Bible Questions & Discussion PAGE 382

Leviticus Chapter 20 WE ALL DESERVE TO DIE!

There are no degrees of sinners in God's view. There are no such thing as "small" and "big" sins to God. All sin is rebellion against Him. There certainly are degrees of consequences and results of our actions, but we cannot say like the Pharisees that we are not like the publican who is certainly a worse sinner than myself. We surely underestimate the holiness of God. And we should marvel at His mercy for not ending it all with Adam and Eve along with every person after these first two humans. But God's are not our ways. Higher than the highest heavens they are. If He did not reveal Himself to us we would not know how holy He is and how sinful we are. Mankind is completely and utterly corrupted by the sin of Adam and Eve. When they sinned their innate human nature was radically changed from being innocent and free of sin to being wholly sinful. This was a constitutional change in the nature of humanity and this corrupt, sinful nature is passed on from parent to child always with the exception of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh without a sinful nature.



Society finds it necessary to categorize sins according to degrees, and rightly so. Society categorizes crimes as misdemeanors and felonies. Some sins are not considered as crimes, and some crimes are not really sins. Society gauges the seriousness of sins as to the harm it causes society and has various levels of penalties for various levels of evil actions.

God views sin so differently, looking at sin not only in terms of actions and their consequences, but also looks at the attitude, the soul from which the sin is generated. He has determined that all sin is a capital offense and deserving of death. The fact that all sins are capital offenses has a number of implications.

1) Since all sins are capital crimes against God, ALL human beings need desperately to experience God's provision for sinners-His mercy in Jesus, His Son.

Leviticus Chapter 20-Penalties for Disobedience

Verse 7-8"Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD, Your God. And you shall keep my statutes and perform. I am the LOTD who sanctifies you."

This chapter refers back to the commands of Chapters 18-19, listing all the sins that are deserving of capital punishment (death). At times, God will is the one who executes the penalty by causing the death of the offenders, but in this chapter, God is instructing the Israelites to perform the penalty upon those who commit the sins spoken of in this chapter.

How hard it would be to put your child to death for disobedience to a parent! But God commanded them to do so and to not do it would be a sin as well.

So, it seems that all of the sins spoken of in this Chapter require a penalty of death. These sins would be considered to be capital crimes. Pretty sobering to consider.

I read that Capital crimes reflect a given value system. That is, acts that are called capital crimes are those which are considered most evil, and thus reflect the value system of the one (or ones) making the laws. Since capital punishment is the most serious penalty, then these crimes are viewed as those acts which are the worst evil.

Capital crimes in Leviticus 20 reflect God's value system. If we are troubled by what God has condemned as worthy of death, then we must recognize that our value system must be "out of sync" with God's. What then are God's values which are the basis for His choice of "capital crimes" (sins deserving the death penalty).

Well, actually, God views every sin as capital offense worthy of death. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit does that seem to us to be such a heinous crime that it brought about not just the death of Adam and Eve, but for all of their offspring.

Romans 6:23 "The wages of sin is death." Do we truly believe this? Do we concur with God that each and every sin brings the penalty of death to the sinner?

Regards to your belief on unsecure salvation: how many sins does it take to lose your salvation? The bible tells us here in Romans 3:23. All have sinned and come "short" of the glory of God, meaning we don't deserve it, that it is a gift. As far as the east is to the west no one can pluck us out of His hands.

There is only one sin that sends you to hell and that sin is to reject Christ. Do you believe that?

Because according to what your saying is that, a person would have to be completely sinless to hold onto their salvation.

I was saved 23 years ago and I was so born again, became a new creature, repenting of all sin, giving my whole life to God. No longer of the world, and still that way, except in the last 12 years I backslid lacking in visitation, and commiting to church activities. But before that I head usherd, cleaned the church, went on visitation, led my mom and brother to Christ and spread the word to others, worked in the church office adding up tithes. I had to stop a lot of that because of health reasons; it kept me from being faithful to my services. I don't think God is going to close the doors on me for that.

That thief didn't have much time left to do anything did he ? If you read the account carefully you will learn that he did : confess his sinfulness , acknowledge Christ's sinlessness , acknowledge Christ as his Lord , and believe that Christ was going to be resurrected and receive a kingdom . He managed to pack a lot in to his last few sentences don't you think ?

