If there is the slightest possibility of God existing and that He has sent His only begotten Son Jesus to be your savior from your transgressions, wouldn’t it be wise to investigate it for yourself?
Many atheists who claim that morals are subjective rather than objective often claim that stealing isn’t always wrong. In support of their claim that stealing isn’t always wrong, they bring up someone stealing food to eat because the person or the person’s family is hungry. For this reason atheists say then that stealing is sometimes okay and shouldn’t be punished because stealing food to eat isn’t immoral.
God in the Bible has stated that stealing is always wrong and not moral and has consequences. The consequences for theft consists of making restitution, or if the thief has nothing of value for making restitution, the thief would be either placed into servant hood or sold into servant hood to pay for the theft.
In fact if the atheist were as bright as they let on like they are and are as versed in knowing the Bible as they claim, they would know that God directly addresses in the Old Testament book of Proverbs 6:30-31 the atheist’s claim that someone stealing to satisfy hunger pointing out that it is wrong and describes the consequences for stealing to satisfy hunger.
“People don't despise the thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry. Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much; he must give up all the wealth in his house.” Proverbs 6:30-31 (HCS)
Notice that if the reason for stealing is because of hunger and not because of greed or pleasure, that the Israelites were told to not to hate the person stealing yet, that person stealing is to repay the cost of the food stolen seven times over its cost and give up all they own in their house.
Think about this for a moment. If the person is stealing food because the person and/or person’s family is hungry, most likely the person doesn’t have any wealth to purchase food let alone if caught stealing food having to pay seven times the cost of the food and give up all their household wealth.
So basically, what Proverbs 6:30:31 is saying is that the person stealing food if he/she couldn’t pay the penalty, that person would fall under debtors laws and back then that would mean that the person who stole the food would become a bond slave (or indentured servant) to the owner of the stolen food (Exodus 22:3). Being a bond slave during that time, the person would be properly paid and even given food and shelter during the duration of the servant hood (Colossians 4:1).
With this type of bankruptcy law, a government doesn’t step in, but a person, who has lost themselves to debt, can sell the only thing they have left, their ability to perform labor. This is a loan. In six years (or sooner) the loan is paid off, and they are set free. Bondservants who did this made a wage, had their debt covered, had a home to stay in, on-the-job training, and did it for only six years or less dependent upon how much they owed. This almost sounds better than college, which doesn't cover debt and you have to pay for it! Exodus 21:2-6
This is not a forced agreement either. The bondservants enter into service on their own accord; as in the case of the thief who stole to satisfy hunger getting caught. In the same respect, a foreigner (non-Israelite) could also sell themselves into servitude. Although the rules are slightly different, it would still be by their own accord in light of Exodus 21:16 which claims that kidnapping is wrong and punishable by death which rules out taking people by force and making them a slave.
So the answer to the question, Is Stealing to Satisfy Hunger Moral? No.
Stealing for any reason isn’t a moral thing to do and there are consequences for stealing. “Everyone must die once, and after that be judged by God.” Hebrews 9:27
@Unreal7Reality made a comment to me about Deuteronomy 22:13-21
Quote "A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed" Deuteronomy 22:13-21. Do you believe in this statement? I was under the impression that the sacred Bible was the word of God, who would never approve of killing. End Quote
To answer Unreal7Reality’s question about if I believe in this statement, my answer is, no, I don’t believe in the statement Unreal7Reality wrote as it is by far nowhere near being in context to the actual verses of Deuteronomy 22:13-21.
To correct the impression Unreal7Reality is under about God never approving of killing; God does at times approve killing yet murder is never approved of by God. Killing is approved by God in self-defense/protection of individual and of nations. In Deuteronomy 22:13-21 stoning the offenders of the laws is an approved killing because it is both protection of individuals and of the nation of Israel.
Now to set those who want to really know what Deuteronomy 22:13-21 really says, please stay with me and we’ll go through it now. To you others, you can stay in ignorance about it if you want as it is your God given few will choice to do so if you so please. I suggest however, that you stay and actually learn what Deuteronomy 22:13-21 actually says.
Deuteronomy 22:13-21 (Holman Christian Standard)
Violations of Proper Sexual Conduct
13 "If a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her, and comes to hate her, 14 and accuses [her] of shameful conduct, and gives her a bad name, saying, 'I married this woman and was intimate with her, but I didn't find [any] evidence of her virginity,'
15 the young woman's father and mother will take the evidence of her virginity and bring [it] to the city elders at the gate.
16 The young woman's father will say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he hates her.
17 He has accused her of shameful conduct, saying: 'I didn't find [any] evidence of your daughter's virginity, but here is the evidence of my daughter's virginity.' They will spread out the cloth before the city elders.
18 Then the elders of that city will take the man and punish him.
19 They will also fine him 100 silver [shekels] and give [them] to the young woman's father, because that man gave an Israelite virgin a bad name. She will remain his wife; he cannot divorce her as long as he lives.
20 But if this accusation is true and no evidence of the young woman's virginity is found,
21 they will bring the woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father's house. You must purge the evil from you.”
First, what is the book of Deuteronomy all about?
The book of Deuteronomy is in the Old Testament and is God reminding the Israelite people of what He had done and encouragement for them to rededicate their lives to Him. God reviewed His laws for the people and outlined how the legal contract between God and His people (the Israelites) had to be renewed by each generation and each person responding to God’s call for obedience. In God’s plan, the Israelites were the people whom He had made a promise of a Messiah to save them from their sins against God. Also, the Messiah would be a descendant from the Israelites. In the New Testament we learn that Christ Jesus is the Messiah whom within the Old Testament was prophesized would come and take upon Himself everyone’s sins thus giving to everyone who repents of their sins and believes in Him as fully paying for their sins everlasting life with God.
God desires love from the heart, not merely legalistically keeping the law and God reminded His people that in order to ratify His agreement that they much choose the path of obedience. A personal decision to obey would bring benefits to their lives; rebellion would bring severe calamity. We see this every day in the way someone’s choices impact the lives of not only themselves but of those around them. Take a drunkard who drives a car while drunk and then crashing into someone else’s car head-on killing everyone in the other car.
Or better yet seeing that we are talking about Deuteronomy 22:13-23:2 and its laws of proper sexual conduct; take a person who is infatuated with sexual pleasures who indulges into sexual promiscuity, getting sexually transmitted diseases, and continues to indulge with multiple sex partners transmitting sexual transmitted diseases to others and then to someone who goes home to a faithful spouse who now gets a sexually transmitted disease. Take too those who indulge into sexual promiscuity who then abort the unborn child. Each of these personal decisions to rebel brings severe calamity to each one involved and others who are not.
Deuteronomy 22:13—23:2 deals with the Laws of Proper Sexual Conduct
There are six laws of chastity given to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 22:13—23:2 which are basic to family integrity. Violations were punishable by stoning the violators (man and woman) to death.
To my knowledge only one encounter of someone breaking one of these six laws given in Deuteronomy was given in the Bible and it wasn’t told in the Old Testament, it was told in the New Testament when the Pharisees (the Jewish extreme religious leaders) brought only the woman who was caught in the act of adultery and not the man who was committing adultery with her. If you care to know the outcome of this, you can find it in the New Testament book of John 8:1-11.
Loss of virginity was tantamount to adultery in the case of betrothal, implied here in Deuteronomy 22:21. It was considered nothing short of harlotry, a sin that brought disrepute upon the whole community. Physical whoredom was analogous to spiritual unfaithfulness to the Lord, and was therefore deemed deserving of death - as severe as this sanction may appear by today’s “standards.”
