The truth shall make you free. That would be a FACT
KJV proverbs 11: 8 The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead.
9 An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.
10 When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.
Does Godly/ Biblical freedoms out weigh human freedom?
Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2019 7:54 am
A list of freedoms is to live in true Shalom and Joy : Ephesians 3: 14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Galatians 5 1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? note
8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
10 I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.
11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.
12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.
13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
These show the freedom of God IN us through Jesus And in doing so we fulfill the whole of the law.
Like 10: 17-20 For with that same pride I saw Satan be thrown out of heaven. Matthew 22:
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Prophet of Holy Fire
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cristobela Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 11:46 am
Prophet of Holy Fire
What is Biblical freedom
Prophet of Holy Fire
What rights do we have by the Bible?
Going by what you titled this, your opening post, and what you decided to subsequently reply with, you're not really helping the reader understand and apply those passages. At best, they won't engage; at worst, they'll be left confused. I can't say this comes off as a sincere question either, but for the sake of preserving Scriptural clarity, I'm making an explanatory response to this topic:
This is why the Law—any of God's Instructions—exists in the first place: to teach you what you're free to do to God and His creation or not.
To illustrate, and help make sharp distinction as Scripture does,
An example of a right: e.g. conjugal / marital rights
Exodus 21:10 (NIV)
10 If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights.
1 Corinthians 7:3-5 (NIV)
3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
The specificities of the Father's Commands (as you can see from the Command in Exodus—what's read from Moses' seat—compared to what the Holy Spirit, through Paul, wrote to the Corinthians) are in agreement.
A “freedom” in the sense of what you're free to apply or not, depends on the circumstances, and does not override the Command—even with the above: this wouldn't normally be optional if you're married (marital rights shouldn't be denied you as a married couple, husband and wife); however, depending on the circumstances e.g. you're off warring, you may not be able to fulfill marital duties; any soldier and military wife is obviously being deprived of marital rights when he's off warring [e.g. Uriah and Bathsheba], unless they cheat/commit adultery. But that doesn't make adultery right. Faithfully wait. Obviously they can't apply that command—Scripture says one must fulfill—because the circumstances don't allow them. You're not sinning for failing to apply this Command. And, as a second example, one that Paul provided: abstaining for the sake of prayer [spiritual warfare], but then coming together again. You're free from obeying "marital duties" for those circumstances/reasons. And one can find more lawful reasons, but for brevity's sake those two suffice as illustration; one with the Spirit of God in them would be able to discern all these circumstances without violating the precept that is written).
In an altogether different example, using the one you brought up, circumcision—two different set of circumstances—where you're free to not apply:
[1] it's not prudent because of a Pharisaical sect who say salvation from (insert whatever thing here: salvation from sin, or salvation from eternal hell fire) and justification is by physical circumcision.
Acts 15:1 (NIV)
15 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”
And as demonstration that they're wrong in their interpretation, Paul didn't circumcise on certain occasions and taught against circumcision for those intentions:
Galatians 5:2-6 (NIV)
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Galatians 2:3 (NIV)
3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.
But otherwise, no, Paul didn't teach against circumcision (as it is practiced in the first five books of the Bible) and even circumcised Timothy (thus, Timothy allowed himself to get circumcised by Paul):
Acts 16:1-3 (NIV)
16 Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. 2 The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
has Timothy fallen from grace? Is Timothy denying Christ for letting himself get circumcised? No
Paul is not teaching against circumcision full stop. His argument is very specific: against those who teach that the foreskin of a man's p***s must be removed to be justified.
[2] Second circumstance: the freedom to not circumcise a male if you're walking in the truth of what circumcision represents (thus, you're sincerely circumcised in heart, no longer under the rule of sin in your flesh, the nature that is hostile against neighbor and God, but instead you are actually free to be led by the Spirit of God who wants to obey what God defines as right and this does not contradict His Commands/His Law/His precepts. Also expressed in this way in Paul's epistles as the concept of being set free from the law of your flesh [what your flesh commands you to do] in order to walk sincerely in what pleases the Spirit of God [which as you saw above, does not contradict what YHWH commanded through Moses when applied sincerely, which the Spirit of Christ moves you to do]):
Colossians 2:11 (NIV)
11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh[a] was put off when you were circumcised by[b] Christ,
Footnotes:
a. Colossians 2:11 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verse 13. b. Colossians 2:11 Or put off in the circumcision of
Romans 8:7-9 (NIV)
7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit toGod’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are notin the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
Ezekiel 36:27 (NIV)
27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to followmy decrees and be careful to keepmy laws.
Philippians 2:13 (NIV)
13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
1 Timothy 1:8 (NIV)
8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.
Psalm 40:8 (NIV)
8 I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.”
Romans 7:22-25 (NIV)
22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war againstthe law of my mindand making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature[a]a slave to the law of sin.
Footnotes:
a. Romans 7:25 Or in the flesh
1 John 3:4 (NIV)
4 Everyone who sins breaksthe law; in fact,sin is lawlessness.
Romans 6:17-22 (NIV)
17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free fromsinand have become slaves to righteousness.
19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control ofrighteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free fromsinand have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
Psalm 119:45-48 (NIV)
45 I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts. 46 I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, 47 for I delight in your commands because I love them. 48 I reach out for your commands, which I love, that I may meditate on your decrees.
James 1:22-26 (NIV)
22 Do not merely listento the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.
Exodus 23:1 (NIV)
23 “Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.
Leviticus 19:16 (NIV)
16 “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people.
“‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord.
Psalm 15:3 (NIV)
3 whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others;
Luke 11:28 (NIV)
28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Jeremiah 6:16 (NIV)
16 This is what the Lord says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for theancient paths, ask where thegoodway is, and walk in it, and you will findrest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
1 John 5:3 (NIV)
3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,
[in contrast to what, specifically, in the Pharisees that Jesus rebuked]
Matthew 23:1-4 (NIV)
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. Butdo notdo what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Matthew 15:1-9 (NIV)
15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of Godfor the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullifythe word of Godfor the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites!Isaiah was right when he prophesied aboutyou:
8 “‘These peoplehonor me with their lips, but their hearts are far fromme. 9 They worshipmein vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]”
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 15:4 Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16 b. Matthew 15:4 Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9 c. Matthew 15:9 Isaiah 29:13
so, four things Jesus exposed here—as it relates to Pharisaical burdens vs. God's Law—two as it relates to the ritual alluded to above, and two to their interpretation methods of Commands:
[1] the Pharisees cared more about enforcing a self-imposed ritual that deemed food acceptable to eat rather than what YHWH had Commanded made something acceptable to eat (it's not by a ritual, but by His instructions);
[2] the Pharisees made it seem like their self-imposed ritual was commanded by YHWH [even saying so in the prayer that is recited during it] when in actuality YHWH didn't give that ritual—[i.e. the netilat yadayim they do before every meal],
[3] He exposed that they honor man's traditional interpretations of how to apply a Command that have people in essence not doing what YHWH tells them to do as it is written: here specifically, honor your father and mother, hold your parents in high esteem, value them (and if you value something, you treasure it and take care of it).
