Exodus 20:14 -- Adultery

Exodus 20:14 Do not commit adultery.

This is very cut and dry.  Do not commit adultery.  Do not forsake your spouse by being with someone else, whether in thought or deed.

Leviticus 20:10 If a man commits adultery with a married woman—if he commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.

Again, breaking this commandment leads to death.  The ones who committed the acts must die.

Proverbs 6:27 Can a man embrace fire
and his clothes not be burned?
28 Can a man walk on burning coals
without scorching his feet?
29 So it is with the one who sleeps with
another man’s wife;
no one who touches her will go unpunished.

This is what Solomon had to say about adultery.  Sleeping with another man's wife is like embracing fire and getting burned.  It is dangerous.  You will get punished.  Proverbs goes on to say:

Proverbs 6:32 The one who commits adultery lacks sense;
whoever does so destroys himself.
33 He will get a beating and dishonor,
and his disgrace will never be removed.

You have no sense and you will be disgraced.  You destroy yourself when you commit adultery.

Matthew 5:28 But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Matthew is saying here that just looking at a women with the desire to sleep with her is just the same as actually committing the act itself.  You have had her in your mind, so how is that different than actually do it?  God knows your heart and your intentions when you think them.  Many people praise the fact that they did not commit some particular sin, but fail to mention that they thought about wanting to do it all day long.  Like our pastor said concerning adultery in one of his sermons: "A man came home and told his wife, 'you would be proud of me today, honey.  I did not commit adultery, but man I really wanted to!'"

Matthew 5:32 But I tell you, everyone who divorces his wife, except in a case of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

and

Matthew 19:9 And I tell you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

Here is states that if a divorced person remarries, then they are committing adultery.  I wonder how many Christians read this today?  There are many people who claimed to be Christian when they divorced and then later remarried, for reasons that were not considered sexual immorality.  Do those Christians know they are committing adultery?

Adultery is rampant in our culture.  A lot of times it is swept under the rug, or whispered about behind ones back instead of confronted and dealt with.  Divorce is out of control, especially within the church.  If we truly loved God and our fellow man like the Bible says we ought, then I think the divorce rate among Christians would drop drastically.  We, as a society, had a hard time understanding sacrificial love, that is necessary to keep a long term relationship going.  You can't be in a healthy marriage if all you worry about is yourself and how you can be happy.  There must be concern for the other person involved.  You must love them so much that you are willing to sacrifice some of your wants and desires to make them happy or feel loved or satisfied.  Marriage is not a one way street.

The Bible also talks of adultery in a much deeper sense when referring to Israel's relationship with God.

Jeremiah 3:6 In the days of King Josiah the Lord asked me, “Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has ascended every high hill and gone under every green tree to prostitute herself there. 7 I thought: After she has done all these things, she will return to Me. But she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 I observed that it was because unfaithful Israel had committed adultery that I had sent her away and had given her a certificate of divorce. Nevertheless, her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid but also went and prostituted herself. 9 Indifferent to her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. 10 Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to Me with all her heart—only in pretense.”

Both Israel and Judah have given themselves to foreign gods and worshiped them.  They have made their idols out of stone and wood and worshiped them instead of the on true God.  They have betrayed God and followed after other gods.  As we know from the New Testament, Christ is our groom and us, as the church is his bride.  We must remember the bride of Christ is both Christ and the chosen Jews.  For any of us to follow after other gods or idols is like us committing adultery against God.

Do all good people go to heaven?

The simple answer, NO.  There is a lot in the Bible that supports this answer.   This post is in response to what the Pope said a few days ago.

This is what the Pope said:

"The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can... "The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone!".. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”

Yes, we are created in the image and likeness of God.  God reveals this from the beginning when he told the angels "let us make man in our image."  We may have the commandment to do good and not evil, but that does not mean we do it.  We will never choose good because it is good.  There is always a selfish reasons, unless Christ is in it, we cannot do good.  Not pure good in the eyes of God.  We can do good in the eyes of man, but God's definition of good is different from ours.  God's definition of good is that which is perfect and complete.  When God created, he called his creation very good.  When it was created, it was perfect and complete.  When God calls something good, it means it is perfect.  There is no sinful desire or motive what so ever.  When we say something is good, we mean it is pleasing or beneficial to us somehow.  Someones actions may be good, but their motives behind those actions may not.

