Pulling Out the Poisoned Arrows of Sin




Andrea Mantegna 1506 A.D.




As a young man I lived in America, the Middle East, India and Israel. In all the lands I visited, I wanted to know how the different religions dealt with the problem of sin. I had been raised as a Catholic and was keenly aware of my sins. I knew that my sins would effect my destiny and that on the judgment Day I would have to give an account for them.

Catholics

The Catholics have an inefficient method of removing sins called the Sacrament of Confession. The sinner goes into a dark, private booth and confesses his sins to a priest who cannot see him. The priest then has the power to forgive, or not forgive the sins. If he forgives them, he gives the sinner a penance to do. Usually the sinner is told to say 10 repetitive prayers. The reason I say it is inefficient, or inadequate, is that often you have to wait many days before you can get to the priest to confess your sins. Plus my sins kept returning to me almost within hours of having them removed. So I would often go several days worried that if I died before I could go to confession, I would go straight to hell. And I often wondered why I couldn't just ask Yah directly to forgive me. Why did I need an intermediary?

Israel

When I lived in Israel I learned that Moses had designed a way for sins to be removed by sacrificing animals . But their scriptures said the animals had to be offered on the altar in Jerusalem to be accepted. The problem is that even when the animals were sacrificed it didn't remove their sins, but only covered them temporarily. Every year they had to repeat the rituals, but the sins never left them. To compound the problem there hasn't been an altar in Jerusalem for 2,000 years.

India

When I lived in India I saw a never ending festival of sacrificing to thousands of gods and idols in an attempt to remove sins. Usually the sacrifices were fruit and flowers and incense, or small animals. There seems to be no way to know if any sins were removed. Some sects like the Buddhists denied that sins existed. Others said sin was just an illusion of our ignorance. I knew my sins were not illusions.

Muslims

The saddest group of people I saw were the Muslims. They had no way to remove their sins, but lived in constant fear of the Judgment Day. Even if they made the pilgrimage to Mecca and sacrificed the hairiest camel, there was nothing in their holy book that offered any assurance of the removal of sins. Even by performing good deeds they have only a vague hope. When the Judgment Day comes their forgiveness all depends on the whim of Allah. Many believe that if they miss rising before dawn to say their morning prayers they will have to spend thousands of years in a purgatory, a hell-like place of torment, before they can enter paradise. Their only real hope of gaining paradise and having their sins forgiven is to die fighting in a holy war for the cause of Allah. No wonder they have so many suicide bombers willing to kill themselves in Jihad. Yah is all about love, mercy and forgiveness, so killing others is the farthest thing in my mind to have your sins removed.

The Search

I read every Holy Book I could find. I visited many sects and cults, old and new. But I kept circling back to Christianity. I didn't understand it, but I kept hearing phrases like Yahshuah died for my sins. Yahshuah paid the price. Yah loved me so much that he gave Yahshuah to take care of my sin problem.

The New Covenant

At the Last Supper Jesus held up a cup and said  this cup is
"my blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins.  (Mt.26:27 )
The New Covenant had been prophecied centuries before Yahshuah. God  said he would give humans a new way to be cleansed of all guilt, all troubling and hounding consciences, and all punishment for sins. Once we unite with Yahshuah by faith we enter the New Covenant and God stops counting our sins, he dissolves are evil deeds that we may yet do with mercy and wll bring us to him blameless. 

God made a promise and swore an oath that he would greet us without wrath or rebuking,  but with mercy and deliberately forget our evil deeds. Being righteous or unrighteousness plays  no role in this,  it is a gift because of God's mercy, love and Grace, and Yahshuah's faithfulness
It is for everyone. How happy are those who believe it now. They are freed from the fear of death, they are freed from damning consciences, they are freed from trying to live up to the standard of sinless perfection, now there is no condemnation now, or ever. This free gift can never be rescinded and those who by faith unite with Jesus and accept it have passed from death to life  and in the age to come with live in the father's love forever.

Question: So if Yah will not count my sins, does that mean I am allowed to sin?
Answer:  Only if you want to be sick and miserable and chastised constantly by Father. Your sins will not affect your destination, but they will ruin your voyage. Yahshuah said “Sin No More” because he wants you to have a joyful life. Sin hurts you and everyone around you.

If You Do Sin
  1. Repent
  2. If you forgive others the Father will forgive your sins. If you do not forgive others their sins, the Father  cannot forgive you your sins (Mt 6:14)
  3. Much love forgives many sins (Lk.7:47) )
  4. Ask Father to forgive your sins.  This way you can live a life of wholeness, peace and joy  now as you wait patiently for the eternal life in the world to come.
 
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