Grace Taufeek's Story - "...an ultrasound showed a mass around my spinal canal. I was confused, sad, mad, and scared as I was trying to realize what was really happening. I was quite scared – sometimes even to tears – but deep down, I always had a sense of peace..." (more)

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 Woollen and Linen

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The Moral Glories of Our Lord

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Avrell Bowden - "If I die tonight, where will I be? Heaven or hell?” People make commitments to God an confessions of faith that sometimes have no reality.  At age 6 I made a false profession of salvation. That is, I told people I was saved. (more)

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Peter Ramsay - I thought... “Yes I have done some wrong things, but I am not bad enough to go to Hell. There are many people who really deserve to be there – but I don’t."

The very last thing I wanted to do was to let go of the things that I thought earned me favor with God and gave me a special status.

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This can be an explosive question due to the history of persecution against the Jews for being "Christ Killers".  The Pope raised a lot of eyebrows for pardoning the Jews for killing Christ.  Of course, the Pope doesn’t speak for the entire Christian world, but he attracted a lot of attention when in his book “Jesus of Nazareth Part II,” Pope Benedict XVI exonerated the Jews for the death of Jesus Christ. The Second Vatican Council forgave the Jews for killing Jesus in 1965, but this marks the first time that a Pope has personally done so.

Are the Jews guilty of killing Jesus?

There were actually many people responsible for putting Jesus to death, including some of the Jews of Jesus’ day.  The Jews who were responsible for taking Jesus to the Roman government were the current leaders of the nation of Israel.  The Roman Governor Pilate had his own guilt for permitting an execution of an innocent man.  The Roman soldiers carried out orders in their most cruel and mocking fashion.

 
Of course the early believers in Christ (not yet called Christians) included faithful Jews like Simeon, Anna, Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist, Martha, and Lazarus.  There was tension in the early church between the believers who preferred to keep Jewish law and those who saw that Christ fulfilled the law.  Read and study the books of Galatians 1:6-24;" TARGET="_blank">Galatians 1:6-24; 2 Corinthians 3:14-16" TARGET="_blank">2 Corinthians 3:14-16 and Hebrews 13:10-13" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 13:10-13 to see this difference.  But there is no call in the Bible to blame the Jewish nation for Christ’s death.  The most powerful example what a Christian attitude should be can be found in the words of Christ Himself “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34)." TARGET="_blank">Luke 23:34).

In later centuries, when the Catholic faith became the dominate form of Christianity, the accusation was raised that all Jewish people were responsible for putting Jesus to death which helped fuel anti-Semitic feelings and the horrible persecutions against Jews which have been documented throughout the last 2000 years - the targeted killings of Jews during the Crusades inspired by Pope Urban II, the Spanish Inquisition established in 1480 by Catholic king and queen Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, the Nazi Holocaust lead by Adlof Hitler to mention only three.  For a Jew to become a Christian, it is more than simply a matter of reading the scriptures and seeing that their Messiah has already come.  The killings and torture done by the church against the Jews has made it an issue of “us against them”.

What does the Bible say about who killed Jesus?

It is clear from the Gospel accounts that there were religious leaders who were plotting against Jesus for a long time before he was finally crucified.  The crowds of people were manipulated by their leaders to cry “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” at the trial before Pilate (Luke 23:21)." TARGET="_blank">Luke 23:21).  They chose Barabbas, the murderor-terrorist to be freed in place of Christ (Matthew 27:21)." TARGET="_blank">Matthew 27:21). Later in a public speech, the Apostle Peter put the blame for this decision on the people in Acts 2:22-23." TARGET="_blank">Acts 2:22-23.

I am guilty of the death of Christ?

However, the Bible also tells us that the crucifixion was part of the plan of God to sacrifice Christ for the punishment of our sins.  Acts 2:23" TARGET="_blank">Acts 2:23 says the cross was in “the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23)." TARGET="_blank">Acts 2:23).  God turned a wicked act into a noble sacrifice making provision for every guilty man and woman in the world to be saved.  The attitude of Jesus’ death and who is guilty then becomes a personal matter of guilt.  Galatians 2:20" TARGET="_blank">Galatians 2:20 says that “the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me”.  “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21)" TARGET="_blank">2 Corinthians 5:21)

The leaders of the Jews were constantly trying to kill Jesus

Many times in the stories of the Gospels we read that the Saducees and Pharisees were plotting how to kill Jesus.  

