Hi K,
Back again,
Ok the problem, say if you committed a crime either knowingly or unknowingly.
Might be murder for example which you know is wrong. Or it might be that you
unknowingly drink alcohol in a country where alcoholic is forbidden.
There is a penalty for that crime is there not. You can say to the judge, look I will
try my very best not to do anything else wrong. In fact from now on I'm not going to
ever do anything wrong again. But the original crime is still a fact on record and
hand on heart, would you be able to live the rest of life without any wrong doing at all
ever?
This is what the other religions try to do, they hope the good will outweigh the bad, they
hope that whatever they do in the past will be forgotten. But how can they be sure and
what is the definition of good enough anyway.
The bible talks not only of sins of commission, but also of omission. There are things we
do which we shouldn't, but also things we should do which we don't. You see no one of us
can stand up to the holiest of God and say in and of themselves that they are good enough.
James 4:17 NKJV
[17] Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Matthew 25:31-46 NKJV
[31] "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him,
then He will sit on the throne of His glory. [32] All the nations will be gathered
before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides
his sheep from the goats. [33] And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but
the goats on the left.
[34] Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of
My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
[35] for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink;
I was a stranger and you took Me in; [36] I was naked and you clothed Me; I was
sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' [37] "Then the righteous
will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty
and give You drink? [38] When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked
and clothe You? [39] Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'
[40] And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch
as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' [41] "Then
He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the
everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: [42] for I was hungry and
you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;
[43] I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me,
sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' [44] "Then they also will answer Him,
saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick
or in prison, and did not minister to You?' [45] Then He will answer them,
saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least
of these, you did not do it to Me.' [46] And these will go away into everlasting
punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
The bible says no one is righteous no not one single person born.
The knowledge of good and evil has been passed down to every person ever born.
The difficulty is that while we know of both, we also practice both. It's not a
case of knowing but avoid doing evil. Every little white lie, every word said in unjust
anger, every thing we should do but don't, every act of selfishness, every moment of
pride etc. It's endemic in our make up. So for Muslims who try to be good and the
others, what measure can they ever possibly use to try to work it out.
Going back to that analogy of the person committing a crime, even if they pay the
penalty for themselves, the crime will stay on record and it will be fixed in the
hearts and minds of who ever it affects. There is just no way we can ever be good
enough and pay the price for our own sin. Not only do humans demand a penalty
but so does God. God cannot and does not just change the rules and say oh well forget
it. He is a God of justice as well as a God of love, so to deal with the penalty side of the
problem, he made the ultimate sacrifice.
So suppose someone came along who was completely sinless and said look, I don't
deserve this, but I will serve your time for you and I will not only serve the time
for that crime, but for everything you have ever done wrong and for everything you will
ever do wrong. It will be just as if you have never done anything wrong.
That is what Jesus did by his death and resurrection, just as the first man, Adam
brought sin into the world and its consequences, Christ is like the last Adam, he paid the
price for us. He could do this because he is God the son. He could die an awful death
but the grave could never hold him as he had never done anything wrong, there was
no penelaty for him to pay personally. He bore our sins and wrong doing but not his
own.
1 Corinthians 15:45-49 NLT
[45] The Scriptures tell us, "The first man, Adam, became a living person." But the
last Adam-that is, Christ-is a life-giving Spirit. [46] What comes first is the natural
body, then the spiritual body comes later. [47] Adam, the first man, was made from
the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. [48] Earthly
people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man.
[49] Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man.
Jesus makes the difference from all other religions, he came to set us free from the
power of sin and death - I'm talking of eternal death, death as in separation from God.
The physical body dies, but where will you spend eternity that is what is at stake.
Will you become a Mormon and hope that you will one day be good enough to return to
God, they believe they existed with God before being born and that life on Earth is a
test.
Will you become a Muslim and hope the angel on one shoulder has more to note down than
the Angel on the other shoulder.
Will you become a Hindu who thinks every time you eat meat you are somehow destroying
yourself and don't forget about all those gods you will have to worship. Etc
Will you remain an atheist and ignore all those white swans.
Even the law of Moses had its flaws, all those continuous imperfect animal
sacrifices. That was just a fore shadowing of the coming of Christ to be our
Passover lamb. The Jews tend to be split into two camps those who believe in
Jesus and those who are still waiting for their Messiah. I mention the Jews as you
referred to the first five books the Torah earlier. Don't be like the Jews who were expected
a Saviour but when he turned up they did not recognise him.
Romans 3:21-28 NLT
[21] But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without
keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings
of Moses and the prophets long ago. [22] We are made right with God
by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who
believes, no matter who we are.
[23] For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.
[24] Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this
through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
[25] For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made
right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding
his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back
and did not punish those who sinned in times past,
[26] for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in
this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he
himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when
they believe in Jesus. [27] Can we boast, then, that we have done
anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not
based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. [28] So we are made
right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.
I suppose you will read this and say but where is the black swan lol.
There is no black swan. Don't know why but I just was reminded of the
matrix, the film where the little boy said you are trying to bend the
spoon, but there is no spoon.
God bless
