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What are some of your deepest fears?
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Anyone ever listen to this song?
Oh mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law
Lawman has put an end to my running and I'm so far from my home
Oh mama, I can hear your crying you're so scared and all alone
Hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don't have very long
The jig is up the news is out they've finally found me
The renegade who had it made retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
This will be the end today of the wanted man
Oh mama, I've been years on the lamb and had a high price on my head
Lawman said get him dead or alive now it's for sure he'll see me dead
Dear mama, I can hear you crying you're so scared and all alone
Hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don't have very long
The jig is up, the news is out they finally found me
The renegade who had it made retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
The judge'll have revenge today on the wanted man
Oh mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law
Hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don't have very long
The jig is up, the news is out they finally found me
The renegade who had it made retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
This'll be the end today of the wanted man, the wanted man
[Incomprehensible]
No, no, no, no
Oh mama, don't let him take me
Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no, no
I was thinking about the topic of crime and punishment. Recently a small group of students from Ashland Theological Seminary presented on the issue of capital punishment. Their were a lot of good nuggets in the presentation but the thing that I will remember the most is this: no one is beyond the ability to be forgiven or receive grace. I am not saying the we should trade the penal system for something else. I am suggesting, however, that the life or death of a man or woman should never be in the hands of another human unless they are uncapable of managing their own life.
In fact, I think that our society in general does a poor job of dealing with crime or correction. I can't say that I blame society for this. Their is something within our human nature that causes to be prone to correct and punishment. The most basic human instinct is to remove threats or correct them. It's a survival instinct. If someone harms me, I want them removed or something done to make sure they do not do it again.
That is what make forgiveness so unique. God's nature is so different than ours. In fact God's nature is radical. We love to point out that God was unforgiving in the OT but that is not true. Anyone who has ever read it in context will see that God was VERY merciful with the Israelites. Jesus' teaching were seen as revolutionary as well. He took the OT teachings and added a new measure of grace to them. That is right; the God who we continually rebel against provided His son as the penalty so that we would be free.
Like the renegade in the Styx song, we were all dead in our own sin (Eph 2:1) and God did not give us the capital punishment. He came incarnated in the flesh and dealt with the same trials we do and then like a lamb led to the slaughter he let us hang him on the cross in our own place (Isaiah 53).
If anyone was a renegade...it was the Lord, breaking every rule of society and offering forgiveness rather than punishment.
than punishment.
A Miami pastor is preaching what the Bible says: homosexuality is a sin. Now, the Miami-Dade County School Superintendent is “reviewing” its lease to the church.
Jack Hakimian, pastor of Impact
Miami Church, preached the Biblical position on homosexuality, which was well
within his First Amendment rights. But the sermon allegedly violates the
district’s anti-bullying and non-discrimination policy.
Hakimian explicitly denounces bullying and teaches to respect all people.
Psalm 117
New Life Version (NLV)
Praise the Lord, all nations! Praise Him, all people! 2 For His loving-kindness toward us is great. And the truth of the Lord lasts forever. Praise the Lord!
http://writetouch.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/ephesians-41-32/
Adminhttp://www.dustoffthebible.com/3-gifts-of-the-holy-spirit-they-never-told-you-about-in-corinthians/
Admin
Rejoice, O my soul, for it's He who makes me whole. He restores and heals, releases and reveals; secrets of the throne I would have never known. With wisdom and revelation we will run, because we are one. More powerful together than alone. I look upon His face and know that I am home.