Today’s “standards” allow for anything goes before marriage because marriage is taken by more and more people as nothing special at all. More and more marriages are about convince rather than about a man and woman choosing to love one another through good and bad times; and more like mere selfish sexual relations instead of a man and woman making a lifelong commitment to each other working together through the tough times and becoming closer to each other; desiring to give pleasure to the other and unselfishly enjoying each other’s presence.
Evidence of the woman’s virginity refer to those means by which a betrothed woman and her family proved her virginity to her husband. Failure to produce evidence (the blood stained honeymoon bed sheet for example) could lead to the woman’s execution for “playing the whore.” Seeing that the woman was to be married to the man there was a trust given by the man to the woman that the woman would stay pure and sexually untouched before their marriage. Back then, both man and woman being virgins was an important and special thing unlike today where so many men and women take instead sexual relations before marriage as something special… until the “right” spouse actually comes along.
I wish that I would have waited until after I was married yet instead, I rushed into sexual relations with a number of women instead of waiting to really get to know any of them. From one to the next it was all only about me and my sexual satisfaction and not about my giving to them the love and affection they deserved. From them too, it was about their sexual satisfaction and nothing about a lasting relationship. Overall there was nothing good about any of these sexual relations that I had and now there’s only regret that I have for how I treated those women and even more so regret for how it negatively affects my marriage today.
The Husband Lied!
Yet, if the woman was a virgin and the man was lying about her, that man would be taken out and would be punished and would also have to pay the woman’s father a fine in silver and had to remain as the woman’s husband. The punishment would include some sort of beating and a monetary fine.
Basically, the fine was such that the man lying about the woman’s virginity would become a bond slave to the woman’s father and the husband to the woman he lied about. Now you may think that the woman who was lied about is being forced to be married to the man who lied about her yet you’d be wrong. Remember that the woman and man were already both pledged to be married and were married. You may think that it be unfair to the woman who was lied about having to continue to be married to the man who lied about her however, how many of you have never lied? Also, the woman is to be supported by this man for the rest of her life. How many fathers would you think would let their daughter not be kept well by her husband especially seeing that her husband was a bond slave to him?
So you say that the woman shouldn’t have to stayed married to the man who lied about her and again I ask you how many lies do you tell each day?
Sexual Violations
Why did God include all these laws for the Israelites about sexual sins in Deuteronomy? Remember that around three million Israelites were wondering around for 40 years on an extended camping trip and thus instructions about sexual behavior would have been vital to help keep everyone healthy. Yet equally important is when they entered the promised land and settled down as a nation.
Sins involving sex are not innocent dabbling in forbidden pleasures, as is so often portrayed, but powerful destroyers of relationships. They confuse and tear down the climate of respect, trust, and credibility so essential for solid marriages and secure children. Sexually transmitted diseases were started and are spread by sins involving sexual violations and promiscuity. As does sexual promiscuity cause hundreds if not thousands of unborn babies to die each day from abortions.
Just as the choices the Israelites, our choices make a difference. Choosing to follow God benefits us and improves our relationships with others. Choosing to abandon God’s ways brings harm to ourselves and others. The more we individually and as a society belittle the call for us to not be sexually promiscuous prior to and during marriage, the more we bring harm to ourselves, others, and generations to come.
What do You Think?
So basically, these laws in Deuteronomy were given to the Israelites by God to prohibit sexual conduct outside of marriage for both men and women. The consequences of breaking these laws (stoning to death), I’m sure deterred many men and women from sexual conduct outside of marriage. Do you think any of the Israelites broke these laws? I do and I think many of them didn’t get caught. Do you think that if these laws were applicable to us today and that their consequences were carried out that would deter sexual conduct outside of marriage? I do to some degree however as we can see by how many laws we as a society have today which are broken every day there would be some who would do so anyway and as with the many other laws broken today many will get away with it here on earth. However, each one of us (me included) will face God for judgment because; “Everyone must die once, and after that be judged by God.” Hebrews 9:27
I am certainly glad that these laws in Deuteronomy are applicable to only the Israelites because I if caught back when I was breaking these laws, would have been stoned a long time ago if God had them applicable during my lifetime and they were carried out against me for my breaking them. Just because these laws and their consequences do not directly apply to us today as law doesn’t mean that you and I should not choose to follow these laws instructions about proper sexual behavior today. For example if everyone had followed them in the past from Adam to today, there would be no sexually transmitted diseases and also there would be a great reduction in unborn babies being aborted. If everyone started following them today, eventually there would no longer be any sexually transmitted diseases and a great reduction in unborn babies being aborted.
It is Your Choice
It is your choice to make to read the Bible in context or not. It is your choice to make if you want to know and follow where truth leads. It is your choice to make if you want to not just take my word for truth and do your own seeking for truth. I suggest that you not take my word for anything that I’ve said. It is your life, why should you believe me? I don’t know everything however I do know where to start learning about it… the Holy Bible.
I suggest to you that you learn and follow where truth leads now rather than later. “Who are you and I but a vapor that is visible for a moment and then vanishes for you and I do not know what tomorrow brings.” James 4:14
“You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.” Matthew 7:13-14
Which road are you on and which gate will you enter through?
References
The Apologetics Study Bible, Holman Christian Standard Bible; Holman
The King James Study Bible; Nelson
Life Application Study Bible, New International Version; Zondervan
Easter is nearing and the reason we celebrate it is because this is how God showed his love for us and how he demonstrated his mercy on us. By Christ Jesus’ living a sinless life during his physical life on earth and through his physical death and again by his physical resurrection, Jesus gave to us the only means by which you and I can be forgiven for our sins. Thus, Easter is the celebration of God’s ultimate sacrifice and death of his only begotten Son and of his only begotten Son’s resurrection; the means throughout the Bible which is discussed from Genesis to Revelation.
Many people however, make claim that Jesus is not God and that Jesus did not claim to be God. To these people I suggest reading the Bible so to actually discover that indeed, Jesus claimed to be God and he demonstrated his Divinity in several important ways. Per your God given free will you do not have to choose to accept the fact that Jesus is God, however if you actually read the Bible, you will see clearly that Jesus not only claimed to be God, he also demonstrated the Divine characteristics of God.
When people think about the nature of God (even those who doubt God's existence) they typically think of God as all-knowing, all-powerful and all-loving. The gospel eyewitnesses described Jesus as having all three of these Divine characteristics:
Jesus is All-Knowing
Jesus demonstrated His "omniscience" to the woman at the well. "Leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 'Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?'" (John 4:16-19, 28-30). In addition, the Gospels tell us repeatedly that Jesus knew the thoughts of people around Him (Luke 6:8 and 11:17, for example) and He also knew who would betray Him (John 6:70). More importantly, Jesus knows the very nature of our hearts (John 2:24-25)
Jesus is All-Powerful
Jesus repeatedly demonstrated his "omnipotence" as he performed dozens of miracles. These miracles confirmed His power over nature (Matt 8:23; Mark 4:37; Luke 8:22), His power over disease (Matt 8:2; Mark 1:40; Luke 5:12), His power over need (Matt 14:15; Mark 6:30; Luke 9:10; John 6:1-14), and His power over death (John 11:38-44). But the Bible describes Jesus as far more than a miracle worker. The Bible attributes all of God's power to Jesus:
The Power (Ability) to Create
Jesus is not simply our Savior. According the Bible, Jesus is also our creator (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16)
The Power (Authority) to Forgive
Jesus repeatedly demonstrated His Divine authority to forgive sins (Matthew 9:1-8)
The Power (Ability) to Grant Eternal Life
Jesus demonstrated the ability to provide eternal (spiritual) life in the next world (John 10:28, John 11:25-26)
The Power (Right) to Judge
Jesus, as the author of our lives, demonstrated His right to evaluate how we have lived as His creation (Matthew 25:31-33)
Jesus is All-Loving
Jesus repeatedly demonstrated His "omni-benevolence". He gave His life as the supreme demonstration of His love (John 15:9-14), even though we are seldom, if ever, worthy of His affection (Romans 5:6-8). Jesus loves and desires that ALL should come to know Him (John 3:16-18). Jesus' omni-benevolence is demonstrated not only by the broad group that He loves, but also by the extent to which He is willing to demonstrate that love.