Romans 3:12 All have turned away;
all alike have become useless.
There is no one who does what is good,
not even one.

The Bible is clear, no one is good.  Not even one.  Not one single person, apart from Christ was ever good.

Responding to the leader of the Roman Catholic church's homily, Father James Martin, S.J. wrote in an email to The Huffington Post:
"Pope Francis is saying, more clearly than ever before, that Christ offered himself as a sacrifice for everyone. That's always been a Christian belief. You can find St. Paul saying in the First Letter to Timothy that Jesus gave himself as a "ransom for all." But rarely do you hear it said by Catholics so forcefully, and with such evident joy. And in this era of religious controversies, it's a timely reminder that God cannot be confined to our narrow categories."

My response to this:

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. 26 God presented Him to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus.

We are justified by His grace.  Jesus will declare righteous the one who has faith in Him.  Only those who have faith will be justified.  This verse is clear!  The atheist has no faith in God.  He is sinning by denying the one true God.  He is not justified through faith in Christ.  Yes, Christ's blood is enough for all, but not all are allowed to partake.  Only those who receive the grace of God and have faith in Christ will receive the redemptive blood of Christ.

1 Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God
and one mediator between God and humanity,
Christ Jesus, Himself human,
6 who gave Himself—a ransom for all,
a testimony at the proper time.
7 For this I was appointed a herald, an apostle (I am telling the truth; I am not lying), and a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

I do agree with the statement that Christ's blood can redeem all people.  His blood was enough, but again, scripture is very clear.  Only those who believe in Christ will be redeemed. There is one God.  One mediator between God and man.  That is Christ.  Only Christ.  Only through Christ can we get to God.  Apart from Christ we cannot get to God.

"But do good: we will meet one another there."  There is so much wrong with this statement and it is really, probably, what is most controversial about what he said.  Even more so than saying a good atheist can get into heaven.  A good atheist is still a sinner because he still denies God and sin cannot be in the presence of God.  He abhors sin.  However, this notion that any good person can get to heaven or even be part of the earthly church is ridiculous.

James 1:25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but one who does good works—this person will be blessed in what he does.

You might say, but wait a minute.  James here says we must do good works to be blessed.  Look closer.  Look intently in to the perfect law of freedom.  That is Christ.  Look at his laws and preserve them!  Out of this will flow good works.  A true believer and follower of Christ will not only hear the words of God and believe, but they will also preform good works out of their love for the Father.

Galatians 2:15 We who are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners” 16 know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. And we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified. 17 But if we ourselves are also found to be “sinners” while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild the system I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker. 19 For through the law I have died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ 20 and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

Well, looky here.  Good works do not save.  Doing good will not get you into heaven.  Obeying the law will not get you into heaven.  Only a faith and love in Christ will do!  If we say that someone can do good and get into heaven, then Christ's death was meaningless.  We would not need to send anyone to tell of Christ.  Christ would not mean a thing.  All we would have to do is say "Just do good and God will let you in."  Never mind the fact that you spit in his face daily and deny or even hate the very existence of God.  If  you do what is good in MAN'S eyes then you can get there, no problem.  The Bible preaches something totally different!  Man's opinion does not matter.  What matters is God's opinion.  If God sees you as you are, then you are wretched and wicked.  It does not matter what "good" in man's sight that you do.  It is still evil in the site of God.

"The heart is more deceitful than anything else" (Jeremiah 17:9) and "how can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart" (Matthew 12:34). "A good man produces good out of the good storeroom of his heart. An evil man produces evil out of the evil storeroom, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart" (Luke 6:45).  Our hearts are deceitful.  Out of our hearts flows what is our inherent nature.  This is always evil, unless Christ has redeemed us.  We cannot save ourselves by doing good.  Our hearts will not allow it.

Ezekiel 11:19 And I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone from their bodies and give them a heart of flesh, 20 so they may follow My statutes, keep My ordinances, and practice them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those whose hearts pursue their desire for detestable things and practices, I will bring their actions down on their own heads.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.

