Roger

Leviticus 18:9 says, "You shall not have intercourse with or uncover the nakedness of your sister..." With this being the case, how did Adam and Eve's children propagate the race without having intercourse with their siblings?" Good question and one that deserves an answer!  Please keep in mind, however, the Scriptures do not directly address a lot of issues in terms of "chapter and verse."  We have to draw from many sources to answer some questions; and some inquiries, to be totally honest, will not be answered this side of eternity! Here goes!  Some have tried to "excuse" God by teaching that He probably created other human beings right after He created Adam and Eve.  We read in 1 Corinthians 15:45 that Adam was "the first man."  God did not start by making a whole group of people--men and women.  Defenders of the gospel must believe that all human beings are descendants of one man and one woman (Adam and Eve), as only those peopl...

In my last two blogs I discussed what it means to “forgive and even forget” those offenses that come into our lives.  In Part One, I taught how we through prayer are able to receive a new interpretation of our painful experiences.  In Part Two, I demonstrated how this principle worked in the life of Joseph, whose brothers grossly mistreated him when he was a teenager.  In Part Three, I wish to offer a partial theological treatise on how God forgives us. To fully experience the dynamics of forgiveness and forgetting, we need to understand the act of justification.   Justification is God’s judicial act of declaring believing sinners to become righteous and acceptable in His sight.   It is a legal term.   Justification is possible because Christ has borne the sinner’s sin on the Cross “and has been made unto him righteousness” (1 Corinthians 1:30).   Romans 3:24 says, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Chris...

Last week I asked the question, “Do we forget when we forgive people who bring offense and emotional pain into our lives?  My summation was that we don’t go brain dead after we forgive someone.  But God graciously pulls the pain out of the situation by giving us a healthier interpretation of the facts.  Offenses always bring emotional pain, but when we allow God to exchange our pain by His power, He assigns a new interpretation of what happened and the negative emotional residue fades into the past.   In this sense, we can forgive and forget!   Let’s take a look at the life of Joseph recorded in Genesis 37-50 for a prime illustration of this wonderful reality!    For our purposes today, let’s look at the events recorded in chapter 50 only.   Now second in command in the land of Egypt, Joseph says something to his brothers that illustrates this process.   He had been terribly mistreated by his brothers.   At 17, he was cast in...

After sin entered the human race in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve and everyone born after them have suffered from relationship breakdowns.  Relationships were one of the hardest hit areas of life.  Stories of people who refuse to forgive their perpetrators, who hold grudges and who grow bitter fill the pages of human history.  Many refuse to forgive those who have brought offense and pain into their lives.  They keep a running total of wrongs done. The New Living Translation renders 1 Corinthians 13:5 this way:  “Love keeps no record when it has been wronged.”   Agape love, or God’s love produces amnesia.  To God, confessed sin is forgiven sin!  Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”   In Isaiah 43:25 the prophet writes, “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake.  And I will not remember your sins.”   Isaiah 37:18 says...