Why the four gospels
(four books in the Bible)
are so Old Testament.

REWARDS & PUNISHMENTS

Many Christians think that Judgment is an Old Testament concept.

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But Judgment:
            ‘God sending us to Heaven or Hell
            according to what we’ve done & why we’ve done it’
is not in the Old Testament.

            In the Old Testament:
                       Hell (Hebrew: Sheol) is not a place of punishment
                       but merely a ‘sleeping place’ for the dead.
                       Nor was Heaven a place that you or I might go to
                       as a reward.  It was only God’s & angels’ home.

It’s true that, in the Old Testament:

            there are punishments & rewards,
            from God and from man,
            within this life

            and that these punishments and rewards
            are like Judgment:
                       are like the punishment of Hell
                       and like the reward of Heaven.

But like is as far as it goes:

            Judgment:
                       ‘God sending us to Heaven or Hell
                       according to what we’ve done & why we’ve done it’
            is not in the Old Testament.

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To conclude:

            Jesus was the first to preach Forgiveness
            and
            the first to preach Judgment.

            Both Forgiveness and Judgment
            make their first appearances
            in the four gospels of the Bible.

,                  Perhaps see earlier section:
,                  JESUS PREACHED BOTH JUDGMENT & FORGIVENESS
,                  and, immediately after it:
,                  SCRIPTURES THAT SUPPORT THE ABOVE STATEMENTS, , .

 

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WHY JUDGMENT SEEMS SO OLD TESTAMENT

 

 

You may say:
      “If Judgment is not
        in the Old Testament,
        then why does it
        seem so Old Testament?”

I reply:
      “Old Testament laws are about
        what Jews did.
        Jesus’ Judgment teaching is about
        what anyone does.”

        They are both about what we do.
        Not about what God does.

 

 

Jesus’ Judgment teaching is:

      three kinds of rewards:

                 Rewards in this life:
                        Mark c10 v29-30a: Make a sacrifice,
                       for Jesus & the gospel,
                       to gain a hundredfold in this life.   my abbn

                 Rewards in the next life.
                        Luke c12 v33: Give alms
                       to get treasure in Heaven.   my abbreviation

                 The reward of the next life.
                        Matt c25 v31-46: When did we
                       visit you in prison?   my abbrebiation

      and three kinds of punishments:

                 Punishments in this life.
                       John c5 v14: Keep sinning
                       and worse may happen to you.   my abbreviation

                 Punishments in the next life.
                       Luke c12 v47-48a: You’ll be punished
                       with few stripes.   my abbreviation

                 The punishment of the next life.
                       Matt c25 v31-46: When did we
                       visit you in prison?   my abbreviation

 

 

Perhaps again see earlier section:
JESUS PREACHED BOTH JUDGMENT & FORGIVENESS
and, immediately after it:
SCRIPTURES THAT SUPPORT THE ABOVE STATEMENTS., , .

 

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FOUR REASONS WHY
JESUS SEEMED TO TEACH
MORE JUDGMENT THAN FORGIVENESS

 

 

      1)  Jesus rarely said
            exactly why he was going to be crucified.

                       He said it only in:
                       Matt c20 v28    (Mark c10 v45):
                       ctd … and to give his life a ransom for many.   KJV

            Other than the above scripture,
            the reason Jesus was crucified
            is not clearly given
            until after the crucifixion
            (i.e. in Acts & the epistles).

            I.E. During his lifetime,
            (i.e. during his three year ministry)
            Jesus did not fully teach Forgiveness:

                       He taught the Bible scriptures
                       in the right-hand column
                       of: SCRIPTURES THAT SUPPORT THE ABOVE STATEMENTS.
                       But his teaching did not include
                       the mechanism of the Cross.

                       So it seems as if
                       Jesus taught more Judgment than Forgiveness.

            It wasn’t until after Jesus had gone
            that the full doctrine of Forgiveness
            (i.e. the reason for his crucifixion)
            formed,
            in Acts and in the epistles.

 

 

      2)  Jesus’ own Judgment teaching, in the gospels,
            is about what you do:
                       so it’s more comprehensible
                       (because it’s like the world)
                       and so more memorable
                       (to the carnal un-renewed mind
                       of Jew or gentile alike),
            than his Forgiveness teaching
            about what you believe.

