up some very interesting points to ponder. One thing becomes obvious to me: what is happening here is a selection of passages that seem to be contradictory on the surface, but when lining them up with the whole of Scripture, God's wonderful plan becomes abundantly clear. Scripture will always prove Scripture. It is against God's nature for there to be a single contradiction. When there appears to be anything amiss, it is always us who possess the faulty wisdom and not God. What you are standing upon, is the letter of the law. Not the Spirit. God's Spirit verses ink. At the risk of over-simplifying, I want to give my opinion of the Ten Commandments: The Commands were not given in order to let God choose between the ones who could keep them, better than the ones who were unable to keep them. It is about Love more than it is about obedience. Since we are unable to give God anything that He did not give to us first, then how would God actually benefit from our efforts? This is would actually amount to salvation by works. Which we have been told, is utterly imposible: For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. (James 2:10 NASB) Since we will all fail, every one, the purpose of God's commands is not to keep us in line, but rather to teach us about who God is, that He is something we cannot be. God is holy, and we are sinful. 'For I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.' (Lev 11:45 NASB) Yet we will ALL fail, as implied in Romans: "even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a GIFT by His grace through the redemption WHICH IS IN Christ Jesus" (3:22-24, NASB, -emphasis mine) So then, where do we ever get our sufficiency for living a godly lifestyle? We are to recognize that our sufficiency will always fail in contrast to God’s sufficiency. Man’s sufficiency, the Bible makes clear, is not sufficient. We simply do not have the resources that make us capable to meet the task set before us. The task is godliness. We simply do not possess the adequate resources to undertake the task of godliness—despite the fact that such is the path in which we are required to walk. (So, Pray for strength! -The Lord's Prayer is found in Matthew 6) When we notice the contrast between our sufficiency and God’s sufficiency, we should also notice that this speaks of the differences between living by the old covenant of law and the new covenant of grace. You may remember while reading in Matthew, as you came to the Last Supper, where Jesus said, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood which is shed for you." This means that the shed blood of Jesus Christ, is actually purchasing for God's children an awesome new arrangement for walking with God. And Paul writes in his epistle to the Corinthians, "Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, (6), who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Cor 3:5-6 NASB) To sum up, We are to be servants, Yes, but New covenant servants. This means we, as Christians are to occupy ourselves in the service of God under the terms of the New covenant. The parable of the Talents was also in Matthew. Might I suggest you go back to re-read Matthew in a new light? Remember, the parable of the talents is among three farewell parables that Jesus gave to His apostles shortly before the Last Supper. This was obviously something that Jesus wanted to leave with His apostles before He departed. In Him, keliy |
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2 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211304 | ||
Dear Keliv, I never got to respond to your post yesterday so I’ll do it now. Thank you for all the kind words you have given. I will try to give my concerns as politely as I can. Forgive me if I seem redundant and careless. I mean no disrespect. You Said: ““…a selection of passages that seem to be contradictory on the surface, but when lining them up with the whole of Scripture, God's wonderful plan becomes abundantly clear. Scripture will always prove Scripture. It is against God's nature for there to be a single contradiction. When there appears to be anything amiss, it is always us who possess the faulty wisdom and not God.”” I agree with you that it is not God's nature for there to be a single contradiction. He is all powerful, all knowing, ever present and the creator of all. He does not have faulty wisdom. Regarding your statement that it is always us who possess the faulty wisdom and not God, let me ask this, how then are we to know at what precise time our faulty wisdom is not faulty. Is our wisdom faulty only when there seems to be a contradiction? If there is a possibility that our wisdom is flawed then how can we be certain when it is not? My questions began as I was reading through the book of Deuteronomy. In chapter 10, God gives us the commandment thou shall not kill, a moral law applicable to all. He promises many blessings (Deut 11), if we earnestly obey His commandments, judgments and statutes. God warns us (Deut 12:32), "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it." He commands us to kill our brother or any other family member if they try to entice us away from Him (Deut 13:10). Baffling to say the least however, using your rationale, it is my faulty wisdom that is flawed and that is why I can’t understand how this is not confusing and blatantly wrong. You say that God’s wonderful plan of salvation becomes abundantly clear when we line those troubled verses up with the whole of scripture. Keliv, help me here please, how does killing your brother line up with the opportunity of salvation for all? Shouldn't your brother be given a chance to repent? Even if he doesn't repent, is killing him the correct message to send to other non-believers? If killing him is the right thing to do then why didn't God kill Lucifer way back in time before all of this mess began? How does it line up with the message of love, mercy and grace? How does it become abundantly clear that my wisdom is flawed about this passage? In a recent post, Tim Moran said it best, the moral aspects of the law never change. It is always wrong for everyone to lie, steal, kill or worship other gods. Exactly! This is what I feel deep in my heart, it is always wrong for everyone to kill. How then can it be explained that God commanded the killing of a family member? The Mosaic law of not killing applies to everyone, so to use the argument that we are no longer under the law is baffling. If we are still under the moral law of God, thou shall not kill, why shouln't we still be under God's moral law to kill our brother who tries to turn us away from God? Why is it okay to go against God claiming that this law was only for the Jews? Why then is it not morally wrong for the Jews to kill their brothers, but morally wrong for us? If we admit to our wisdom being faulty, we then concede that every bit of our mortal wisdom is suspect. Going forward to the New Testament you use your sometimes faulty wisdom to tell yourself and others that Jesus is the Son of God by which all of humanity can have eternal life. All we need to do is accept him. But then when the Son of God he tells you in Mark 10:21, sell all that you have, give to the poor, follow him and then you will have your treasure in heaven, you reject him. Your sometimes faulty wisdom prevents you from doing exactly as Jesus says. You use that wisdom to convince yourself that Jesus is only speaking to the Jews. Confusing to say the least. He died for all of humanity but only the Jews need to sell everything they own, give to the poor and then become his disciple in order to make it to heaven. Are you absolutely sure your faulty human wisdom is accurate? Tough questions I know, but they fiercely jump out at me. I want to know why. Thank you for all your help. God Bless, Pete |
