[Vision2020] Dispensation of Grace--Specifically in Regards to Death Penalty for Sexual Sin, etc.

[The Scimitar]

According to Holy Writ, man is saved by grace through faith in the Messiah, God's only begotten Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8,9, among
 others), whether in the Old Testament looking towards the coming of the
 Messiah or in the New Testament looking back towards the Messiah (what is
 concealed in the Old is revealed in the New--Isaiah 53:7, Matt. 27:12-14, Mark
 15:4-5, Zechariah 9:9, John 12:13-14, among others); salvation is only by God's
 grace through faith in His Son as defined plainly by Scripture.

For those who would exact the death penalty for sexual sin (sexual sins which do
not result in murder) and other sins for which the Mosaic Law commanded death 
for (other than murder), it would appear that Christ lifted that penalty for the time
being.  The Chruch is not Israel -- http://www.letusreason.org/ --see article, "Is
 the Church Israel."

In John 8:10-11, Christ states to the woman taken in adultery, "'Woman, where
are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?'  She said, 'No man,
Lord.'  And Jesus said unto her, 'Neither do I condemn thee:  go, and sin no
more.'"  It is not known by us whether she (Scripture does not name this woman
as Mary Magdelene) engaged in that particular sin again, but He knew and had
the right to stone her whether she was repentant or not.  The point being, Christ
did not exact the penalty of the Mosaic Law on her.  It appears the penalty was
lifted for such sins when Christ came--not that such sins may not exact a 
penalty within the physical body--I Corinthians 6:18 states, "Flee fornication.
Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth 
fornication sinneth against his own body."  But as the death penalty for such sins
go, God has appeared to have extended His mercy for a time--II Peter 3:9
states, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count
slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but
that all should come to repentance."  While "His promise" in the previous 
Scripture has to do with His second coming, His willingness for all coming to
repentance can apply here.  However, the death penalty for murder was in 
general (God, being God, did not exact the death penalty on David {II Samuel
11:14-17} nor Paul {Acts 22:20} for His purposes) not lifted.  It was given for
murder in Genesis 9:5-6 before the Law was given to Moses.  It has not been 
lifted by Scripture.

On another note, Christ Church is getting off rather cheaply for 60 reserved 
parking spaces at $15,000 a year.  That's $20.80 a month per space, about
a dollar a day per car.

<Scimitar>

 
---------------------------------
Want to start your own business? Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20070219/0d7dd48d/attachment.html