Bible Literacy – Explore the Ocean

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6)

Most jets are outfitted with an orange “black box” flight recorder that can help investigators figure out what when wrong after an airline crash.  The bottom line on most crashes is “miscommunication.”  The pilot or navigator failed to get important information, either about the weather, another aircraft, the runway or some other factor that resulted in the deaths of most or all of those on the jet.

There is much about eternity and the nature of God that is like that black box; we do not understand on this side of the grave.  And there is much about God we will never understand, even after we begin to live in Heaven.  After all, HE is the Uncreated God and we are not.

But there is much about eternity and God that we CAN understand, as He loves us and wants to share our lives for all of time, and He has revealed to us what we need to know.  What He has revealed is so simple a toddler can understand, yet so profound that the greatest philosophers and scientists can still miss it.  “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.” (Matthew 11:25-26)

However, to get to know Him well we need more than the simple experience a child can fathom.  As C.S. Lewis pointed out, “If a man once looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then goes and looks at a map of the Atlantic, he will be turning from something real to something less real… The map is admittedly only colored paper, but there are two things you have to remember about it. In the first place, it is based upon what hundreds and thousands of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach; only, while yours would be a single glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together. In the second place, if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutely necessary.” (in Mere Christianity)

Such is the Bible: a map for those wanting to know The God Who Is.  Like “cartography,” the study of maps, there will be much in this map of God that we will not understand at first, just as the novice explorer will not understand all the details of topographical or nautical instruction on his maps.  But to fully understand the terrain or ocean on which the explorer roams, he must learn to use his maps.

In the same way, to fully understand The God Who Is, as much as we can understand him from this tiny blue ball we call earth, we must learn to use the Bible, with care, accuracy and precision.  Biblical literacy is vitally important to fulfill all that Father intends for us to be and do while on earth.  Jesus warned, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29)

Some complain there are so many translations, which one is best?  My “best” recommendation is to explore multiple translations any time you embark on Bible study, as various ones bring different innuendo to the text.  See https://www.biblegateway.com/ for some excellent tools, including side-by-side translations, devotionals, blogs and other resources for Bible study.

There are three basic methods of translation: word-for-word, thought-for-thought, and paraphrases.
Word-for-word can be very awkward as languages have different syntax and structure.  However, you can find “interlinear” Greek and Hebrew texts online if that is what you wish to explore.  You will quickly see why translators for common folk such as us do not use word-for-word translation, but more thought-for-thought.

Of course, thought-for-thought can get dangerous if the underlying philosophy or theology of the translator is aberrant.  Fortunately, there are so many translations available, these will usually be easy to ferret out; e.g., if a translator discards masculine or feminine pronouns or dismisses the miraculous power of God to overrule His laws of physics or biology.

Paraphrases are the most subject to the translator’s personal opinions, but often can provide insight into cultural phrasing and attitudes that straighter translations will miss.  An example of this is The Cotton Patch Version’s treatment of John 1:5: “The light shined in the darkness and the darkness couldn’t do a blessed thing about it!”  This captures somewhat the idea, but puts it in a particular vernacular of southern US culture.

The following is a graphic illustrating the degree of “accuracy” of several English language translations, listing some translations as word-for-word, although they are not interlinears.  Note, for those who prefer King James English of 1611, the KJV remains one of the best translations for accuracy of the words.  My only concern with KJV is that the Old English employed can leave one feeling like you are reading a foreign language if you are not schooled in Shakespeare.  The poetry and beauty of it is unmatched by the NASB or ESV, but remember, when it was translated, THIS was the way common people talked!

The NIV is one of the most popular because of the excellent marketing the publishers did when it first came out in 1978 by one of the most prominent Bible translation groups around at the time, and its list of scholars were some of the greatest minds in evangelical circles.  The ESV came out in 2001 and utilized updated research and linguistic scholarship in an attempt to render as literally as possible what was in the original autographs (which have long been lost to antiquity), including recognizing different writing styles of each different author of the various books.

As you read and study the Bible, expect there will be things that are difficult to accept or understand, but the Scripture is the proven Word of God just as surely as Jesus is the Living Word.  It is not anti-science; it is not fantasy or myth; it is not racist or misogynistic or patriarchal.  When understood it will reveal a God who is holy and loving, gracious and truthful, and transcends cultures and ages of the world.

