#like i do very much think sin vs iniquity vs transgression

[idylls-of-the-divine-romance]

Forever walking the line of "Words technically do not mean anything people mean things by words" and "I am a writer and an amateur (og meaning) theologian and as such the meaning of words, especially etymologically, is really important to me"

[hermioneclone]

Okay, so I’m fascinated with the idea of Jewish Severus Snape

Somehow despite literally studying antisemitic stereotypes of Jews and being a Snape fan since at least 2007, I only recently realized that Snape is pretty heavily coded with antisemitic stereotypes. To quote from this blog post that goes back to 2005:

In Snape, Rowling has created a angry villain who has a hooked nose, greasy dark hair, sallow skin and glittering dark eyes, an inscrutable, sneering, untrustworthy double agent -- who hisses.

I’d also like to add in the rumors that Snape is a vampire/he’s often described as being bat-like, which could easily be tied into blood libel. 

As much as I’m not thrilled by this, I’ve decided to embrace it. If JKR is going to code Snape as Jewish, I’m going to run with it. Also it might subconsciously be part of what drew me to him in the first place.

As I’ve been mulling this over, I’ve started thinking about how his atonement seems very Jewish to me. I started doing some research (I’m Jewish but also not super religious, so I needed a refresher).

Here is some general information about Jewish ideas about repentance:  

In the Jewish tradition, repentance is called teshuvah , a Hebrew word translated as “returning.” One of the Hebrew words for sin is chet, which in Hebrew means “to go astray.” Thus the idea of repentance in Jewish thought is a return to the path of righteousness.

Teshuvah can be done at any time, but the High Holiday season, and Yom Kippur especially, is considered an especially auspicious time for it. The process of repentance, as laid out by Maimonides, includes three stages: confession, regret and a vow not to repeat the misdeed. The true penitent, Maimonides says, is the one who finds himself with the opportunity to commit the same sin again yet declines to do so. 

(Source: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/repentance/)

And here: 

If a person transgresses any of the mitzvot of the Torah, whether a positive command or a negative command - whether willingly or inadvertently - when he repents, and returns from his sin, he must confess before God, blessed be, He as [Numbers 5:6-7] states: "If a man or a woman commit any of the sins of man... they must confess the sin that they committed."This refers to a verbal confession. This confession is a positive command.How does one confess: He states: "I implore You, God, I sinned, I transgressed, I committed iniquity before You by doing the following. Behold, I regret and am embarrassed for my deeds. I promise never to repeat this act again."These are the essential elements of the confessional prayer. Whoever confesses profusely and elaborates on these matters is worthy of praise. 

(Source: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/911888/jewish/Chapter-One.htm)

This fits Snape’s story arc so well. It seems as if there is some distinction between sins against God vs. sins against other people, and in some ways I think both apply here. He follows the cycle of confession, regret and the promise not to repeat the action for essentially being the cause of Lily’s death. This starts with going to Dumbledore and pleading for his help, continues with the impact that this even clearly has on his life going forward (the Patronus is a lasting reminder of his regret), and that despite appearances, he’s firmly against Voldemort here on out. But he’s also wronged Harry (he didn’t care if the boy lived, only Lily, when he approached Dumbledore). And he spends the rest of his life making up for it, making sure Harry stays alive, and giving Harry the information he needed with his dying breath. And I’d say having Harry name one of his kids after Snape shows that he was granted forgiveness. 

From this approach, Snape went astray, and then went through the process of attoning for his mistakes, and as a result is able to find redemption. It allows for mistakes to be made and for the person not to be defined by their mistakes if they put in the work to right the wrongs. Which really just fits beautifully with the character arc.

[semperreformanda]

hi, same anon who asked about the Divine Image vs. total depravity, and i read all your subsequent posts/replies about salvation. thank you for your explanation, but i'm still confused--are we STILL in the Divine Image? was the divine part taken away by the sin of disobedience? -"Ari" (1/2)

further, i accept that i'm sinful and i want to repent, i just don't understand why Christianity is the only form of repentance. (Christians--Protestants, Catholics, pastors, laymen--have given their explanations to me SO many times, and i really appreciate it, i just never agreed or understood why they thought it was the only way.) and i prayed to God so much for knowledge of whether Christianity was the right way. aren't i an example of someone trying to repent and yet can't? -Ari (2/2)            

Hi Ari!

