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To: Heart-Rest; firebrand
You do realize that the writers of the Psalms (such as David, and others), including Psalm 150, also sacrificed (slaughtered) large and malodorous animals at many of their liturgical celebrations, and scattered the beasts' blood here and there. Would you advocate doing that during Christian liturgical celebrations as well?

You do realize that the SAME Holy Spirit inspired the writers of those Psalms, right? Additionally, the sacrifice of lambs and bulls and goats and other various "large and malodorous animals" were done in obedience to Almighty God. The purpose of such was to be a spiritual object lesson that only by the shedding of blood is there remission of sins. The animals that were killed were done so to drive home the point that only by death can sins be paid for. In the time before Christ came, the observance of these offerings done for the people by the High Priest was the ONLY way for anyone to be made righteous. By faith in this expiatory sacrifice and obeying the commandments as well as the hundreds of other laws and ordinances was the way God saw fit for man to relate to Him. After Christ Jesus came and offered His blood and life upon the cross as the propitiation for the sins of the world, God now has man relate to Him by grace through faith. He STILL wants us to live holy and obedient lives because He loves us and knows what is best for us. But, we are saved by faith and not by our works just as the Old Testament saints were also saved because of their faith. Read Hebrews 11 for a wonderful description of the kind of faith they had.

There is now no more need for sacrifices - bloody or unbloody - because Christ made the final and full payment for sin. He died ONCE for all. All those who would come to Him through faith are granted reconciliation with God and are the redeemed, made righteous by Christ. It is NOT by works of righteousness that we do that saves us but by His mercy and grace alone. The righteousness of Christ is credited to our account and when God looks at us, He sees Christ's righteousness covering us.

And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. (Philippians 3:9)

We must be as righteous as God is - be ye holy as HE is holy - in order to dwell with him for eternity. With man this is impossible, but with God ALL things are possible. We have the righteousness of God through faith in Christ.

151 posted on 04/19/2012 10:20:40 PM PDT by boatbums (God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
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To: boatbums
You do realize that the SAME Holy Spirit inspired the writers of those Psalms, right?

Catholics believe the Holy Spirit inspired all of the writings that make up "the Bible". (Are you aware that Catholic priests and religious and many lay people regularly pray the "Liturgy of the Hours", aka "The Divine Office", which largely consists of praying, singing, or chanting the various Psalms several times every day, to consecrate various hours of the day?)

While all Old Testament writings are inspired and unquestionably useful, many commands and directives in the Old Testament no longer apply directly to Christians today (not just the animal sacrifices). For example, some people were commanded to militarily invade and conquer the "Promised Land", then inhabit that land, and others were explicitly commanded to NOT enter that same promised land. Most Christians today do not feel directed by those same commands to either settle in that promised land, or to stay out of that promised land, simply because of those early Biblical commands. Those ancient directives may still be instructive in various ways, but they (and many other directives given back then, not just those concerning the animal sacrifices) no longer directly apply to Christians today in a literal way.

Regarding your various references to Bible texts about "faith", do you believe those references refer to a "living faith", or to a "faith that is dead"? Do you know that a New Testament Christian writer inspired by the Holy Spirit said that faith without works is dead?
359 posted on 04/22/2012 7:24:03 PM PDT by Heart-Rest ( "The Church is the pillar and bulwark of the truth." (1 Timothy 3:15))
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