Larry, my friend, I am not a "babe in Christ," so there is no need for responding to my statements in a condescending manner. There is no need for you to conduct a discourse with me as if I am destitute of all knowledge pertaining to the precepts of God's sacred written Oracles. Please refrain from such unwarranted behavior, else I must terminate any further participation in this matter! Having noted that please allow me to continue.
As we both are well aware, God NEVER changes the manner in which He does things (
Malachi 3:4). Indeed, the words of
Psalm 145:17 expressly asserts that "The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works", which implies that once He does something it establishes an unchanging precedent and that with regards to that particular matter in every instance thereafter, He always acts in the same manner.
The ONLY exception to this principle, of course, is found in the terms of His former covenant with man and those of the new, for in the words of
Hebrews 8:7-8 we are told that because the former was found to be faulty He deemed it needful to institute a new and better way. Indeed, we should be thankful that there's no longer a need to offer animal sacrifices to atone for our sins, for even as saints of God, and try as we may, nevertheless we sometimes fail, but the blood of the Lamb of God was offered once and is continually effective.
In contrast to your expressed belief, I hold that although God deemed it necessary to institute a new covenant regarding the manner in which sinful man finds salvation, nevertheless He did NOT alter or change the manner in which He elects to go about the task of causing a "righteous" man to be made aware of whatever transgression he might be guilty of having committed, which included "inflicting" the righteous with physical suffering where He deems that to be appropriate.
I would also state that in my learned opinion the definitions of biblical words by Strong's, Vine, Thayer, and a host of others (which you seem to be so fond of referencing as if they are infallible), must never be considered as the only manner in which one is to construe them. Such men as these are imperfect mortals just as you and I, so their opinions are no more, or less capable of being wrong than are ours. While I do often reference them in my studies, I will never consider their definitions as if they are inspired of God.
Threaded Mode