I would agree with your understanding of the Scriptures Eagan, on this matter. Though there are Scriptures that show that the one in Christ is eternally secure ( John 10:27-29; 1 John 5:13; Ephesians 1:13,14; 1 Peter 1:5; and many more), there are also many others verses that seem to show that salvation can be lost & one must work hard in their faith to ensure that they will make it to the end & be accepted.

So, when one considers ALL of the verses pertaining to this subject, somehow it has to be reconciled what Jesus or the other writers are actually saying. Just like whether the Rapture is pre, mid, post, or anything else, we can get into a similar problem. For this one, my underlying Truth is that the Great Tribulation is God's Judgement against the unbelieving Christ-rejecting world, therefore those in Christ will be saved from it.

For Eternal Security, the underlying Truth is the truly repentant soul has come in faith (& nothing else), been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, indwelt by Him, put on a new path towards Heaven, with the Mighty God and His Son being his all-consuming focus & passion & not the world. Can such a person ever be lost again - deciding, 'No, I prefer to follow the world & reject Christ?' We can never know how real another's salvation has been - nor should we ever place ourselves in that position of making such a judgement. Or, whether one's faith is being tested & some errors & backsliding are taking place - to which the Holy Spirit will move, alert, warn or chastise to bring him back. But the fact of the matter is, that 'the Lord knows who are His', He 'knows His sheep & His sheep hear His Voice', and His sheep will obey the Shepherd even if there has to be some stern words & goading.

Thus Galatians 5:22-25 are so important, especially "they THAT ARE Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." These are the marks of the one truly saved, living for Christ.

I was severely traumatized as a 3 year old by the witnessing of the death of my only sibling, my ten year old brother, as my mother attempted to frantically revive him as he lay collapsed on the kitchen floor.

Before that, my life was filled with happiness, knowing nothing about death. As you can imagine, a child that age is incapable of grasping and understanding any of this. He or she only feels the devastating emotions that follow. In an instant, my little life was turned upside down from a seemingly heavenly state into a hellish nightmare. My father withdrew himself from me and mom by immersing his self in his work. Mom experienced 2 separate nervous breakdowns, receiving electrical shock treatments at a mental institution. Those times seemed to last forever, when I was in dire need of her love and comfort. My life was now filled with loneliness, coupled with a down pouring of unimaginable sorrow and grief.

I was left as an only child, to deal with it. It was all about the parents loss and despair; mine being ignored. Since then, the psychiatric sector has recently discovered that siblings are typically affected more than the parents, and are very aware if there is no help offered, horrible effects are likely to appear later on. They did. I lost my best friend, and he was not returning. I basically lost my parents also, as I had previously perceived them. There was no healing; "he's just a child, he'll be ok". NOT.

Mom was a Christian. I was baptized at a conservative Baptist church at age 5. In retrospect, I realized that at this age, one probably doesn't fully understand baptism; thus in my twenties I rededicated my life to God and was baptized once more. Along with my wife and children, I became heavily involved in church for many years, i.e. Sunday School, prayer meetings, Bible study groups, teaching, much music ministry, etc., until about fifteen years ago. No regrets nor "falling outs", as the memories I have of my church family is...

to be cont.

You can download the KJV Bible (the App from the KJB Online Site) from the App Store (Apple) or Play Store (Android). I find it very useful on my phone when I don't have my heavy Bible with me.

Hello Eaganstjohn

This topic about secured (or not) salvation has been discussed a lot between us here on this forum in the past. Beliefs differ. Mine is that salvation can be lost if one leaves God's path and starts following a foreign path and eventually dies in their sin. In my opinion there are many verses in the Bible that state that. One I have gone through recently is in 1 Timothy 4:15-16, (Paul advices Timothy) "Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: FOR IN DOING THIS THOU SHALT BOTH SAVE THYSELF, and them that hear thee." Why does Paul say to Timothy that by doing those he WILL save himself, isn't Timothy saved already (by been born again)? Yes but he has to keep his salvation by doing specific things, like obeying and properly teaching God's path(commadments). And the outcome of his life's strives to walk the narrow road will be the final salvation, the crown of righteouness, the crown of victory. A lot more can be said. GBU

What about the thief on the cross? Jesus promised that he (the thief) will be with Him in paradise. Being that he never did anything for the Lord, yet still allowed to enter the gate? Does God pic and choose?

