 |
A stitch in time
saves nine,
Even so, with weeds
and sins:
Uprooting them in time
saves forty-nine (7X7)
I observed a sober
truth this morning while doing some weeding on a lawn.
One common
characteristic of these weeds (I say weeds since they don't belong to the lawn
- actually, they can be useful herbs) is that they multiply fast. All of them
produce lots and lots of seeds to reproduce themselves rapidly.
So, a little delay
and they have sown a great number of seeds onto the ground...
The same is true of sins in our lives. Nip it before they take deep root and multiply and RUIN us.
For this reason,
Christ said with utmost solemnity...
Matthew 18:8 KJV
Wherefore if thy
hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is
better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands
or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.
Note a few things
said here:
- The Lord is
addressing His disciples, each one personally in the second person singular,
i.e. thee and thine.
- Each disciple is
called upon to perform the drastic measure on himself.
- Such measures to
deal with sins will deliver them from being cast into everlasting fire.
There are things the
text says though there are questions that needed to be sorted out.
(According to
Christ, there is much the disciples can do to avoid everlasting fire, but there
is nothing one can do about the eternal lake of fire. Read Rev 20:15)
-----
Adam Wells
Question: Do you
understand Mt 18:8 to be literal or only a portion of the verse is literal?
Ante Zivkovic
Someone asked: if I
my hand offends me and I cut it off, and then my other hand offends me, how do
I cut it off?
Adam Wells
I am trying to
understand the author's notion that God's children can go to hell and suffer
after death. If we take Jesus's statement as a word picture, then shouldn't we
also understand that he is telling us that sinners go to hell so we should
avoid sin at all cost?
Sing F Lau
I understand Mt 18:8
like this:
- Sins are real,
- The drastic
measures needed to deal with sins are real.
- The consequence of
sins not dealt with is real.
I'm not sure which
part you see as literal and which part non-literal. Share you thought.
From Christ's solemn
warning to the disciples - yes, He was addressing the disciples, see verse 1 -
I conclude that He is warning them about something REAL that can be avoided by
their actions, whatever one may think of the everlasting fire spoken of.
I disdain the thought that Christ would waste such solemn words warning the disciples against something that has no real and direct relevance to them. I may be somewhat simple.
Adam Wells
If the warning here
and elsewhere is for God's children on how to avoid hell after death, before
the judgment day when we will be declared righteous because of Christ and
given an inheritance into heaven, please enumerate from the text what we ought to
do to keep from going there. How can we be sure we won't end up there?
Charles Page
As I understand
sheol/hades we can't avoid it after death
There we await the
final judgement
Sing F Lau
1. Concerning
justification, the declaration had legally taken place at the cross, then
vitally applied to an elect individually when he is effectually called out of his
native state of sin and condemnation, and the blessedness of his justified
state is experienced through faith in Jesus Christ.
- On judgment day,
it is the vindication of what had happened based solely on the righteousness of
Christ. Based solely on Christ's righteousness and blood, they shall be ushered
into eternal bliss.
- Christ's work of
redemption redeemed the elect from eternal condemnation in the lake of fire.
Eternity shall begin for the redeemed when time ends.
2. I understand from
Rev 20 that hell will be no more at the end of time.
- That which is
everlasting lasts as long as time lasts. It ceases when there is no more time.
Hell ends when it delivers up those in it. It shall deliver up all who are in
it at the end of time; those among them who have been redeemed by Christ shall
enter into their eternal inheritance, the rest whose names were not in the book
of life, to the lake of fire.
There isn't a single
time Christ warns His disciples against the lake of fire, but He most solemnly
warns them against hell if they don't take drastic measures to deal with their
own personal sins.
- Christ's redeeming
work SAVES the redeemed from the lake of fire; thus, there is no warning the
disciples against the lake of fire.
- I understand that
hell or everlasting fire is in the realm of time. But the lake of fire is
eternal when the time has ended.
3. "please
enumerate from the text what we ought to do to keep from going there. How can
we be sure we won't end up there?"
- The text states it
plain enough what each disciple must do to deal with personal sins in powerful
vivid pictures to depict the drastic measures to deal with personal sins.
How can we be sure
we won't end up there? Perhaps taking drastic measures dealing with our
personal sins will give a child of God hope of not ending up there. Christ did
not waste words warning the disciples.
Just my feeble understanding, it's not popular but makes sense to me. I have been called a heretic by some (PBs) for holding such an understanding. So, having another call me so makes little difference! That's how I have understood the relevant Scriptures at the moment. If others have a more consistent view, I'm open to listening and considering.
Charles Page
At death all that is
hidden is revealed, goats and sheep, to the right and to the left.
Am I a goat or am I a sheep? The earthly shepherds should help each one of us through spiritual
discernment and, at appropriate times, discern and divide us.
There are times (as
I know very little about husbandry) that the goats will rule the fold through
devouring everything and leaving little for the sheep.