The Biblical eyewitnesses described Jesus as much more than a good teacher or a wise man. They clearly and repeatedly testified that Jesus possessed the very nature, power, wisdom and essence of God Himself. Perhaps this is why Jesus told His disciples, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).
It is Your Choice
It is your choice to make to read the Bible in context. It is your choice to make if you want to know and follow where truth leads. It is your choice to make if you want to not just take my word for truth and do your own seeking for truth. I suggest that you not take my word for anything that I’ve said. It is your life, why should you believe me? I don’t know everything however I do know where to start learning about it.
I suggest to you to learn and follow where truth leads now rather than later. “Who are you and I but a vapor that is visible for a moment and then vanishes for you and I do not know what tomorrow brings.” James 4:14
“You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.” Matthew 7:13-14
Insecurity is a feeling of general unease or nervousness that may be triggered by perceiving of oneself to be vulnerable in some way, or a sense of vulnerability or instability which threatens one's self-image or ego. Insecurity may help to cause shyness, paranoia and social withdrawal, or alternatively it may encourage compensatory behaviors such as arrogance, aggression, or bullying, in some cases. As insecurity can be distressing and feel threatening to the psyche, it can often be accompanied by a controlling personality type or avoidance, as psychological defense mechanisms. (1)
Over the last four years from my personally talking with hundreds of atheists via Twitter, YouTube, and blogs; it is very clear that atheists are emotionally insecure. From reading atheist tweets and blogs and from watching atheist YouTube videos it is very clear that atheists are emotionally insecure.
What causes an Atheist to be Emotionally Insecure?
Atheists are emotionally insecure and being insecure atheists want to feel better about themselves and thus atheists insult those people who do not accept their belief that God does not exist because deep inside they know God really does exist. Their knowing God exists and yet their self-denying God’s existence causes a guilty feeling inside the atheist thus causes the atheist to be emotionally insecure.
How does an Atheist’s Emotional Insecurity Display Itself?
As stated in WikiPedia.org, emotional insecurity displays itself through compensatory behaviors such as arrogance, aggression, or bullying and can often be accompanied by a controlling personality type. It is through each of these behaviors with which an atheist’s emotional insecurity displays itself as can be easily found on Twitter, YouTube, and atheist blogs. Thus to feel better about themselves, atheists display their emotional insecurity through compensatory behaviors such as arrogance, aggression, and bullying and by trying to control those people who do not accept their belief that God does not exist. Most atheists turn to verbal abuse as displayed in their Tweets, blogs, and YouTube videos.
Verbal abuse is a bullying tactic. Verbal abuse is best described as an ongoing emotional environment organized by the abuser (atheists in this case) for the purposes of control. The control atheists want when talking with Christians is emotional control over the Christian. Turning to bullying and insults, the atheist tries to take the conversation away from facts and make it an emotional display for them and their atheist friends can feel better about themselves. With verbal abuse consisting of insults and slurs against Christ Jesus and the follower of Christ Jesus, the atheist sets the stage for building their self-esteem. The underlying factor in the dynamic of verbal abuse is the abuser’s [the atheist’s] low regard for him or herself. The (atheist verbal) abuser attempts to place their victim [the Christian] in a position to believe similar things about him or herself, a form of warped projection. (2)
No matter how much atheists deny that they are emotionally insecure, atheists bully and insult Christians because they are emotionally insecure with themselves. Some atheists go so far as to mask their face and disguise their voice in their videos because they are so emotionally insecure and yet they still bully and insult Christians in their videos because of the insecurity they have about their atheist beliefs so that they can feel better about themselves. Further studies have shown that envy and resentment may be motives for bullying. Research on the self-esteem of bullies has produced equivocal results. While some bullies are arrogant and narcissistic, others can use bullying as a tool to conceal shame or anxiety or to boost self-esteem: by demeaning others, the abuser him/herself feels empowered. (3) Most atheists who do the bullying and insulting of Christians are both, arrogant and narcissistic as they use bullying as a tool to conceal their anxiety over their emotional insecurity and atheistic beliefs... or as some atheists put it, their lack of beliefs.
Why do Atheists display Their Emotional Insecurity?
Atheists display their emotional insecurity because atheists feel the imbalance of power of their atheist’s beliefs as opposed to Christian beliefs because deep down inside each atheist, know that they are suppressing the knowledge within each of us that God exists. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools,... being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” (Romans 1:20-32)
Atheists know bullying involves repeated acts over time attempting to create or enforce one person's (or group's) power over another person (or group), thus an "imbalance of power". The "imbalance of power" may be social power and/or physical power. Bullying is an act of repeated aggressive behavior in order to intentionally hurt another person, physically or mentally. Bullying is characterized by an individual behaving in a certain way to gain power over another person. Bullying behavior may include name calling, verbal or written abuse. Research indicates that adults who bully have personalities that are authoritarian, combined with a strong need to control or dominate. (3) Atheists who turn to bullying and insults in conversations with Christians want to control and dominate the conversation away from facts and into emotional displays. Atheists who turn to bulling and insults are not seeking truth, they are using bullying as a tool to conceal their emotional insecurity, shame and anxiety and to boost their self-esteem: thinking that by demeaning Christians their atheist friends will come and bully and insult the Christian too thus the atheist abuser feels him/herself more empowered and in control… especially when other atheists jump in and bully and insult the Christian too.
Good News for all Atheists to Overcome their Emotional Insecurity
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
“And it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Acts 2:21
The only way an atheist can overcome their emotionally insecurity is to not deny God. I suggest that atheists seek help in order to address their low regard for themselves. In fact, I suggest that atheists drop to their knees and repent of their sins to Christ Jesus and ask forgiveness to which Christ Jesus will forgive them if they are indeed repentant of their sins and then they should accept Christ Jesus as their savior. Even though these atheists have insulted Christ Jesus, He loves them and wants them to accept His love for them and He wants them to choose to love Him (Romans 5:8). Christ Jesus does not force His love on anyone as His mercy comes as a gift which each of us must accept.
As I stated, atheists denying Christ Jesus as their savior is the reason that they are emotionally insecure and because they are emotionally insecure they bully those people who accept Christ Jesus. Atheists insult Christ Jesus far more than they are insulting Christians which is why atheists are emotionally insecure and do their insults and bullying; atheists have deluded themselves by pushing down their knowledge of God.
Atheists can easily overcome their insecurity by confessing that they are not perfect and by accepting Christ Jesus as their savior.
LiveFreeOrDie1985 made this comment on one of my YouTube videos:
Quote: When I look at the cross I see an angry blood thirsty wrathful God venting his anger on himself and not justice at all the bible says God is just. Explain to me how someone being punished for someone else’s wrong doing is justice. Imagine if my son killed someone and had the death penalty given to him. I asked the judge kill me instead of him. The judge would say no you did not commit the crime and its unjust. So explain to me how the cross is just punishment for our sins? : end quote
My Reply to LiveFreeOrDie1985
Your questions and comments LiveFreeOrDie1985 shows that you either do not understand what the Bible teaches us about what Christ Jesus’ death on the cross was all about or that you are doing this maliciously. I’ll assume that you are ignorant of what the actually Bible teaches and that you’ve taken someone’s word for what it teaches instead of actually reading it for yourself.
