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Geeking out on God

The most misunderstood New Testament verses are Matthew 5: 28-30. "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away." For years, we were taught this abstract hyperbole meant to take sin more seriously. Enough so, that radical amputations are needed of everything that causes us to sin. While that's true, let's review its biblical context and watch our minds get blown...

In the verse prior, Jesus mentions another body part. When he says if anybody lusts, they've already committed adultery in their heart. The whole purpose of the sermon on the mount is that actions are the fruits that grow from the tree--of the heart--whether these fruits be good or rotten. So, here's a buried secret in this passage if we were to carry it to its end. Imagine a lustful man that touches a woman inappropriately.

• So, he cuts off his hands. But then he realizes, I can still lust with my eyes...
• He cuts out his eyes. But then he realizes he can still say sinful things.
• He cuts out his tongue. And then he realizes he can still listen to things that stir lust.
• He cuts off his ears. And on and on and on it goes.
• And he never seems to be able to cut off the part of him that causes him to sin.

Jesus is saying that to do that, we would need to cut out our hearts. And He can do that for us. Moreover, He is the ONLY one who can. In Ezekiel 36, God prophesies that someday, "a new heart I will give you. And I will put a new spirit inside you. I'll remove your old heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."

The heart of the problem--is the problem of the heart. Christianity is not behavior modification; it is heart transformation.

Source:

The most misunderstood verse in the Bible | YouTube