Everyone--even the worst of sinners--still possess the Imago Dei, for we are all made in the image of God. Sin has distorted it, but we have not lost it completely.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

Genesis 1:27

Because we live in a society that accepts pluralism (acceptance of different conflicting religious and philosophical principles), it's politically incorrect to assert that Christianity is the only truth and Christ is the only way of salvation.

But, of course, that is exactly the “offense of the Gospel” to modern pluralistic people. When we examine the content of the world religions, we see that at cardinal points of values and truth claims, they are wholly at odds with biblical religion. No religion except Christianity has an atonement.

The notion that all religions are valid is logically impossible. If all are valid ways to God, then Christianity is also valid and Jesus is simply one of many ways to God. But we find that Jesus says He is the only way, and that no one can come to the Father except through Him. Thus, if Christ is one of the ways to God, then He is also the only way. Or else this Jesus, who is one of the ways, is dead wrong in claiming to be the only way, in which case it would be foolish to think that He is even one of the ways.

Christians did not come up with the idea that Jesus is the only way to God. That idea originated with Christ Himself. If He was wrong, then Christianity has no validity at all. If He was right, then there is no other way.

The Bible also says faith is a gift from God.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

Ultimately, deducing from Scripture, I believe that Christians believe what they do today because of the mercy of God. He was pleased to reveal to us that we are sinners at the mercy of the Holy and Sovereign King.

God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

2 Timothy 2:25

Repentance is a gift from God. We express contrition for our sins and their offense to our holy Creator, but the Holy Spirit must give us the ability to do this. Without His sovereign work, we do not care that we have offended the Lord by breaking His law. In fact, we glory in our rebellion. But when the Spirit works in our hearts, we see our sin and, hating it, turn to Christ. A life of repentance is a manifestation of an authentic conversion.

Ari, you seem to battle with an assurance that Christianity is the only way. Before you can throw yourself upon the mercy of Christ, you have to understand the reality of your sins. You didn’t just an offend a human being. You offended the Eternal King who breathed the universe into existence.

I’ll ask you this: you spit on a civilian in the street. It’s very likely they’ll just shout at you, curse at you, maybe even spit back. If you spit on a policeman, you’ll end up at the police station and even jailed for your wrongdoing.

The point I’m trying to make is this: you spit on the face of God everyday with your sin. And He isn’t just a civilian on the street, or a policeman. He is the most perfect and righteous Judge, the Creator of all things. Your one sin against Him warrants an eternity in hell. That’s how good He is. And that should scare us.

And yet... because of His great love He sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins, that Christ would be the one to be judged as if He was the one who committed sin. Our sins have been placed on Him, now if we have repented, His righteousness would be imputed to ours, and we will stand before God as pure as Christ. That’s the good news.

Paul Washer said this: “With one hand God is motioning man to come to Him. With the other hand He is holding back His wrath. Soon, He is going to drop both hands."

Therefore, consider the magnitude of your sins against the perfect and righteous God, and consider Christ. He’s the only One who can take away your sins because He has already atoned for them completely at the cross. No person claiming to be god has done this. No other religion has a story where its god left his glory to be with humankind in order to pay for the price of its sin.

I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; and You forgave the guilt of my sin.

Psalm 32:5

[eleganthologrambouquet-worl-blog]

ABORTION Ten Bible Reasons Why It Is Wrong



Abortion essays against

Ten Bible Reasons Why It Is Wrong

Prior to the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision of 1973, about 500,000 illegal abortions were occurring per year. By 1975, over 1,000,000 babies were being aborted in the United States. Today, about 1,500,000 abortions occur each year. That's over 4000 per day, and nearly three per minute!

Ninety-three percent of the abortions in America are for convenience. The mother's health is an issue only three percent of the time, and the baby's health is an issue only three percent of the time. Rape or incest are issues only one percent of the time. Ninety-three percent of all abortions in America are performed just because someone doesn't want a child!

There are four basic types of abortion being performed in America today, while two more types may be added in the near future.

First, there's the suction type abortion. This is where the unborn child is literally vacuumed from the mother's womb during the early stages of pregnancy.

The currette-type abortion is where the child is cut from the mother's womb with a spoon-like object.

A third type is similar to a Caesarean operation. The baby is surgically removed from the mother and allowed to suffocate, because the child's lungs aren't developed.

The fourth type of abortion is the Salt Brine technique. With this method, the unborn child is literally "pickled" to death by the injection of a strong salt solution. A few days after the injection the child is still born.

There is currently much debate about partial-birth abortions. This is where a child is partially delivered, then stabbed in the skull to have his or her brains sucked out.