[4] exposed that they wanted an empty display of gift gifting to YHWH, to honor God (Heavenly Father) [who not only doesn't need it and He didn't ask for it, they devoted it to God out of their own volition], but they neglect their father and mother who actually do need the help...ergo, in vain.
Thus they're being deviant to what is written because it's not proper, correct application of the Law of Moses / the Commands of YHWH; they're not truly obeying what is written. When you analyze them for what they do, they're not obeying the Command as it reads. What God Commanded is not a burden; their distorted version of how to apply the Commands is the burden that doesn't actually guard man (nor guard God's reputation from the false ways of the world) as He commanded.]
Romans 8:13 (NIV)
13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
Colossians 3:5-10 (NIV)
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.[a] 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these:anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do notlieto each other, since you have taken offyour old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Footnotes:
a. Colossians 3:6 Some early manuscripts coming on those who are disobedient
As you can see, we must discern between what the Pharisees actually got rebuked for, combing the verses with a fine-toothed comb, or else we distort what Paul is saying and won't see his specific arguments. He's not teaching against the Law of God (but the law of sin in our flesh); he's not even against circumcision in the physical itself, but against [1] insincere applications of it (like the Pharisees), thinking that if you do a ritual, without heart obedience, without sincerely walking in what it symbolizes (submitting your body and mind/heart, to His reign) that somehow you're justified and [2] not trusting in Christ [the circumcision party who argued that, "one must be physically circumcised to be saved" were the Pharisees who rejected Christ]); so, no, you're not saved; that's not what justifies you. You reject Him and His circumcision that the physical circumcision represents.
But no, he is not teaching against all male circumcision whatsoever. And let me be clear, Scripture only supports male circumcision in the physical, not female circumcision in the physical (that deprives women from deriving any pleasure from sex whatsoever). YHWH didn't command female circumcision. The nations/the pagans self-imposed this false custom onto themselves; YHWH's Commands guards against this false practice in those nations/cultures by teaching that it is only the male (though in Spirit, yes, females get circumcised by Christ of their fleshly nature as well), but male and female anatomy is different; just want to be clear that this pertains to the subject of circumcising a male or not, the foreskin of a p***s and that those commands are still protection from the demonic practices of the nations—yes, one is free to “not” circumcise, but if you do, it needs to be sincere of what it symbolizes, thus, most importantly, get circumcised by Christ of your fleshly nature (what physical circumcision represents), put that earthly nature to death—as Timothy walked as an example of a sincere obedience.
As an aside, even in literal circumcision: that wasn't a worthless symbol or a worthless practice (like that of the pagan female circumcision); though not dependent on your justification: there are benefits, whether a reduced risk to contracting disease[1][2] in both the man who gets circumcised and the woman of the circumcised male (second link), or hygienic reasons, not just as an external sign/symbol that you're submitting your behavior (including sexual) to YHWH's reign (thus no longer behaving like the world and valuing what they value nor thinking like them—but if you are thinking like them, valuing what they value, and not restraining your sexual behavior to His Commands, your heart's sincere desire isn't really to be complying with His Ways; then no, the physical circumcision is meaningless).
People who don't know the Scriptures have a tendency to twist Paul's epistles (like they do the rest of Scripture) to conclude that Paul (and by extension the Holy Spirit writing through him) is teaching to avoid living by the Commands and it precepts, in accord to what's written in the Law and the Prophets, that the Commands are useless and not beneficial. That's not the case. Both Paul's own words and Peter's observation of what people do to Paul's words testify of this:
Romans 3:31 (NIV)
31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
2 Peter 3:15-17 (NIV)
15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.
None of this would be difficult to discern if, aside from ingesting everything Scripture had to say and noticing its fine points, we realized that God's reign over our lives mandates the proper behavior—the proper Way to interact with His creations (which includes land, trees, animal, human-to-human, human-to-angel) and how to properly relate to Him as Creator. So, yes, if you care for God (and His reputation as holy/set-apart/different than what the nations worship), you will care for His creations as He said too.
Thus, you'll find Commands that [1] ensure the fruitfulness and well-functioning of His creation, not missing, lacking anything, so that it operates in integrity/completeness/shalom, functions well, and that [2] prevents us from misleading the nations about God/His Character/Nature/Ways because out of love for Him, you do not want people to believe erroneous things about Him nor associate Him with idols/false beliefs; so, for instance:
- do this to the trees, do not do this to the trees; e.g. the specific timing to prune from a fruit tree to ensure productivity/fruitfulness [Leviticus 19:23-25]; not planting diverse kinds of seed next to each other [Leviticus 19:19; Deuteronomy 22:9], but guarding the whole information of that seed without contaminating it with diverse information
- do this to the land, do not do this to the land; ([e.g. The land/soil retains the sufficient nutrients, when we utilize His natural systems in place, by allowing it to rest in the specific timing He said i.e. land sabbaths [Leviticus 25:1-7, 18-22], not over work it, thus not overstripping it of nutrients)
- do this to humans, do not do this to humans [there are many, but for example, do not commit adultery, be faithful to your spouse; maintain your affections wholly dedicated to your husband or to your wife, not dividing people's hearts with your flirtations [you're not their spouse], and nor stirring up division in their fidelity to their husband/betrothed by violating their bodies, minds, or hearts [jeopardizing the integrity—thus wholeness—of their bodily and emotional health] etc, e.g. Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 22:25-27; Exodus 15:26];
- relate to Me in this way, do not relate to Me in that way. (e.g. The way I said: do not use the ways that the nations use to worship their gods [and idols] to worship Me, nor dress as them as My follower, because I am holy, I'm not like them; don't profane My Name [don't make My Name common, as if I'm just like the things they worship, or as if I Command worthless practices] [Deuteronomy 12:30-31; Jeremiah 10:3; 16:19; Ezekiel 22:26; 36:22; Zephaniah 1:8; Leviticus 21:5-6)
And I'm planning on making an announcement on this latter one specifically, guild-wide, because the church isn't taking this one seriously. For example, do not blend in with the dress/appearance of idolatrous priests because, aside from the cases when their practices are outright detrimental (poisoning themselves with snake venom e.g. [Sak Yant tattoos] of Buddhist priests, or self-laceration as the priests of Ba'al would do, cutting their arms and legs until their blood flowed freely [1 Kings 18:26-28; I'm quoting this one out below]), then they are worthless practices that do neither any harm nor any good (like worthless praying practices e.g. mantras that require you to repeat 100 times a prayer; He heard you the first time and knew what you were asking before you said it outloud i.e. Matthew 6:7-8]. And YHWH doesn't Command worthless things.
