A Seeker wants to know:

• Is John mistaken, or is 1 John 3:9 a mistranslation?
• What guidance can you give a seeker sincerely desirous of living and doing right by Christ until He comes again?

What is your take on this verse in the context of the chapter and the Book of First John? CM

1. To whom does the Bible said can forgive us our sins?
2. Can Jesus forgive sins? If so, is it Jesus alone?
3.  Has God gifted or empowered anyone else to forgive sins?
4. Is it possible for one to qualify to forgive sins?
5. Where should one go to be forgiven of sins?

The answers to these questions are important to the Christian walk, practical in giving assurances and having a peace-of-mind. How readeth thou? CM

1. Death started with God or man?
2. What is the first mentioned of death in the OT?
3. Did death occurred before the fall of man (Adam and Eve)?
4. What was the first human death? What was its cause?
5. Was it due to the prohibition against eating or touching the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil?
6. What was the first actual physical death?
7. What was the situation prior to both the animal and Abel’s death?
8. Was man made in a state of deathlessness or immortality? If so, what proof can one point to explain this? How did man became mortal? Or, was he always mortal?
9. In short, was death a part of God's original plan for man and earth?

Take some time to think about a reality that touches so many lives, for so long. What are your thoughts in light of biblical teachings on this subject? CM

1. What is the sin against the Holy Spirit?
2. Why does it matter?
3. Has anyone committed this sin in Jesus' time or today?

31 “Therefore I say to you, w every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, x but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who y speaks a word against the Son of Man, z it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
33 “Either make the tree good and a its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 b Brood 6 of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? c For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure 7of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Mt 12:31–37 NKJV).

To answer the questions above, one must be clear on the following:

1. What is a sin? (see my post -- "Sin in the Bible")
2. What is blasphemy?
3. Is the Spirit, the Holy Spirit?
4. Who is the Holy Spirit? Is the Holy Spirit God?
5. Who is "the Son of Man"? (potential for a separate thread)
6. What is it to speak "a word against the Son of Man"?

Dig deep, let's find answers. CM

1. What is this book about?
2. Any lessons in it for today's Christians?
3. This book speaks a lot about blood.
4. Did paganism slipped into the sacred Writings?

What's the meaning of sprinkling blood, animal sacrifices, smoke, altar, etc? What lesson if any to learn or to gain? The underlying theme throughout Lev is that sinful, filthy, depraved, unclean mankind cannot stand in the sight of God unless he is sanctified. Cleanliness on the outside is indicative of a sanctifying process that has occurred on the inside. Without either, neither man nor woman, can ever be completely whole.

A fact that the entire ritual of the Hebrew cultus hinges on blood manipulation. For this reason, the book of Leviticus is replete with the intricate detail of the sacrificial system at the heart of which, in this respect, is blood manipulation. The instructions are provided in meticulous detail as to the requirements of both priest and people in the sacrificial context. Blood aspersion is very helpful in understanding the intricacies of the OT cult.

Consequently, the book of Leviticus is replete with terms of the cultic procedure with respect to the manipulation of blood. Blood has an apotropaic ("supposedly having the power to avert evil influences or bad luck"] quality. While it was an agent employed in inaugural and consecration rites, it also played a significant role in covenant making. By blood, both Yahweh and His covenant people were bound together in a unique covenantal relationship. Blood manipulation was an important aspect of the OT cultus. The book of Leviticus provided elaborate instruction in this regard. This book provide a very helpful understanding about blood aspersion in the cult of the sanctuary.

The book of Leviticus is a study of God's laws. The law became (and still is) very important for the Israelites. While reading Leviticus, you might come across some laws that don‟t make any sense. The laws that God set up for them not only gave them guidelines for their behavior but they also established health codes that prevented the people from being wiped out from a disease. Through these detailed practices, God was protecting his people in a time when modern medicine was not available. 

The book of Leviticus details what God expects from those who had been redeemed and had been labeled as the people of God. Leviticus is the third book in the Pentateuch. The Levites are singled out as the people destined to serve God in the role of priests.

The OT ritual texts outline five basic types of sacrifices, which differed in their procedures and goals: 

1. The Burnt Offering (lev 1:1-17; 6:8-13)
2. Grain Offering (lev 2:1-16; 6:14-23)
3. Well-being (so-called peace or fellowship) 
4. Offering (Lev. 3:1-17; 7:11-38)
5. Purification (so called “sin”) 
6. Offering (4:1-5:13; 6:24-30). 
7. Reparation (so-called guilt) 
8. Offering (5:14-16; 7:1-10).

R. Laird Harris points out that “the need for various sacrifices arises from the varied needs of a people’s worship”. The Book of Leviticus is full of such needs: thanksgiving, celebration, cleansing, healing, and forgiveness.

