Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Seven Deadly Sins?

What might keep us from Heaven? One of the Seven Deadly Sins? What are they? Here's what I found in the Bible:

These six [things] doth the LORD hate: yea, seven [are] an abomination unto him:
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
A false witness [that] speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
~Proverbs 6:16-19

Note that the verse doesn't say that you will be punished in hell. It just says that the Lord hates these sins.

And then there's this one:
The fear of the LORD [is] to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. ~Proverbs 8: 13

Doesn't say punishable by death or separation from God. I find it interesting that it is pride and sowing discord among brethren that seem to be the worst of all.

Churches and religion were much established in order to control the people and/or supervise them. As such, religion and churches interpreted the Bible and influenced the translation(s). Unless you go back to the original Greek/Hebrew, how do you know for certain that the "known" interpretation is contextually correct? Why not read the Bible yourself rather than trusting someone else to read for you?

I believe any sin and all sins are forgivable. I don't believe that hell is actually a place of punishment or fire and brimstone as much as it is simple separation from God. If someone doesn't want to be near Him, why would God force Himself upon that person?

God says, "If you seek me, you will find me." Why would God not honor that search even if the person's search might be, according to our own narrow beliefs, unusual or not "prescribed" by our religion?

So many sorrows and griefs have produced growth, understanding and tolerance. At the hand of those we have considered evil.

Do you think Judas Iscariot is in hell? Might he be in Heaven? Is one sin worse than others? I don't know that God really looks at them in the hierarchy many churches or pastors proclaim. God hates pride most. He detests grumbling. Unforgiveness is another one that seems to make the bad list.

God didn't even want to give the Israelites rules to follow. They begged for them. He gave them rules (The Ten Commandmants) so they'd see they couldn't keep any one of them, in spirit, in truth, for any length of time. In some way each and every one would sin. The "way" is to seek Him. Period. Not seeking Him is as grievous as any other sin, perhaps the worst.

Why do we people need to feel that some would burn in hell, or be punished? Why do we need that from God? Maybe a lot of us will be surprised when we get there at how we blew some things way out of proportion and missed the truly important things.

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