Mark 7: 17-19

17After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.") NIV

This passage has to be read in it's full context. The issue here is if or not Jesus and his disciple were braking any laws because they didn't wash their hands. Washing hands is a good practice today but the pharisees missed the entire point; it symbolizes Christ as the one who washes away sin. (Remember that every time you wash up for dinner) If I was with Jesus, I would have said something like "You're plotting to kill me yet you're worried about me and my friends washing ours hands? You gotta be kidding me. Who has the greater sin?" Take these things into consideration when reading verse 19. This really has nothing to do with food, but hand washing. If I forget to wash my hands and then eat a sandwich, my stomach should take care of the dirt. I remember my grandmother telling me about the time she made mud pies and then told the neighbor girl they were chocolate. She ate them. We've all had the situation in verse 19 happen to us. It doesn't mean we are unclean because we didn't wash up before hand.

The act of washing our hands does not make us clean, but rather how we use our hands. I have a sister who travels. She told me about the caste system in India. People who are seen as untouchables are looked down upon. Higher classes avoid them and try to remain clean by doing so. Should we not help and stay away from them? No, because we can show them how Jesus has purified us. We don't need to wash our hands for the spiritual application because Jesus has done so for us. We should still wash our hands to prevent disease and illness. We start to run into problems with the NIV and most modern translations. Lets compare—

NIV

17After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")

KJV

17And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.18And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;19Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?

"and then out of his body" is the equivalent of "purging all meats". Finally, the last part "In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean."" isn't even found in the original greek, so it was clearly added later.

parallel translations — http://bible.cc/mark/7-19.htm

greek — http://biblelexicon.org/mark/7-19.htm

—What others say—

"...Also, the phrase in Mark 7:19, “Jesus declared all foods ‘clean’” is a mistranslation from the Greek (likely a deliberate act of antinomist scribes)."

– from http://jewsandjoes.com/blog/pastor-joel-osteen-teaches-christians-ephraimites-about-pork/

"In the New Testament, Jesus never once even hinted that all meatswere made clean. For example, in Mark 7 the entire context of thechapter is a vital concept involving our MIND and not physicalfood. The first rule of Bible Study is to study scriptures intheir context, and not to pull them out of context to try toestablish a doctrine or point of truth."

- from http://www.keithhunt.com/Food20.html (Answers magazine, a non-adventist, creationist publication.)

—More Resources—

Joel Osteen video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU5kek3D-4I

http://www.torahresource.com/EnglishArticles/PetersVision.pdf

http://www.tnnonline.net/theonews/messianic-issues/basic-apologetics/Basic_Messianic_Apologetics.pdf

http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/porkfacts.html

http://www.amazingfacts.org/Radio/JoeCrewsRadioSermons/tabid/90/ctl/PlayMedia/mid/423/MDID/1875/PID/848/SID/4/SQT/1000/7/Questions-and-Answers---Part-3/Default.aspx

http://www.amazingfacts.org/Radio/BibleAnswersLiveQuestionArchive/tabid/212/ctl/PlayMedia/mid/731/MDID/2339/PID/1178/SID/13/SQT/1000/7/Is-it-unhealthy-to-eat-pork/Default.aspx

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081126124328AARb2YB

Seven is no secret Part 2

Some Answers (see part 1 first)

Keeping the seventh-day Sabbath is one of the ten commandments, not a tradition of man. Remember what Paul said.

"What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet."

—Romans 7:7

If we say, "the sabbath only existed after mt. Sinai", we deceive ourselves because clearly the 10 commandments were in effect before that. Adam and Eve knew it was a sin to disobey God, Cain knew it was a sin to kill, Joseph knew that adultery was a sin plus many other instances.

A common misconception is that the Sabbath was only for the Jews. All faithful Christians today are Jews spiritually speaking.

Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

—Romans 9:6–8

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.

—John 1:11-12

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

—Romans 2:28,29

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

—Galatians 3:26-29

If we say the Sabbath is done away with and only nine remain, remember…

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

—James 2:10

God's character is located in the 10 commandments and if they were changed it would mean that God has changed. If we say "Christ changed the Sabbath" remember these…

" Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

—Hebrews 13:8

"For I, the LORD, do not change;"

—Malachi 3:6

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

—James 1:17

“God is not a man, that He should lie,

Nor a son of man, that He should repent;

Has He said, and will He not do it?

Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?"

—Numbers 23:19

"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding."

—Isaiah 40:28

Seven is no secret Part 1

Hello friends. About three years ago I had a life changing experience that deeply moved me. I heard from a friend that sunday is not the Sabbath, but rather saturday is. What do I mean? Well, lets take a look a the 4th commandment.

Exodus 20:8

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Which day is the Sabbath? Saturday is, Webster's Dictionary says so.

Sat·ur·day \ˈsa-tər-(ˌ)dā, -dē\

Etymology:Middle English saterday, from Old English sæterndæg (akin to OldFrisian sāterdei), from Latin Saturnus Saturn + Old English dæg day

Date: before 12th century: the seventh day of the week

Anyone can look at a non-business calendar and plainly see that the seventh day is saturday. In fact, there are over 200 languages in which the word for saturday is still sabbath.