How can someone being punished for someone else’s wrong doing bring about justice?
Let me read for you a story that happened in 2004 that will help shed light on what Christ Jesus did for you and me on the cross. After this story, I’ll explain to you how the cross is related to our wrong doings and how it redeems us.
Saturday, November 20, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M.
Marine sacrifices his life for others in grenade blast
By Gordon Trowbridge
The Army Times
FALLUJAH, Iraq — Sgt. Rafael Peralta built a reputation as a man who always put his Marines' interests ahead of his own.
He showed that again, when he made the ultimate sacrifice of his life Tuesday, by shielding his fellow Marines from a grenade blast.
"It's stuff you hear about in boot camp, about World War II and Tarawa Marines who won the Medal of Honor," said Lance Cpl. Rob Rogers, 22, of Tallahassee, Fla., one of Peralta's platoon mates in 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.
Peralta, 25, as platoon scout, wasn't even assigned to the assault team that entered the insurgent safe house in northern Fallujah, Marines said. Despite an assignment that would have allowed him to avoid such dangerous duty, he regularly asked squad leaders if he could join their assault teams, they said.
One of the first Marines to enter the house, Peralta was wounded in the face by rifle fire from a room near the entry door, said Lance Cpl. Adam Morrison, 20, of Tacoma, who was in the house when Peralta was first wounded.
Moments later, an insurgent rolled a fragmentation grenade into the area where a wounded Peralta and the other Marines were seeking cover.
As Morrison and another Marine scrambled to escape the blast, pounding against a locked door, Peralta grabbed the grenade and cradled it into his body, Morrison said. While one Marine was badly wounded by shrapnel from the blast, the Marines said they believe more lives would have been lost if not for Peralta's selfless act.
"He saved half my fire team," said Cpl. Brannon Dyer, 27, of Blairsville, Ga.
The Marines said such a sacrifice would be perfectly in character for Peralta, a Mexico native who lived in San Diego and gained U.S. citizenship after joining the Marines.
"He'd stand up for his Marines to an insane point," Rogers said. … (1)
How the Cross is Related to Our Wrong Doings and how it Redeems Us
Just as Sgt. Rafael Peralta giving up his life for his fellow Marines is not the same as a father telling a judge to punish him for his son’s murdering someone, so is God the Father’s sacrifice on a cross of His only begotten Son Jesus, not the same as an angry blood thirsty wrathful God venting his anger on himself. Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta sacrificed his life for the love of his fellow Marines because he wanted to save their life from the fragment grenade tossed into the room they were in that could have killed each of them. Christ Jesus sacrificed His life for the love of each and every one of us because He wants to save us from the wrong doings we each do which can eternally separate us from God. “Christ died for us while we were still sinners. This demonstrates God's love for us.” Romans 5:8
Why cannot God just let Everyone into Heaven?
There are two reasons God cannot let everyone into Heaven. First is because God is perfect and none of us are. Perfection cannot have anything imperfect near it because if anything imperfect comes near perfection, perfection is no longer perfect because the imperfection contaminates the perfection. Therefore God who is perfect cannot just let everyone into Heaven unless there’s some way that the imperfect can become perfect or at least be accepted as being perfect.
Second, not everyone wants to be with God. Remember, Satan and 1/3 of the angels decided to not be with God and God let them rebel (use their free will) against God’s desire for them to stay with Him. Not every human being wants to be with God. I have had many people tell me that they don’t want anything to do with God. Because God loves everyone equally, and because God is just in every way, God allows those people who do not want to be with Him, to not be with Him. If God were to force someone into Heaven against his/her will who did not want to be in Heaven, that would neither be loving nor just to the person not wanting to be with God. So, God at the time of judgment will tell those people who do not want to be with Him in Heaven that their will, will be done, not His.
Why did God have to send His only begotten Son to earth to die for us?
God loves us very much and made a way for us to become His children. God sent His only Son, Christ Jesus, to earth (John 3:16). Jesus was both fully God and fully human (like you and me) yet while He grew up, Jesus didn’t act out against His heavenly Father; Jesus was always obedient to God and never sinned. Jesus told people how they could have a right relationship with God and become His children.
God said that death was the punishment for sin and that eternal life is in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:23). So, “Everyone must die once, and after that be judged by God. (Hebrews 9:27)”
Basically, God set down the consequences for our wrongful behaviors (death) and how we can be redeemed from an eternal separation from Him through Christ Jesus.
Why do we have to die?
Again, we have to die once because we have each sinned and the punishment for sin is death. (Romans 6:23) (Hebrews 9:27)
How does Christ Jesus’ death count towards our having eternal life?
“The death Christ Jesus died, He died to sin once for everyone which was a unique event that need not be repeated; but Jesus’ life, He keeps on living for God. (Romans 6:10)” What this means for you and me is that if we place our trust in Christ Jesus’ physical death and physical resurrection from death as actually happening, you and I are at that time accepted by God the Father as pure and holy just as Christ Jesus truly is because God accepts us through Christ Jesus’ perfectness and not as we truly are which is sinful.
Why can God not just let those people who accept Him into Heaven without having Christ Jesus go through all of that pain, suffering, death?
As explained in the Bible because as we know, God is perfectly just and being so it is against God’s nature to have anything not perfect near Him. The only way for you and me to be in Heaven with God would be if we were perfect (which we are not) or for God to have some way for us to be accepted as being perfect (even though we are not).
So because of our not being perfect, God sent His only Son, Christ Jesus, to earth (John 3:16). Jesus was both fully God and fully human (like you and me) yet while He grew up, Jesus didn’t act out against His heavenly Father; Jesus was always obedient to God and never sinned. Jesus told people how they could have a right relationship with God and become His children.
Why didn’t God create us to not sin?
God could have made each of us like robots i.e., without free will yet He didn’t. God gave to us free will to choose to knowingly do what we know is good and free will to knowingly do what we know is evil because He loves us and God loves each and every one of us equally, regardless of if we love Him or not. Just like loving parents love their child who has knowingly done something wrong or evil still love their child and desires that their child not knowingly do evil, God loves us and desires for us to not do evil.
Where does faith come in?
This is where my faith in God comes in. From what is taught to us in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is of how God knew from the beginning that mankind using their free will would sin. And that God from the beginning had a plan in place by which you and I could using our free will be redeemed. And by God allowing our sin to happen He was able to show the redeemed how much He loved us by His sacrificing His only begotten Son for us.
We also need to realize that there are so many things which we do not understand and never will fully understand. God has a wonderful plan that stretches into eternity, full of things that we “do not know.” It is important to remember that God is in control and that He promises to work everything (even the bad things) together for the good of those who love Him. Sometimes we need to trust Him and walk in faith.
And thus my faith is in God’s promise of salvation through His only begotten Son Jesus for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:13)" along with my faith in God keeping His other promises of a new heaven and new earth, no more pain, tears, suffering, and death assures me that once I am in Heaven with God, that I’m there to stay.
“Why” you ask, “do you have faith that God will fulfill His promises in the first place, Victor?”
I have faith in God fulfilling the promises He has made because God has shown a rock solid history of fulfilling the promises He has made all throughout the Old Testament and New Testament. From Genesis to Revelation, God has proven worthy of fulfilling every promise He has made. That’s why.
Are you ready for that day?
