Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.
I went to church on Sunday. We studied about Peter's words in I Peter 2:11 from the HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible) which reads: Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and temporary residents to abstain from fleshly desires that war against you. 1 Peter 2:11
Who is 'you'? After the Sunday bible class, I went to the preachin' and listened intently to the sermon, the pastor stated that pornography was gripping the members of the church today in record numbers and gave an illustration. One of his sons sent him a tuber' video of a lion attacking an animal in Africa (pastor must be a hunter) and at the end of the video a nude scene appeared and he turned his head immediately, nevertheless, there it was, porn on an innocent video from his son (no, the son did not intend to send the porn with the video). Because of his stature and standing, of course, all would believe it to be an innocent victim of porn trafficking. The minister spoke and delivered the message that "men and women are 'compartmentalizing', (that is, they are separating into isolated compartments or categories, thoughts, actions, feelings etc.., to 'task goal' as to not 'mix' emotions and/or actions in wrongful positions or life, example: He compartmentalizes his life by keeping his job and his personal life separate, -or- The company has compartmentalized its services.) their viewing porn so as to not be affected or revealed", this is not an actual quote, word per word, but it is the context as best as I could remember. So the message of the minister was geared in the text we studied in the bible study before his sermon, and I must conclude the minister is correct, that is precisely how people are viewing and containing their porn lifestyles, but let's go back to the verse of 1 Peter 2:11 and take a closer look, 'abstain from fleshly desires that war against you'. We pretty much know what the fleshly desires are, or can include, food, porn, greed, collecting, etc.., and the like, but take an indepth look at the words 'war against you', and ask yourself, "Who is, You"? You are made up of three units (if you will), the body or flesh, the Spirit or life, and the soul - which is the eternal 'you', we understand the body, and the Spirit of life is the breath of God that began the 'living' processes in the body, the soul is the conscience, thoughts, ideas, etc.., that make up the You. So, if I state, 'This is who you are', am I speaking about the body, Spirit, or the soul, remember we are talking about compartmentalizing sin in the you? So when Peter states, 'War against you', which 'you' is Peter addressing? First, we know it is a 'war' so we assume the enemy is out to capture, destroy, or wound his victim, so what can the enemy attain from 'you' or cause you to suffer loss, just with this verse can you know? For example, is the enemy's intent to kill you, dismember you, or cripple you, it's hard to tell in this verse isn't it, that is because this verse is taking the entire 'you' and allowing you to place into one of the three compartments the attack of the enemy, now if you choose the flesh, then the flesh or the present flesh will not go to heaven for this mortal must put on immortality, so that would be the safest place to 'keep' the sin, after all, sin will not enter into heaven, but the soul will enter heaven, and the 'Spirit' of life returns back unto the giver, which is God, so actually, you are left with only one choice and that, being the body or flesh, so why would Peter write about this, as all sin and fall short, you have now 'compartmentalized' the sin to a temporary compartment, or category, but wasn't this what the minister was preaching against? Now, let's reconsider using the verse in another version, but the same verse,
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 1 Peter 2:11 First, Peter doesn't call you as a friend, but as a dearly beloved brother or sister, Peter wants you to know up front that God loves you and so does Peter, so he is compelling you from his heart, and Peter doesn't call the sin a desire but calls it more appropriately, a 'lust', remember, you may desire to do better, but you do not lust to do better, so desires are intermingled both good and bad, but 'lust' goes far beyond desire to reveal it's end course is 'sin' and then death. Second, Peter states, 'which war against the soul' now how could it war against the soul (note, Peter did not state Spirit which is God given breath of life)? When you stand before Jesus Christ, it is not for judgment unto hell or heaven, but it is for the 'rewards' of those things you have done in this life to help the brethren and to give witness to the lost, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, so with this information, you can assert that the enemy's goal is to rob you of any reward you may attain when you stand before Jesus Christ, the enemy cannot have your soul, but the enemy can tear down the rewards you will acheive if you allow him by not abstaining from 'fleshly lusts', now the problem is, how to abstain from fleshly lusts? If you begin the search to learn about all the fleshly lusts that might trip you, then you have already crossed a line of defense and are beginning to set up something called an 'offense', but remember, offense states that the enemy, already has the upper hand and now you must 'defend' yourself against his attacks, and these attacks are meant to keep you so busy that you cannot do a lot of good outside of protecting yourself. This is another comparment you have used ineffectively, of the body, many take this course to learn all about the enemy and how he uses his weapons of war, this is the time of the preacher in Ecclesiastes, " I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered." Ecclesiastes 1:14-15 So, what can we do to 'abstain' from fleshly lusts, don't do fleshly lusts, it is that simple, God has not given you a complex problem that you cannot solve or perform, note the simple words of James, "Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." James 4:5-8 In the building called the church, the members should be supporting and commending one another in the LORD (good luck with that), however, the Word of God, the songs, the 'old path's' are gone, replaced with the new, modern buildings and formats of change, gone too, are the supports of brother/sisterhood, but what did we expect to happen when we continually tear down, and water-down the Word of God? "Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein." Jeremiah 6:16 "As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." Isaiah 3:12 Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing,
passing from you and from me; shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming, coming for you and for me.
Come home, come home; ye who are weary come home; earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home!
HCSB AD:
Which Bible Translation Should I Use?ByDevinMaddox
Posted on19 Sep 2012
It's a question every customer faces when they walk into their local Christian bookstore. With so many options, it can be difficult to know where to start. Are the translations really that different? Is one better than the other? Editors Andreas J. Kostenberger and David A. Croteau, with B&H Publishing, set out to address these questions in their new book Which Bible Translation Should I Use. Though B&H published the HCSB, they thought it helpful to provide readers with a comparative/contrastive look at four major modern Bible translations (ESV, HCSB NIV, NLT). Each author played some significant role with the translation about which they write, and three of the essays were lectures in the Fall 2011 Liberty University Biblical Studies Symposium on Bible translation. QR codes are located on the pages to view symposium lectures as well. While we would unreservedly commend the HCSB in answering this question, we whole-heartedly commend this book to anyone seeking to purchase a Bible, or simply desiring to learn more about Bible translation. All of the scholars who contributed to Which Bible Translation Should I Use? are top-notch, and the book is a helpful guide to discovering which English Bible translation is best for you. English-speakers have been afforded an abundant stewardship in the way of Scripture, and we see this book as tremendously helpful in that endeavor.
Title: Which Bible Translation Should I Use?
Authors: Andreas J. Kostenberger and David A. Croteau
Price: $14.99 (print) $9.99 (kindle)
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