Mixed up stories
Dear editor:
When I first read John “Doc” Crawford’s reply to Guy McDill (Monday, March 13), I thought perhaps the time change was playing tricks with my mind before realizing that it was ol’ “Doc” who had become confused. He had gotten two different stories about two different women in the book of John mixed together as they were all one story!
Better study a little harder “Doc,” especially considering how you told Mr. McDill that “I cut my teeth on Sunday school, church and Bible school.”
In John 4 we find the story of the Samaritan woman talking to Jesus at the well. The woman learns how that she can receive “living water” from Jesus that can result in eternal life.
John 8 tells about a different woman who was caught in adultery by the Pharisees. Jesus confronted her accusers by saying, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
“At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time …
“Jesus … asked her, ‘ … Has no one condemned you?’
“‘No one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’”
The NIV Study Bible Commentary says on John 8:11 that “Jesus didn’t condemn the woman accused of adultery, but neither did he ignore or condone her sin. He told her to go and sin no more. Jesus stands ready to forgive any sin in your life, but confession and repentance mean a change of heart. With God’s help we can accept Christ’s forgiveness and stop our wrongdoing.”
In other words, we can’t be following Jesus and the devil at the same time. Jesus must be the Lord over your life, as well as your Savior.
“Doc,” you also seem to have become mixed up on a Bible verse that you misquoted. You said that Jesus stated, “If they are not against me, they are for me.”
Here is the actual Bible verse: “He who is not with me is against me” (Luke 11:23). The commentary says, “Here, by contrast, he was talking about the conflict between God and the devil. In this battle, if a person is not on God’s side, he or she is on Satan’s. There is no neutral ground. If you aren’t actively for Christ, you are against him.”
The New Living Translation: “Anyone who isn’t helping me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.”
When any of us has been forgiven for all of our sins by trusting in Jesus Christ, it is good for all of us to remember that Jesus said to “go and sin no more.” Romans 6:1, 2 tells us the same thing. “What then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? Absolutely not!”
“For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life” (1 Thessalonians 4:7).
This all sounds very conservative to me, “Doc.” Not liberal.
It is the straight and narrow way. Lloyd Hoffman Hot Springs