Have you accepted Christ’s redeeming work on the cross? It is a free gift! If you want to receive Christ’s free gift of salvation, take seriously John 3:16 (above) which reveals God’s resolve, it states that God loves the world (you and me) and that He sent His Son to die on a cross, because of this love He has for you and me.
Are you ready for that day, the day you die?
Have you accepted Christ’s redeeming work on the cross? It is a free gift! If you want to receive Christ’s free gift of salvation, take seriously John 3:16 (above) which reveals God’s resolve, it states that God loves the world (you and me) and that He sent His Son to die on a cross, because of this love He has for you and me.
To take seriously John 3:16 you need to stop sinning and not plan to sin and accept Christ Jesus as full payment for your sins. Call upon Christ Jesus to save you because everyone who calls upon Christ Jesus to help them will be saved from eternal death; for “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Christ Jesus will be saved!” Romans 10:13
LiveFreeOrDie1985 made a series of comments on one of my YouTube videos which I consolidated here so that I can give answer to per LiveFreeOrDie1985’s request of me to reply.
LiveFreeOrDie1985’s Comments
Quote: I have a rock solid argument for atheism toward the biblical God. I would like to hear your opinions on it please. I will make four assumptions on the biblical God. He is all knowing all powerful all loving and Just. Basically perfect. ok here is the argument. If God is the greatest possible good then if God had not created there would be nothing but the greatest possible good.
If for some reason God could not create a world without evil because of humans free will then if he was all good it should not have been created. For instance God made Adam and Eve in a perfect world they sinned and messed up the world and brought pain and suffering in. If God was all knowing and all Good why were humans created in the first place.
It’s the same as a parent giving a loaded handgun to the baby knowing they will shoot themselves or someone else.
Lastly what makes you think everything in heaven will be great if you still have free will???
After all the angels according to the bible rebelled against a perfect God indicating free will in heaven. You see what I am getting at if suffering is from free will of man and man has free will in heaven how will there be no suffering??????? :End Quote
My reply to LiveFreeOrDie1985
LiveFreeOrDie1985, your so claimed “rock solid argument for atheism toward the biblical God” is a really weak argument to anyone who has actually read the Bible in context. So either you misrepresent God purposefully or you are purely ignorant about what the Bible teaches about God. I’ll assume that you need to actually read the Bible instead of taking hearsay from people as you show your ignorance about it greatly with the way you phrased your questions about God.
The four assumptions LiveFreeOrDie1985 made about God are true; “He is all knowing all powerful all loving and Just.” God is “perfect” instead of “basically perfect” as you stated. “God is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He.” Deuteronomy 32:4 NIV
LiveFreeOrDie1985’s states: “If God is the greatest possible good then if God had not created there would be nothing but the greatest possible good.”
God, being the greatest possible good, if God had not created anything there would be nothing but the greatest possible good. So LiveFreeOrDie1985’s statement is true.
Yet God did create the heavens and earth and we know that when He finished creating everything, it was all very good. Genesis 1:31 “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. …”
LiveFreeOrDie1985 then states: “If for some reason God could not create a world without evil because of humans free will then if he was all good it should not have been created.”
God could have created a world without evil yet to do so God could not have given to anyone “free will” because for anybody having “free will” means that anybody can freely choose to do evil.
LiveFreeOrDie1985 then states: “For instance God made Adam and Eve in a perfect world they sinned and messed up the world and brought pain and suffering in.”
True, God made Adam and Eve knowing that they would each sin, doing the single request God made of them to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they each ate from it; Genesis 3. This did indeed bring in pain and suffering; Genesis 3:16-19 ‘To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.’
LiveFreeOrDie1985 then asks: “If God was all knowing and all Good why were humans created in the first place.”
Good question, why did God who knows everything that ever was, is, and will be, create you and me in the first place when God knows that we knowingly do things we know we shouldn’t do and we knowingly don’t do things we know we should do? You can ask the same question of a man and woman who plan to have and have a child or more. Why do a man and woman knowingly plan to have a child and have a child when they know their child will knowingly do things they know that they shouldn’t do and knowingly not do things they know they should do? Why do a man and a woman knowingly plan to have a child knowing that their child may grow up and not love them? For the same reasons God planned and created you and me; God wanted to create us and because of love. God loves us.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." John 3:16-21
LiveFreeOrDie1985 then states: “It’s the same as a parent giving a loaded handgun to the baby knowing they will shoot themselves or someone else.”
No LiveFreeOrDie1985, parents knowingly planning and having children the parents know will disobey them isn’t the same as parents giving a loaded handgun to their baby. Knowingly planning and having children is done because the parents can do it and done in love. Parents giving a loaded handgun to a baby is stupidity on the part of the parents and does not relate to why a man and woman knowingly bring a child into this world whom they both know will knowingly do things the child knows it shouldn’t and will knowingly not do things the child knows it should do.
God could have made each of us like robots i.e., without free will yet He didn’t. God gave to us free will to choose to knowingly do what we know is good and free will to knowingly do what we know is evil because He loves us and God loves each and every one of us equally, regardless of if we love Him or not. Just like loving parents love their child who has knowingly done something wrong or evil still love their child and desires that their child not knowingly do evil, God loves us and desires for us to not do evil.
Because you and I knowingly do evil things, doesn’t make it the same as if God gave to either of us a loaded handgun. And, even if God had given to either of us a loaded handgun, it would be your and my free will at work in what we shot with it or not and your and my fault if we shot someone with it and not God’s fault. Just as good parents correct their child for knowingly doing something wrong or knowingly not doing something right, God corrects us through the consequences of pain and suffering we experience and cause other people to experience.
LiveFreeOrDie1985 at this point asks: “Lastly what makes you think everything in heaven will be great if you still have free will???”
Another good question. This is where my faith in God comes in. From what is taught to us in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is of how God knew from the beginning that mankind using their free will would sin. And that God from the beginning had a plan in place by which you and I could using our free will be redeemed. And by God allowing our sin to happen He was able to show the redeemed how much He loved us by His sacrificing His only begotten Son for us.
“For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Romans 14:17
LiveFreeOrDie1985 ends with these statements: “After all the angels according to the bible rebelled against a perfect God indicating free will in heaven. You see what I am getting at if suffering is from free will of man and man has free will in heaven how will there be no suffering???????”
Another good question indeed. First of all, we know from Genesis 1:31 that God created everything to be “very good.” Everything that God made was originally perfect! Unfortunately, Lucifer sinned by rebelling against God at some point after the Creation Week (Isaiah 14:12–15). Adam and Eve also sinned by rebelling against God (Genesis 3:1–11). They chose to eat the forbidden fruit, and as a result, the earth was cursed because of sin (Genesis 3:17–18). We live in a world affected by the consequences of their sin. Of course, God knew that all this would happen.
Colossian 1:16 tells us that God created all things “through Him and for Him.”
Basically God created Lucifer, the angels that chose to rebel, and people because He wanted to. Let’s explore this a further so that we can better understand it.
Not only did God create all things, but he also gave angels and people the freedom to rebel against Him. And rebel is exactly what Lucifer, the fallen angels, Adam, Eve, and all of us have done. We (you and me) have sinned and rebelled against God, so we are all guilty.
We know that God is not pleased when someone who rejects Him dies (Ezekiel 33:11), but it is precious in His sight when one someone who accepts Him passes away (Psalm 116:15). There is also joy in the presence of angels when a sinner (like you and me) repents (Luke 15:10). Why? Obviously, God does not want to sentence someone to eternity apart from Him (2 Peter 3:9), but He is also holy and just, so God does if the person chooses to be separated from Him. Since God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), perhaps He enjoys (pleasures in) showering His love on His creation.