            Hence, during Jesus’ ministry,
            people took on board Judgment
            rather than Forgiveness
            (as shown, in the gospels,
            by people’s questions & comments).

            This makes it seem as if
            Jesus taught more Judgment than Forgiveness.

            But (as best as these things can be measured)
            I reckon that Jesus actually preached
            about equal amounts of Judgment and Forgiveness.

            (If you have not yet renewed your mind
            then this still applies to you, even today:
                       i.e. it still seems, to you,
                       that Jesus preached
                       more Judgment than Forgiveness.)

 

 

      3)  Logically, it was only while he was alive on Earth,
            before his death & resurrection:
                       that Jesus could teach, & so did teach,
                       as much of his Forgiveness teaching
                       as people, pre-crucifixion, would readily accept.

            And demons can overhear people.

                        Hence Jesus rarely said
                       exactly why he was going to be crucified.

                       He said it only in:
                        Matt c20 v28    (Mark c10 v45):
                        ctd … and to give his life
                       a ransom for many.   KJV

                       Other than the above scripture
                        the reason Jesus was crucified
                        is not clearly given
                        until after the crucifixion
                        (i.e. in Acts & the epistles).

                        If demons had known that crucifying Jesus
                        would have such a good effect
                        they would have continued discouraging it
                       (instead, they changed, to encouraging it).

,                                      Perhaps see last three cells (starting However, a demon)
,                                      of later section: WHY DO DEMONS ONLY TEMPT, WHY NOT CONTROL?.

 

 

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PEOPLE ASKED THE WRONG QUESTIONS

 

      4)  A forth reason why
            to anyone at that time
            (and to the un-renewed mind now)
            Jesus seemed to teach more Judgment than Forgiveness
            is that people intuitively asked the wrong questions:

                       They did not ask:  “What must we believe?”
                        They asked:  “What must we do?”

                       John c6 v28-29:
                       Then said they unto him,
                             What shall we do,
                             that we might work
                             the works of God?
                       Jesus answered and said unto them,
                             This is the work of God,
                                   that ye believe
                                   on him whom he hath sent.   KJV

                       This was Jesus’ entire answer.
                       Believe is all we need to do
                       (if you can call believing doing).

 

            Indeed, Jesus answered many of their questions in kind:

                       answered their
                       What must I do?
                       questions

                       with
                       You must do this
                       answers.

 

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THIS APPARENT MISUNDERSTANDING
IS NO ACCIDENT

 

            People asked:
                       “What must I do?”
            Jesus answered in kind:
                       “Love your enemies, give to the poor, etc.”

            Jesus’ answers ended up phrased like laws.

 

            The righteous:
                       after the crucifixion
                       hence able to believe Forgiveness
                       hence believing they’ve already got Heaven,
            are grateful,
            and so change accordingly.

                       So they love their enemies, give to the poor, etc,
                       because they want to.

                       Don’t need to love their enemies, give to the poor, etc.

                       Could even sin, yet still go to Heaven.
                       But they don’t want to.

 

            But God having Forgiven us all is invisible.
            So the wicked don’t see that God has Forgiven us all.

            So, all that there is left, for them to see
            is this world and its ways – including its laws.

                       So, for them, the cause-&-effect is reversed.

                       When they’ve ‘failed’ Jesus’ ‘laws’
                       to love their enemies, give to the poor, etc,
                       they’ll see that as the reason
                        that they are in Hell.

 

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,                  Perhaps see earlier section:
,                  JESUS’ USE OF THE WORDS ‘RIGHTEOUS’ AND ‘WICKED’.,,,,,

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THE LORD’S PRAYER

 

 

Jesus was the first to preach Forgiveness
hence the gospels are New Testament.
But the gospels lack Pentecost
hence the gospels are Old Covenant.
 
Perhaps see earlier sections:
JESUS PREACHED BOTH JUDGMENT & FORGIVENESS , , ,
and:
REWARDS & PUNISHMENTS. , , ,

 

Some parts of the four gospels
are, ironically, Judgment, not Forgiveness:

            Matt c18 v23-35: my abbn
            Jesus said
            “A king cancelled a servant’s giant, unpayable, debt.
            But that servant then showed no mercy
            to a fellow servant
            who owed him a small, yet unpayable, debt.
            So the king imprisoned the first servant
            until he paid his giant debt.
            That’s how God will treat you
            unless you forgive others, from your heart.”   my abbn

            Matt c6 v12    (Luke c11 v4):
            And forgive us our debts,
            as we forgive our debtors.   KJV
               This is part of the Lord’s prayer.