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3 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | Hank | 211307 | ||
Pete, let's look at a few facts. Scripture is its own best interpreter, but you have only begun to scratch the surface of Scripture. A wise man examines the whole thoroughly before attempting to dissect its parts. When as a young college freshman I decided to take my major in English, I soon discovered that I did not become an expert on Shakespeare by reading through a couple of his plays, and that I was not by any means qualified to become a Shakespearean critic. A Bible commentator several years ago stated that under no circumstances would he write a word of commentary on any Bible book until he had carefully and prayerfully read the book through at least 50 times. .... You have read parts of Deuteronomy, the book of Matthew and now are in Mark. You will have questions, of course you will. Every serious reader of any difficult literary work, whether it is the Bible, Shakespeare or John Milton, will have questions. Write them down and save them for later. Continue with your reading, use a non-technical commentary or study Bible (suggest MacArthur's) if you get bogged down, but continue to read. Compare Scripture with Scripture, do some cross referencing, try to get an overall picture of all of Scripture first before you do anything else. This should be the time for looking at the whole forest, not the time for examining each tree minutely. Furthermore, your battery of questions sounds to me as though you are trying to understand the eternal words of God on your own without divine illumination. It will never happen. This is contrary to what the Scriptures teach: "Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law" (Psalm 119:18). If you are a regenerate believer in Jesus Christ, and I pray that you are, then pray for illumination. It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit by which He empowers Christians with understanding of the truths of God revealed in Scripture. And a parting word to you, Pete, from Proverbs 3:5,6: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." --Hank | ||||||
4 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211313 | ||
Dear Hank, Thank you very much for trying to help. However I find it a bit hard to believe. I am a reasonably perceptive and intelligent man and God has blessed me in many ways. What you are saying is that my loving father in heaven has given me a powerful mind but in order to fully understand his message of salvation written in the bible I will need to read it at least 50 times. Wow! Wow, if that is the case then I suppose the reason there is a forum like this is for those of us who never complete very many readings. We can ask scholars who have already done it and are in full understanding. The sad thing is, there doesn’t seem to be anyone on this forum who has completed the necessary readings. How do you explain all of the long time members of this forum who have never completely read the bible 50 times, who possess faulty human wisdom and are trying to explain something they themselves don't fully understand? There must be someone! My questions are not difficult at all. The premise is elementary. God commands a moral law for everyone, thou shall not kill. He then commands another moral law in Dt 13:10, kill any family member if they should try to lead you away from Him. The civil laws are only for the Jews and the moral laws are for everyone. Killing is a moral law. Isn't there anyone out there who has read the bible 50 times and who can explain this? Why does it seem that God contradicts himself? Why do God given minds struggle to answer these questions without creating more confusion? How does killing your brother line up with the opportunity of salvation for all? Shouldn't your brother be given a chance to repent? Even if he doesn't repent, is killing him the correct message of love to send to other non-believers? If killing him is the right thing to do then why didn't God kill Lucifer way back in time before all of this mess began? How does killing your non believing brother line up with the message of love, mercy and grace? Isn't there anyone on this forum who has read the bible at least 50 times? Thank you for your patience. Please don't sweep me under the rug, there has to be a simple answer. May God bless you. Pete |
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5 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | lionheart | 211319 | ||
Pete, First of all let me encourage you with this, no one get's swept under the carpet here. I've been a disciple of Jesus Christ for going on fifteen years now and I've lost count of how many times I've been through the bible, but I learn something every time. And there are still things I don't completely understand. I'll be learning till the day our Lord calls me home. Now with all this in mind my next point. Hank's reply to you was solid and firmly grounded in scripture. His reference to Prov 3:5,6 was right on and I'll add Prov 14:12 to the mix. All wisdom or knowledge we may possess is inconsequential without a foundation in God's Word. 2 Timothy 2:15 3:16,17, 2 Peter 1:19-21 1 Tim 4:16 to name just a few is where all of us should be when it comes to our thinking and learning. We're not gonna figure it out on our own. Your reference to Dt 13:10, read it in reference and context to the whole chapter. Do a word study on the word kill and it's various meanings and usages, it'll tell you allot. Wisdom and knowledge in light of God's Word and council is a powerfull thing but without it well??? Pete keep swinging. I'm not a scholar by any sense of the word. I'm one the guys in the trenches evertday getting his hands dirty and the world being what it is they at times get bloody too. We need all the tools we can lay our hands on and they right there at our finger tips, In Him, lionheart |
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6 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211329 | ||
Thank you for your thoughts, lionheart, It was after I finished reading the first five books of the bible that I was advised to do a restart going to the NT first. I will study all the verses you listed and respond later. Thank you. Pete |
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