Sabbaton-Greek

Sabbatum-Latin (Italy)

Sábado-Spanish (Spain)

Sabbado-Portuguese (Portugal)

Sabbato-Italian (Italy)

Samedi-French (France)

Samstag-High German (Germany)

Sabatico-Prussian (Prussia)

Subbota-Russian (Russia)

Sobota - (Polish)

An important thing to remember is that the days in the bible were keep from sunset to sunset. So friday night is actually the beginning of saturday. Also, the days were numbered. Sunday was the first day, Monday the second, etc. The modern names for days are all borrowed from pagan religions.

Sunday - the Sun god.

Monday - the moon goddess.

Tuesday - the god Tyr.

Wednesday - the god Odin.

Thursday - the god Thor.

Friday - the goddess Frigga.

Saturday - the god Saturn.

What does history have to say about the Sabbath. There is a document know as the Augsberg Confession. It is essentially the protestant magna carta. Even way back then they knew that Saturday was the Sabbath.

They (the Church) refer to the Sabbath-day as having been

changed into the Lord's Day, contrary to the Decalog, as it

seems. Neither is there any example whereof they make more

than concerning the changing of the Sabbath-day. Great, say

they, is the power of the Church, since it has dispensed with

one of the Ten Commandments! —The Augburgs Confession, Article 28

Something important to remember is that the phrase "the Lord's Day" appears only once in the Bible in Revelation 1:10. The thing is, we don't know which day John is really speaking about because there is no context.

"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,"

Who changed it? The church changed it!

"Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the Solemnity from Saturday to Sunday." The Convert's Catholic Catechism p. 50. 1930

"…the observance of the Lord's day took place of the observance of the Sabbath, not by virtue of the precept but by the institution of the Church and the custom of Christian people."– Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Volume 3 (Part II, 2nd Section)

"The Catholic church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday...The Protestant World at its birth found the Christian Sabbath too strongly entrenched to run counter to its existence; it was therefore placed under the necessity of acquiescing in the arrangement, thus implying the (Catholic) Church’s right to change the day, for over three hundred years. The Christian Sabbath is therefore to this day, the acknowledged offspring of the Catholic Church as spouse of the Holy Ghost, without a word of remonstrance from the Protestant World.” –James Cardinal Gibbons in the Catholic Mirror, September 23, 1983.

Why do we need the Sabbath? The sabbath is the day that God rested from His creation. It is how we know we are worshiping the true God and not the myriad of false gods.

The Sabbath is A day of worship, not THE day of worship. We are to rest from labor resulting in monetary gain and use the day for helping, preaching, witnessing, caring and spending time with God. It's like a marriage. If you spend time with your spouse, you will grow to love them more, if you never see them you can never appreciate them.

Isaiah 58:13-14 (King James Version)

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Videos

Resources:

sabbathtruth.com

Is Sunday really Sacred?

Rome's Challenge

Amazing Facts On-line Library

References:

http://forgottencommandment.com/id8.html

http://therefinersfire.org/days_months1.htm

http://www.ctsfw.edu/etext/boc/ac/

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Volume 3 (Part II, 2nd Section)

Pick 3 my Lord

Dirty words, swearing, potty mouth, cussing, sailor talk, foul language, profanity—whatever you want to call it, it seems to be more and more acceptable in society today. Some say "Oh, I don't really mean it, it just slips out." Does it really matter what we say? Let's take a look… The 3rd commandment (Exodus 20:7) "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." It is obvious to many that this covers specific use of Lord, God and Jesus Christ in conversation. Something that we must understand is that Jesus died not only for those who accept Him, but also the entire world that does not believe. Now for me, whenever I hear some one speak so harshly, I cringe and it is like sticking a knife in my back. What's worse is that when ever I don't kindly tell someone the ramifications of their language usage, its like me sticking a knife in my saviors back. The second application of the 3rd commandment is in being obedient to God. Some would say that God is so loving and kind that He would never punish those who do not keep His commandments. John 14:15 " If you love me, you will keep My commandments." The point is not to be legalistic, but rather trusting. When you become a Christian, you leave behind the things of this world knowing that God will show you a better way to live. After all, there is only one way to salvation, but many ways to lose it. Here are some other texts to ponder Ephesians 4:29 "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear." 1 Peter 3:10 "For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:" James 3:9 "With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; 10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way." I pray the holy spirit will guide you in your speech and the way you communicate to others. God Bless!

Who is Michael?

Rev 12:7 "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels"

The archangel Michael that appears in the Bible has a very high position because he is called an archangel, arch meaning highest. In hebrew, Michael means "He who is like God". Angel means messenger in greek. Michael's position is very high indeed and seems very similar to some of the offices that Christ claims. Christ has many other names (The Bread, The Lamb, The Door,The Light, The Preist, The Water to name a few) and it is quite possible that Michael may indeed be another name for Christ. Now before someone accuses me of being in a cult that thinks Christ is only an angel, lets take a look at some scripture.