If we blend in with them in appearance (because—even if we don't—the world judges by appearance) we mislead people about what YHWH truly stands for and condones. When we don't teach His Commands nor obey the Command to not blend in with them, but adopt their dress, we either fail to dissuade the world from or directly mislead them into a place that doesn't guard them soundly in the truth).
Ergo, do not blend in with the idolatrous priests, of any sort, as YHWH's follower, be it head-shaving priests (like found in Buddhism, but not limited to Buddhist priests) nor blend in with those who adopt their cutting practices:
Leviticus 21:5-6 (NIV)
5 “‘Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies. 6 They must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. Because they present the food offerings to the Lord, the food of their God, they are to be holy.
1 Kings 18:26-28 (NIV)
26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it.
Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed.
Nor blend in with those who have vain mantra-like repetitions in prayer.
Not just avoid adopting their practices, but even looking like them and associating ourselves with YHWH, dressing like the liars/the lie. It damages both our credibility and YHWH's reputation as being the Way, the Truth, and the Life who doesn't command worthless things. Do not blend in with the lie/liar.
And, on the one hand, though YHWH doesn't command worthlessness (unlike the nations), nor Commands lies, on the other hand, out of what He did Command, we make it worthless when we don't even walk it out with sincerity of what He wants to achieve (submitting our attitudes to the Commands: for example, loyalty to one's spouse: not even desiring someone who isn't your spouse, not just avoiding having physical sexual relations with them, but avoiding lustfully looking at someone else, thus not desiring others in your heart, and in that same spirit, no sexual flirtation with someone other than your spouse; be faithful, loyal, to your spouse]; guarding His holiness [I'm not like what the other nations worship, I'm not like what those lying, idolatrous practices honor], and wants children/disciples not indoctrinated by false beliefs, myths [unreliable accounts of reality and how it works], nor for us—those who associate with Him, claiming to worship Him—to pass off as if that is what we teach [lies, myths, fables], hurting our own credibility and His.
And on that note, as a final and third example, to know how to apply or not apply a Command: the precept demonstrated by the Command to not intermarry with the nations, because of idolatrous practices and beliefs—YHWH not wanting to be associated with those false practices and ways of thinking; ergo, YHWH banning marriages with Moabites but blessing the marriage of the Moabitess Ruth to an Israelite (Bo'az) through whom the Messiah came; from her son Obed's line, the grandfather of king David [Ruth 4:17]. In Ruth's circumstance, she renounced all the lying practices and ways of her culture, and submitted to YHWH alone; she's not preserving the lying beliefs of the surrounding culture, or her own culture, to raise her children up with contaminated beliefs and practices).
Malachi 2:15 (NIV)
15 Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.[a] So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
Footnotes:
a. Malachi 2:15 The meaning of the Hebrew for the first part of this verse is uncertain.
Deuteronomy 23:3 (NIV)
3 No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.
Ruth 1:22 (NIV)
22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
Ruth 1:15-16 (NIV)
15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
1 Kings 11:2 (NIV)
2 They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.
That was/is YHWH's issue: the nations' false, lying, deviant beliefs and practices. Ruth renounced them. It's not sinful to marry her. She left all remnant of those lying practices behind. Said goodbye to the culture, what the world approved, wanted what was of YHWH (alone).
In all these exceptional circumstances, notice the recurring theme: sincere obedience to what YHWH's Commands aim to preserve (the Truth, purity, not some lying, fairytale, false myth of a practice, nor something that is sensually pleasing but violates a precept. YHWH knows if we're trying to loophole to please our own flesh or lust of the eye, or if we're sincerely acting in obedience to what is written).
Galatians 6:7-9 (NIV)
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction;whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
continued below
Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 11:47 am
[continued...]
In contrast:
What the hypocrite talks / teaches is not in actual harmony with the Commands of God (and the rest of Scripture), as Jesus exposed in the Pharisees who were placing more importance on self-imposed traditions and traditionally-taught ways of interpreting, that nullified obedience to the precept and what is actually written (for ease of reference I'm providing Mt 15:1-9 a second time):
Matthew 15:1-9 (NIV)
15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]”
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 15:4 Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16 b. Matthew 15:4 Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9 c. Matthew 15:9 Isaiah 29:13
Or the sect of the Herodians who allowed their political ambitions to supersede God's will in a matter—and both groups would ask Jesus insincere questions just to promote their cause or their interpretation:
Matthew 22:15-22 (NIV)
15 Then the Phariseeswent out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax[a] to Caesar or not?”
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 22:17 A special tax levied on subject peoples, not on Roman citizens
Some background:
Quote:
According to many interpreters, the courtiers or soldiers of Herod Antipas ("Milites Herodis," Jerome) were intended; others argue that the Herodians were probably a public political party, who distinguished themselves from the two great historical parties of post-exilic Judaism (the Pharisees and Sadducees) by the fact that they were and had been sincerely friendly to Herod the Great, the King of the Jews, and to his dynasty. The Herodians are often mentioned in the gospels at the same time as the Pharisees. Like the Pharisees, the Herodians wanted political independence for the Jewish people.[2] Unlike the Pharisees, who sought to restore the kingdom of David, the Herodians wished to restore a member of the Herodian dynasty to the throne in Judea.[citation needed]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodians
Same with the Sadduccees (who didn't believe in angels nor the resurrection)...