As I have noted in previous blogs, There is no book in history that has been more reliably preserved and translated than the Bible.  There is no book in history that has more power to change the human condition than the Bible.  There is no book in history that is more important for knowing the God Who Is than the Bible.

See https://capost2k.wordpress.com/2015/05/17/the-reliability-of-the-bible-part-1/ for the beginning of a series on The Reliability of the Bible.  Remember always that the Bible is the map, however, not the Atlantic Ocean!  Use it wisely, but do not get caught in the trap so many theologians fall into of studying the map in their offices in such detail that they never get in a boat to go sailing.

“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”  (John Shedd)

Where Is The Promise Of His Coming? – Part 2

“They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’”  2 Peter 3:4

The world is becoming more global, communication more instant, money more digitized and immigration/emigration movements more regulated than ever before in history.  Also, alliances are forming that want to eliminate Israel from the map.  New regulations regarding showing vaccination proof are spreading faster than wildfires as nations and communities want to protect themselves against the CCP virus (Chinese Communist Party).  Presently a patchwork of means of identifying who has been vaccinated, the technology is easily in place to document online when and where one gets the shot.  Soon it could be as simple as taking a pill, but the documentation will still be required.
No pill, No vaccine, No entry, No access.

Soon one will need documentation to buy and sell almost anything.  Eventually any transaction will require a government issued “mark” of some kind, either on the hand or forehead.  However, it will not be administered secretly (like hidden in a vaccine 🙄).  It will be clear when you receive this mark that you need it to buy and sell.
No mark, No groceries, No business, No access.

Remember, it is not the Revelation of St. John; it is “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” given to John.  The entire book is from God’s perspective in Heaven, looking at the events on earth.  As such, the timeline is somewhat confusing with flashbacks and foretelling, but to one open the Holy Spirit, it can be clear.

EMPHASIS: This is not to predict the next war, earthquake, tsunami or economic meltdown; it is not to read next week’s headlines before they are printed.  Jesus laid down the “Operational Principle of Prophecy” in John 14:29: “And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.” The purpose of studying prophecy is not to amass money or stockpile a bunker for self-protection.  It is to build our faith so as we see Bible prophecy unfold, we will be ready for whatever Father brings into our lives, even if He is bringing our lives to an end.

For the Christ-follower who has “read the back of the Book,” yes, “we win.”  But before we do, there will be trouble in the world, building to a scale as yet unseen in human history.  Never before have we had so many people on earth.  Never before have we had the means of monitoring everyone.  Never before have we had such instant communication around the world in seconds.  Never before has global commerce needed a digital monetary system transferable across national and political lines.  Never before have we seen a coming together of the major factions of religious leaders.

Dr. James Christie presents in chapter 7 that there will be a tri-part rapture, or “catching away” of the redeemed.  Explored in his classic text, The Gold Mine, he bases his ideas on an original reading of the last book of the Bible.  By “orginal reading,” I mean he approaches the book as one with minimized preconceived notions of end-time events.  His is an attempt for a “new reading of the book focused on what the text itself says.”   (Page 12)

The first chapter of Revelation emphasized the book’s primary message: the time is near; be prepared.  Compared to Aesop’s fable of the boy who cried, “Wolf, wolf” too often, many have become jaded to the idea of Christ’s second coming.  When the wolf really came, no one believed the boy in the fable and we are being dulled to the idea that there is any truth to the book.  It appears to be just the stuff of Hollywood movies and fantasy.  Ooooh, the anti-Christ, ooooh, 666, ooooh, angels and demons!

Dr. Christie tells us that the Church, those who believe in their hearts that Jesus is the Son of God, will be taken from the earth in a cataclysmic event prior to many events in Revelation.  This is called Pre-tribulationalism, in that the Christ-followers are spared from the troubles to come during the last seven years of this age.

However, God is not unmerciful and always is open to anyone who wishes to be changed and saved.  Therefore, continued instruction is provided so that those who do not know Jesus at his second coming in the clouds (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11) can still prepare and refuse cooperation with the Beast who will be taking the world stage after the ‘first’ rapture, and fully revealed at the half-way mark of the seven-year “Tribulation.”

