Whither TGC?
3 days ago
"Another reason why Christ was despised and rejected, was because He exposed and denounced sin. Ah, this explains why Christ was not wanted here. He was a constant thorn in their sides! His holiness condemned their unholiness! Men wish to go their own way, to please themselves, to gratify their lusts. They want to be comfortable in their wickedness--therefore they resent one who searches the heart, pierces the conscience, and rebukes their evil. Christ was absolutely uncompromising. He would not wink at wrong-doing, but unsparingly denounced it, in whoever it was found. He boldly affirmed, "For judgment I have come into this world" (John 9:41), that is, to unveil men's secret characters, to prove they are blind in spiritual things, to demonstrate they loved darkness rather than light. His Person and preaching tried everything and everyone He came into contact with!" (Arthur Pink, "Christ Despised" 1937)
"The progressive character of divine revelation is recognized in relation to all the great doctrines of the Bible. What at first is only obscurely intimated is gradually unfolded in subsequent parts of the sacred volume, until the truth is revealed in its fullness."Ok, now back to how we handle the Old Testament Law. There are three classifications we can put the laws: civil law, sacrificial law, and moral law. There are also three different ways in which we can handle the laws.
"My Dad would like to sell me into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for me?"First of all, we need to establish what slavery is, as I have said in posts past, meanings of words change throughout history. OT and NT slavery is not what we think of slavery today, it was more like indentured servanthood (similar to employee/employer), not like the slave trade that we know of. Secondly, if we look at the context of this verse it talks about the correct treatment of slaves.
"Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?"Again, as stated before, context, context, context. When you look at the context and understand the reasoning of this verse you see that God wants His people set apart. The practices that were forbidden were what the pagan cultures were doing and Israel was to have nothing to do with it.
It's not just about the manger
Where the baby lay
It's not all about the angels
Who sang for him that day
It's not just about the shepherds
Or the bright and shining star
It's not all about the wisemen
Who travelled from afar
Chorus:
It's about the cross
It's about my sin
It's about how Jesus came to be born once
So that we could be born again
It's about the stone
That was rolled away
So that you and I could have real life someday
It's about the cross
It's about the cross
It's not just about the presents
Underneath the tree
It's not all about the feeling
That the season brings to me
It's not just about coming home
To be with those you love
It's not all about the beauty
In the snow I'm dreaming of
The beginning of the story is wonderful and great
But it's the ending that can save you and that's why we celebrate
It's about the cross
It's about my sin
It's about how Jesus came to be born once
So that we could be born again
It's about God's love
Nailed to a tree
It's about every drop of blood that flowed from Him when it should have been me
It's about the stone
That was rolled away
So that you and I could have real life someday
So that you and I could have real life someday
It's about the cross
It's about the cross
(1): a nether world in which the dead continue to exist : hadesThis definition seems to be right in line with the cultural view of what hell is. But, as I have said in a previous post, we cannot just stop with the modern definition because the meanings of words change. So, as before, we are going to look at some of the more clear verses in the Bible so we can get a Biblical view of what hell is, and also see if what we find is at all a reasonable punishment from God.
(2): the nether realm of the devil and the demons in which the damned suffer everlasting punishment :a place or state of misery, torment, or wickedness : a place or state of turmoil or destruction
"33 For a burning place has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it." -- Isaiah 30:33 (ESV)The prophet Isaiah starts us off with two verses that describe hell being a place of fire. In the first verse, Isaiah tells us hell's fire is kept burning by God's very own breath. The fire that God kindles is described as a "consuming fire" and "everlasting burnings" in the second verse, and the godless are terrified knowing what is to come.
"14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling has seized the godless:
'Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?
Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?'" -- Isaiah 33:14 (ESV)
"12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." -- Matthew 3:12 (ESV)These next four verses open our eyes a little more about the fire of hell and some other aspects of it. The first two verses from Matthew describe again the fire of hell as a "furnace" and the fire being "unquenchable." As we all know furnaces burn with intense heat, but this heat, as we remember from above, is intensified by God's very own breath! In the second and third verses Jesus describes that there is "weeping and gnashing of teeth" combined with the "unquenchable fire." The third and fourth verses also bring in another element of hell - darkness. Jesus describes it as "outer darkness" and Jude as "the gloom of utter darkness." This implies that all the fire that is burning like an unquenchable furnace does not give off any light. Jude describes the darkness as "gloom." The Greek word used is zophos, which is defined as "gloom (as shrouding like a cloud)". So, the "gloom" Jude was referring to is an encompassing darkness.
"50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." -- Matthew 13:50 (ESV)
"13 Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'" -- Matthew 22:13 (ESV)
"13...for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever." -- Jude 1:13 (ESV)
"3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him..." -- Revelation 20:3 (NKJV)In this first verse from Revelation, we are given yet another element of hell. It is a "bottomless pit." So, now we see hell as a free floating experience. There is no sure footing, no walls to brace yourself, and nothing solid for stability. The second verse describes the souls in hell being "tormented day and night forever and ever". This is self explanatory.
"...and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." -- Revelation 20:10 (ESV)
"23...being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.'" -- Luke 16:23-24 (ESV)
"9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might," -- 2 Thessalonians 1:9 (ESV)
"10 he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb." -- Revelation 14:10 (ESV)
"41 Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." -- Matthew 25:41 (ESV)
"4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die." -- Ezekiel 18:4 (ESV)
"15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." -- Revelation 20:15 (ESV)
"10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." -- Revelation 20:10 (ESV)
"'8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.'" -- Revelation 21:8 (ESV)
"2 but your iniquities have made a separationPlease leave comments on this, I really do want to hear them!
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear." -- Isaiah 59:2 (ESV)
“Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." -- Genesis 2:18 (ESV)
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” -- Genesis 2:24 (ESV)
“23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” -- Ephesians 5:23-32 (ESV)Here in this verse, Paul is showing how marriage is more than a just covenant between two people; it is a picture of Jesus' relationship to Church. We husbands have a huge role to play in our marriage! We are to represent Jesus Christ's attributes in our relationship. And wives, you are supposed to treat your husbands like the Church is supposed to treat Jesus. How high and holy an image do our marriages represent! The writer of Hebrews tells us how we should view this:
“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” -- Hebrews 13:4
"24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.Let me say this LOUD and CLEAR - I do NOT hate homosexuals. I do however believe that God sees homosexuality, bestiality, and adultery as a abominations. Remember, the writer of Hebrews told us that the marriage bed should not be defiled. I think a logical line can be drawn to say that such abominations are a defilement.
"26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error." -- Romans 1:24-27 (ESV)
"A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God." --Deuteronomy 22:5 (ESV)
"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination..." -- Leviticus 20:13 (ESV)
"45...For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." -- Matthew 5:45 (ESV)This time of year always makes us think about what we are thankful for, which is good. But what are we thankful for? Are they superficial things? Are they just the positive things (i.e. pay raise)? I think us Christians should look a little deeper at what we are thankful for. And should this time of year be the only time that we think about these things?
"16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." -- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ESV)