The Gospels vs. the Epistles & a Warped View of the Trinity

I recently got into a conversation with someone on the street who appeared to have a lot of zeal for God, but when I spoke of sins Paul listed in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, this person made a comment to the sort of "Paul had some good writings, but he was not Jesus." I do not know if there was a certain sin in these 2 verses that I was referring to that hit a strong chord or not, but this person was big on the 4 gospels.

I recently got into a conversation with another person (who belongs to the Catholic church) about homosexuality and I was accused of being judgmental towards the homosexual lifestyle. Here is the list of sinners in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that will not inherit the kingdom of God: the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, men who practice homosexuality, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, and swindlers. If you were to ask anyone if stealing was wrong, they would definitely say yes. They may try to justify that it really "isn't stealing when I take stuff from work," etc., but I guarantee that if you were to take something of theirs, it would be wrong.

I do not know why the specific sin of homosexuality is given the green light when the rest of the sins in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 are not. When I showed my relative this passage, I got the same answer that I got on the street: these were Paul's words, not Jesus'. This relative also referred to the Bible as a "history book." It should not surprise me that when I asked why God sent Jesus into the world I didn't hear anything about the forgiveness of sins and something about how Jesus was someone we could relate to in a human form.

This person did put a lot of stock in the Torah and the laws given to Moses because they were directly from God. In Acts 9:15, the Lord, Himself, told Ananias that Saul (renamed to Paul) is "a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel."

2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." You may say that these are Paul's words and not divinely inspired, but remember that Paul was called by the Lord Himself.

Back to the issue of homosexuality- if you want to take God's words on it- Leviticus 18:22 (from God Himself) specifically prohibits it. It is not one of the ceremonial laws that no longer apply.

On the issue of the Trinity, my relative reasoned that since Jesus = God and the Father = God, that believing in the Father or Jesus would result in salvation. Jews could believe in the Father and be saved, or one can believe in Jesus and be saved since they are both God. Furthermore, since Allah is the God of Abraham which is the same God as the Jewish God, Muslims can be saved by believing in Allah. This is not the way it works.

My attempts to quote John 14:6 were useless. Even though Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me," since Jesus = God, the Father = God and Allah = the God of Abraham (the same Christian God), one can believe in any of the three and be saved. In addition to this, the second coming of Jesus will be both the first coming (of the Messiah) for the Jews and the second coming.

This is what happens when a low view (or lack there of) is taken of Scripture. I was accused of being closed minded that Jesus was the only way. It wouldn't have done any good to quote Matthew 7:13-14 where Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

I guess Jesus is just as closed minded. So, did Jesus take His cues from me or did I take mine from Him?

A Converstaion Getting My Hair Cut

Today I went to get my haircut and I was thinking about ways to bring up Jesus in a conversation. I was going to ask, "Do you know if it supposed to stop raining soon?" and then be able to introduce how I haven't gone out with my cross in the rain (it's cardboard) and I could segway into a conversation.

When I got there, another woman getting her hair cut was talking about a woman she knew who had a miscarriage. She said they were believers and that she believed the baby was in heaven. She was talking a little bit about faith and when I got up to get my haircut, I went over and gave her an Obama Trillion and one to the hair stylist. One of the hair stylists told me a different hair stylist had received a tract a few weeks ago and was showing it to them.

This really convicts me, because I have been slacking on giving out tracts to people I come across in stores and in public. I have no problem handing them out when I am in "evangelist" mode carrying the cross (what else could I be up to?!), but otherwise, as with a photography analogy I like to use, I tend to "hide in the shadows" all other times. I need to remember that people need to hear the message and that any embarrassment I may temporarily have is only my pride getting in the way.

After handing out these two tracts, it took the conversation into a separate different areas. The stylist cutting my hair talked about doubting God's existence. I told her that the Bible says that all of creation speaks to His existence. I gave her the example of the human eye, which has 137 million light sensitive cells- you mean to tell me that happened by "chance?" I also talked about all the other working parts of the eye- the eyeball, the tears, the tear ducts, our eye lids, eye lashes. She pointed out that those were just a small portion of the human body. Exactly! How magnificently designed we are, and how much greater is our Designer!

I also talked about the problem with "gap theory" (according to the gap theory- death and destruction entered the world before the fall) and how the day "yom" in Genesis 1 is the same word uses through the Old Testament.

I also gave the two hair stylists the analogy of the parachute- believing in a parachute won't save you on a crashing plane, you have to put on the parachute, trust the parachute and jump from the plane- in the same sense you have to put on Jesus, trust in Him and abandon your sins. The one hair stylists said this was an excellent analogy to use.

At this point, I broke into the law, making sure to include that lust is adultery in the heart and murder or calling someone a "fool" is murder in the heart (I never knew this until I read the Bible myself and I think so many others don't know this- even if they know the commandments not to commit adultery and murder). I explained the necessity of repentance in addition to faith- even the demons believe the one hair stylist pointed out.

I also used the analogy of people saying that "God is such a loving God, He will forgive me of my sins." Try that in a court of law- judge, I know I murdered this person, but you are such a loving judge, I was hoping you would let me off the hook. A loving judge would acknowledge that because he is a loving judge, that he has to punish the crime. That is where Jesus came into take the punishment for us. Our fine was paid in His life's blood.

I did end up mentioning my cross, and the one stylist said she had seen me with it and wanted to come up and talk to me. I encouraged her to do so, because it is nice to get the encouragement, especially after getting heckled.

She said she thought of me as a "modern day prophet." I don't like to think of myself this way. We should all be "modern day prophets"- we have all been given the command of the Great Commission. Given the context of where I live and how it is uncommon to see people with religious signs here, I can understand the label (as a note: I do not take offensive to it. I am proud to be identified as one who loves Jesus and that my actions testify to that fact. As Paul said, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" [Romans 1:16]). If I were out in California with a lot of others with signs, I most likely wouldn't be viewed the same way. There should be countless others just like me.

We all have ample access to the Word. The information I am telling people isn't something new that hasn't been written down for hundreds of years. It is at our own peril that we choose not to read it. If everyone were following Jesus' commands, we would all be out there sharing our faith and I would be just one of many standing out there with a sign. Now, I'm not saying everyone should take Matthew 16:24 literally ("If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me,") but please remember we are all called to the Great Commission (Mark 16:15).

A Catholic Says: We Do Not Pray To Mary

Anyone who goes to a Catholic church is familiar with the Hail Mary. I grew up in a Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic church and this is how I remember reciting it:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed are thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for our sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen

I don't know how any one can say this isn't praying to Mary. When we pray to Jesus, aren't we asking things of him? In the prayer above, people are asking Mary to pray for sinners. How can one say that asking Mary for something isn't praying to her? This is clearly idolatry.

Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Except through who? Jesus. Not Mary. Jesus.

Here is what 1 Corinthians 6 has to say about idolaters:
"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

Repent today and trust in your Savior alone for your salvation!

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