I believe in eternal security of a believer, once saved always saved. (John5:24), and can never lose their salvation ( John 10: 27-29), believers who wilfully sin after salvation without repenting of that sin may come under the chastisement of the Lord ( Hebrews 12:4-8) but can never cease being saved, sons of God. Anyone believing otherwise never had salvation. Believing in eternal security is part of salvation.

Hi GiGi,

Good post: brings to mind, Matt. 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Isa. 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! And many more.

If you have not seen the 2022 Commonwealth open ceremony look it up and watch it, it will make you quiver. 72 nations of the world participated. This shows where this world is today.

God bless,

RLW

Giannis, thanks for mentioning the part about adultery. I found that in several passages related to re-marriage when the spouse is still living, regardless of the circumstances. When I think about it, it would be like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. Things could be worse.

Hello Jrpon

You have done the right thing dear sister and God has blessed you for obeying Him in your life. The church I am serving doesn't remarry divorced people and also doesn't give divorces for any other reason than adultery. We are very firm about it. But this is very rare to find nowadays in christianity, most churches have given up to their members' demand for remaryring, but that leads to adultery since in God's eyes remarriage is not valid. So what is our (born again christians) difference with the worldly churches, non really (even worse since we actually know the truth but don't follow it).

GBU

What is the key of David?

What are the 7 Spirits of God?

Amen Gigi.

We're treading on dangerous ground when you see how God dealt with this in the past and the warning he gave Israel not to become as they.

Leviticus 18:27-30 (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)

That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.

For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.

Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.

I believe this moral decline is evidence of a prideful people cup of iniquity is about full.

Notice the indictment against Sodom here in Ezekiel 16:49-50 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

GB.

Thank you

Heavenly Father in the

Mighty

Name

Jesus

Waking us up this morning as we begin to seek thy face lord praying guidance as we acknowlege your presence

AlMighty

merciful

God in Christ Jesus

Holy Spirit you are welcome in this place.

Thank you Chris for your encouragement. I stopped giving my testimony years ago because of such an unpleasant response, even from church members: some who had been unequally yoked, even if the spouse had gotten saved and all was well; some who had been touched by re-marriage somewhere in their family. It was my story, but they were offended My 1st pastor was at a loss & would not comment on the situation; 2nd pastor would not perform a ceremony for divorced people because of an oath he had made to God when he went into ministry, but said I could get married at justice of peace and then both parties could serve at his church; 3rd pastor said being released from bondage meant that I was free to re-marry and he would do ceremony as long as the union was "in the Lord". Even pastors were not willing to embrace the truth and stand on it. But I could not get past the stigma that would be there if my husband was living. It seemed the only way to have a clean slate and start over with the best odds of having a successful relationship, & be married in the church with full support was for my husband to die first. Then there would be no questions or argument about it, and less stress for me. It became my sanity. In the meantime, I never ran into anyone that I was interested in that met the criteria of "in the Lord". I had a few boyfriends along the way and each time I asked myself how would I have more peace ? with or without them -- it was always without them. I have had a wonderful life and a career that provided very well for me and great friends and family. I had not looked at these verses in decades. I received word recently that my husband's health is failing and he is on kidney dialysis now, and I started wondering if I had mis-interpreted scripture way back then. So I re-read all the verses and they seemed clearer now than before and found this website when clarifying the meaning of bondage. I am encouraged now to give my testimony if asked about my situation.

I have a KJV Bible but need it in my phone, will like it cause l understand it very well ,

That was heartening to read, Jrpon, of your faithfulness to the Lord & to your marriage vows. In spite of maybe times of loneliness & a patient waiting on the Lord for His provision, you have proved the sufficiency of His Grace to surmount those trials. Yes, many have carelessly entered into an unequal/unloving marriage & have suffered through it & regretted it. But the comfort that He gives, is His special peace, that He has not forgotten you & will only give you His very best to live this life for Him. John 14:27.

The power that belongs to us will come to those who wait on the Lord.

An entering into body and soul, enlightening the eyes of those who belong to Him.

These things are from heaven and ride on the wings of His angels , lighting on His children.

Do not frustrate this one called the comforter who is the Holy One given through the Son!

He has become our perfect sacrifice , even unto the whole world!

There is no power greater than Him.

He is the light of the world. In Him is no darkness at all!