We must always keep in mind that God created a perfect world (Genesis 1:31) and that we (you and me) are the ones who messed it up. So even though God knew Satan and 1/3 of the angels would rebel, and much of mankind would reject His offer of salvation, it is not God’s fault that they rebelled against Him.
Of course, sin and a broken world are not the end of story. Let’s not forget that someday God promises that He will make a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1). There will be no more pain, tears or death (Rev. 21:4). Everyone who has asked Jesus to save them from the penalty of their sins will be with Him for all eternity (Rev. 22:1–5)!
We also need to realize that there are so many things which we do not understand and never will fully understand. God has a wonderful plan that stretches into eternity, full of things that we “do not know.” It is important to remember that God is in control and that He promises to work everything (even the bad things) together for the good of those who love Him. Sometimes we need to trust Him and walk in faith.
And thus my faith is in God’s promise of salvation through His only begotten Son Jesus for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:13)" along with my faith in God keeping His other promises of a new heaven and new earth, no more pain, tears, suffering, and death assures me that once I am in Heaven with God, that I’m there to stay.
“Why” you ask, “do you have faith that God will fulfill His promises in the first place, Victor?” I have faith in God fulfilling the promises He has made because God has shown a rock solid history of fulfilling the promises He has made all throughout the Old Testament and New Testament. From Genesis to Revelation, God has proven worthy of fulfilling every promise He has made. That’s why.
Are you ready for that day? Have you accepted Christ’s redeeming work on the cross? It is a free gift! If you want to receive Christ’s free gift of salvation, take seriously John 3:16 (above) which reveals God’s resolve, it states that God loves the world (you and me) and that He sent His Son to die on a cross, because of this love He has for you and me.
“Why” you ask, “did God have to send His only begotten Son to earth to die for us? Could God not just let everyone into Heaven?”
I’ll answer the second question first. As we talked about already, not everyone wants to be with God. Remember, Satan and 1/3 of the angels decided to not be with God and God let them rebel (use their free will) against His desire for them to stay with Him. Not every human being wants to be with God. I have had many people tell me that they don’t want anything to do with God. Because God loves everyone equally, and because God is just in every way, God allows those people who do not want to be with Him, to not be with Him. If God were to force someone into Heaven against his/her will who did not want to be in Heaven, that would neither be loving nor just to the person not wanting to be with God. So, God at the time of judgment will tell those people who do not want to be with Him in Heaven that their will, will be done, not His.
The first question’s answer we’ve touched on a few times already. God loves us very much and made a way for us to become is children. God sent His only Son, Christ Jesus, to earth (John 3:16). Jesus was both fully God and fully human (like you and me) yet while He grew up, Jesus didn’t act out against His heavenly Father; Jesus was always obedient to God and never sinned. Jesus told people how they could have a right relationship with God and become His children.
God said that death was the punishment for sin and that eternal life is in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:23). So, “Everyone must die once, and after that be judged by God. (Hebrews 9:27)”
Basically, God set down the consequences for our wrongful behaviors (death) and how we can be redeemed from an eternal separation from Him through Christ Jesus.
Now, you ask, “Why do we have to die?” Again, we have to die once because we have each sinned and the punishment for sin is death.
You ask, “But how does Christ Jesus’ death count towards our having eternal life?” The death Christ Jesus died, He died to sin once for everyone which was a unique event that need not be repeated; but Jesus’ life, He keeps on living for God. (Romans 6:10)” What this means for you and me is that if we place our trust in Christ Jesus’ physical death and physical resurrection from death as actually happening, you and I are at that time accepted by God the Father as pure and holy just as Christ Jesus truly is because God accepts us through Christ Jesus’ perfectness and not as we truly are which is sinful.
“Yet could God not just let those people who accept Him into Heaven without having Christ Jesus go through all of that pain, suffering, death?” Not as explained in the Bible because as we know, God is perfectly just and being so it is against God’s nature to have anything not perfect near Him. The only way for you and me to be in Heaven with God would be if we were perfect (which we are not) or for God to have some way for us to be accepted as being perfect (even though we are not).
So because of our not being perfect, God sent His only Son, Christ Jesus, to earth (John 3:16). Jesus was both fully God and fully human (like you and me) yet while He grew up, Jesus didn’t act out against His heavenly Father; Jesus was always obedient to God and never sinned. Jesus told people how they could have a right relationship with God and become His children.
Are you ready for that day, the day you die? Have you accepted Christ’s redeeming work on the cross? It is a free gift! If you want to receive Christ’s free gift of salvation, take seriously John 3:16 (above) which reveals God’s resolve, it states that God loves the world (you and me) and that He sent His Son to die on a cross, because of this love He has for you and me.
To take seriously John 3:16 you need to stop sinning and not plan to sin and accept Christ Jesus as full payment for your sins. Call upon Christ Jesus to save you because everyone who calls upon Christ Jesus to help them will be saved from eternal death; for “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Christ Jesus will be saved!” Romans 10:13
Christopher Hitchens legacy to humanity falls short of what it could have been.
A statement released by Vanity Fair late the night Christopher Hitchens died stated:
"There will never be another like Christopher. A man of ferocious intellect, who was as vibrant on the page as he was at the bar," Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter said in the statement. "Those who read him felt they knew him, and those who knew him were profoundly fortunate souls."
I agree that there will never be another person like Christopher Hitchens and there was never anyone like him before. God creates each of us uniquely and to each of us gives some exceptional ability which not many of us actually aspire to achieve to the level that Christopher Hitchens did during his lifetime of 62 years.
Christopher Hitchens’ legacy to Humanity is in my eyes two fold. Overall, Christopher Hitchens could have been so much greater than he was. Christopher Hitchens had a chance to positively change the world yet instead his legacy promotes and inspires an immense hatred against people who have placed their faith in God’s promises and follow Christ Jesus.
Firstly his greatest success: Hitchens correctly went after and exposed perverted religious zealots who aspire to power and wealth and bring corruption into the world stating that God is giving them authority to do so. With his God given wit, Hitchens attacked them using his God given verbal and writing skills.
In Hitchens’ rightly attacking religion, he was following what God teaches us in the Bible as religion separates people from God. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27 NIV
Secondly his greatest failure: Although Hitchens knew who God is, he also attacked God during his fight against religious zealots. With his inclusion of God during his attacks, Hitchens even though knowing who God is, is today giving many atheists an enhanced inspiration to spew messages of vile hatred towards God and Christians.
To his credit: Christopher Hitchens during his lifetime clearly defined to everyone who God is and what a true Christian isyet many atheists choose to overlook and not care to know what Hitchens said and wrote about God.
To his discredit: Instead of pointing people to Whom God actually is and clearly dividing a rightful line between religion and God, Hitchens chose to muddle religion with God just as those religious zealots Hitchens so rightly went after and exposed.
Christopher Hitchens knew who God is: Upon more than one occasion Hitchens made it clear that he knew what true Christianity is. In his article NewYorkTimes.com; “In the Name of the Father, the Sons . . .”(1) Hitchens clearly shows his knowledge and understanding of and articulates to those who read it in context, who Christ Jesus is:
‘Belief in the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth and belief in the virtue of his teachings are not at all the same thing. Writing to John Adams in 1813, having taken his razor blade to the books of the New Testament and removed all "the artificial vestments in which they have been muffled by priests," Thomas Jefferson said the 46-page residue contained "the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man." Ernest Renan, in his path breaking "Life of Jesus" in 1863, also repudiated the idea that Jesus was the son of God while affirming the beauty of his teachings. In rather striking contrast, C. S. Lewis maintained in his classic statement "Mere Christianity":
"That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse."