Next, Dr. Christie looks at those in Revelation 7 who clearly are saved out of the Tribulation period (Revelation 7:13-14).  This is Mid-tribulationalism.  There is no indication that these have been martyred (killed because of religious beliefs).  The martyred are referenced in 6:9-11, and they are awaiting for their number to be filled, but there is nothing about this group being among those.  Those who are to join these “souls under the altar” are found in Revelation 14:13: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on,” an event immediately preceding the final harvest from the earth.

These worshipers of Revelation 7 may have suffered terribly in plagues called down by the Two Witnesses of chapter 11, who spoke for God for three and one-half years, but they have survived the first half of the Tribulation.  They are very possibly “the cloud” that surrounds the Two Witnesses.  The call from Heaven and events at the ‘rapture’ of the Witnesses parallels well the rapture of the Church in chapter 4.

Finally, after three and one-half years (a time, times and 1/2 a time) of intensive judgements on the earth (Post-tribulationalism), there is one more group who joins the throngs in Heaven: the Jews who have refused the Mark of the Beast.  They have not been able to buy or sell, and the False Prophet has been hunting them down and killing any he could find who refused the Mark, but he may missed some of them.  Again, God is not willing that any should perish, but that all might come to repentance, so there may be Gentiles in this group as well, those who have refused the Mark.

The Beast’s entry into the Holy of Holies in the newly constructed Third Temple in Jerusalem likely opened their eyes to the Truth that Jesus was their Messiah.  In any case, even if the entry to Heaven of this Jewish cohort is mostly through death, they are assured in Revelation 14;13, that they will be blessed, even if it costs them their lives.

Where does that leave us?  As last week, Jennifier Bagnaschi noted, we can prepare for the End Times in a couple of ways;

1. Prepare to take the Mark of the Beast* with zero chance of making it to Heaven.
2. Plan on getting decapitated for refusing the Mark.
3. Somehow, figure out how to make it through seven years of the most dangerous times in history.
4. Be ready for Jesus Christ’s return.

*It will NOT be called the Mark of the Beast, just as he will not be called The Beast! 😏

Read the Book.  Begin with the Good News (Gospel) of John.  Read Romans, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and Revelation. Each one should only take less than an hour in your native language which is probably available at Biblegateway.com.  In English I recommend the ESV (English Standard Version), but any of the Scriptures here will do.

Receive Jesus as your savior by praying and asking Him to come take rulership of your life, starting with water baptism and finding a group of like-minded disciples.  If you need help finding these, just email me from anywhere in the world at capost3k@gmail.com and I will help you.

Jesus IS coming soon. Maranatha, even so, come, Lord Jesus!

See Part 3 on October 9, 2021.

An Aboriginal Mental Challenge: Can You Read Without Preconceptions?

G.K Chesterton is the source for today’s blog: a challenge to do some mental gymnastics to discover something we may have been missing.  In his 1925 philosophical tome, The Everlasting Man, the “prince of paradox” presents an interesting challenge: to read a Bible story from an aboriginal mindset.  You see, we have Christmas and Easter, jewelry and architecture, names of streets, cities and buildings and so many myriad additional references in our world to that unique man, Jesus, that it is difficult to imagine anyone anywhere in our global community that does not know something about Jesus.  And depending on the source of that something, our views of Jesus have been significantly shaped by the introductions we have been given, whether from a church, synagogue, mosque, temple, friend, enemy, or Christian/anti-Christian teaching.  And Chesterton contends that much of our view, even in the “Christian west” is significantly distorted.

So I wish to challenge you, as Chesterton has challenged me, to do some mental exercising.  Set your mind as though you have never heard of Jesus, a Christian church, or anything “christian.”  Pretend for this exercise that your only exposure to the divine has been the thunderous clouds that bring rain and frightening lightning; a starry sky at night and the warm and sometimes burning heat of the sun at day; the long graceful hop of a wallaby or neck of a giraffe; the worrisome growl of a bear or roar of a lion; a baby’s sweet coo and cry and the caress of your beloved.

Begin by beguiling your brain into thinking you have never received a Christmas gift or hunted an Easter egg or walked on Christchurch Avenue or stood in front of the spires of Notre Dame Cathedral.  You have never heard of Adam and Eve, Abraham, Moses, David, Paul or John.  Equally, you have never heard of Aristotle, Buddha, Confucius, Mohammad, Rama or Krishna or Zoroaster.   Add to that, you have never been concerned with politics, social structure or economics; no Communists, Conservatives, Democrats, Greens, Liberals, Republicans, Socialists, Tories or any other ideology for guidance of a nation.