Repent and be Baptized

Thank you for this reminder. When taken along with the verses surrounding I Cor 7:15 about letting the unsaved leave and you are no longer under bondage , but God has called you to live in peace, it helps to clarify bondage. Some would say that if you are no longer under bondage, then you are free to re-marry. I hold that you are no longer responsible to the unsaved who left, but you still have a responsibility to your oath "til death do you part" made to God in the marriage ceremony. NOT "til divorce do you part". It does seem harsh that the saved should be bound to the oath until death of the spouse, but God is big enough to allow me to outlive spouse if he wants me to remarry. 46 years ago when I was very young and saved, I married an unsaved man and it was a horrible experience. I confessed it within 2 weeks of the marriage and told God that I was sorry but I would keep my oath but need his grace to do it. In the 3.5 yrs I was married, my husband periodically tried to convince me there was no God, and then convince me that WE should get a divorce. I told him there was a God and WE would not be getting a divorce because I had made an oath til death do us part, but he could make his own decisions. He did not want marriage but did not want responsibility for divorce either. He finally left, filed divorce and I let him go. I was free from him but still had my oath. Due to severe diabetes he had been on death bed twice and I thought he would not live long. 43 yrs later he is still alive, with multiple near death experiences, and I am still unmarried. The only way I can explain it is that God has given husband multiple opportunities to get saved, to no avail. And I guess his death would be wasted if God has not brought all the puzzle pieces together yet for me to have a partner. It is easy to fantasize how my life could have been if I had remarried years ago, but many people have that with much sorrow. I will never know what horrors God has saved me from.

Leviticus Chapter 19

"Be Ye holy as I the LORD your God am holy."

This is the over-reaching command of God to His people. To be holy like He is holy.

The statutes in this chapter speak of many different practices that are to be obeyed. Many apply to us today. Others, the principle apply to us today, and others do not apply to us today.

The important matter is to desire to know God and His holiness so that we can imitate Him.

God the Father sent His Son in the flesh to show us God's holiness lived out in human nature.

Jesus is the exact image of the Father. He is the perfect reflection of the character of God. He is the sinless Son living in complete obedience and submission to His Father. He is our righteousness that justifies us before the Father. We are to aim to imitate Him with the working of the Holy Spirit within us.

We should be careful not to harden our hearts by becoming friendly with the world's ways. we should instead be familiar with God's ways given to us in His word. Godliness is required of us who profess Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We will fall and fail. But we should care that we live a life that honors God and loves our neighbor rightly.

We should be eager to do what God has said is the right action and equally eager to refrain from what God has said is wrong for us to do.

We are not to be "holier than thou" looking down on people caught up in sin. We should be compassionate, loving, and willing to reach out to people like Jesus did to the tax collectors and sinners.

Holiness is not about "religious" practices such as church going, bible reading, etc. but instead be about living out the word received with gladness.

We should cultivate a love for what is pure and just and righteous, good and beneficial and honorable. We should have a determination to continually resist sinful inclinations, to stay away from tempting situations, to avoid every sort of evil.

Does it matter that we live godly lives. YES!

Thank you

:-)

Thank you

:-)

Leviticus 18:6-29 continued.

The 1950's brought us easy divorce and many divorced people began to remarry. The culture glamorized promiscuity and in the 1960's fornication became acceptable followed by legalization of abortion. From this the step to approval of homosexuality came rapidly, soon to be followed by transgenderism and other gender perversions. Now in our present time, poligamy is featured on reality T.V., there is a push for the acceptance of pedophilia. Soon, sexual experimentation among young children will be touted and then bestiality will the next perversion to break forth seeking acceptance. Such a slippery slope we embarked on in the last century to totally undermine God's authority for this basic fundamental foundation for society that God put in place to protect families, women, and children from sexual exploitation. Men are being destroyed inwardly from pornography having their sexuality warped at the very core.

I think this is the very reason God put sexual purity at the topo of the list in of statutes in this chapter. We are to be slaves to righteousness, not to sin, submitted to the Holy Spirit in all of our ways, doing everything to the glory of God, honoring God with our bodies.

Our call to a godly life is truly for us receive the blessing of God upon us in this life as we submit ourselves in obedience to Him and the ways He has set forth for us to live by.