Let the truth be known. Any thoughts on the subject matter? CM

SOURCES:

-- R. Laird Harris, “Leviticus,” The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1990), 2:534-552, 538.

I am well aware that opinions and thoughts are "a dime a dozen", but what is a sin? How does the Bible define it in the OT (Hebrew) and NT (Greek)? Let the Source of Sources (Bible) have it say before the enthronement of conjectures, debating skills and nullification of reality. Given that all humanity, this side of the fall of Adam, has been defined as a sinner, shouldn't we know for certain, what the word means from God's perspective? What other words or variations are there of this word? How is its meaning applied today? Is sin relevant in today's society? How does one define the sin from the sinner? Let the Bible have its rightful place. Now, what says ye? CM

The Bible Generally Defines "Sin" As:

• An act, 1 John 3:4 -- “sin is the transgression of the law”.
• “Sin is lawlessness” (NASB).

In the Old Testament the most commonly used word for sin is

• Chata’ which in its most literal sense means “to miss the mark” as in Judges 20:16, “Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; everyone could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss (chata’).”
• In matters of morals, “missing the mark” refers to the fact that God’s law is the standard of ethical behavior at which one must aim.
• Thus, when Joseph said: “how then can I do this great wickedness and sin (chata’) against God” (Gen 39:9), he was in effect saying, “how can I do this great wickedness and miss the standard of God’s law.”

Missing the mark is not merely an accidental mistake, but a voluntary and culpable wrong act. C. R. Smith says: The hundreds of examples of the word’s moral use require that the wicked man:

• “Misses the right mark because he chooses to aim at a wrong one”.
• “Misses the right path because he deliberately follows a wrong one”.
• That is, there is no question of an innocent mistake or of the merely negative idea of failure.6

There are a number of other Hebrew words which express the idea of sin as an act, e.g.,

• Shagah “to go astray” (1 Sam 26:21).
• Chet’ “error” (Isa 1:18).
• Peshac “rebellion” (1 Kgs 12:19).

And in the New Testament the most frequently used words for sin:

• Hamartano (43x)-- See also: Matt 18:15; Luke 15:18; John 5:14; Rom 2:12; 3:23; 5:12; etc.
• Hamartia (173x) -- Matt 1:21; 3:6; 9:2,5,6; Mark 1:4,5; Luke 1:77; John 1:29; etc.
• also have the underlying thought of missing a mark or aim.

However, a great number of texts in both the OT and the NT refer to sin as a state, or tendency of the heart.

• Jeremiah depicts sin as a spiritual sickness which afflicts the heart. He says that “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it?”(17:9).
• David in Psalm 51 expresses the thought that he was born a sinner, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Not that his mother did anything wrong in connection with his conception or birth, she was an honorable woman, but he recognizes that he was born with a sinful nature. He desires to be washed and cleansed from sin (vss.2,7) and asks God to create in him a clean heart (vs.10). The same thought is expressed in Psalm 58:3, “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.” Israel is called “a transgressor from the womb” (Isa 48:8).

And “from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness (not a sound spot NEB) in it”, says God in Isaiah 1:6.

The Hebrew verb chashab (to think) and its derivatives appear some 180 times in the Old Testament. They are used in connection with the thoughts and purposes of God, but especially in reference to the cunning and sinful devisings of man’s heart.

• In Genesis 6:5 God looks down on the earth and sees that the wickedness of man is great, “every imagination of the thoughts (chashab) of his heart was only evil continually.” Man’s thoughts, says Isaiah, are “thoughts (chashab) of iniquity” (59:7). He, therefore, calls on the wicked to “forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts (chashab)” (55:7).
• The New Testament is even clearer and more emphatic on these matters. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus speaks of the inward disposition as evil (Matt 5:21- 22,27-28).
  • To the Pharisees he said: “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matt 12:34).
  • Evil actions and words stem from the evil thought of the heart: “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matt 15:19).

I hope this helps us to understand sin. CM

SOURCES:

-- Charles Ryder Smith, The Bible Doctrine of Sin and of the Ways of God with Sinners(London: Epworth, 1953), p.20.

-- R. C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans, 1948), p.239.

What makes us sinners? Can we sin beyond what we are? In context, which, if any, the Apostle Paul are referring? Is there any hope for the sinner? Can we live differently from what we are? What power is there for a man to live by and how is he to conduct himself until Jesus comes again? Have we all done, all are or both?

In short, what constitutes sin? CM

This is a new title and claimed by some, is it a sin? Does the Bible cover this morality? Nothing is new under the sun, what is this? Does this have a biblical equivalent? Is this practice beyond the scope of the Bible? See the illustration of Pansexuality below in comparison with other relational activities:

Would these individuals have a place in your church? If not, why not? If not with you, Where? What say ye? CM