When we are born, we have a heart of stone.  It will remain a heart of stone until God turns it into a heart of flesh.  From this passage, man does nothing except in response to what God does.  We will follow his statutes, keep his ordinances and practice them ONLY because GOD has changed our hearts.  He changes our hearts so we can obey him.  Otherwise, we would remain wicked and evil.

Our own good works will not get us into heaven.  God makes it clear that we must follow Christ and believe and have faith in him in order to receive blessings through good works which will flow out of the new desires of our heart that are given to us by God when he turns our heart of stone into a heart of flesh.  We can do nothing on our own but wickedness.  Christ can save us.  But only Christ.  He is our hope.  He is our future. His death mattered because we can do nothing to improve our own wicked condition.  His death provided a way for us to be with God.  All people can be redeemed through his blood, but you must believe and have faith.  A faith that only comes from God and only bestowed by his grace and his mercy towards us.

Source:

The quotes were taking from the article:  Pope Francis Says Atheists Who Do Good Are Redeemed, Not Just Catholics

Abortion

Well, another friend has posted something that has gotten my mind started and it just can't stop!  I have got to write on this.  I know this can be a very touchy subject, so please keep in mind that these are my opinions.

Abortion, the ending of a pregnancy, whether is occurs naturally or spontaneously or if it results from man's intervention.  You cannot do anything about a spontaneous abortion.  Those are ones that occur naturally.  There is either a genetic abnormality or something wrong/not just right in the mother.  This post is to address those abortions that result from man's intervention, which results in the death of the baby.

It is MY choice.  It is my body and I can do with it as I please.
How selfish can you get?  What about the baby's body?  Oh, they do not get a choice.  They must do what the mother decides.  If she wants the baby to die, then it is ok, because the baby is in her body.  The child's life is worth less than her own, so she can be like God and decided it the baby will live or die.  (And yes, I am using baby to describe the child in the womb.  The turn "fetus" may be what is acceptable to science, but that turn is just another name to describe a baby in the womb and the turn "fetus" just takes away from the humanity of the baby in the womb)  In many cases (not all) it was the woman's choice to have sex and pregnancy is a consequence of sex.  If you do not want to have a baby, then do not have sex.  There are contraceptives available to those women who wish to still engage in sex, and while they are not 100% effective, they are still there and available for women to use.

What is inside me is not a person, so it is ok.
So, when does it become a person?  You know, that one week old baby in the womb has the same DNA as a 1 week old baby outside the womb.  What makes us human and not monkeys or dog or fish?  Our DNA.  It is my believe that you are a person from the moment you are conceived.  

Isaiah 49:1 The Lord called me before I was born. He named me while I was in my mother’s womb.

The Lord clearly thought Isaiah was a person before he was born.  He even gave Isaiah a name.

Jeremiah 1:5 I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah was chosen before the womb.  Once God chose to make him, he was set apart for the work of the Lord to be a prophet.

Luke 1:15 He (Jesus) will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb.

Here the Messiah was filled with the Holy Spirit before he left the womb.  

It is clear in the Bible that baby's in the womb are recognized by God and that he considers them special and important before they are ever born.  Why can we not value the life in the womb like God?  I know why.  We are selfish.  We want things our way and when something happens we do not like (like an unwanted pregnancy) we take action to "fix" it.  We disregard why we are in the situations we are in and instead of dealing with the consequences, we take the easy road out and do want is good for us now.  We think we know what the future would be like as a single mom, or even in a marriage with an unwanted child, but we can never know how it will affect us unless we let it happen.  We fear the unknown and want to keep thing the same.

Some people even argue that since the baby is dependent on the mother for it's life, then it isn't truly a person.  The baby cannot survive outside the womb, so it isn't "alive."  While that is true, that the baby cannot survive outside the womb FOR A TIME.  Just because the baby is in the womb does not mean it is not alive.  The baby does not become alive once it exits the womb, it already is alive!  But how long must the baby stay in the womb before it can survive outside?  Well, you cannot say for sure.  It is different from baby to baby.  Some can survive as early as 25 weeks and some at the same 25 weeks would not live past the birth.

Women just do not understand what is happening in an abortion.  
Yes, they understand they are stopping a pregnancy.  The unwanted "fetus" will no longer be there.  It is just a blob of tissue that isn't really alive anyways.  What they do not understand is that from early on in the pregnancy, the "fetus" looks like a baby.  It moves like a baby.  (The fetus is moving its limbs and body).  It has a heart beat that is detectable by ultrasound from the 6th week.  (It is actually sooner than that, but the length of pregnancy is measured from the first day of your last menstrual, so it is probably closer to 4 weeks of the actual age of the baby when it can be detected.)  I was six weeks pregnant when I found out I was expecting.  My daughter already had a heart beat.  She was already moving.  She was alive!  Just looking at the ultrasound you can see that!  Something that is not alive is still.  It does not move and it will not have a heart beat!

Rape and Incest.
This is one category that gets a lot of people.  Some one who is raped did not have a choice on whether or not to have sex.  Therefore, they did not have a choice on whether or not to get pregnant.  Why then should they have a choice to end the pregnancy?  Yes, it will be a constant reminder of what happened.  Yes, it is unwanted and not desired.  But, what did the baby do to deserve no chance at life?  All because the way they came into the world was not desirable, does not mean they do not deserve a chance at life.  The same goes for incest, whether consensual or not.

What really gets me are those people that fight so aggressively against domestic abuse and rape, yet they feel abortion is ok.  What about that poor, abused baby?  It did not even stand a chance to fight for it's life.  It was looked on with contempt from the moment it was conceived and abused in the thoughts of it's mother, though, until she had the abortion, could not physically harm the child.

The baby is going to be deformed or have a genetic disease.
And having a deformation or a disease makes one less human?   Does a person with a deformation or a disease not count as a person?  Even people who are excited to have a baby will consider or even go through with an abortion if told their baby is going to be born ill or deformed.  Why?  Doctors cannot tell with 100% accuracy what deformations or diseases, or even how severe anything will be, just from ultrasounds.  There have been cases where people were told their baby would have this or that syndrome and the babies were born perfectly fine!  There have also been parents who had babies who were told they were fine only to find out of some disease after they were born.  Does it make a difference WHEN someone learns of a deformation or a disease?  Whether in the womb or out of it?  It does not change their DNA.  It does not change how human they are.  It does not change the fact they are alive.

The mother will die or the baby would not survive anyways.This is the topic that gets me.  If the mother is pregnant and the pregnancy will result in her death, but she would be guaranteed to live otherwise, is an abortion ok?  I think in the event of a tubal pregnancy, then an abortion is necessary to save the mother's life.  I know it is rare for someone to survive a tubal pregnancy without intervention and even more rare for the baby to survive, though it has happened.  Most tubal pregnancies are found after a heart beat is present and the baby is moving and growing.  It is life.  It is life that puts the mother's life in danger.  If allowed to continue, then the baby will soon out grow the area and the tube will rupture.  This almost always causes the death of the baby.  The mother, without any intervention would probably die from blood loss.  The goal is to stop these before the rupture, to avoid the blood loss in the mother.

There are viable alternatives
Are you pregnant and not wanting the baby?  Well there are alternatives to abortion.  I believe there is a lot of misinformation out there about the foster system and adoption.  Many people think that all these women who are having babies and not wanting them are flooding the foster system that is already over burdened.  Well, that isn't completely true.  If there is a women who is not wanting her baby, that baby can go directly to adoptive parents without ever entering the foster system.  I know this because my cousins have a beautiful baby girl they took home from the hospital that they are in the process of adopting.  The baby never spent one day in foster care.  The mother decided she did not want to keep the child and then found (by word of mouth, not through an adoption agency) a couple (my cousins) who wanted to have a child but could not and they worked it out so that my cousins could adopt her.  They were present for the birth and took her home at the end of her stay.  Now, I know that their case was slightly unusual, but it can be done.  There are many adoption agencies that allow the birth mother to choose a couple from a variety of couples looking for children.  (I know several people going through this route to adoption).

I guess what I really want to say here is that an unwanted pregnancy is not the end of the world and it takes a stronger women to keep the baby than one who kills it.  An abortion is the easy way out and you do not even give the baby a change at life.  You put your own comforts and feelings above that of another and choose to kill the weaker to make your own life better.  It is clear that God values life, even life before birth. Children can be a blessing if you let them.  If not to you, then to someone else who would be willing to take them and care for them.