The best answer I can give is how I went from a 35 year practitioner of traditional witchcraft and ancestral paganism to a servant of Christ on 11/2/22. On 11/1/22, I had a strong urge to pray to a God that I had been at war with all my life in order to ask for His help with my daughters. Within a minute of finishing that prayer, this overwhelming feeling hit me and a voice within me stated " take them to church." 24hrs later, I told myself to make this sacrifice for them so I began listening to sermons so I do not get triggered to debate. It was in a specific sermon where the pastor said " there are those who have studied the bible to argue and debate to use it as a telescope but I ask them, when was the last time you let the bible study you and be a mirror?" I broke and I could not fight the feeling that overcame me and a transformation inside began... the removal of my heart of stone to a fleshy one. Asked for His forgiveness for all the lives I destroyed. Thus I gave my life over to Christ.

I say all this because if I did not react to the answer to my prayer, I believe was from God, I may have never been saved. In the end, it was a calling . If you feel you are being called, pray on it and make sure it is from God as the bible says to test every spirit.

But we have all been a Jacob - cheating, lying, using half-truths to get our way. Later in the Torah,Jacob memorably dreams of a ladder to heaven. He does not wake up to a new start, but he does wake up with a different awareness, which slowly changes his character, although his wily behaviour continues into his old age.

That is the point. Jacob is not perfect, he does not attain a perfect start or complete change, and neither will we. Instead, we are reminded that real personal change happens slowly, with small goals and gradual progress.

Leviticus 18:6-29

This chapter lays out the parameters for lawful sexual relations. It addresses child sacrifice.

In ancient Israel marriage was initiated by sexual relation (being seen as the two becoming one flesh). Though multiple wives were allowed in this culture, there were boundaries that the people were to keep. The surrounding nations were very sexually lax. But God, who has all the authority to make all the laws, begins with behavior that is at the very core of society. The marriage bed and the one flesh relationship that bonds male and female together and produces children (who are physically the union of two people in one flesh).

With YHWH being the Master of the Israelites (they belonged to YHWH) they were being called from being slaves to sin and Satan to become slaves to YHWH and righteousness (as defined by Him).

These statutes concerning sexual relations keep the marriage bond pure and protect children born of this union. It protects women from being dishonored by men who do not control their appetites or have respect for their father, brother, uncle, or son's wives and daughters. The prohibitions begin with matters of incest (relations with close kin). Then it extends to adultery with one's neighbor's wife. It then prohibits homosexual relations and then to bestiality. Included in the prohibitions is the command to not sacrifice one's children to Molech.

This is the progression that happens in a society when they separate sex from marriage and procreation as God intended. One by one the pillars of righteous practices concerning sexual relations begin to fall to the pressure of the culture and what God has prohibited becomes normalized with the expectation of society accepting it's expression without question. Aren't we there now?

First, the availability of contraception in the 1930's allowed people to pursue sexual relations simply for the pleasure without the responsibility of child-bearing.

Hello John,

This is what I can share with you about the Nicolaitans. In Revelation 2:6, it first speaks of their deeds, which the Lord says He hates. What they were doing was lording over Gods flock. Jesus Christ is the head of the church, but they were ruling the church, and the Lord says He hates that.

As for their doctrine, it speaks of that in Revelation 2:15. Before, we saw the works (or deeds) of the Nicolaitans. Now he's saying that inside this church, they hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. The Lord repeats Himself.

Now it's interesting about the doctrine of Balaam. I'll just give you a summary heading for this. It's when someone puts a stumblingblock in front of God's people for either monetary or worldly purposes.

What happened was Balac, the king of Moab, he came to Balaam because Balaam was a prophet. And he said would you put a curse on this group of people that are heading our way because we've heard about them.

This is the children of Israel. So would you put a curse on them? Well, eventually Balaam had to come and say you can't put a curse on them because they're blessed by God.

But I'll tell you what you can do. You can bring God's judgment on them if you send the Moabite women out to seduce them and cause them to commit sexual immorality. For that, God will judge them.

And so that's exactly what he did. Balaam gave him council as to what to do. Balaam says I can't do anything because God has blessed these people.

And the reason why he did it was because he wanted the money that was offered to him to put a curse on the children of Israel.

So Balac gave him some money. And he emerged as a false prophet, and he wanted to do things for money.

So a stumblingblock was cast before the children of Israel to get them to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.

And also, the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which again, is lording it over the people, which thing the Lord hates.