Matthew 22:23-32 (NIV)
23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”
29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’[a]? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 22:32 Exodus 3:6
...asking insincere questions (they don't even believe in the resurrection, but are asking just to push their interpretation), not sincerely interested in getting to know the totality of Scripture and Jesus outted them for not knowing the Scriptures well at all, nor knowing the power of the Spirit of God, what He's capable of doing and what He promises to do in us.
Thus, Jesus warning against this sectarianism; the insincere question-asking because they weren't truly seeking to understand the Scriptures, just serve their own agenda (be it self-autonomy and ruling power that they don't want to submit to Jesus/the Word of God fully; political aspirations / friendship with the world and its ways; sectarian prestige [pride in their sect's history and self-imposed traditions over God's Word even when it nullifies something]). And thus Jesus warning against their unstable handling of the Scriptures that didn't acknowledge the whole sum of what is written. He compared their teaching to a leaven (the kind we're not to have):
Matthew 16:6 (KJV)
6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Mark 8:15 (KJV)
15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.”
Matthew 16:11-12 (KJV)
11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Luke 12:1 (KJV)
12 In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
The hypocrisy of: [A] they're saying one thing while God says another (Mt 15:1-9) or [B] saying what God says, but doing another [Mt 23:1-3]
Matthew 23:1-3 (NIV)
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
[C] the hypocrisy of putting on the act of feigning interest/curiosity in a Scriptural matter, but underhandedly their true intention is to just to push their own faulty interpretation, not get at the Truth of what Scripture is saying cohesively.
[D] accusing people of doing things oneself is still committing:
Romans 2:21-22 (NIV)
21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
By the same token, you who teach to love your enemies, are you actually loving your enemies (praying for them, for their reconciliation with God, doing them good? or secretly hating them in your heart and casting slurs on them behind their backs)? you who say that you give truthful witness of YHWH and are a worshiper of the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and are His representative / His worshiper, are you dressed in lies?
In contrast the leaven/yeast we should have:
Matthew 13:33 (KJV)
33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
The leaven from heaven is the doctrine/teaching of YHWH that came from heaven, uncontaminated, not distorted by man's traditional interpretations (that ignore details across the Scriptures) nor distorted by political ambitions.
And on that note, on the subject of human freedoms vs. Biblical freedoms, or at least what I think the opening post was trying to get at:
If you're asking about Biblical freedoms in light of man's laws—so for example, the concept of, "you have the right to bear arms" (USA), an entitlement.
We can tell the founding fathers of the United States' constitution took inspiration from the Scriptures, inferring this from the Commands, the Writings, and the Gospels. Addressing those three examples, in that order: like YHWH describing the circumstances when it is right to defend your household from a thief, and when it is wrong / when you become guilty of bloodshed for doing so. Biblically, if you killed the thief invading your house during the day/sunrise, then you're a murderer (in contrast, if you kill the thief at night, couldn't assess intentions, nor your own strength and aim, etc; you're not guilty of bloodshed then, but yes, you're a murderer if you killed the thief during the day because He prefers reconciliation and restitution, not death; the replacement of your stuff, at no expense of a life).
Exodus 22:2-3 (NIV)
2 “If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; 3 but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed.
“Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft.
Elsewhere, as well, it is wise for the individual to have a defense:
Nehemiah 4:17-18 (NIV)
17 who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, 18 and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me.
Luke 22:36 (NIV)
36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.
But, even when we infer things, that are acceptable to do or is our “right”, that doesn't necessarily convey His perfect will in the matter considering that He doesn't want killing to happen, preferably, because bloodshed pollutes the land. Even Dawid—who defended the nation and God's people—was barred from serving God, in a certain capacity, for His bloodshed (killing, in the physical; in spirit: angry take down of others), though it was lawful for him to defend the nation, God's people, in this way (thus, when it was merited). However:
1 Chronicles 22:8 (NIV)
8 But this word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight.
People who give in to belligerent attitudes are not fit to build the House of YHWH. They must be peaceful people. Ergo, entitlements/rights or even “I'm allowed” is not the heart focus of Scripture. Getting to know God and walking in His perfect will is the higher focus (the proper Way to be human, the proper Way to relate to Him and His creations, fully trusting Him and what He said).
Because, on the flip side, one could argue that we also have the “right” to sin; it's our liberty (free will choice). That doesn't make it the perfect will of God—even if He uses it to result in good at the end. We should avoid committing what He defines as sin and displeasing to Him (He knows all the ways His creation gets affected negatively, even in nature, when we deviate). So we should focus on teaching (making disciples) out of everything He commanded, yes, and even allowed, but with a bent towards the perfect will of God so people can strive to walk in it. And for that we must get peoples' hearts right with Him, reconciled, so that they can receive a sincere desire to do what is right. Because no matter what law (gentile's or God's) is in the land, if they have a rebellious spirit, then it doesn't matter what law is over them: they won't submit to it. Neither to God's nor to man's.
Also, along this same vein, we must acknowledge as Biblical fact: there is a nonconformity between His Law and the laws He has allowed the nations to impose upon themselves. Though all authority comes from Him, the standards He has given the nations are not good (perfect); there is a difference.
Ezekiel 5:7 (NIV)
7 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even[a] conformed to the standards of the nations around you.
Footnotes:
Ezekiel 5:7 Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac You have
Ezekiel 11:12 (NIV)
12 And you will know that I am the Lord, for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.”
Ezekiel 20:25 (NIV)
25 So I gave them other statutes that were not good and laws through which they could not live;
Psalm 119:39 (NIV)
39 Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good.
Even though He prefers we submit to theirs than to nothing at all (if man has rejected His Law as rebellious human beings, as the nations have done), we, in contrast, should have His precepts and judgments reigning amongst us in our congregations (but capital punishment [like stoning] is not our jurisdiction because that is the realm of the courts [even when living in gentile nations and the gentiles use the sword, lethal injection, etc, instead of stoning, who resort to those methods because they don't submit to His Laws, we still leave capital punishment to the courts even then; they serve Him]—it's not the synagogues/churches' jurisdiction, gatherings of two to three believers+. At most, we separate from the obstinately unrepentant and hand them over to be judged outside. God will deal with them outside, in their gentile courts, worldly standards, and self-imposed ways that they have chosen, and divine judgment by other means [circumstantial] if they refuse to repent after being corrected by the church and cast out according to Jesus' instruction for how to deal with sin in an unrepentant brother or sister; this is the process while living in our congregations in gentile nations [as I ended up explaining as an aside, on the subject of judging, in another of the OP's [opening poster's] topics here [x]]).