There is also much talk about the RU-486 abortion pill from France, also called "mifepristione" in America. This pill works by inhibiting pregnancy hormones, and is normally used within seven weeks from conception. At the present time, mifepristone is illegal in the U.S., but there is much political pressure to make it legal.

Abortion Is An Act of Murder

In reference to pregnant women, the term "with child" occurs twenty-six times in the Bible. The term "with fetus" never occurs once.

In Luke chapter one, verses 36 and 41, we are told that Elisabeth conceived a "son" and that the "babe" leaped in her womb. God does not say that a "fetus" leaped in her womb! He says THE BABE leaped. This is the exact same word that God uses to describe Christ in the manger AFTER He is born (Luke 2:12, 16). In God eyes, an unborn babe and a newborn babe are the same. They are both living human beings!

Dear reader, please answer a question: What is an "infant?" Get the answer in your mind and keep it there for a moment. Do you have it? Okay, please consider Job 3:16: "Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light." Did you see that? Job referred to unborn children as INFANTS. Not fetuses! Not masses of tissue! INFANTS! In God's eyes, an unborn child is a living human baby. God never says once that an unborn child is anything less than a human being.

David said in Psalm 51:5, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." He did not say that a fetus was shapen in iniquity and conceived in iniquity. David, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said that HE was conceived. David, not a blob of tissue, was conceived.

The same is the case in Psalm 139:13-16:

"For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them."

Who was in the womb? David! A literal and living person. The Bible never uses anything less than human terms to describe the unborn.

Notice that in Jeremiah 1:5 we are told that God KNEW Jeremiah:"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."

To further confirm the fact that God views the unborn child as a person, please consider Exodus 21:22-23:

"If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,"

If the woman has a premature birth and the child lives ("no mischief follows"), then there's no death penalty. However, if the child dies (or the woman dies) God says the death penalty applies: "thou shalt give life for life." Why would God require the death penalty if He didn't consider the unborn child to be a human being?

Friend, like it or not, God says that life begins at conception, and the unborn child is a human being.

But the Bible isn't alone in declaring this truth. Science also declares that an unborn child is just as much an independent human being as you. The original human cell consists of 46 chromosomes, 23 from each parent. At no point during pregnancy does the mother contribute any new cells to the child. The original cell divides itself and multiplies to provide development and growth for the child. Scientifically speaking, the child is just as independent at six months before birth as he will be six months after birth. Yes, the mother does provide nourishment to the unborn child, but she also provides nourishment to the newborn child!

At two weeks pregnancy, the "fetus" can move alone. By four weeks the child has limbs, muscle tissue, a heart and heartbeat. Ears, eyes, and small hands are visible by the fifth week. The child responds to touch sensations by the sixth or seventh week. At eight weeks, the baby sometimes tries to take a breath when removed from the mother. At twelve weeks, the child will often struggle for life two or three hours when removed from the mother.

Friend, abortion is wrong because abortion is MURDER!

Abortion Involves the Shedding of Innocent Blood

Proverbs 6:16-17 says that God HATES those who shed innocent blood! Deuteronomy 27:25 says, "Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen."

Who could possibly be more innocent than an unborn baby?! Yet, our society has become so wicked that it condones the slaying of 1.5 million innocent children every year. The Bible says that God HATES people who do this.

Abortion Is A Violation of the Golden Rule

In Matthew 7:12, the Lord Jesus Christ said, "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."

Would it be your desire to suffer and die while someone traps you in a cage and literally tears your arms and legs from your body?

Abortion is a violation of the golden rule.

Abortion Attempts To Destroy A Work of God

"I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him." (Ecc. 3:14)

God is eternal, so His work is also eternal. Abortion is an attempt to do away with unwanted people--an attempt to make a liar out of God by bringing an end to His work. However, Jesus said you can destroy a person's BODY, but not their SOUL (Mat. 10:28). Parent, if you've had an abortion, your aborted child is in Heaven right now, because you only destroyed the body!

Abortion Often Brings Shame, Heartache, and Deep Regret

After his sin with Bathsheba, King David confessed these words to God: "For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me." (Psa. 51:3) David was living under constant conviction and regret for what he had done. He couldn't get away from it!

Most women who decide to have an abortion spend the rest of their lives regretting it. Are you thinking about an abortion? I challenge you to visit with some woman who have had abortions. Ask them if they would do it again. Ask them if they have any regrets.

