Sojournerofthearth wrote:
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Replying to post 334 by onewithhim]
Soj, would you get something out of an on-line Bible Study that you could indulge in at your own pace and it would cost you nothing (and no one would call on you unless you asked)? Check it out and see if you would like it.
www.jw.org
Thanks... I appreciate your interest... but BT-DT.
Let me ask you, since you don't believe we are under "the law," what do
you define as a "really bad thing?"
What about eating a piece of fruit that you were told not to eat, after a particularly articulate orator convinced you that it wouldn't be so bad? Have you ever gotten talked into doing something you regret?
What about steadying the Ark when it was about to fall off a cart? It was just a thoughtless reaction.
What about picking up a few sticks on the Sabbath? It was just a few sticks...
Ever tell a lie?
where in the bible does it say that only "really bad sins" bring death? and since you don't believe in the law, how do you define sin?
By what regulations are these eternal humans governed?
Soj
(1) A really bad thing would be murder, adultery, stealing, false testimony, mistreating one's parents, and worshipping other gods besides Jehovah.
(2) I wouldn't eat a piece of fruit that someone I love told me not to eat. If I ate it, I would feel that I was totally dishonoring them. I would not continue my friendship with the particularly articulate orator.
(3) About the Ark of the Covenant.....from what I remember, the Ark was being transported against Jehovah's specifications, and was not to be touched by anyone other than designated priests. The whole transferring of it was illegal. To have avoided the striking down of Uzziah, instructions from God should have been followed from the beginning. All of that group was flaunting their disobedience.
(4) Picking up a few sticks on the Sabbath was not going against the Law unless the person was purposely flaunting disobedience of the Law and stocking up for a whole campfire. The Jew' expansion of things in the Law came to be ridiculous. They completely ignored the true meaning of the Sabbath and made their own rules, which burdened men rather than refreshed them. For example, it is totally ridiculous to condemn someone flipping a switch to turn on a light, but that is what the Sabbath means to Jews. If you drag your chair across a dirt floor you are PLOWING!! You get disciplined for that. Jesus addressed this circus by saying of the religious leaders: "They bind up heavy loads and put them on the shoulders of men, but they themselves are not willing to budge them with their finger....You have disregarded the weightier things of the Law, namely, justice and mercy and faithfulness....Blind guides, who strain out the gnat but gulp down the camel!" (Matthew 23:4,23,24) "Why do you [the Pharisees] overstep the commandment of God
because of your tradition? ...You have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition. You hypocrites, Isaiah aptly prophesied about you when he said: 'This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far removed from me. It is in vain that they keep worshipping me, for
they teach commands of men as doctrines.'" (Matthew 15:3,6b,7-9)
It is clear that the Jewish leaders had made up their own rules and because of them, overstepped God's own commands.
(5) Yes I've told lies. But I asked forgiveness afterward and determined not to do it again.
(6) Sin is anything that falls short of perfection concerning God's commands and principles. Because we sin daily (mostly without even realizing it or the importance of not doing it), Christ gave us a way out by honoring his sacrifice. We ask forgiveness from God by means of Jesus' ransom payment for us. Those are called unintentional sins.
Sins that we
deliberately, intentionally, willfully commit, knowing full-well that they are not acceptable to God, are NOT unintentional sins. They are, therefore, not covered by Jesus' sacrifice. (See Hebrews 6:4-6; Hebrews 10:26-30.) How much clearer could that be? "For if we practice sins
willfully after having received the accurate knowledge of the truth,
there is no longer any sacrifice for sins left."
(7) By what regulations are these eternal humans governed? you ask. By the two greatest commandments: "'You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with you whole mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. The second, like it, is this: 'You must love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments the whole Law hangs, and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)
If people truly love Jehovah and their neighbors, they will not be worshipping other gods or besmirching His name, nor will they do anything that is listed in the Law not to do. They will know how to act and treat other people because "the Law will be inscribed on their hearts." (Jeremiah 31:31-33)