Here are some of the examples:

In Mark 3," TARGET="_blank">Mark 3, we read that Jesus made the Phrisees and the Herodians angry for violating the laws of the Sabbath.

Mark 3:3-6" TARGET="_blank">Mark 3:3-6  And he said to the man with the withered hand, "Come here."  (4)  And he said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent.  (5)  And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.  (6)  The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Luke 6:11" TARGET="_blank">Luke 6:11  But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

John 8:58-59" TARGET="_blank">John 8:58-59  Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."  (59)  So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

John 7:1" TARGET="_blank">John 7:1  After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.

Mark 11:18" TARGET="_blank">Mark 11:18  And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.

John 11:47-53" TARGET="_blank">John 11:47-53  So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, "What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.  (48)  If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."  (49)  But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all.  (50)  Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish."  (51)  He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,  (52)  and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.  (53)  So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

Matthew 16:21" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 16:21  From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

John 7:19-25" TARGET="_blank">John 7:19-25  Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?"  (20)  The crowd answered, "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?"  (21)  Jesus answered them, "I did one work, and you all marvel at it.  (22)  Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  (23)  If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well?  (24)  Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."  (25)  Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, "Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?

Matthew 26:1-4" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 26:1-4  When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples,  (2)  "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified."  (3)  Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,  (4)  and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

Shad Sluiter

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Some assert that if a woman dies in child-birth she goes to heaven, basing this on 1 Timothy 2:15." TARGET="_blank">1 Timothy 2:15. What does that passage really teach?

The most certain thing about the passage named is that it does not teach what is suggested. God has but one way of saving sinners from hell and fitting them for heaven, and that way is through faith in His beloved Son. As to what it does teach, various commentators have given various replies, several of which, though differing, do not necessarily exclude one another. For it is quite probable that more thoughts than one were in the apostle’s mind as he penned the words, “She shall be saved through the childbearing, if they continue in faith, and love, and sanctification, with sobriety” (R.V.).

To understand them we must take into consideration the entire paragraph, from verse 8 onwards, in which Paul teaches that men have a place of public testimony to fill, from which women are definitely debarred. For this prohibition he assigns two reasons: (x) that the man was first in creation, v. 13, and (z) that the woman was first in transgression, v. 14.. That verse 15 is closely connected with verse i, the “Notwithstanding” with which it begins makes quite evident, and there can therefore be no doubt that when using the expression, “through the childbearing,” the apostle has in mind the sentence pronounced by the Lord on the woman in Genesis  3:6. In that sentence there were two parts: (i) that she was to have sorrow in childbearing, and (a) that she was to be subjected to the man. The latter of these is in keeping with the principle upon which Paul has been just before insisting; while as to the former he has, in this 15th verse, something to add, in which warning and encouragement are combined. For, just as the curse pronounced on the woman was associated with her childbearing, so also, in the words addressed to the Serpent in the preceding verse, was the provision for her salvation in the promised “Seed.” Therefore the right path for her, the path in which “she shall be saved” (chiefly in the present sense of that word, so common in the epistles), is the very opposite of that public and prominent one forbidden her in verses 11 and 12. It is the path of home life and subjection; by keeping in which the very curse of Gen. 3" TARGET="_blank">Gen. 3 is turned into blessing. Compare those other words of the apostle in chap. 5. 13-15, where the dangers besetting young women who have no home cares are vividly depicted, and the way to be saved therefrom is the same as here. In fact he even uses there the verbal form of this word “childbearing,” of which neither noun nor verb is found anywhere else in the New Testament. Observe also, by way of contrast, how the young man1  Timothy 4:16, is to be “saved” by going on diligently with his public ministry of the Word.

W.R.