The holy (set-apart) believer in YHWH does not reject His Standards in place of man's because we know that they are better and what actually conduces to true peace (e.g. a country that allows the worship of other gods / idolatrous beliefs, "free exercise of religion" [worldly law], will never have peace and one group will constantly be warring and undoing the advancement of the other to establish their ways that contradict the other; constant friction, there is no true peace/harmony/unity—which by Biblical definition is the following...).
1 Corinthians 1:10 (NIV)
10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,[a] in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.
Footnotes:
a. 1 Corinthians 1:10 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in verses 11 and 26; and in 2:1; 3:1; 4:6; 6:8; 7:24, 29; 10:1; 11:33; 12:1; 14:6, 20, 26, 39; 15:1, 6, 50, 58; 16:15, 20.
That is true unity. Which obviously we will not have with the world's governments, but we are to have in the congregation. Not conforming to the opinions or traditional interpretations of a sect (or any political aspirations), but the full context of what is written.
When a person (or group of believers) denies what is written, refusing to conform to YHWH's Word, there will be splits, which we're not to have, but either due to pride or the limitations of time/attention, the cohesive explanation is not easily shared; so divisions happen, but unity of thought in the congregations is the goal:
Ephesians 4:11-13 (NIV)
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Otherwise, as long as someone is deviating from the totality of what is written, and despite being shown the cohesive explanation refuses to repent, we will continue to have divisions:
1 Corinthians 11:18-19 (NIV)
18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.
Those who have God's approval are like Jesus, the Son (who submitted everything to what the Father said, in accord to what is written in the Law and the Prophets). If not for sectarian differences (like that typified by the Pharisees [caring more about self-imposed traditions and traditional ways of interpreting that aren't faithful to totality of the text], Sadducees [ignoring whole chunks, ignorant of Scripture and the power of the Spirit of God], and Herodians [more faithful to political aspirations than to what God says to do in a situation, His purposes]), there would be no distinction—doctrinally—between Christian and Jews (or Christian and Christian) in the congregation because they would totally submit to what is written, in Spirit and in Truth, to what YHWH says, not man's self-imposed or worldly ways. The obedient followers of Jesus were even identified as another Jewish “sect” early on; our distinction from the rest of the sects is: actually submitting to everything sincerely unlike the others (Pharisee, Sadduccee, Herodian).
Acts 24:14-15 (NIV)
14 However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets, 15 and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.
Acts 24:5 (NIV)
5 “We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect
Acts 11:26 (NIV)
26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
"Nazarene" sect because Jesus was from Nazareth and that is whom we follow. “The Way”, because He is the Way, The Truth, and the Life. “Christian” because that is the Greek word for "Messiah" and that is whom we follow.
Regardless of what the world calls us, we don't ignore anything, nor speak against obedience to a Command (when it's actually lawful / proper to obey it), while at the same time guarding against false associations with the idolatrous.
There is suppose to be unity (perfectly united in mind and thought) amongst our congregations and that is what happens when we acknowledge (and stop denying) the existence of certain verses (or certain details of certain verses) in the Bible. We don't ignore them; we apply them all properly—in Spirit and in Truth, with common sense to acknowledge when our particular circumstance in a situation prevents us from applying it (but that doesn't mean it is not beneficial nor is now a sin for everyone else who can apply it, unobstructed, to apply it); those commands have physical benefit [not worthless] as well as conveying prophetic and symbolic truth.
And no there will not be unity with the world—their deviant beliefs, philosophies, practices, and ways that contradict YHWH's; His is perfection and what leads to true peace, not what He has allowed the world to have. No, there will not be unity with those beliefs and practices that originated in the worship of false gods (Queen of Heaven worship) or their lack of God (e.g. Buddhism, and mantra-like praying); those too are mere self-imposed traditions [just as much as the self-imposed traditions in YHWH's Name that the Pharisees came up with), not anything outright Commanded by YHWH and thus are worthless practices.
True freedom cannot be achieved by a law (be it man's or God's), you must receive that desire to obey Him, obey righteousness, sincerely from the inside through faith/trust in Him (and what He said), as Jesus Christ taught, and receive empowerment from the Holy Spirit to do so. Then you will sincerely submit to both man and God, but God's precepts override man's when there is a point of conflict/contradiction (e.g. someone tells you to bow before an idol, God says no, so you refuse [if you're faithful to God above man]).
By that same token, there is no true peace where there is the slightest deviance from the perfect system (and perfect government) YHWH Commanded—be it a Pharisee or an ignorant pagan in total deviance, because [1] aside from arousing YHWH's wrath which unleashes on earth, [2] as long as we deviate—from the Way, the Truth, and the Life—we can't defeat what is false, and all the practices and beliefs that don't actually guard your life (be it that the false belief or practice itself kills or diseases you [or that it leaves you unguarded against them e.g. Jainism with their total pacifism, no self-defense or capital punishment ever, worthless] as a natural consequence. Whether we're in the church or outside of it we will suffer from one or both of those things. He will send attack. And we can't defeat them if we become one with them; rather, we will be defeated and attacked along with them by YHWH's judgment/the Truth).
2 Kings 9:22 (NIV)
22 When Joram saw Jehu he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” Jehu replied, “as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”
Revelation 9:20-21 (NIV)
20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Revelation 2:20-23 (NIV)
20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
Jezebel cannot be tolerated in the congregation. So, if we truly want people to have life and peace, then yes, we need to submit to true freedom (from sin and worldly ways ruling over us and all the deviant practices and philosophies that God finds displeasing [as He describes in the totality of the Scriptures], including insincere applications of what He did say).
It's His Way, and actually walking in it, that guards you (physically, emotionally, spiritually)—and guards the rest of His creation—in wholeness and peace, in working thriving order, not the world's self-imposed practices and deviant beliefs (even in those passing off under His Name in the church but are actually of Jezebel and the prince of this world).