This is a difficult mental exercise, but I encourage you, that it is not impossible.  Settle in your mind that you have never been taught anything about any god or history of creation, whether theism or atheistic evolution.  You have never worried about issues of government or society.  Your mind has been focused all these years on eating and drinking to stay alive and whatever day-to-day activities were required to survive, be at peace, avoid enemies and enjoy your time on earth.

Now, with this mindset, approach a new short book someone has brought you.  Its title is very short, just four letters, L-u-k-e.  If you can find it in its original formatting, without chapter and verse numbers, all the better.  (Chapters and verses were added centuries later to make research and memorization easier.)

However, it is available at a website where you can look up your language in which to read it.  If English is your native language, I encourage you to use the ESV noted in the website connection.  If another language is your “heart language,” feel free to try to find it under the ALL tab when you pull down the languages from the little arrow by the default version that opened.
So sorry, Mongolian is not on the list . . . yet.  But Arabic, Hindi, Punjabi, Tagalog and LOTS of others are there.
Any Gujariti readers here? 😉

Now that you have emptied your mind of any preconceptions about this little story, begin with Luke’s introduction to his narrative for his friend, Theophilus.  Read the short biography at a single sitting if you can; in your heart language it should not take much more than 90 to 120 minutes .  Remember, you have never heard of these people, Luke, Herod, Elizabeth, Martha or Jesus before.  Your entire impression of these people will come from your reading this for the first time!

You may want to have a pencil and paper handy, and note what you discover about some of the characters introduced to you for the first time.  Questions are sure to come up, as we begin with no information on the culture or history of these people and events; Why did He say THAT!?  Why did she do that!?  Why was He so rude?  Why did that confuse them?  Isn’t Jesus supposed to be meek and mild? Aha, you’ve slipped from the aboriginal mindset and are remembering something you’ve heard.  Try again! 😁

If you want to dialog about your questions, email me (capost3k@gmail.com) or comment here.  No guarantees I have any answers for you.  Either Tim Keller or Rick Warren wrote (but I cannot find the referemce), “When someone thinks he knows all the answers, you have to wonder if he knows all the questions.”   (Similar to a Confucius quote.)

Here’s to hoping you have a good week and discover who Jesus really is.
Enjoy Peter Hollen’s and Home Free’s a-capella performance of Amazing Grace.

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”  C.S.Lewis

My Most Important Blog EVER

News hits us faster than we can absorb it.  This began with television reporting back in the 60s and 70s of the last century.  The joke about our level of engagement came with a news anchor announcing, with a bright smile, “10 killed in hit-and-run on Broadway, film at 11.”

We are saturated 24/7, 1,440 minutes per day, with available information any time we look at our watches, phones or computers, most of which is unrelated to our daily lives, very little about which we can do anything, and most without consequence for any length of time, only lasting until the next broadcast or posting on social media.

But there IS something that matters, something integrally related to your life, something over which you have complete control, something that will last for all eternity: 
What will you do about the claims of Jesus, called the Christ? 

Jesus is the focal point of history, changing for over half the world the way we count the days of our lives ever since shortly after He walked on earth.  And He made some pretty audacious claims, so auspicious that I capitalize pronouns when I refer to Him.  Nothing particularly holy about capitalization, but simply to reflect that He is higher, better, greater (every positive superlative of which you can think) than any other human, past, present or future.

To understand who Jesus claimed to be one must read His biographies, which we call the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the first four books of the New Testament. (Many online sources are available and each one can be read in your native language in less than an hour; my favorite source is at Biblegateway.com where you can see if your language is listed.)

Even those who do not trust Him as what He claimed to be admit something unusual happened after He left the world, something that transformed His followers from meek and frightened, politically disenfranchised jellyfish to robust and daring defenders of what they had experienced.  What they experienced is recorded in Matthew 28, John 16 and 20, and Acts 1 and 2.  And all but one of them died rather than recant; only John survived to old age, but that was in exile on a prison island.

These disciples who had deserted Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, are next seen hiding in quiet rooms, afraid the High Priest, Sanhedrin or Roman authorities might be coming after them next.  Their political aspirations were dead, their leader had been crucified and the Jewish leaders had ensured that none of the disciples could steal His body.  They were confused and dismayed that the One they expected to lead Israel to international prominence, even over the Roman Empire, was dead and buried in a Roman-guarded sealed tomb.  How much worse could it get!?