Judges 13:18 "And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?"

The scene here is right before the birth of Sampson. An angel has come to Manoah and his wife. The angel here says his name is wonderful (pil'iy in hebrew). Who else do we call wonderful?

Isaiah 9:6 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

This is talking about Jesus, whom we call wonderful. (pele' in hebrew)

Judges 13:20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.

Judges 13:22 "And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God."

In these passages Manoah and his wife are worshiping the angel which seems odd, because we are only to worship God. Now we know that Manoah and his wife were righteous people in God's eyes because they did up having a child by miracle. Let's compare the angel in Judges with the angel Gabriel in Rev 19:10.

Rev 19:10"And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

We also see Christ being portrayed with other characteristics of an angel in other parts of the Bible.

Thes. 4:16"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:"

Paul knows that a multitude of angels will accompany Christ on his return, but he makes no mention of them, so it is safe to assume that Christ is the one doing the shouting. There is only one archangel and only Christ is mentioned in this passage.

Daniel 12:1 "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book."

Michael is called the great prince. Either he is claiming to be the rightful prince of the world falsely (making him Satan), or he is doing so righteously because he is actually Christ.

My conclusion is that Christ holds the high office of archangel, being the chief messenger of the Lord. This in no way degrades the holiness or divinity of Christ. He still retains all of his other qualities. Knowing this actually increases my faith because I know that Christ is the captain of heavens armies.

Rev. 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His headare many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Passages are from the KJV

The trouble with words: "Race"

Recently I've been thinking about the new president (of course) and have been wondering about the usage of a certain word. Not a political race but rather in the realm of ethnicity. Obama's campaign has thrived because of his ethnic uniqueness, and of course we've all heard about how he is the first black president. I'm starting wonder about the word's usage and its forms. So, first I looked up the definition in apple's dictionary:

"race 2 reɪs reɪs nouneach of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics : people of all races, colors, and creeds.• a group of people sharing the same culture, history, language, etc.; an ethnic group : we Scots were a bloodthirsty race then.• the fact or condition of belonging to such a division or group; the qualities or characteristics associated with this : people of mixed race.• a group or set of people or things with a common feature or features : some male firefighters still regarded women as a race apart.• Biology: a population within a species that is distinct in some way, esp. a subspecies : people have killed so many tigers that two races are probably extinct.• (in nontechnical use) each of the major divisions of living creatures : a member of the human race the race of birds.• poetic/literary a group of people descended from a common ancestor : a prince of the race of Solomon.• archaic ancestry : two coursers of ethereal race. Although ideas of race are centuries old, it was not until the 19th century that attempts to systematize racial divisions were made. Ideas of supposed racial superiority and social Darwinism reached their culmination in Nazi ideology of the 1930s and gave pseudoscientific justification to policies and attitudes of discrimination, exploitation, slavery, and extermination. Theories of race asserting a link between racial type and intelligence are now discredited. Scientifically it is accepted as obvious that there are subdivisions of the human species, but it is also clear that genetic variation between individuals of the same race can be as great as that between members of different races. ORIGIN early 16th cent. (denoting a group with common features): via French from Italian razza, of unknown ultimate origin. USAGE In recent years, the associations of race with the ideologies and theories that grew out of the work of 19th-century anthropologists and physiologists has led to the use of the word race itself becoming problematic. Although still used in general contexts (: race relations,: racial equality), it is now often replaced by other words that are less emotionally charged, such as people(s) or community."

Confusion of the word has compounded from the results of modern slavery and the introduction of the evolution theory. Where the Christian runs into usage problems is in the evolutionary sense. The word is meaningless because there is no such thing as the advancing of humanity, either as a part or as a whole. How about the word "racist"? Currently it means to dislike a certain ethnic group and their religious and political views with a certain amount of unfounded bias. Rather than vaguely use the word, we should develop our vocabulary and use words like bigot, xenophobe, chauvinist, supremacist, discriminatory and prejudice. I therefore propose a new meaning of the word racist, without any notion of the former. Racist: one who believes human features have resuled from evolution, or more plainly: someone who believes in evolution. My whole point in all of this is that I believe that there is no such thing as modern "race" and because of it, any political platform driven by it is pointless. It would be like saying, "He's the first president with blond hair". The Bible teaches all have done wrong, God created all men equal and salvation is available to all. The only reason there is a problem is because people still think there is a problem. Read the Bible and you will find that no human should ever have hate towards a specific group of people.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

Resources: http://www.bible-truth.org/race.htm http://www.rapidresponsereport.com/briefingpapers/RACISM.pdf http://erlc.com/article/the-bible-speaks-on-race/ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/us/politics/18text-obama.html?pagewanted=all http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbPby6-uf-s

Peace be with you.

Greetings friends and the like. I hope you will find this blog inspiring. Please use the resources and learn more sections to help strengthen your faith. God Bless.