Scriptures You Will Not Hear at the 14-05-06 Church Sermon

by scout575 28 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  scout575

  "But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, but his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said , Ananias, why hast Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the field? ( Acts 5:1-3 )

  "And Ananias hearing these words FELL DOWN AND GAVE UP THE GHOST, and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out and buried him. ( Acts 5: 5,6 )

  "Then Peter said unto her, how is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then FELL SHE DOWN straightway at his feet, and YIELDED UP THE GHOST: and the young men came in, and found her DEAD, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things." ( Acts 5:9-11 )

  Cult leader kills two of his followers for the 'crime' of, 'tempting the Spirit of the Lord'.
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  jwfacts

  You really have to wonder about the bible sometimes. It does not match up to current day political correctness.
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  scout575

  jwfacts: Thats true, to say the very least. Ananias and Sapphira sell some land for a certain price. They keep some of the sale price for themselves, and then donate the balance to the apostles, pretending that they have donated the entire sale price.

  Although this can't exactly be described as honourable, the punishment that heaven metes out to them is execution.This isn't just an absence of political correctness, this is creepy and barbaric. As is seen so often in the Bible, the heavenly punishment is way out of proportion to the 'crime' for which it is administered. In the above portrayal, the only crime is the punishment itself.
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  Shazard

  Dunno but in our church sometimes you hear this and other scriptures you label as "you not hear" :) Our pastor does not leav "law which kills" part out of Bible.
  p.s. I am lutheran
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  scout575

  Shazard: I believe you. Notice the effect that God's execution of Ananias and Sapphira had on Christians in Jerusalem: "And GREAT FEAR came upon all the church." ( Acts 5:11a ) If I were a Christian listening to your pastor preaching this Bible story, and believing the story to be factual, I might begin to doubt whether spending an eternity in heavenly 'bliss' with God, was such a good idea.
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  Sad emo

  I've been following your series scout and I'd say the same a Shazard about the church I attend - an Anglican one (believe it or not, lol!) We use the 'nasty' bits of Scripture too.

  If anything, many churchgoers need to hear these Scriptures but if and when they are read they don't want to hear them.

  Just a comment on this weeks text - it wasn't the cult leader who killed them, it was God.
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  scout575

  Sad Emo: In saying, 'Cult leader', I meant Jesus himself ( Matthew 23:10 ). He is the one who the NT portrays as inflicting punishments on 'wayward' Christians, from his heavenly position. Notice Revelation 2:16, 23; 3:16 etc.
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  Sad emo

  ok scout - I thought you were meaning Peter!

  Maybe it wasn't God/Jesus who killed them but indirectly Peter? Imagine if this couple were elderly. Ananias has a dodgy heart and his 'dishonesty' gets exposed in front of everyone so the shock that Peter knows this and then publicly shames him (bad in Middle Eastern society) causes him to quite literally die of embarrassment?

  Then his missus walks in completely unawares and Peter not only publicly shames her but says 'by the way your husbands dead' - very sensitively handled, not! so she dies of shock too.

  All that said, the moral lesson for a believer is there - you can't hide anything from God so don't mess with him - that's what struck the fear into everyone else who was there.
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  scout575

  Sad Emo: Interesting double heart attack theory. If I were a Bible-believing Christian, living today, I might be grateful that I wasn't a Christian in the same church as Ananias and Sapphira. If I step out of line, either the wrath of Jesus clobbers me, or the public humiliation by Peter kills me. I might get to thinking that going back to 'spikey'Judaism, would be less life-threatening than 'cuddly' Christianity.
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  Sad emo

  well I suppose it kept them in line and ensured that they didn't just join up for fire insurance like so many do today - remember the end of the world was nigh back then so the stakes were higher than they are now - except if you belong to certain cults!