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<br> others), whether in the Old Testament looking towards the coming of the<br> Messiah or in the New Testament looking back towards the Messiah (what is<br> concealed in the Old is revealed in the New--Isaiah 53:7, Matt. 27:12-14, Mark<br> 15:4-5, Zechariah 9:9, John 12:13-14, among others); salvation is only by God's<br> grace through faith in His Son as defined plainly by Scripture.<br><br>For those who would exact the death penalty for sexual sin (sexual sins which do<br>not result in murder) and other sins for which the Mosaic Law commanded death <br>for (other than murder), it would appear that Christ lifted that penalty for the time<br>being. The Chruch is not Israel -- http://www.letusreason.org/ --see article, "Is<br> the Church Israel."<br><br>In John 8:10-11, Christ states to the
woman taken in adultery, "'Woman, where<br>are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?' She said, 'No man,<br>Lord.' And Jesus said unto her, 'Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no<br>more.'" It is not known by us whether she (Scripture does not name this woman<br>as Mary Magdelene) engaged in that particular sin again, but He knew and had<br>the right to stone her whether she was repentant or not. The point being, Christ<br>did not exact the penalty of the Mosaic Law on her. It appears the penalty was<br>lifted for such sins when Christ came--not that such sins may not exact a <br>penalty within the physical body--I Corinthians 6:18 states, "Flee fornication.<br>Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth <br>fornication sinneth against his own body." But as the death penalty for such sins<br>go, God has appeared to have extended His mercy for a time--II Peter 3:9<br>states, "The Lord is
not slack concerning His promise, as some men count<br>slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but<br>that all should come to repentance." While "His promise" in the previous <br>Scripture has to do with His second coming, His willingness for all coming to<br>repentance can apply here. However, the death penalty for murder was in <br>general (God, being God, did not exact the death penalty on David {II Samuel<br>11:14-17} nor Paul {Acts 22:20} for His purposes) not lifted. It was given for<br>murder in Genesis 9:5-6 before the Law was given to Moses. It has not been <br>lifted by Scripture.<br><br>On another note, Christ Church is getting off rather cheaply for 60 reserved <br>parking spaces at $15,000 a year. That's $20.80 a month per space, about<br>a dollar a day per car.<br><br><Scimitar><br><p> 
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