"I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live."
Yes...both good and evil are there. Not just the "cursing" part, but literally "life and death" depending on what and how we pick up on what is "set before" us.
Such is the pattern set before us all in the first five books of the Bible. Those are the first words from the Word--which Mose defines as a send-off for those going into the promised land. Is the church included and also going into the promised land? Yes, of course! So the words, the terms, "life and death, blessing and cursing" apply to us as followers of Jesus as well. Jesus did something very similar with the Church...but that is perhaps another story for another time. The point is--the words--by His Word, and all that is written, God has set those conditions before us all. Either we pick up on the life portion or the death portion. The hard part is understanding that there is both--the words include both. In other words, if we only believe part, should we actually expect that is enough to align us with the "life" and "blessing" portion of the Word? If what we believe does not fully agree with all other scripture, what do you think that means? If what we believe has any conflict with any other part of scripture, does that really measure up?
Now, we need not think of the scriptures as so complicated--not at all! But if we go out on the limb of choosing just one group of scriptures against the whole counsel of God's entire word, and begin to make claims and extrapolate away from every other part--the complication is one we have brought upon ourselves. Meaning, that if we want to keep it simple--we should ourselves, do that, and not invite trouble by blurring the lines between life and death, blessing and cursing.
In the New Testament Paul goes so far as to give an example of "rightly dividing the word of truth"--because, if we don't we run
If you have been tracking with me...the reason I bring it up and point out this black and white, life and death distinction...is that we see that line being blurred a lot here. One of the big indicators is using one scripture against another without reconciling the two. Anytime that happens--someone has stepped out of bounds. Tit for tat may work in an argument amongst one another--but not with God. Every counter therefore, should be reconcilable with all scripture. And that hard wall between what will and will not reconcile--Jesus gave it--saying we can argue against each other, even Him--but not with the Holy Spirit. And the times we live in are not like former times--these are the times of God pouring out His spirit upon all flesh: Everything now is spiritual, for or against the Holy Spirit.
And finally, we should all be asking: Have God's people ever made mistakes before, singled out only part, believed only in part, ever been wrong, and are people really like that, likely to make the same mistakes--who me?
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