It depends on the context, but we will always be free from one thing and enslaved to another: it will either be free to serve YHWH and His Way, true shalom/complete/whole as it is written (as both Paul and Jesus observed), that is not burdensome, but the ancient way that offers rest for our souls, in accord with Moses, and yes we're slaves of righteousness; or you'll be free from the rule of righteousness, and enslaved to sin, lawlessness, burdened under things that either YHWH never Commanded, or are not being sincerely applied the Way He wants. There's no middle ground. You're either with Him and resting from the burdensome ways of the world and self-imposed, deviant tradition—or you're against Him in unrest, in burdensome bondage to the world's ways, oppressed, not sufficiently guarded nor able to defeat the enemy for mixing with their ways. And by denying verses, one automatically places themselves in a Pharisaical, Sadducean, or Herodian camp [the hypocrites], not Jesus' and Paul's side who submitted to everything in its truest application of what's in accord with the Law and the Prophets (YHWH's Words whose Way offers rest for our souls and our bodies, sound bodily health and sound minds).
We might fool people, but we're not fooling YHWH, when our cry for freedom is to avoid obeying Him faithfully in favor of a lust of the flesh, a lust of the eye, or lust for prestige in this world.
cristobela Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 11:48 am
The first thing that Biblical freedom gives us is knowing how God loved creating us:
Genesis 1:1-5 KJV (1) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (2) And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (3) And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (4) And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (5) And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
-Yahwah loved his ideas so much that he spoke into being -
John 1:1-3 KJV (1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) The same was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
-The first is to realize God loves what he has made and is proud of it and the second freedom is that God loves human beings that he made and he is proud of us and loves us no matter how far we push him away. -
Genesis 1:26-28 KJV (26) And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (28: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
-God gave us this power to rule over all of the earth and everything that was made. Why did he give his creation freedom to rule his creation>?
The answer is simple Because of Love. This is the same love as a Carpenter or a Glass blower or an inventor has towards what they make. Yet it is greater.-
1 John 3:1 KJV (1) Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 11:52 am
cristobela
Prophet of Holy Fire
What is Biblical freedom
Prophet of Holy Fire
What rights do we have by the Bible?
Going by what you titled this, your opening post, and what you decided to subsequently reply with, you're not really helping the reader understand and apply those passages. At best, they won't engage; at worst, they'll be left confused. I can't say this comes off as a sincere question either, but for the sake of preserving Scriptural clarity, I'm making an explanatory response to this topic:
This is why the Law—any of God's Instructions—exists in the first place: to teach you what you're free to do to God and His creation or not.
STOP WRITING BOOKS
I can not response on my cell phone to all of this and also I dont have hours to reread everything you have - SLOW down your yelling everything you have to everyone and NO ONE can hear all your thoughts clearly.Patience
Prophet of Holy Fire
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Prophet of Holy Fire
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Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 11:55 am
cristobela
[continued...]
In contrast:
What the hypocrite talks / teaches is not in actual harmony with the Commands of God (and the rest of Scripture), as Jesus exposed in the Pharisees who were placing more importance on self-imposed traditions and traditionally-taught ways of interpreting, that nullified obedience to the precept and what is actually written (for ease of reference I'm providing Mt 15:1-9 a second time):
Matthew 15:1-9 (NIV)
15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]”
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 15:4 Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16 b. Matthew 15:4 Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9 c. Matthew 15:9 Isaiah 29:13
Or the sect of the Herodians who allowed their political ambitions to supersede God's will in a matter—and both groups would ask Jesus insincere questions just to promote their cause or their interpretation:
Matthew 22:15-22 (NIV)
15 Then the Phariseeswent out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax[a] to Caesar or not?”
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 22:17 A special tax levied on subject peoples, not on Roman citizens
Some background:
Quote:
According to many interpreters, the courtiers or soldiers of Herod Antipas ("Milites Herodis," Jerome) were intended; others argue that the Herodians were probably a public political party, who distinguished themselves from the two great historical parties of post-exilic Judaism (the Pharisees and Sadducees) by the fact that they were and had been sincerely friendly to Herod the Great, the King of the Jews, and to his dynasty. The Herodians are often mentioned in the gospels at the same time as the Pharisees. Like the Pharisees, the Herodians wanted political independence for the Jewish people.[2] Unlike the Pharisees, who sought to restore the kingdom of David, the Herodians wished to restore a member of the Herodian dynasty to the throne in Judea.[citation needed]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodians
Same with the Sadduccees (who didn't believe in angels nor the resurrection)...
Matthew 22:23-32 (NIV)
23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”
29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’[a]? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 22:32 Exodus 3:6
...asking insincere questions (they don't even believe in the resurrection, but are asking just to push their interpretation), not sincerely interested in getting to know the totality of Scripture and Jesus outted them for not knowing the Scriptures well at all, nor knowing the power of the Spirit of God, what He's capable of doing and what He promises to do in us.
Thus, Jesus warning against this sectarianism; the insincere question-asking because they weren't truly seeking to understand the Scriptures, just serve their own agenda (be it self-autonomy and ruling power that they don't want to submit to Jesus/the Word of God fully; political aspirations / friendship with the world and its ways; sectarian prestige [pride in their sect's history and self-imposed traditions over God's Word even when it nullifies something]). And thus Jesus warning against their unstable handling of the Scriptures that didn't acknowledge the whole sum of what is written. He compared their teaching to a leaven (the kind we're not to have):
Matthew 16:6 (KJV)
6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Mark 8:15 (KJV)
15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.”
Matthew 16:11-12 (KJV)
11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Luke 12:1 (KJV)
12 In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
The hypocrisy of: [A] they're saying one thing while God says another (Mt 15:1-9) or [B] saying what God says, but doing another [Mt 23:1-3]
Matthew 23:1-3 (NIV)
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
[C] the hypocrisy of putting on the act of feigning interest/curiosity in a Scriptural matter, but underhandedly their true intention is to just to push their own faulty interpretation, not get at the Truth of what Scripture is saying cohesively.
[D] accusing people of doing things oneself is still committing:
Romans 2:21-22 (NIV)
21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
By the same token, you who teach to love your enemies, are you actually loving your enemies (praying for them, for their reconciliation with God, doing them good? or secretly hating them in your heart and casting slurs on them behind their backs)? you who say that you give truthful witness of YHWH and are a worshiper of the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and are His representative / His worshiper, are you dressed in lies?