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Why was the veil of the temple torn in the middle when Jesus died?

The tearing, or rending, of the temple veil when Jesus died on the cross was a strong symbolic act of God.  The rent veil shows physically that a believer's access to God is open through the value of the work of Christ.

Matthew 27:50-51" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 27:50-51 is the Bible reference that tells about the veil of the temple being torn:

(50)  And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
(51)  And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.

What was the Temple and its significance?

For centuries the temple was the central point of Old Testament Jewish worship. Many chapters from the books of Exodus and Leviticus give great detail as to how sacrifices were to be conducted, how the priests were to act and dress and what days were to be celebrated.  All of this ceremony centered first on Moses' Tabernacle that was carried through the wilderness journeys and then was reconstructed on even a grander scale in the building of Solomon's Temple.  The central point of the Temple was the innermost room, called the Holiest of Holies, which was hidden by the heavy Veil of the Temple.  Here the Ark of the Covenant was housed.  Only once a year a single priest was permitted to enter to atone for the sins of the people.  The Shekinah Glory of the presence of God filled the room with unapproachable light.

Hebrews 9:1-9" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 9:1-9 gives the New Testament commentary on the innermost sanctuary…

Hebrews 9:1-9" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 9:1-9

(1)  Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.
(2)  For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place.
(3)  Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place,
(4)  having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.
(5)  Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
(6)  These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties,
(7)  but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.
(8)  By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing
(9)  (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper,

Leviticus 16:11-19" TARGET="_blank">Leviticus 16:11-19 tells of the annual ceremony that was conducted inside the veil.

(11)  "Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself.
(12)  And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil
(13)  and put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die.
(14)  And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
(15)  "Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.
(16)  Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses.
(17)  No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel.
(18)  Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around.
(19)  And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.

How big was the veil?

The veil was an immense piece of heavy cloth.  Accoring to 1 Kings 6:2" TARGET="_blank">1 Kings 6:2  "The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high."  Thirty cubits high would make the veil about 45 feet tall. 

The Jewish historian Josephus claimed that the temple height was raised to 40 cubits (60 feet) tall.  Alfred Edersheim, in his book, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah tells about its thickness.   "The Veils before the Most Holy Place were 40 cubits (60 feet) long, and 20 (30 feet) wide, of the thickness of the palm of the hand, and wrought in 72 squares, which were joined together; and these Veils were so heavy, that, in the exaggerated language of the time, it needed 300 priests to manipulate each."

There is also an apparently false reference in the Ryrie Study Bible in Exodus 26:31-35" TARGET="_blank">Exodus 26:31-35 about what Josephus claimed about the veil.  “Josephus reported that the veil was 4 inches thick, was renewed every year, and that horses tied to each side could not pull it apart." But no such reference can be found in Josephus' writings (see Josephus Wars 5.5.4 for Josephus' original description of the veil).

What is the symbolism of the torn veil?

When the veil was torn open, at least three teachings of Christ became evidently clear. 

First, the atonement ceremony that the priest had to perform once a year was shown to be obsolete.  The sacrifice and shed blood of Christ provided a new way into the holiest of all. 

Hebrews 10:19-22" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 10:19-22

(19)  Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,
(20)  by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,
(21)  and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
(22)  let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

The famous quote from Jesus in John 14" TARGET="_blank">John 14 is a reference to our ability to speak directly to our heavenly Father. John 14:6" TARGET="_blank">John 14:6  Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Second, the pathway into the very presence of God is opened once and for all for both Jews and Gentiles. The Temple was strictly off limits to any Gentile worshipers ever since its grand opening.  But the death of Christ created a new unity between the two groups as stated here in Ephesians.

Ephesians 2:11-22" TARGET="_blank">Ephesians 2:11-22

(11)  Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands--
(12)  remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
(13)  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
(14)  For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
(15)  by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
(16)  and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
(17)  And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.
(18)  For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
(19)  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
(20)  built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
(21)  in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
(22)  In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Third, the opening of the Holiest of All revealed to the priests and to the whole world that the Shekinah glory had left the Temple.  Jesus spoke on several occasions about the abandonment of the Temple by God.

