Why the
four gospels
(four books in the Bible)
are so Old Testament.
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REWARDS
& PUNISHMENTS
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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.
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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
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You may ask:
“If Judgment is not
in the Old Testament,
then why does it
seem so Old Testament?”
I answer:
“Old Testament laws are about: –
what Jews do.
Jesus’ Judgment teaching is about:
– what anyone does.”
Both are about what we humans pro-actively do.
,, They’re not about what God
pro-actively does,
,, God ‘merely’ responds.
,, The New Testament:
,, ,, ,, Jesus’: life, crucifixion, & resurrection,
,, ,, ,, and his earning us God’s Fatherhood & the Holy Spirit,
,, are about what God pro-actively
does.
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Jesus’ Judgment teaching consists of:
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 abbn
The reward of the next life.
Matt c25 v31-46:
When did we visit you in prison? my abbreviation
and three kinds of punishments:
Punishments in this life.
John c5 v14:
Keep sinning –
and something worse
may happen to you. my abbreviation
Punishments in the next life.
Luke c12 v47-48a:
You’ll be punished with few stripes. my abbn
The punishment of the next life.
Matt c25 v31-46:
When did we visit you in prison? my abbreviation
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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
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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).
To put it another way:
during Jesus’ 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 reason for his crucifixion,
the full doctrine of Forgiveness,
came to light.
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2) Jesus’
Judgment teaching, in the gospels,
is about what you do:
So it’s more comprehensible
because it’s
like the world.
So
it’s more memorable
to
the carnal un-renewed mind
of
Jew or gentile alike.
More
comprehensible,
& so more
memorable,
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, too, 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, today:
i.e. it still seems,
to you,
that Jesus
preached
more Judgment
than Forgiveness.)
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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, could comprehend.
However, 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
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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).
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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
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People asked:
“What must I do?”
Jesus answered in kind:
“Love your
enemies, give to the poor, etc.”
So Jesus’ answers ended up phrased like laws.
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The
righteous:
after the crucifixion
hence able to believe Forgiveness
hence believing they’ve already
got Heaven,
are grateful, and so
change.
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 would still go to
Heaven,
but they don’t want to.
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However,
the item:
‘God has Forgiven all of us’
is invisible.
So the wicked don’t see
that God has Forgiven us all.
, , Perhaps see
earlier section:
, , JESUS’ USE OF THE WORDS ‘RIGHTEOUS’ AND ‘WICKED’.,,,,,
So all that’s
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. Rev c6 v13-17,,,,,
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THE LORD’S
PRAYER
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Jesus was the first to preach Forgiveness,
Forgiveness first appears in the
gospels.
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. , , ,
Hence 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. ,,,,,
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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.
,, ,, ,, ,, (This point is made by:
,, ,, ,, ,, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, in c4 of his book Praying The Right Way,
,, ,, ,, ,, and Andrew Wommack, 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.
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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.
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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 wrong, however small,
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
become alike,
then
all three of you can live & work together
without getting in each
other’s way.
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Hence,
if there’s anyone you have not forgiven:
It does not mean
God will not Forgive you.
(God has already Forgiven you,
has already
Forgiven all of us.)
But it does mean
that your heart/spirit
has not yet
renewed all of your mind.
,, ,, ,, ,, Or maybe you
don’t even believe yet,
,, ,, ,, ,, though you may
think you do.
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If
your mind needs renewing
then forcing yourself to forgive
others:
(by giving good things to
them
and by heartfelt prayer for
good things for them)
encourages 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
and forgetting
about themselves.
Likewise the rule of thumb:
Focussing on God
and on his great
love for us,
instead of:
on yourself
and on 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 hear about, & see, another’s illness,
but your own illness, you can feel.)
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Home page
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Next webpage:
The
four reasons Paul preached
only Forgiveness.
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