In contrast the leaven/yeast we should have:
Matthew 13:33 (KJV)
33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
The leaven from heaven is the doctrine/teaching of YHWH that came from heaven, uncontaminated, not distorted by man's traditional interpretations (that ignore details across the Scriptures) nor distorted by political ambitions.
And on that note, on the subject of human freedoms vs. Biblical freedoms, or at least what I think the opening post was trying to get at:
If you're asking about Biblical freedoms in light of man's laws—so for example, the concept of, "you have the right to bear arms" (USA), an entitlement.
We can tell the founding fathers of the United States' constitution took inspiration from the Scriptures, inferring this from the Commands, the Writings, and the Gospels. Addressing those three examples, in that order: like YHWH describing the circumstances when it is right to defend your household from a thief, and when it is wrong / when you become guilty of bloodshed for doing so. Biblically, if you killed the thief invading your house during the day/sunrise, then you're a murderer (in contrast, if you kill the thief at night, couldn't assess intentions, nor your own strength and aim, etc; you're not guilty of bloodshed then, but yes, you're a murderer if you killed the thief during the day because He prefers reconciliation and restitution, not death; the replacement of your stuff, at no expense of a life).
Exodus 22:2-3 (NIV)
2 “If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; 3 but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed.
“Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft.
Elsewhere, as well, it is wise for the individual to have a defense:
Nehemiah 4:17-18 (NIV)
17 who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, 18 and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me.
Luke 22:36 (NIV)
36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.
But, even when we infer things, that are acceptable to do or is our “right”, that doesn't necessarily convey His perfect will in the matter considering that He doesn't want killing to happen, preferably, because bloodshed pollutes the land. Even Dawid—who defended the nation and God's people—was barred from serving God, in a certain capacity, for His bloodshed (killing, in the physical; in spirit: angry take down of others), though it was lawful for him to defend the nation, God's people, in this way (thus, when it was merited). However:
1 Chronicles 22:8 (NIV)
8 But this word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight.
People who give in to belligerent attitudes are not fit to build the House of YHWH. They must be peaceful people. Ergo, entitlements/rights or even “I'm allowed” is not the heart focus of Scripture. Getting to know God and walking in His perfect will is the higher focus (the proper Way to be human, the proper Way to relate to Him and His creations, fully trusting Him and what He said).
Because, on the flip side, one could argue that we also have the “right” to sin; it's our liberty (free will choice). That doesn't make it the perfect will of God—even if He uses it to result in good at the end. We should avoid committing what He defines as sin and displeasing to Him (He knows all the ways His creation gets affected negatively, even in nature, when we deviate). So we should focus on teaching (making disciples) out of everything He commanded, yes, and even allowed, but with a bent towards the perfect will of God so people can strive to walk in it. And for that we must get peoples' hearts right with Him, reconciled, so that they can receive a sincere desire to do what is right. Because no matter what law (gentile's or God's) is in the land, if they have a rebellious spirit, then it doesn't matter what law is over them: they won't submit to it. Neither to God's nor to man's.
Also, along this same vein, we must acknowledge as Biblical fact: there is a nonconformity between His Law and the laws He has allowed the nations to impose upon themselves. Though all authority comes from Him, the standards He has given the nations are not good (perfect); there is a difference.
Ezekiel 5:7 (NIV)
7 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even[a] conformed to the standards of the nations around you.
Footnotes:
Ezekiel 5:7 Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac You have
Ezekiel 11:12 (NIV)
12 And you will know that I am the Lord, for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.”
Ezekiel 20:25 (NIV)
25 So I gave them other statutes that were not good and laws through which they could not live;
Psalm 119:39 (NIV)
39 Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good.
Even though He prefers we submit to theirs than to nothing at all (if man has rejected His Law as rebellious human beings, as the nations have done), we, in contrast, should have His precepts and judgments reigning amongst us in our congregations (but capital punishment [like stoning] is not our jurisdiction because that is the realm of the courts [even when living in gentile nations and the gentiles use the sword, lethal injection, etc, instead of stoning, who resort to those methods because they don't submit to His Laws, we still leave capital punishment to the courts even then; they serve Him]—it's not the synagogues/churches' jurisdiction, gatherings of two to three believers+. At most, we separate from the obstinately unrepentant and hand them over to be judged outside. God will deal with them outside, in their gentile courts, worldly standards, and self-imposed ways that they have chosen, and divine judgment by other means [circumstantial] if they refuse to repent after being corrected by the church and cast out according to Jesus' instruction for how to deal with sin in an unrepentant brother or sister; this is the process while living in our congregations in gentile nations [as I ended up explaining as an aside, on the subject of judging, in another of the OP's [opening poster's] topics here [x]]).
The holy (set-apart) believer in YHWH does not reject His Standards in place of man's because we know that they are better and what actually conduces to true peace (e.g. a country that allows the worship of other gods / idolatrous beliefs, "free exercise of religion" [worldly law], will never have peace and one group will constantly be warring and undoing the advancement of the other to establish their ways that contradict the other; constant friction, there is no true peace/harmony/unity—which by Biblical definition is the following...).
1 Corinthians 1:10 (NIV)
10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,[a] in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.
Footnotes:
a. 1 Corinthians 1:10 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in verses 11 and 26; and in 2:1; 3:1; 4:6; 6:8; 7:24, 29; 10:1; 11:33; 12:1; 14:6, 20, 26, 39; 15:1, 6, 50, 58; 16:15, 20.
That is true unity. Which obviously we will not have with the world's governments, but we are to have in the congregation. Not conforming to the opinions or traditional interpretations of a sect (or any political aspirations), but the full context of what is written.
When a person (or group of believers) denies what is written, refusing to conform to YHWH's Word, there will be splits, which we're not to have, but either due to pride or the limitations of time/attention, the cohesive explanation is not easily shared; so divisions happen, but unity of thought in the congregations is the goal:
Ephesians 4:11-13 (NIV)
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Otherwise, as long as someone is deviating from the totality of what is written, and despite being shown the cohesive explanation refuses to repent, we will continue to have divisions:
1 Corinthians 11:18-19 (NIV)
18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.
