Mathew? OK. What is his member number? Maybe I'll send him a PM. I hope he is more helpful than what i've seen so far.

Is that a sincere question?

If so. Matthew is the first gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s readily available in the Bible.

Ok, ok, This bible, is it available on Amazon?

The beauty of it is that it is free even on the internet.

Let's see if I can help

Sin is the transgression of God's law

God's law is defined in the bible, in the most basic form, is to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. The ten commandments are the expounding of those two principles.

If man doesn't let God define what is right and wrong, then man assumes that he, himself, can define right and wrong for himself.

The you get to the point where it's ok to kill the child in the womb, but cant say words that may hurt someone's feelings without threat of punishment.


*See the Garden of Eden/Tree of Life story in Genesis*

Then you may ask "which of God's Laws?"

Lets just do the one's I listed here and see how that goes.

And keep them the way Jesus taught them to be kept.

I can't tell you how to do that, but He can.

Still don't see it.
Show me ONE example!

Yip, I'm back to the abstract thinking thing.

The explanation in the opening post has absolutely nothing to do with the immorality and sin opening statement.

Abstract thinking.

This is exactly the kind of BS that keeps me out of church these days. If you can't be honest and logical you might as well just keep your mouth shut.

How we think we should walk - not relying on how Scripture instructs believers to walk - is what keeps believers out of Christ's Church.
Paul's letter to the Ephesians, especially 1:18-23 is a wonderful revelation for us;

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might
which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

All of the New Testament describes in wonderful detail how the Church of Christ - the body with members (people) - is being gathered and held together by God's Grace alone. Believers are provided the Armor of God, are exhorted by the Apostle Paul (God's Anointed evangelist to the Gentiles), to put on this armor...
so that we can all avoid the schemes of the enemy until such time as out Lord returns.

There's no such thing as a lone wolf in the Christian faith.
That's not of God.

Blessings,
Mark

Luckily we have a couple of folks on here that can give every thread on here a religious twist.

This is one aspect of trapperman I appreciate.

It's not a religion, as much as a way of life. Sorta like trapping. A way of life and a way through which we live our lives.
And the fact that some are irritated and must speak out against this way of life worldview speaks to the existence of God. The irritated would claim most times they believe in "free speech" just not that kind.
It's called the moral argument. There is something inherently irritating about the gospel of Jesus and the discussion of righteousness that our human nature hates. So we oppose it, mock it, or persecute it if the government says "please do."
But I pray we always remember that the Judeo-Christian tenets are the binding of our American jurisprudence system...
so we should be careful how far we as a people want to push against it. Or toss it all.

Cause, once you toss the Christian system of good and evil, history has taught us to be prepared to operate in the default human system called shame-honor. Your rank is your place and good and evil has no standing. It was the way of the ancient cultures and it's the way of the elites still today. Marxism - cloaked in communism - is built squarely upon it. Totally. Top to bottom, The Romans had 7 tiers of people. North Korea and China have 4.

Isn't it fascinating, that finally people have gotten so smart in the last 100 years. Finally we've arrived! So all groundless atheistic arguments about how evil in the world proves there's no God, has been accepted by many in the Western cultures, including our own, in what philosophers have described as...
cultures where moral sensibilities have been "eroded" by subjectivism, relativism, and nihilism.
Subjectivism = a belief there is no real "truth."
Relativism = a belief that truth is subject and relative to time and people
Nihilism = extreme skepticism that anything really exists or is true

People are still the same as they were thousands of years ago.
Trying to put food on the table and keep the wolf away from the door.
Except today they think they're smarter vegans and don't believe in killing animals.
I don't think people have evolved at all.

And I'm never really surprised about the things that are going around us, because knowing where truth comes from brings a sense of assurance to all things.
Blessings!
Mark

Psalm 16
English Standard Version
You Will Not Abandon My Soul
A Miktam of David.

16 Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
3 As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.
4 The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.
5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.


I think King David gets it. It’s not about rules and being restricted from doing what I want to do. Instead he knows that we “have no good apart from You”. So since apart from God we are all sinful, and devoid of righteousness, then His rules, His boundaries are good for us, “the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places” it is like a safety fence that keeps believers out of the deadly snare of sin.

And sadly the church to often has been involved in the eroding of these boundaries. Not all churches, not all boundaries! But we need to be vigilant and aware that even as believer our flesh may want to affirm our sin in the church by removing or undermining an orthodox belief. We can’t just go with what feels right, but with what the Bible says, and we can’t just change what the Bible says to match what feels right.

Thanks Mark for this good and thought provoking thread. I always enjoy reading these.

Good stuff Mark as always. Thank you.
Thanks for the post Kstrapper! King David, was a great King because he owned his sins and repented.

Happy Thanksgiving my friends, God is Good and Truth. We have so many things to be thankful for, we cannot even count them all; everyone one of us. I have A LOT to work on.

Brother Chancey,

Pastor Paul Washer is correct in that God is a Holy God and that is where our sins cringe in His presence.
It's said that the prosperity gospel false teachers and the God is only a god of love false teachers and all the rest are preaching from the perspective of men (known as man-pleasers biblically - Paul argued against it in nearly all this preaching letters in the canon of Scripture) and not of God.

All of us who preach the Word will give account to God, especially in those places of Scripture where especially as pastors we must examine ourselves far beyond what we want to. So we pray by the strength of God's Might and through the Spirit through whom all things are sealed, revealed, and illuminated that humility will grow. Because it has no chance to start and emanate from "me." None. Zero.
My pride hates humility and repentance and so Matthew's recorded words from our Lord are spot perfect.... and wonderful to realize!

Humans are finger pointers when it comes to covetous action (sin).
Pastor Paul Washer is not just correct, when he reads Jesus' words from Matthew 7, he is teaching Truth. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.... and this is thee Light of men and women.

The portion of John's writings, similar to Matthew's recordings of Jesus' ministry, where it reads that Jesus came to His own... and what happens next, is a place where I pause every time. Truth is like that and we American believers, who could rightly be called "His own," should examine ourselves often and repent when we read these words;

Verses 10-13 of John read;
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

God is infinitely more than love and in that we are made lowly and God is made most High.
As it should be.

Great post Chancey! Thank you brother. Donna and I pray your medical situation is engulfed by the presence of God's peace and comfort right now.

Blessings,
Mark

What a sermon. Thank you, Chancey.

Reformed theology is true but no ears will be tickled when it's preached.

John, the baptizer, and last of the prophets, preached this same doctrine long before the councils of Chalcedon, Nicaea, or Constantinople...
"Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand."
How John the baptizer began that preaching was quite helpful for us.
He didn't say believe.
He didn't say do good deeds.
He didn't say pay up.
John said "repent."

But of what John? Repent of what?
Sins. And we almost always know what these are because God crafts all of us with a conscious - a dispensation from God - so that we know right from wrong.

And though all 4 Gospel accounts record the prophet Isaiah's writings (Its 40:3), Luke's account tells us that John the baptizer was preaching in what's called a Reformed theology today when John was traveling and prophesying about the One to come ; "And he (John the baptizer) came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;"

It's everywhere in Scripture. The godly theme of humble repentance.
Good to know but pastor Paul Washer is spot-on... it's vital to salvation.
And every bit of pride hates it, every bit of cultural lawlessness opposes and mocks it, and Satan and his legions set out every day to destroy it.
And if people have to be sacrificed to eradicate it, according to the collaborative team flesh-world-Satan, so be it according to them.

That's the common theme of many of the posts which deal with stuff in our news.

Blessings!
Mark