Luke 13:35" TARGET="_blank">Luke 13:35  Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!'"

Luke 13" TARGET="_blank">Luke 13 refers to a coming time of judgment against Israel in which the city, the temple and the land would be plundered and abandoned during a period of exile.  It can be assumed that the priests repaired the torn veil and continued their empty rituals, but the torn veil showed the world that God had already abandoned the place.

Conclusion

 Sin has always been an obstacle for man to approach God since Adam was exiled from the Garden of Eden.  God chose to dwell among his people in the Holiest of Holies from the time of Moses to Christ but with severe restrictions.  One priest, once a year, could come to the Holiest of All with the blood of an animal to cover his sins and the sins of the people.  But when Jesus died, he completed the requirements of the sacrifices once and for all.  The rending of the temple veil was physical evidence that the way was opened forever and for all people.  We now approach God with the boldness of one who carries the value of the blood of Christ.

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Does Matthew 10:28" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 10:28 teach the immortality of the soul?

Matthew 10:28" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 10:28  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
To “destroy” a soul means a loss of everything good.  It is the loss of well-being rather than ceasing to exist.  Groups such as Christadeiphians deny the immortality of the soul.  That is, God can cause a soul to cease to exist.  I hardly think Matthew 10:28" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 10:28 touches on the “immortality” of the soul, but rather on its survival, which probably the Christadelphians deny too. Man can kill the body, but to kill the soul is beyond his power. “Fear Him Who can destroy (it does not say kill) both soul and body in hell.”

The word for “destroy” (apollumi) never means “to annihilate” but to render useless for its original object. Thus the same root is applied to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew10:6)," TARGET="_blank">Matthew10:6), “the marred bottles (Mark 2:22)," TARGET="_blank">Mark 2:22), and to the one who may “lose his life” (Luke 9:24)." TARGET="_blank">Luke 9:24). I believe the true doctrine of immortality has been misrepresented as well as denied. The words, “God only hath immortality” merely mean that He alone has it intrinsically, in Himself, underived, but do not deny that He communicates it to men and angels; but immortality is sometimes used as though it merely meant the faculty of never-ending existence. I believe Adam certainly had the latter at creation, but he clearly did not possess “immortality” for that means “immunity from death.” Now, had he possessed this by creation, the words, “In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die,” would have had no meaning, for he could not have died. It is clear he was capable of death.

The whole crux of the question is, “WHAT IS DEATH?” Is it a ceasing to exist or is it existence out of harmony with, or in separation from, God. Consider what happened when Adam sinned. He did not cease to exist. He did not die physically (that had to be provided for later by cutting him off from the tree of life). Externally and physically he was apparently unchanged. But a marked and mysterious change took place in his moral being. He knew he was naked, and he was afraid of God, and sought to hide from Him. That is, a moral gulf had yawned between him and his Creator. Death is not cessation of existence but separation of existence. This condition of death has passed on the whole human race. Man is alive to the world, but dead to God—Paul reminds the Ephesians of this their state before conversion. Then God raised them up into a new life, having quickened them together with Christ (Ephesians 2:1)." TARGET="_blank">Ephesians 2:1). This accords with what our Lord says happens to him who hears and believes. “He has eternal life . . . He has passed from death unto life” (John 5. 24)." TARGET="_blank">John 5. 24). This eternal life includes immortality. The believer becomes immune from Spiritual death, but he has not yet immortality, physically speaking. That he will receive when Christ comes (see 1 Corinthians 15" TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 15:).

The unbeliever will never regain immortality, but will exist in alienation and separation, physical and spiritual, from God for all eternity. “This is the second death.” That this is not a cessation of existence or annihilation of being is clear from many scriptures, e.g., “Where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched”; “These shall go away into everlasting punishment”; “The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Mark 9" TARGET="_blank">Mark 9:  Matthew 25:46;" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 25:46; Revelation 20:10" TARGET="_blank">Revelation 20:10 and compare v 15).

W.H.

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