"And they went out, and preached that men should repent."
Mk 6
{Edited from a conversation about writing “perfect characters”.}
I believe there are truly noble people and characters. Also I believe there are perfect people, though obviously they're rare (and not "without sin" - I'll explain).
Some take the doctrine that "all have sinned" and "there is none that doeth good and sinneth not" to be a kind of mandatory cynicism, that they must believe everyone does small evil acts or underlying evil acts and they just aren't seen or are all considered equal in God's eyes. They also often categorise an exorbitant amount of faults and flaws and things (like not getting up quick enough in the morning) as moral sins to further bolster this idea, and often fall into thinking anything that is less good than another thing is therefore bad, which is of course unreasonable.
The Bible also says "they also do no iniquity" and "he that is born of God sinneth not" and "in whom is no guile". And it tells us that unborn children have done nothing, either good or evil, yet also that we are conceived in sin. Obviously these aren’t contradictory, but rather talking about two different things.
I think it is clear that "all have sinned" and the doctrine that none are "without sin" are referring to the sinfulness of the heart; the best people understand that they are their own worst enemy when trying to do right. If they were without sin, they would have no difficulty, no struggle, no enticement of their own lust, and outward temptation would not be able to allure them at all, like Christ.
Our sinfulness is proven whenever people leave themselves without check, and of course there is the fact that you don't have to teach children to do wrong. The sinfulness of our hearts is our fault (after all, if it wasn't, then neither would any action be that arises from it), but those who do not indulge their sinful hearts (such as little children, who haven’t really done anything at all), are those who are the righteous, who "sin not", and "do no iniquity", and these are those whose sinfulness is washed away by the blood of the Lamb.
"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." - Pr 28
“Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” - Mt 18
Righteous people often commit small sins at times (sins “not unto death” as John puts it), and that also isn't what it is talking about when it says a righteous man sinneth not. Those who break the least commandments still will enter the kingdom of heaven, though they receive less honour.
If "there is none righteous" isn't talking about our sinful tendencies, which we must (and can) fight against and control, then we have a problem: when it expounds on this doctrine it goes on to say:
"there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes." - Ro 3
If this is not describing what we tend to, then everyone is specifically an unbeliever (thus unsaved), murderer, liar, and curser (weird that that isn't a word ?); and obviously it has nothing to do with the false idea that small sins are equal to great sins in God's eyes (which idea is to accuse God of injustice, and to give license for the heathen to mock his wrath).
I would say that the most perfect person was Moses, who was the counterpart of Jesus: "a prophet like unto me", who was "faithful in all his house", so that him and Christ are pictured as a house and its builder. Moses was so perfect that speaking a single sentence unadvisedly, "Must we fetch you water out of this rock?" was punished with great wrath. Others would be Noah, Daniel, Job, Samuel, Elijah, and John the baptist. Joseph is one that I often think of first.
In fiction the first one that comes to mind would be G. A. Henty's protagonists, which are basically meant to picture what he would consider to be the best conduct in their various situations. I disagree with Henty on certain moral points (a major one would be that he sees transvestism as a joke), and his characters are rather plain, but on the whole it is good to read about his good example characters.
The first character who comes to mind that is a truly noble character, who is also interesting and endearing, would be Sam Gamgee.
(The main fault I dislike in bad film adaptation is corrupting good characters; if one sees the character as real - which is the point - then it is slander. End side note.)
Other such characters would be Puddleglum, Sybil (in Charles Williams' The Greater Trumps), Scrooge (after his reformation), the Master Monstruwacan (in William Hope Hodgson's The Night Land), and Beowulf.
2023/02/18 #sabbathposts
One of the many purposes of God's Law is to remind us of the miracles that he performed for our fathers.
You can have a 1 Corinthians 11 head covered woman or else the alternative is in the comments below ?
If God really sees all people equally, why are inequalities built into His word? Is He really unfair, or is there something wrong with us?
https://thebarkingfox.com/2023..../02/18/bottom-rail-o
If God really sees all people equally, why are inequalities built into His word? Is He really unfair, or is there something wrong with us?
https://thebarkingfox.com/2023..../02/18/bottom-rail-o
Just a thought!
Matthew 24:7 = [For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and EARTHQUAKES, in diverse places.] We all know what happened in Turkey on February 06 this year. Could Turkey be a sign from YHVH Elohiym?
Turkey will play a key role as in Ezekiel 38, but also think of the verse as in the days of Noah… Matthew 24:37 -- So shall also be the coming of the Son of Man be. Noah’s ark settled on Mount Ararat, which is in Turkey. And the book of Revelation, John wrote the book on the Island of Patmos that is right next to Turkey. The seven churches of Revelation – Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea – was located in Turkey. The Euphrates River also runs along the country of Turkey. And we are witnessing the Euphrates River drying up which prepares for Armageddon.
In the past 100 years or so, from 1900 to 2000, the number of earthquakes of magnitude 5 or greater in Turkey / Syria has almost doubled. If we look at the aftershocks in Turkey and Syria this year and mark it on a map, it takes the form of a number 7 and the bottom of this 7 is on top of Jerusalem. YHVH’s signature is 7 (Creation), then there is the seven year tribulation.