But rather than getting worse, some women went to the grave in which Jesus was buried and found it empty, encountering angels who declared, “He is not here, for He has risen!”  Mary Magdalene, hardly an archetype of integrity, did not believe the angels and came at first to announce to the disciples, who were cowering in their chamber, that the tomb was empty.  Two of the disciples, Peter and John, ran to the tomb to see for themselves and also found it empty.   But then Jesus met Mary Magdalene in the garden where His tomb was and showed her that He was alive!  A couple of others returned from Emmaeus and said they had seen Jesus alive!

In all of these encounters, the ones who knew Jesus best resisted the stories and did not understand the Old Testament scriptures and refused to believe tales of seeing Jesus.  They still could not think of the things He had taught them about His death!  It was just too much for a rational brain to take in . . . until He appeared to them in a locked room.  (They were still afraid and could not sort through the events that were happening faster than the Fall of the Berlin Wall in modern times.)   But when Jesus appeared to them, He showed them His wounds from the crucifixion and they finally believed.

So what did He claim about Himself? 
That He is the bread of life that came down from Heaven.
That He is the light of the world.
That He is the good shepherd.
That He is the resurrection and life.
That He is teacher and Lord.
That He is the way, the truth and the life.
That He is the true vine.
That He is not from this earth.
That He is King of the Jews.
That He is The I Am!  This is arguably His most significant claim to be God, as He claimed to be one with Father, the I AM.

This short blog does not allow nearly adequate space for me to show you from the Bible all that it teaches of who Jesus is, but you are all intelligent and capable learned people.  Hey, you access a computer and blog! 😉  So do not take my word alone for this.  Read the Gospels and discover for yourself if you can trust this Jesus to be what He claimed to be.  What will you do?  You MUST do something, either admit these to be true or reject them to be false.  There is no middle ground.

If you believe, the next step is to receive Him.  John 1:12 says, “To all who receive him, who believe in his name, he gives the right to become children of God.”  Picture you came to my home and I offered to feed you dinner.  You could believe I was going to provide a meal; you could thank me for it; we could sit at the table together and talk about the food in front of us . . . but if you did not reach out and take the food, you would leave my home as empty as when you came.

So, first, reach out in your heart and mind to Jesus.  He is God and knows what is in your heart and thoughts even before you say it.  So invite Him to come and live in you.  Admit you are a sinner and have not let Him rule your life yet.  Turn away (repent) from your self-guided life and tell Jesus that you will trust Him to lead the rest of your life.  Do not worry that you are not perfect, or that you do not understand all this yet.  Simply trust Him that He will come live in you and begin to work in you to perform His will.  There are no special formulas for praying.  Just talk to Him as you would your own earthly father.

Secondly, if you decide to do this, the next step is to begin reading the Bible.  It is His directive to us, an ultimate guide for life and practice.  Do not be intimidated by the size (it is actually a library collection of small books; just take one at a time.)  There are numerous Bible-reading “plans” you can access, but just read!

Thirdly, if you talked with Jesus to invite Him to live in you, you have begun to pray.  Keep it up.  Again, there are lots of books and helps for praying, but remember, it does not take any special language.  Plus, as you get to know Jesus better (not just know about Him, but know HIM), you will find prayer is not just you talking to God.  In times of His choosing, He will talk to you!  Although the value of prayer cannot be measured by its volume, it can safely be said that prayer is valueless if you do not pray.  Make time to pray.

Lastly, God does not call “Lone Ranger Christians.”  Find a community of people who are seeking and experiencing the Presence of God.  Some will be phony; some will be misguided or misinformed; some will be manipulative; some will be dishonest; but you need them as much as they need you.  And as you pray and read the Bible, you will grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and your Savior, Jesus Christ.

Certainly, there is no requirement or expectation for you to contact me regarding your Journey into Faith, but if you want to contact me, please feel free to email me at capost3k@gmail.com.  No question is off limits.

Finally, let me assure you from many years of Bible study and examination of world religions from Atheism to Zoroastrianism, from Buddhism to Hinduism to Islam to Jainism, there is no intellectual reason for rejecting the claims of Jesus.  There is no text more authentically relayed to our generation than the Bible.  There is no way to get to know who God is, other than through the God-Man, Jesus.