Those who have God's approval are like Jesus, the Son (who submitted everything to what the Father said, in accord to what is written in the Law and the Prophets). If not for sectarian differences (like that typified by the Pharisees [caring more about self-imposed traditions and traditional ways of interpreting that aren't faithful to totality of the text], Sadducees [ignoring whole chunks, ignorant of Scripture and the power of Spirit of God], and Herodians [more faithful to political aspirations than to what God says to do in a situation, His purposes]), there would be no distinction—doctrinally—between Christian and Jews (or Christian and Christian) in the congregation because they would totally submit to what is written, in Spirit and in Truth, to what YHWH says, not man's self-imposed or worldly ways. The obedient followers of Jesus were even identified as another Jewish “sect” early on; our distinction from the rest of the sects is: actually submitting to everything sincerely unlike the others (Pharisee, Sadduccee, Herodian).
Acts 24:14-15 (NIV)
14 However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets, 15 and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.
Acts 24:5 (NIV)
5 “We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect
Acts 11:26 (NIV)
26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
"Nazarene" sect because Jesus was from Nazareth and that is whom we follow. “The Way”, because He is the Way, The Truth, and the Life. “Christian” because that is the Greek word for "Messiah" and that is whom we follow.
Regardless of what the world calls us, we don't ignore anything, nor speak against obedience to a Command (when it's actually lawful / proper to obey it), while at the same time guarding against false associations with the idolatrous.
There is suppose to be unity (perfectly united in mind and thought) amongst our congregations and that is what happens when we acknowledge (and stop denying) the existence of certain verses (or certain details of certain verses) in the Bible. We don't ignore them; we apply them all properly—in Spirit and in Truth, with common sense to acknowledge when our particular circumstance in a situation prevents us from applying it (but that doesn't mean it is not beneficial nor is now a sin for everyone else who can apply it, unobstructed, to apply it); those commands have physical benefit [not worthless] as well as conveying prophetic and symbolic truth.
And no there will not be unity with the world—their deviant beliefs, philosophies, practices, and ways that contradict YHWH's; His is perfection and what leads to true peace, not what He has allowed the world to have. No, there will not be unity with those beliefs and practices that originated in the worship of false gods (Queen of Heaven worship) or their lack of God (e.g. Buddhism, and mantra-like praying); those too are mere self-imposed traditions [just as much as the self-imposed traditions in YHWH's Name that the Pharisees came up with), not anything outright Commanded by YHWH and thus are worthless practices.
True freedom cannot be achieved by a law (be it man's or God's), you must receive that desire to obey Him, obey righteousness, sincerely from the inside through faith/trust in Him (and what He said), as Jesus Christ taught, and receive empowerment from the Holy Spirit to do so. Then you will sincerely submit to both man and God, but God's precepts override man's when there is a point of conflict/contradiction (e.g. someone tells you to bow before an idol, God says no, so you refuse [if you're faithful to God above man]).
By that same token, there is no true peace where there is the slightest deviance from the perfect system (and perfect government) YHWH Commanded—be it a Pharisee or an ignorant pagan in total deviance, because [1] aside from arousing YHWH's wrath which unleashes on earth, [2] as long as we deviate—from the Way, the Truth, and the Life—we can't defeat what is false, and all the practices and beliefs that don't actually guard your life (be it that the false belief or practice itself kills or diseases you [or that it leaves you unguarded against them e.g. Jainism with their total pacifism, no self-defense or capital punishment ever, worthless] as a natural consequence. Whether we're in the church or outside of it we will suffer from one or both of those things. He will send attack. And we can't defeat them if we become one with them; rather, we will be defeated and attacked along with them by YHWH's judgment/the Truth).
2 Kings 9:22 (NIV)
22 When Joram saw Jehu he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” Jehu replied, “as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”
Revelation 9:20-21 (NIV)
20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Revelation 2:20-23 (NIV)
20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
Jezebel cannot be tolerated in the congregation. So, if we truly want people to have life and peace, then yes, we need to submit to true freedom (from sin and worldly ways ruling over us and all the deviant practices and philosophies that God finds displeasing [as He describes in the totality of the Scriptures], including insincere applications of what He did say).
It's His Way, and actually walking in it, that guards you (physically, emotionally, spiritually)—and guards the rest of His creation—in wholeness and peace, in working thriving order, not the world's self-imposed practices and deviant beliefs (even in those passing off under His Name in the church but are actually of Jezebel and the prince of this world).
It depends on the context, but we will always be free from one thing and enslaved to another: it will either be free to serve YHWH and His Way, true shalom/complete/whole as it is written (as both Paul and Jesus observed), that is not burdensome, but the ancient way that offers rest for our souls, in accord with Moses, and yes we're slaves of righteousness; or you'll be free from the rule of righteousness, and enslaved to sin, lawlessness, burdened under things that either YHWH never Commanded, or are not being sincerely applied the Way He wants. There's no middle ground. You're either with Him and resting from the burdensome ways of the world and self-imposed, deviant tradition—or you're against Him in unrest, in burdensome bondage to the world's ways, oppressed, not sufficiently guarded nor able to defeat the enemy for mixing with their ways. And by denying verses, one automatically places themselves in a Pharisaical, Sadducean, or Herodian camp [the hypocrites], not Jesus' and Paul's side who submitted to everything in its truest application of what's in accord with the Law and the Prophets (YHWH's Words whose Way offers rest for our souls and our bodies, sound bodily health and sound minds).
We might fool people, but we're not fooling YHWH, when our cry for freedom is to avoid obeying Him faithfully in favor of a lust of the flesh, a lust of the eye, or lust for prestige in this world.
Are you copying someones school work >? lol Shalom little sis sheesh *Giggles*
Listening to this while typing
Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 11:57 am
Prophet of Holy Fire
The first thing that Biblical freedom gives us is knowing how God loved creating us:
Genesis 1:1-5 KJV (1) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (2) And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (3) And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (4) And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (5) And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
-Yahwah loved his ideas so much that he spoke into being -
John 1:1-3 KJV (1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) The same was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
-The first is to realize God loves what he has made and is proud of it and the second freedom is that God loves human beings that he made and he is proud of us and loves us no matter how far we push him away. -
Genesis 1:26-28 KJV (26) And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (28: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
-God gave us this power to rule over all of the earth and everything that was made. Why did he give his creation freedom to rule his creation>?
The answer is simple Because of Love. This is the same love as a Carpenter or a Glass blower or an inventor has towards what they make. Yet it is greater.-
1 John 3:1 KJV (1) Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Here was my answer and continues if you wouldn't write books and slow your roll you would have seen it
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