There are no coincidences with Adonai Elohiym! Do not ignore the signs given to us! Yeshua is coming soon – Keep praying for yourself and for each other. Encourage each other and do not be ashamed to be a believer!
SERIES H --- THE JUDGES --- LESSON 12
JEPHTHAH’S VOW
JEPHTHAH’S FOOLISH VOW
From Judges 11
In the land of Gilead lived a mighty warrior named Jephthah. His father Gilead, had many wives and many sons. These sons hated Jephthah, for his mother was a harlot, so they made him get out of their country. ‘You certainly won’t inherit anything from our father,’ they said, ‘for you are the son of an evil woman.’ Jephthah ran away to live in the land of Tob. Before long, other runaways joined him there and they all began to live by robbing others. In the meantime, the Ammonites started war against Israel. Because leaders of Gilead knew what a great warrior Jephthah was, they sent messengers to him asking him to lead their army against the Ammonites. ‘Didn’t you hate me so much that you drove me away from home?’ he said. ‘Why do you come to me when you are in trouble?’ ‘We want you to help us fight the Ammonites,’ they answered. ‘If you do, you may also rule over us.’ ‘How do I know you are telling the truth?’ Jephthah asked. ‘We promise before Adonai that we will make you our ruler,’ the leaders of Gilead answered. Jephthah went back to Gilead with the leaders and was made ruler and military leader at Mizpah. As soon as he became the new ruler, Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites. ‘Why are you preparing to fight us?’ Jephthah asked. ‘Because Israel took our land when they came from Egypt,’ the king of the Ammonites answered. ‘I want it back, all of it; from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and the Jordan River.’ Jephthah sent another message to the king of the Ammonites. ‘Israel didn’t take your land,’ he said. ‘When my people came from Egypt, they crossed the wilderness and the Red Sea to Kadesh. They asked permission of the king of Edom to pass through his land, but he wouldn’t let them. They asked the king of Moab, but he wouldn’t let them either. They stayed there at Kadesh-barnea. ‘Then they went through the wilderness, travelling around Edom and Moab along the eastern border. Not once did they go into the land of Moab. ‘Then Israel asked King Sihon of the Amorites if they could pass through his land. Sihon was suspicious of the Israelites, so he gathered his army, camped at Jahaz and attacked them. But Adonai helped our people defeat Sihon, so Israel captured the land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and the Jordan River. That land was a gift from Adonai! Why should you claim it now? What your god Chemosh gives you is yours. But what our YHVH gives us is ours. ‘Do you think you’re better than King Balak of Moab, the son of Zippor? Did he ever start a war to get his land back? We’ve been living here in this land for three hundred years, in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon River. Why didn’t you make a claim on the land before this? I haven’t wronged you, but you have sinned against me by starting a war against me. Today Adonai is the Judge who will decide between my people and yours.’ The king of the Ammonites ignored Jephthah’s message. Then the Spirit of Adonai came upon Jephthah, empowering him to lead his army across the territories of Gilead and Manasseh. From Mizpah of Gilead he launched an attack on the Ammonites. Then Jephthah made a foolish vow. ‘If You give me victory over the Ammonites,’ he promised, ‘I will offer as a burnt offering the first person who comes from the doors of my house to meet me.’ Adonai did give him victory over the Ammonites. He destroyed them throughout the twenty cities from Aroer to Minnith and on to Abel-cheramim. The Ammonites were defeated by Israel. When Jephthah came home to Mizpah of Gilead, his only daughter came out to meet him, dancing and playing the timbrels. When Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes. ‘How terrible, my daughter!’ he cried. ‘You have sent me down to a great sorrow. I made a promise to Adonai and I cannot break it.’ ‘If you have made a promise to Adonai, you must keep it,’ she said. ‘You must do what you have said, for Adonai has given you a great victory over the Ammonites. But please let me go into the mountains for two months with my friends to cry because I will never marry.’ ‘Go,’ Jephthah told her. The girl and her friends roamed the hills for two months, crying because she would never marry. Then she came back home to Jephthah, who fulfilled his vow to Adonai. Jephthah’s daughter never married. From that time on, the young women of Israel followed the custom of going away from home for four days each year to cry for Jephthah’s daughter.
COMMENTARY
CANAANITE CHARIOTS FOR WAR AND HUNTING
During the conquest of the Promised Land, the Israelites fought against many types of Canaanite weapons. But the deadliest of all Canaanite weapons was the chariot, used both for war and hunting. On level ground, the foot soldier was no match for a trained chariot driver. But in the hills, the chariot lost its usefulness. Chariots were expensive to buy and maintain. Only the wealthy could afford them for hunting. Sometimes they chased wild bulls in chariots, shooting them with bow and arrows. Quivers, fastened to the side of the chariots, held a supply of arrows. For entertainment, Canaanite royalty sometimes hunted lions. This was actually quite a safe sport the way they did it, for someone else caught the lions and released them in the royal hunting park.
Social Justice-The Counterfeit Gospel (Part Four): Digging for Truth Episode 193
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