In the book, The Christian and Social Issues, by Tom Wallace, a reference is made to a full page Washington Post ad, dated June 13, 1983. A lady who had undergone a saline abortion six months earlier describes the mental torments that she now suffers every day. She speaks of her ". everyday hell of never hearing a baby cry without crying within myself; counting days to see how old the baby would have been; wondering what contributions my baby would have made to our desperate society; and wondering if there will ever be another chance for motherhood."

Of the abortion itself, the lady recalls, ". sitting in a crowded waiting room studying each others fearful, anxious faces. signing death certificates for what is very much alive within you. seeing crying women given tranquilizers and sent home to recuperate and try to forget."

Abortion is wrong because it brings shame, heartache, and deep regret.

Abortion Disannuls A Plan of God

If God allows a child to be conceived, then God obviously has a plan for that child. Mary's parents didn't know that she'd give birth to the Savior of the world, but she did. God has a plan for unborn children (Jer. 1:5; Lk. 1:13-17; Gen. 4:25; Jud. 13:3-5), so to abort an unborn child is to stop a plan of God.

Abortion De-values Human Life

God created man to be the highest form of life on earth (Gen. 1:26-28). Human life is very precious to God. In fact, it is so precious that God Himself instituted the Death Penalty for anyone who takes the life of another (Exo. 21:12; Num. 35). God places great value on human life!

However, abortion promotes the message that life is NOT so valuable, and that man can do as he pleases with it. How long will it be before our nation decides that the killing of elderly people and sick people is justifiable? Why stop there? How long will it be before it becomes lawful to kill Bible believers who refuse to conform to the world system? It won't be as long as you may think (Rev. 13:16-18; Rev. 20:4). Abortion devalues human life, and it pushes our nation a step closer to that wicked day when it becomes lawful to murder innocent people.

Abortion Shows A Lack of Natural Affection

Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:3 that the last days will be characterized by people who lack "natural affection."

I believe the pro-abortion movement is a perfect example of this. It is NATURAL to conceive a child, grow to love that child, take care of the child during pregnancy, give birth to the child, and then raise the child with the best care possible. That's the natural process that God has ordained. It is NOT natural to kill the child! To commit such an act is to show a lack of natural affection, which is sin.

Abortion Encourages Sin

"Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." (Ecc. 8:11)

Why will 1,500,000 women have abortions this year? Largely because it has become popular. It is no longer illegal, and it is no longer considered a shameful sin by our society. Every time a woman has an abortion she helps society to become more comfortable with it. She's advertising it! By her example, she's encouraging others to commit the same sin, and other sins as well. The convenience of abortion will only lead to an increase of other sins such as adultery and fornication. Friend, abortion is wrong because abortion encourages sin!

Abortion Shows A Lack of Faith

Romans 14:23 says, ". for whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God.

To have an abortion is to take matters into your own hands, rather than to trust God to work things out. This shows a lack of faith in God, which the Bible labels as SIN.

A desperate woman says, "I can't afford to have a child. I'm not ready for this." Lady, you need to start trusting God and claiming His promises. You need to STOP trying to run your own life for a change and START trusting God. You don't need an abortion, for such will only INCREASE your troubles. The devil has you thinking that abortion is the answer, that it will take care of everything, and you're very close to giving in to his subtle temptation. If you do, you'll regret it forever, and God will hold you accountable! Why not turn your life over to the Lord Jesus Christ right now? Why not make Him the Lord of your life and trust Him to work things out for you?

You Can Be Saved Right Now!

Jesus Christ came into this world to lay down His sinless life for YOU--to pay for your sins, because you couldn't. Jesus is your only hope for salvation. Only by receiving Him as your Savior can you enter the gates of Heaven. There is no other way.

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." (John 14:6)

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

The Lord Jesus Christ has come and PAID for your sins by shedding His own Blood on Calvary. By receiving Him as your Savior, you can be WASHED from all your sins in His precious Blood (Rev. 1:5; Col. 1:14; Acts 20:28; I Pet. 1:18-19). Notice these important words from Romans 5:8-9:

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."

Jesus PAID your way to Heaven for you! By receiving Him as your Savior, you will be receiving God's ONLY means of Salvation for you. Are you willing to forsake YOUR righteousness and receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, your ONLY HOPE for Salvation? Romans 10:13 says, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:9 says, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Are you willing to forsake your own righteousness, and trust Jesus Christ alone? He will save you just as He promised. Why not receive https://www.the-essays.com/buy-essay-paper and trust Him to give you a better way of life?