Forgive Me – Umm, Excuse Me, One More Time

I want to discuss forgiveness one more time ( . . this will come up again, count on it, and probably more than seven times!).

Recall that on September 9, 2018, I noted that we do not need forgiveness if we have an excuse.  The thought is not original with me, but I cannot locate where I read this; please forgive . . . or rather, excuse me! 😉).  But it seems rational to me.

Suppose some older guy with out-of state-plates is obviously looking for an address in front of our car.  The ‘foreigner’ may irritate us and make us miss the next green light, but as there was no intent involved, the irritation is bearable.

Contrast that with a local hot rod who tries to stop us from reaching the light by swerving into our lane or blocking half a lane when he plans to turn out of our way.  Our anger can boil over in such cases even if we reach the light in time to smoothly drive through.  It is the intent that makes the difference.

Rabbi Morechai Dixler of Answers in Genesis says there are three Hebrew words for categories of actions.  (Don’t be impressed, subscribe to the Lifeline blog at Project Genesis at https://torah.org/, and you can get a plethora of information as well as thoughtful replies to email.)  So Rabbi Dixler explained to me the three categories are “oness – unavoidable actions, shogeg – careless actions, and mazid – deliberate malicious actions.”  The rabbi says that “oness” of course does not need forgiveness, which makes sense.  If an action is unavoidable it is hardly a fault that can be blamed on the actor.

He goes on to say “shogeg” and “mazid” do require forgiveness.  Even careless actions call for forgiveness because the offender should have been more careful.  Thus mistakes are more easily forgiven, or excused, but still require forgiveness if the offended party is to be at peace in his mind.

It still boils down to either excuses for mistakes or forgiveness for actions for which there is no excuse.  But this is a pretty big distinction.  Like Billy Joel sang, “you’re only human, you’re supposed to make mistakes.”  Not exactly the best theology, as we were created for perfection in the Garden of Eden, but the parents messed up and every parent thereafter has done the same and we are going to do the same.  It’s in our DNA.

All of us have sinned in the “fallen short of the mark” category (Romans 3:23), the excusable that having tried, we still cannot get it right on our own.  Such offenses still require forgiveness from God and understanding from our associates that we are all the same in this.  We are only human, and even if we are not ‘supposed’ to make mistakes, the fact is that we will.  We will fail to listen when someone needs us.  We will miss the turn and wind up in a fender-bender.  We will not understand when we should, and the offenses will mount up, even those for which we have an equal mountain of excuses.

More significantly though, we will all sin (or should I say have already sinned?) in the “mazid” category, the deliberate actions that offend.  There is not a human alive that has not also done that which is inexcusable.  We may distinguish degrees of sinfulness, e.g. murder seems to be the most heinous to 21^st century minds, whereas only coveting or only lying seem smaller and less offensive.  But the lack of excuse makes any violation of the Big Ten just as severe (James 2:10-11).

However, God’s action to forgive us, even when we have done the inexcusable, is His mercy to us!  Beyond that His grace gives us eternal life and other blessings, as mercy is not getting what we do deserve, and grace is getting something we do not deserve.

We are called in this same way to forgive the inexcusable in those who offend us.  It takes deliberate action even when we do not feel “forgiving.”  You see, God never commands us to feel anything.  He only commands actions that can be obeyed, and our feelings are as fickle as sunshine in Kentucky.  They change with whichever way the wind is blowing or whatever stimulus happens to be poking us.  A gentle jab from a lover can make us swoon; the same jab from an adversary can send us into rage

When He says to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44), it really does not matter how we feel about the enemy.  We are to act lovingly toward them.  And when He says we are to forgive each other (Matthew 6:12-14; Colossians 3:13), there is no caveat about feeling forgiving.  We are simply to do it.

An interesting word study is to simply read through all the Scripture references that mention “forgive.”  There are only 85 in the KJV, but 109 show up in the ESV, and 136 in the Amplified Bible.  It is an easy thing to do with https://www.biblegateway.com/.  Just enter it in the search window with your favorite translation and see what God and His people say about forgiving.

So there is really no excuse for not knowing what the Bible teaches about forgiving, only forgiveness for our ignorance.  😉

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhxjNYvJbgM