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To Do or not to Do General James Green “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but will not be brought under the power of any” (1 Cor. 6:12, KJV). “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not” (1 Cor. 10:23, KJV).
All Things? B EHIND THE slogan “all things are lawful” is the assumption that physical acts do not affect the inner man. Paul asserts on the contrary two limitations on a believer’s freedom: 1) Social point of view; 1 Cor. 7:35; 10:23; 12:7. The RSV uses the word “helpful,” i.e., “...not all things are helpful;” 2) The individual’s personal point view—will the act make us slaves to passion and thus destroy freedom itself?
Sin READING PAUL’S writings lets us know that he was a man of God that knew full well the power of sin; sin can be the most inexorable master, he writes in Rom. 6:12, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (KJV). But today’s “Christians” do the very opposite! Many will argue that much of sin brings pleasure, and pleasure is good, not bad. Letting sin reign, i.e., be “king” in our lives, violates the Bible from the beginning to the end. Charity, modesty, and temperance ARE distinctive signs of any Christian civilization. But we must all agree that the above has given way to an unbridled quest for carnal/human/beastly pleasures, and with the homosexual movement, an unimaginable display of vileness. This obsession now permeates our WHOLE culture, the Church is no exception. In speech and behavior, almost everything in America bears the approval of the U.S. government. With all this same sex union/marriage stuff, the hyper-sexualized have become the “norm;” THE CHURCH HAS NOW BECOME A HOT BED FOR EVERY FORM OF BIZARRE ABERRATION.
Sin Dethroned AT ONE’S SALVATION experience, committed sins were forgiven and washed away by the blood of Jesus. Being filled with the Holy Sprit gives us power over sin, but dear ones, we must continually resist sin’s effort to regain control of king/queenship in our lives; and sin usually tries to regain entrance thru sensual lusts and desires of the body. But if we make excuses for sin to enter, we, in turn are presenting our whole man, body, soul, and spirit—our whole personality, as slaves, not to God, but to evil/the evil one.
Choose Who You Will Serve SALVATION ONLY gives us a new start in life: we must continually choose whom we will serve (Rom. 6:16). True, grace on God’s part pardons our committed sins, but after this, we must exercise the power of God over lusts, desires, and impulses to sin. Paul reaffirms this in verse 19. Read that carefully.
Real Freedom REAL FREEDOM lies in the choice of our Master—what He would have us to say and do. In 1 Cor. 6:12, 13 Paul addresses the issue of foods because the Gnostic libertines had used the food issue to support the argument that food did not raise a moral issue, to support their contention that sexual conduct also had no moral significance. True, food and belly belong to the transient physical sphere, but Paul denies that there is a parallelism, and rejects the conclusion that: ‘the unregulated satisfaction of fornication (any and all kinds of sex sins) is simply natural, without offensive to God the Creator.’ So, Paul is arguing that the body needs food, but the body is not meant for immortality. It would do the Church of today good to preach this again. All this sexual perversion that has invaded the Church needs to be driven out—especially the homosexual garbage that imposes a false and sinful morality on society in general. Human choice is not always good; look at all the sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) that plague the world alone. Man must not always follow his/her conscience, but only if it follows God’s laws. In a book called “Defending A Higher Law” (TFP committee on American Issues, 2004), the authors state, “All too often, people confuse democracy as a form of government with a kind of democratic consensus that determines the norms of human thought and conduct in society.” There’s no doubt that all this politically correct bull is just that; no longer does America adhere to God’s laws, but to human reasoning and feelings.
Media Madness AND THE SATAN-RUN media bases a lot of their opinions on opinion polls. In morals, as in politics, just about everyone is expected to accept the will of the majority. But we know the polls and the media LIE in order to enforce, or reinforce, the anti-Christian agenda. Thus human, not godly morality becomes the sum of undivided opinions: and we’re all expected to submit to the collective expression of the majority—even if the “majority” is in reality the “minority.”
Holy Harlot?! “KNOW YE not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of a harlot? God forbid!” (Rom. 6:15, KJV). May I add that unlawful sexual intercourse, or any other vile sexual act, is not a passing physical act, but one that unites 2 (or more) persons in a sexual bond. Verse 16 explains this well.
God’s Holy Word NOWHERE, CHRISTIANS, do we find in God’s Word His approval of sexual/idolatrous acts. In fact, God’s Word is strictly against it: especially adultery and sodomy. In His revulsion against licentious standards, Paul supports the Old Testament’s standards of conduct. We have booklets on this subject that you may write us for that go into detail (free). God’s Word absolutely forbids sodomy in any and all forms, as well as heterosexual sexual sins. Are you pro-homo “Christians” afraid to read your Bible anymore? Apparently!
All Things are Lawful? SOME BIBLE scholars believe that “All things are lawful” is not Paul’s statement, but is an interpretation. In other words, he is quoting his opponents who believe that sexual pleasure is good in any form. But since we can find ample condemnations of sexual sins in both Testaments, it seems hardly possible for Paul to make that statement himself. Moral laws are inscribed in human nature, and therefore in man’s conscience (All Romans Cpt. One). But men were created with a free will, i.e., to choose; he/she has power to do or not to do actions as they so choose. Be it known, dear readers, all sinful acts (even thoughts) are subject to God’s rules of behavior established by Himself, not by sinful men; this is called “Doctrinal law” (read Romans 2:14, 15). This natural law is universal—for all peoples, at all times… it is also immutable; time has no effect on it. This is why God expects us Christians to teach/preach against sexual sins to both “saint” and sinner. Most pagan societies believe sodomy, adultery, incest, bestiality etc. is wrong. Funny how so many Church folks today miss this. In all my studies over the past 4 decades, I have found that: most primitive cultures believe in the existence of (God’s) universal principles, YET HERE IN THE WEST, WE ARE MORE THAN HAPPY TO DISCARD THESE PRINCIPLES.
Master of Conduct NORMALLY, MAN is endowed with an intellect and free will, making him the master of his/her conduct. But we know that there are only two sources from which conduct flows: God’s/Satan’s; men/women reflect one or the other. Charles Coppens writes in his book, “A Brief Text-Book or Moral Philosophy” (1924), that: “Human acts are those of which a man is master, which he has the power of doing or not doing as he pleases. True, we are physically free to perform certain acts or to omit them—to do one thing or its contrary, to choose this act rather than some other; but are we also morally free in regard to all such acts? Is it right for me on all occasions to do whatever my inclination prompts me to do? My reason plainly answers, NO: it is evident even to a child that some actions are good in themselves, morally good, and others bad in themselves, morally bad. The good acts our reason commends and approves, these we call right. Evil acts, on the contrary, our reason disapproves and blames; these we call wrong.” This was Paul’s argument against fornication.
Hamartia/Peccatum THE GREEK WORD hamartia (sin, Strong’s #G266) and the Latin word peccatum (sin) means to “fail.” These two words simply, and in a most elementary significance, mean: “to have failed, to miss the mark or target.” But there are other Greek words that describe deeper meanings. Hamartia also means “to do wrong,” “to trespass,” “to sin against God.” So, sin is regarded in both the principle [or the lack therein], and the act; Hamartia is more than mere failure or error: it is a responsible condition, or attitude in solving guilt.
For the record’s Sake THERE ARE OTHER N.T. Greek Words which describe “sin” such as: Adikia (Strong’s #G93), anomia (Strong’s #G498), apistia (Strong’s #G570), aselgeia (Strong’s #G766), epithumia (Strong’s #G1939), asebeia (Strong’s #763), echthra (Strong’s #2189), kakia (Strong’s #G2549), poneros (Strong’s #G4191, denotes the positive expression of evil- that which is dangerous, destructive, and injurious) parabasis (Strong’s #G3847), and paraptoma (Strong’s #G3900). If interested, look up these Greek words for their meanings and roots.
O.T. Words for “sin” CHATTATH (HEB.) means the same as the Greek word hamartia; “to miss the mark.” Following are more Hebrew words for consideration: Awon (Strong’s #H5771, also avon, avah, from awah), pasha (Strong’s #H6586), rasha (Strong’s #H7561), moal, Ra, avel, aven. So, dear ones, God takes “sin” serious, ought we not to do likewise?
So? THE REAL ISSUE at hand is that when man abandons God’s laws/principles etc. consciously, and, as today’s Church’s homosexual movement is doing, maliciously, and not out of human frailty, his/her actions constitute a SUPREME REVOLT, REBELLION, yea, a REVOLUTION against the all-wise order our LORD has established in the universe...for the GOOD of humanity.
In Closing... SODOMY HAS certainly become the “norm” in certain church circles— same-sex unions, same-sex marriages, now we have transgenders pushing their sick and perverted garbage off on us as well. Let me finish up by quoting a few things from an article “Methodists Approve Transgender Pastor”:
Here goes, “A transgender pastor received a standing ovation from fellow Methodists attending the annual Baltimore- Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church recently…the female pastor of the St. John’s United Methodist Church (UMC) in Baltimore, but after a sex change operation she changed her name to... and now considers herself a man. She (he?) said: ‘The gender was assigned at birth has never matched my own true authentic God-given gender identity, now I know myself. Fortunately today God’s gift of medical science is enabling me to bring my physical body in alignment with my true gender”!
There you have it, BLAMING GOD FOR MAKING A MISTAKE! Say, why didn’t she/he (or it!) pray for a miracle? My wife used to work in one of California’s largest training hospitals where she witnessed such “sex changes;” she said some even had their vocal cords changed in order to sound male or female… and WOE be unto anyone who addressed he/she/it improperly!! This is sheer sickness... And tax payers fork out large amounts of $$ for this depraved business. DON’T YOU THINK IT’S TIME TO REPENT, AMERICA??? |