As an admirer of Jefferson and Renan and a strong nonadmirer of Lewis, I am bound to say that Lewis is more honest here. Absent a direct line to the Almighty and a conviction that the last days are upon us, how is it "moral" to teach people to abandon their families, give up on thrift and husbandry and take to the stony roads? How is it moral to claim a monopoly on access to heaven, or to threaten waverers with everlasting fire, let alone to condemn fig trees and persuade devils to infest the bodies of pigs? Such a person if not divine would be a sorcerer and a fanatic.’
In Hitchens’ review of a book by fellow atheist Philip Pullman who is writing about Jesus, Hitchens makes an incredibly important point. If we take Jesus seriously, then we have to take seriously what he said about himself. You cannot separate the ‘words’ of Jesus from the ‘identity’ of Jesus.
C. S. Lewis says Jesus is the Son of God or a madman or something worse. Hitchens agrees. Lewis says he's the Son of God whereas Hitchens stated Jesus might have been a sorcerer or a fanatic.
This brings us back to the famous "trilemma."
Is Jesus Lord?
Is Jesus a liar?
Is Jesus a lunatic?
Hitchens is absolutelyright to insist that the so-called "moral teachings" of Christ make no sense unless he is indeed the Son of God, a conclusion Hitchens utterly rejects at the time of his writing the review. Christians would say that Hitchens is right on the first point but wrong in his conclusion. But at least he frames the issue correctly.(2)
Christopher Hitchens knew what true Christianity is and how to be saved From eternal death:During a “Portland Monthly Magazine” interview when asked about what is a true Christian Hitchens stated:
“I would say that if you don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you’re really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.”(3)
Christopher Hitchens’ overall legacy to humanity deeply saddens me:Hitchens knowing clearly who God is muddled his rightful hatred of religion and religious zealots with an irate hatred of God. Today this clearly is wrathfully fueling immense hatred and vile comments in so many atheists against people who worship Christ Jesus and desire that Hitchens prior to his death repented of his sins. It also saddens me that to my limited knowledge Christopher Hitchens continued to reject his Creator’s gift of salvation, our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.
There is hope “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” Romans 10:13 KJV:With Christopher Hitchens knowing who God actually is and what a true Christian is, it brings to me hope that Hitchens just prior to his final moments of life on this earth be it expressed out loud or not, could have accepted Christ Jesus as his Christ and Messiah.
Yet you and I will not know until our deaths will we. Neither you nor me have died so you and me don’t know Christopher Hitchens’ final choice on accepting Christ Jesus or not. My desire is that Christopher Hitchens prior to his death did accept Christ Jesus as his savior.
One thing however I do know is that at this time either if he chose to accept Christ Jesus as his savior or not is that Christopher Hitchens’ desire now more than ever is that he wants you to accept Christ Jesus as your savior.
My deepest condolences to the Hitchens family at their time of loss of husband, father, brother, friend; Christopher Hitchens died on December 15th, 2011 from complications brought on by cancer. Though the melancholy as time goes by lessens it never fully dissipates. Our hope then must be beyond our meager means. We need to look to God for it is through His mercy and love we get peace. Knowing that through Christ Jesus, God gave to us His love.
It deeply saddens me that to my limited knowledge Christopher Hitchens continued to reject his Creator’s gift of salvation, our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. Christopher Hitchens knew how to be saved from eternal death as during an interview when asked about what is a true Christian he stated:
“I would say that if you don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you’re really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.”
With Christopher Hitchens knowing what a true Christian is, it brings to me hope that Hitchens just prior to his final moments of life on this earth be it expressed out loud or not, could have accepted Christ Jesus as his Christ and Messiah. My desire is that Christopher Hitchens prior to his death did accept Christ Jesus as his savior.
I will not know Christopher Hitchens’ choice until my time on this earth ends. One thing however I do know is that at this time Christopher Hitchens either if he chose to accept Christ Jesus as his savior or not now more than ever wants you to accept Christ Jesus as your savior.
@GRIMACHU from Twitter says that morals are subjective (not absolute) and that we live within secular morality. Going on to say that the Bible has contractions in Luke 16:17 and Matthew 5:18-19 which undermines 'absolute morality' said to be within the Bible thus it retains the entire, vicious Old Testament laws as being binding today.
I have to admit that many people in today’s secular society state that society follows secular objective (not absolute) morality meaning that it is based upon opinions of individuals and of a ruling society, morals seem to shift from position to position dependent upon varying circumstances. To these people saying that, I say that they have not sat down and actually thought about what subjective morality really is.
Morals; Absolutely
Objective (not absolute) secular morality is not the case if one were to absolutely look at the morality that is within each of our God given nature. If we look at the morality within each of our nature, we each absolutely know instinctively right from wrong and good from evil although be it that we do not always choose to adhere to what we know to be right and good. We know instinctively right from wrong and good from evil because we ourselves each do not want to be raped, murdered, lied to, cheated on (adultery), or wronged in any way. None of us need to be told by a community standard that we don’t want to be raped, murdered, lied to, cheated on (adultery), or wronged in any way because we absolutely know beyond doubt we do not want these things to happen to us. From our each knowing instinctively that we do not want these things to happen to us, we therefore absolutely know that these things are wrong and evil to do to others thus within each of us we have and know absolute moral standards which we each should follow.
Morals; Subjectively
@GRIMACHU tweeted; “You can't really create an absolute [morality] though, conditions are too changeable. Any moral system is subjective. The best we could hope for is objectivity in human context.” This is absolute hogwash because as we each know instinctively right from wrong and good from evil because we ourselves each do not want to be raped, murdered, lied to, cheated on (adultery), or wronged in any way therefore we know within us an absolute moral standard which we should follow.
If @GRIMACHU was right in that every moral system is subjective and that we cannot have absolute moral standards because conditions are too changeable, then at any time subjective morals of a society could not only consider rape, murder, adultery, larceny, infanticide, etc. as morally okay but could actually put them into action as moral standards of law. Here are examples of subjective morals that were actually put into action: Remember Stalin, Mao, Hitler, and others like them who starved and eradicated certain people groups, took their belongings and called it good for society. Many people in their society went along with it as though what was going on was a moral thing to do because their leader said it was okay and commanded it even though those people groups who were being starved and eradicated had done nothing deserving to be starved and eradicated.
Now think about if Stalin, Mao, Hitler, etc., had not been stopped and could not be stopped and had continued to starve and eradicate certain people groups and taking their things. Would Stalin, Mao, Hitler, etc. being in control of society, making moral laws saying that it was good to starve and eliminate certain people groups and take their belongings, really make it moral? Of course not because absolutely we know morally that it is morally wrong to starve and eliminate people groups and take anyone’s belongings because we each do not want our people groups to be starved and eliminated and our things taken.
If morals were subjective then there was nothing wrong or evil with what Stalin, Mao, Hitler, and others like them did (or do) because it was done by Stalin, Mao, and Hitler objectively in human context to those who were not being eliminated as helpful to their society. Yet we (you and me) know absolutely beyond doubt that what they did was wrong and evil because morals are not subjective to human context, clear-cut absolute morals are unquestionably known to us because instinctively we know right from wrong and good from evil because we ourselves each do not want to be raped, murdered, lied to, cheated on (adultery), or wronged in any way.
