The Great Interpretive Dance

[Mϋzikdϋde]

I started to post this in a different thread but it was too far off subject...

...Even our own laws are constantly interpreted and they mean different things to different individuals. If you knowingly and willingly do something illegal and a lawyer convinces a jury that it wasn't illegal due to a certain interpretation of the law are you not still guilty of the crime? Let's see...the jury says not guilty so technically you are not guilty. What does your heart say? What will God say?

If you sincerely understand a scripture to mean that something is not a sin and someone else views it as a sin who is right? What happens if it really is a sin in God's eyes but not in yours and you never knew?

 

[ZaraDurden]

This is a question i often raise about the christian god... How can he blame someone for not knowing? How can he blame me for looking around and not seeing him?

I do not see how a just god could do either. Yet, I hear often hear christians saying you can go to hell for both.

 

[Ben johnson]

If you sincerely understand a scripture to mean that something is not a sin and someone else views it as a sin who is right?

Pauls says (in passages like 1Cor8), we are not to "be cause for our weaker brethren stumble" (if we do something harmless but they think it is wrong)...

What happens if it really is a sin in God's eyes but not in yours and you never knew?

The essence of salvation is "CHRIST-IN-YOU"; a real indwelling of Christ and the Holy Spirit. I don't believe the Spirit can indwell us and not convict us of what is really sin.

This is a question I often raise about the Christian God... How can he blame someone for not knowing? How can he blame me for looking around and not seeing him?

God is perfect; this means "PERFECTLY JUST", and "PERFECTLY HONORABLE". While Jesus SAID that "He is the only way to God" (the only salvation), passages like Romans 2:14-16 clearly show that someone CAN be saved even if never having HEARD of Jesus (Jesus is "The Law"). Romans 1:19 says "God is revealed to EVERY one", verse 20 says "God's invisible attributes, eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen & understood through what He has made, so they are WITHOUT EXCUSE". Some will stand before Him at the judgment claiming "WE NEVER KNEW!" And God will say, "NO, I showed Myself to you; in the birds and trees and even the complexity of your own body; in the beauty of a rainbow after a Spring rain and a seven-color-sunset; all you had to do was look around and see ME in what I made."

 

[Mϋzikdϋde]

This is a question i often raise about the christian god... How can he blame someone for not knowing? How can he blame me for looking around and not seeing him?

I do not see how a just god could do either. Yet, I hear often hear christians saying you can go to hell for both.

Fundamentally speaking, believing in God is an act of faith...The gospels tell us about salvation and God feels that should suffice. So if you don't have faith...Well, you know the story but that's a different thread.
I won't say that you're going to hell. What do I know about your future? It isn't my job to condemn anybody. Issues about God are between you and God...be it now or in the end. If it turns out that you're right and I'm wrong then I'm no worse off. The way I see it; just because I choose to follow Christ doesn't make me any better than you...better off maybe...but not better.

Now, how about the question at hand. If God doesn't specifically condemn a certain act but I know in my heart that it is wrong, is it a sin? And if God does specifically condemn a certain act but I don't interpret it to be so am I to be held accountable if I don't feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit?

This isn't really a question that can be answered by someone who doesn't believe in God since they don't recognize the Holy Spirit as an influence in their life.

 

[Mϋzikdϋde]

God is perfect; this means "PERFECTLY JUST", and "PERFECTLY HONORABLE". While Jesus SAID that "He is the only way to God" (the only salvation), passages like Romans 2:14-16 clearly show that someone CAN be saved even if never having HEARD of Jesus (Jesus is "The Law"). Romans 1:19 says "God is revealed to EVERY one", verse 20 says "God's invisible attributes, eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen & understood through what He has made, so they are WITHOUT EXCUSE". Some will stand before Him at the judgment claiming "WE NEVER KNEW!" And God will say, "NO, I showed Myself to you; in the birds and trees and even the complexity of your own body; in the beauty of a rainbow after a Spring rain and a seven-color-sunset; all you had to do was look around and see ME in what I made."

It's interesting that you bring up Rom 2:14-16. How about Mat 24:14 to contrast that? Matthew 24
14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
I take this to mean that everyone will hear the gospel before the judgement.