-Romans
2:14,15 I thought the carnal
mind was enmity
against God.(Romans
8:7), yet here it seems to say
that the ancient Gentiles
who knew nothing of the ancient law God gave
for purposes back then, were just as far ahead not knowing this law as
those whose tradition for centuries was keeping it? Hardly seems fair!
These two Scriptures seem so contradictory.
On the
surface they do. The truth of the Creator is not
for those avoiding deeper thought:.Acts
28:23,24 "And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to
him into his lodging, to whom he expounded
and testified
the kingdom of God, persuading
them concerning Emmanuel,
both out of the
law of Moses and out of the prophets,
from morning till evening. And some believed the things which were spoken
and some believed not.(why?)."
Romans
15:21 "But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall
see and they that have not heard shall understand."
Romans 15:21
here is actually fulfilment of an ancient prophecy:.Isaiah
65:1; 52:15.
Depending upon what one
is writing on his heart,
he may be either condemning others.(as
the
Pharisees did).or
excusing one another as though doing wrong matters little:.Isaiah
30:9-13.
It is saying that without
the Creator in one's heart, we just live by our conscience
based upon the various things we have noticed in life and accepted as being
true or rejected as being not beneficial.
These are our 'own laws', some good, some not so good:.Proverbs
14:12.
It would not take long for
one to see that regulations are needed to keep society
in order. It is saying that we all have a standard of judgment regarding
what we will or will not do.
Verse
16 goes on to say that God has His standard too
and all eventually will be evaluated
against it.
This has to be, as those
with evil deeds will not allow these deeds to be affected by the light
of honesty and goodness, but would rather hide them, would rather keep
them:.John
3:19,20 "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the
world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were
evil. For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the
light, lest his deeds should be reproved."
1Corinthians
4:5 "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord.(what's
the 'Lord' anyhow?).come.(when's
this coming?), who both will bring
to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels
of the hearts. And then shall every man have praise of God.".(because
they will finally be cleaned up:.2Thessalonians
2:8)
People will eventually come
to see that Creator-God's ways are the ways to all they really ever desired
and that He loves them
so
very much. That is why they will all
have praise of God.
For a thorough
understanding which would answer the question in depth, read the entire
book
of Romans.
-2Timothy
2:8.Why does
Paul
emphasize remembering what he says here.
Because the all
encompassing
forgiveness of God, when applied to us as it was to
David and so many others, is solid assurance that we too, will reach
the
life of joy, thanks to Emmanuel.
Paul says to
remember these things:.Jude
1:17.
Why? So you
will have confidence:.1John
3:20,21.
Remember lessons
of the past:.Deuteronomy
32:7.
-In Luke
14:26."If
any man come to me and hate.(meaning
of the word 'hate' in the Bible).not
his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea
and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."
Emmanuel sounds so rash
here, so uncaring and also similarly in Matthew 8:22. What's He saying?
Regarding the saying in.Matthew
8:22 "But Emmanuel said unto him, Follow me and let the dead bury their
dead."
The
things
of God are to be considered above the customs of the world.
Regarding Luke 14:26:
Unlike today in most western countries, children back then possessed high
esteem
toward their parents and it would be offensive to them to not follow their
parents' wishes. It is this way in China and India and many other family
oriented
societies today.
Emmanuel was just saying
in this parable
in verses 15-35, that it's important
to regard the
things of the Kingdom of God as having
priority,
after all that is why we are all here whether
or not we yet may be aware of our purpose for existence here.
In other words it is important
not to allow anything to stand between you
and God:.Matthew
10:37. You are here to use this life spiritually, for all it is worth.
Most try to use and abuse it physically for all it is worth.
Using it spiritually means
that in every circumstance you are in, you act from Creator-Father-God's
viewpoint which is always from the viewpoint of love, once of course you
are sure He is real and that His
way of love is best for all concerned. But
a person having little or no experience in the art
of loving, would not understand that until he or she thinks on, meditates
and prays about such things.(*).
Emmanuel was showing here
that most peoples' concerns have greatly to do with their life here on
Earth.
It seems the
more involved in this life one becomes, the less spiritual time spent with
Creator-Father-God occurs and so the man or woman or child drifts away
spiritually.
People have such a hard
time to keep on
track:.John
5:44 "How can you believe, which receive honour one of another and
seek not the honour that comes from God only?" Philippians
2:21 "For all seek their own, not the things which are Emmanuel the
Christ's."