Morals; In the Bible
GRIMACHU tweeted that, “We're the ones who decide, the only common standard is community standard.” As we’ve learned, if the only common standard is a community standard moral, then we’d be open to having rape, murder, adultery, lying, larceny, etc., as acceptable morals because some people who gain control of communities and countries, Mao, Stalin, Hitler for example, impose their subjective morals to which we know are not real morals because morals are not subjective, morals are absolutely known to us because instinctively we know right from wrong and good from evil because we ourselves each do not want to be raped, murdered, lied to, cheated on (adultery), wronged in any way, etc.
I’ve had many atheists make statements to me such as, “You have to have God tell you to not rape and murder so that you don’t rape and murder.” Yes, God put knowledge of absolute moral standards into each of us so that we instinctively know right from wrong and good from evil by our not wanting to be raped, murdered, lied to, cheated on (adultery), wronged in any way, etc. God also gave to us the Ten Commandments which He originally wrote in stone.
Laws In the Bible’s Old Testament
@GRIMACHU tweeted that the Bible has contraction which undermines 'absolute morality' said to be taught within Luke 16:17 and Matthew 5:18-19 that is said to back up and retain the entire, vicious Old Testament laws as being morally binding today. Let’s look over what is in the Old Testament and who it was written for and then go into the New Testament and see what is in it and to whom it was written.
In the book of Exodus 19:1—40:38, God is giving the law to the Israelites, including tabernacle instructions and construction details, and what happens when the law is broken. God’s law system is described in three parts within the book of Exodus. The first part, the Ten Commandments contain the absolutes of spiritual and moral life. The second part was the civil law which gave the Israelites rules to manage their lives. Thirdly, the ceremonial law described patterns for Israelites to build a tabernacle and regular worship. God revealed His law to the Israelites so that they could learn more about what God is like and how He expected them to live as His people.
The book of Leviticus defines instructions for the priests and Levites outlining their duties in worshiping a holy God and a guidebook of holy living for the Hebrews. Leviticus 1:1—17:16 are instructions for the offerings, instructions for priests, instructions for the people, and instructions for the altar which all are for worshiping a holy God. Leviticus 18:1—27:34 define living a holy life and has standards for the people, rules for priests, descriptions of seasons and festivals and receiving God’s blessing. In Leviticus, God gave clear standards to the Israelites for how to live a holy life, separate and distinct from pagan nations around them.
The book of Deuteronomy was written to the new Israel generation about to enter into the Promised Land for daily living guidelines and civil laws. In Deuteronomy, God reviewed His laws for the people and the legal contract between God and His people had to be renewed by the new generation of Israelites about to enter the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 4:44—28:68 go over again the Ten Commandments and is God reminding His people that in order to ratify His agreement, they must choose the path of obedience and follow the daily living guidelines given to them.
Laws given during those Old Testament times are as laws given today which means, there are consequences to choice we make or do not make but should have made. It is vital for you and me to actually think before we act today so to not break the law and back then, it was no different. In fact, if the people who were given the Ten Commandments could have actually kept the Ten Commandments, there would have been no reason for any further rules and laws. It’s the same with us today. If each one of us could actually not break the Ten Commandments, there would not be any need for new laws. But the people back then make poor choices just as you and I today make poor choices and as such, we have more and more complex laws.
As a follower of Christ Jesus, both the Old Testament and the New Testament make up the Holy Bible. The Old Testament isn’t called “The Old Testament” by Jewish people yet it is the same writings in both only a slight different order of books. Jewish people do not consider the New Testament as holy scripture. Only people who follow Christ Jesus consider the New Testament as holy and as the Word of God. The reason for this is that Jewish people do not accept Christ Jesus as the Messiah. Many Jewish people are still waiting on the Messiah to arrive however, people who used to be Jewish at the time Christ Jesus was walking in human flesh, saw the miracles Jesus performed and saw Him die, and then saw Him after He rose from death which fulfilled the Jewish holy scriptures (today’s Old Testament) prophecies about the Messiah. These previously Jewish people wrote the scriptures which became the New Testament.
People who actually follow Christ Jesus are true Christians (Acts 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16) and take the whole bible, Old Testament and New Testament as God’s word and as absolute truth and read it all in context.
Christ Jesus as stated in Matthew 5:17-20, said the following concerning the Law and Prophets;
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus then goes on and gives a list of the commandments He is discussing:
Murder – Matthew 5:25,26 -- Luke 12:58,59
Adultery – Matthew 5:27-30
Divorce – Matthew 5:31-32 – Luke 16:16-18
Keeping One’s Word – Matthew 5:33-37
Turning the other Cheek – Matthew 5:38-42
Love your Enemies – Matthew 5:43-48
Giving to the Needy – Matthew 6:1-4
Prayer – Matthew 6:9-13pp -- Luke 11:2-4
So if Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law, doesn’t that mean that all of the Old Testament laws still apply to us today? Those who do not read the Bible in context say, “Yes, it does mean that the Old Testament laws apply to those who say that the Bible is God’s never changing word and those who say it doesn’t are ‘cherry picking’ what they want the Bible to say because they don’t want to abide by those laws.” Reading the Bible in context however, we learn that there were three categories of law given to the Israelites by God; ceremonial law, civil law, moral law.
The ceremonial law related specifically to Israel worshiping God as described in Leviticus which points forward to the Messiah to come - Christ Jesus. These laws became nullified and no longer necessary after Christ Jesus’ death and resurrection. While we are now not bound to ceremonial laws, the principles behind each of them (to worship and love a holy God) still apply. The Pharisees often accused Jesus as not following and breaking ceremonial laws.
The civil law like Deuteronomy 24:10 for example, applied to daily living in Israel. Today’s society and culture is very radically different than back then and trying to follow civil guidelines of that era today, couldn’t specifically be something we could always do. Jesus actually demonstrated the principles of the civil law.
Moral law (The Ten Commandments in Exodus) is a direct command of God which requires strict obedience; i.e., Exodus 20:13. Moral law reveals the nature and will of God for us to follow and does still apply to us today. Jesus completely obeyed the moral law and teaches them to us in Matthew chapters 5 through 7.
Absolute Morals
Clearly @GRIMACHU has not read the Bible in context or is only taking someone’s word for contradictions being in it because as we see, there are none with regard to absolute morals we should follow; those taught to us by Jesus in the New Testament. The absolute moral standards given to us in the Bible cover each of the
The Gospel (Good News)
With ceremonial law not applicable due to Christ Jesus’ death and resurrection, civil law being given specifically for the Israelites to follow, it leaves only moral law which we all should follow. This is good news that we don’t have to follow the ceremonial and civil law of that time. However, the Ten Commandments are something that no one can fully follow because you and I are not perfect. Being imperfect, we cannot at each moment of the day for every day of our life totally follow each and every moral law given to us by Jesus.
Because you and I are not perfect and thus cannot completely obey the Ten Commandments, Jesus came and fulfilled them in full for us (Matthew 5:17-20). This is the Gospel of Christ Jesus, that He came and perfectly followed the Law for you and me. You see, God knew you and I couldn’t follow the Ten Commandments so He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to do it for us (John 3:16-21). We each only have to accept that Christ Jesus did this for us and admit that we cannot do this on our own.
Your Choice
It is your choice to make to read the Bible in context. It is your choice to make if you want to know truth. It is your choice to make if you want to not just take my word for truth and do your own seeking for truth. I suggest that you not take my word for anything that I’ve said. It is your life, why should you believe me? I don’t know everything.
References
“Life Application Study Bible” New International Version (NIV), Zondervan
Hover over Romans 1:20-22 for proof of God's existence, and over Matthew 5:27-28 for Judgment Day’s perfect standard. Then hover over John 3:16-18 for what God did, and over Acts 17:30-31 for what you need to do.
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