            Luke c6 v37:
            Judge not, and ye shall not be judged:
            condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned:
            forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:   KJV

,                  All blue text copied from earlier section: FORGIVE US AS WE.


As the above phrases, that Jesus spoke, are:
            Judgment, not Forgiveness,
so also, they are:
            not Christian.

            Hence we post-Pentecost Christians
            should not use the Lord’s Prayer.

,                  (As Pastor Chris Oyakhilome says, in c4 of his book Praying The Right Way,
,                  and as Andrew Wommack says, in c4 of his book A Better Way To Pray.)

,                  You’ll find the Lord’s prayer in: Luke c11 v2-4  &  Matt c6 v9-13a*.,,,
,                  (*I explain why it’s  ‘13a’ in earlier section: BIBLE VERSES THAT I OMIT.), , , ,

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You can see that the Lord’s prayer is Old Covenant
because its cause-&-effect
is the Old Covenant way round:

            Old Covenant = 

                       You doing right to others
                       causes:
                       God to do right to you.

,         ,       ,       ,       ‘You’ usually means Jews.
,         ,       ,       ,       ‘Right’ usually means ‘good-&-right’.
,         ,       ,       ,       Perhaps see earlier section: GOOD & BAD, RIGHT & WRONG.

 

            New Covenant =

                       God doing good to you
                       causes:
                       you to do good to others.

 

,         ,       ,       ,       For example: God having Forgiven you
,         ,       ,       ,       causes
,         ,       ,       ,       you to forgive others.

 

            Jesus told his disciples to pray the Lord’s prayer
            because they were not yet Christians:

                       Jesus & his disciples were all Jews.
                       So they were Old Covenant people.

                       Jesus had not yet died and risen.
                       So God was not yet able to give his Holy Spirit.
                       So God had not yet given his Holy Spirit.
                       So they were Old Covenant times.

 

            Jesus could have given them
            a New Covenant prayer to pray.
            A prayer such as:  Eph c1 v15-20   or:   Eph c3 v14-21. 

            But it would not have made sense to them, not then.
            Only later, after Pentecost, would it have made sense.

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God, the Father, Forgave all of us humans
by way of Jesus’ crucifixion:

            If you know that your own righteousness
            is not enough:
            that you’ve done some bad, however little.
            And, if you believe that Jesus’ Punishment in our place
            worked,
            then:
            your heart/spirit becomes grateful
            and so renews your mind:
                 1)  Duplicates its belief into your mind
                       so that even your mind believes.
                 2)  Establishes:
                             the pattern of that belief,
                             the pattern of the gospel, agape love,
                             throughout your mind.

            then:
                       your heart/spirit
                       & your mind
                       & God’s Spirit inside you
            will be alike,

            then all three can live & work together
            instead of getting in each other’s way.

            Hence, if there’s anyone you have not forgiven:

                       It does not mean God will not Forgive you.
                       (God has already Forgiven all of us.)

                       But it does mean that your heart/spirit
                       has not yet renewed
                       all of your mind.
,,        ,,        ,,        ,,        Or maybe that you don’t even believe yet
,,        ,,        ,,        ,,        though you may think you do.

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From a practical point of view:

            Forcing yourself to forgive others
            (by giving good things to them
            and by heartfelt prayer for good things for them)
            can shake things up,
            can encourage your heart/spirit to renew your mind.

            Hence the rule of thumb:
                       You not forgiving others who’ve hurt you
                       can hinder your own miraculous healing.

            Hence also the rule of thumb:
                       ‘Some people eventually get their own healing
                       only when they start praying/commanding
                       healing for someone else who is sick or needy
                       forgetting about themselves.’

            Likewise the rule of thumb:
                       focussing on God
                       and his great love for us,
            instead of:
                       on you
                       and your problems,
            gets you out of the way
            so that God can, at last, fix your problems.

            (N.B. Commanding your own healing
            can be harder than commanding another’s healing
            because:
                 you can see, & hear about, another’s illness
                  but, your own illness, you can feel as well.)

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The four reasons Paul preached
only Forgiveness.