First of all, I want to thank you for answering me quickly. This is something I've always wondered about, but hadn't really THOUGHT about it, until you told me, probably more than a year ago now, that you didn't believe the Sabbath issue was an issue today. Even if I don't quite agree with you on THAT point, I am beginning to see your position. And before I go on, let me just say that I DO believe there are many things that don't apply now that did now.

>First, let's be clear that we are talking about doctrinal issues ONLY, by which I mean, the particular commands given by God to US. That's just one aspect of biblical study. If you're studying the Bible to learn about the character of God, or to learn about how to live a godly life, or to learn about the history and future of God's dealings with mankind, or to learn about the nature of sin and temptation and how that separates us from God, or to learn about how God can make use of even our sins for good, etc, etc, etc, etc, then this business I mean about taking care to know which parts of the Bible are addressed to YOU does not apply.

Right, and I assumed this is what you meant when you posted about it before.

> But when you get down to a doctrinal issue, and the Bible gives divergent instructions: telling people in one place to do one thing and telling people in another place to do another thing, then in order for you to know what YOU need to do, you need to figure out which, if either, is directed at you. Are you right with God when your conscience is in line with God, when you follow the Old Testament Law, or when you believe in Christ's sacrifice for your sins? Is capital punishment forbidden, mandatory, or permissible? Is animal sacrifice required to "tide us over" until Christ could make the ultimate sacrifice, or no?

> Now I actually get to answering your question. II Timothy 2:15: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." You can't know what the Bible says unless you study it. By studying it in the faith that it is the divine Word of God, answers like these gradually become clear. My post #56351 gives you a more nitty-gritty answer to your question, which distinguishes specifically between the two gospels in the New Testament, but the more general answer is just to read the thing and see what it says. The Bible *says* that God has an everlasting covenant with Israel, that Israel was given the Law and that one was (temporarily) right with God by following it, that Christ died on the cross and that now Christ is the ONLY way to be right with God (no matter how perfectly the Law is followed), that in our future the tribulation and second coming of Christ will come, during which God's promise to Israel will be fulfilled; that at present there is no difference between Jew and Gentile and one is saved by faith in Christ alone and that that salvation is permanent, eternal, and irreversible, while those living in the tribulation must "endure to the end" to be saved, and so on, and so forth. Once you figure all this out, it's not hard to figure out where one fits into the picture.


I have read the bible, or at least I've read the New Testament and am still trying to get through the Old Testament. But I will be the first to admit that I haven't really studied the Bible as much as I should, and I understand little of it.

This may or may not be related to this thread, but it is something I've been thinking about for a while now. I didn't fully understand your position on the faith without works can still save you. I didn't agree, but now I think I am beginning to understand what this means. It DOESN'T mean that you can live a life of sin* and be saved because you have faith that you will be.
But I believe that no matter what you do to be saved, you will ALWAYS fall short. I believe that "faith with works" simply means that your faith will show by your works.

Forgive me if I seem unable to express my thoughts very clearly, but I was fumbling for words and I am afraid I came off rather poorly.
But I felt it was important to try.

Mia

*And I'm not talking about your example of the man who turns to Christ in his last moments of life. I honestly don't know how that man will be judged, and I don't think ANYONE can judge him save God.