How can God permit any sin due to our hardness of heart?

[dronald]

Would God permit any sin? I don’t fully understand this:

Matthew 19:7 They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away? "

8 He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery. "

How can God permit what is sinful? Thanks.

 

[po18guy]

For our freedom! Free will means that each and every one of us that loves God has chosen to do so. Love cannot be forced - it must be chosen.

 

[thistle]

Would God permit any sin? I don’t fully understand this:

Matthew 19:7 They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away? "

8 He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery. "

How can God permit what is sinful? Thanks.

Freewill. God gave us the freedom to reject or accept his love.

 

[Isaiah45_9]

Accountability.

John 5:25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, 27 and has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.

Romans 2:6 For he will render to every man according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality.

Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead in them, and all were judged by what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; 15 and if any one’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

 

[dronald]

Yes, but if Moses said it was okay then wouldn’t the people naturally believe what they were doing is right? Shouldn’t Moses have taught exactly as Jesus taught?

Thanks, this has confused me for quite some time.

 

[Isaiah45_9]

Yes, but if Moses said it was okay then wouldn’t the people naturally believe what they were doing is right? Shouldn’t Moses have taught exactly as Jesus taught?

Thanks, this has confused me for quite some time.

Anything before Jesus in the OT is but a shadow of things to come. Jesus fulfills all of the Law and open the doors to the New Covenant. Christ set things straight.

 

[po18guy]

Yes, but if Moses said it was okay then wouldn’t the people naturally believe what they were doing is right? Shouldn’t Moses have taught exactly as Jesus taught?

Thanks, this has confused me for quite some time.

But also remember that Moses was not allowed to see the promised land - for his various failures, one of which was striking the rock twice before water flowed from it (Numbers 20:11); for his murdering an Egyptian (Exodus 2:12), and presumably for allowing divorce, which God hates (Malachi 2:16).

Yet, Jesus instituted/restored a clearer commandment and did not relent. However, from the Transfiguration accounts, we also see Moses appearing in glory, so all was not lost in his case.

 

[Gorgias]

Yes, but if Moses said it was okay then wouldn’t the people naturally believe what they were doing is right? Shouldn’t Moses have taught exactly as Jesus taught?

Hmm… if Moses had taught “exactly as Jesus taught,” wouldn’t that mean that Jesus would’ve had no reason to teach? Wouldn’t that mean that He would never have had reason to teach “you have heard it said… but I say to you…”? Wouldn’t that mean that the New Covenant is identical to the Mosaic Covenant? Clearly, that’s not the case.

Moreover, if Moses was the perfect example, why was he prevented from entering the Promised Land? Rather, isn’t it the case that we see that Moses himself disobeyed God (and, in the end – but not immediately – was punished for his disobedience)?

 

[thinkandmull]

Thomas Aquinas says that God permits people to sin sometimes as a punishment for past sins. How does this make sense?

 

[Loving_disciple]

Would God permit any sin? I don’t fully understand this:

Matthew 19:7 They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away? "

8 He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery. "

How can God permit what is sinful? Thanks.

The Law can be made strict or less strict. This is a case were the law was relaxed

 

[Augustine3]

Yes, but if Moses said it was okay then wouldn’t the people naturally believe what they were doing is right? Shouldn’t Moses have taught exactly as Jesus taught?

Thanks, this has confused me for quite some time.

Hi dronald,

The Israelites were so hardened in their hearts that the only solution would be to allow an evil in order that the greater evil wouldn’t be committed.

For example, there is a rabbi (sorry I forgot his name) that once wrote “had not Moses allowed divorce and re-marry the men would have killed their wives in order to be married to someone else”.

 

[dronald]

Hi dronald,

The Israelites were so hardened in their hearts that the only solution would be to allow an evil in order that the greater evil wouldn’t be committed.

For example, there is a rabbi (sorry I forgot his name) that once wrote “had not Moses allowed divorce and re-marry the men would have killed their wives in order to be married to someone else”.

But God (through Moses) commanded that a man ought to be stoned for gathering wood on the Sabbath, He also said if anyone is defiant to parents they ought to be put to death. Why didn’t God have similar strict laws with divorce and remarriage?

 

[Augustine3]

But God (through Moses) commanded that a man ought to be stoned for gathering wood on the Sabbath, He also said if anyone is defiant to parents they ought to be put to death. Why didn’t God have similar strict laws with divorce and remarriage?

Sabbath regulations and obedience to one’s parents is easier when compared to their burning passion of lust. Even if divorce was punishable by death, it wouldn’t have stopped the Israelites from defying God. There is a law, if a man tried to convince his fellow Israelite to worship another god must be stoned to death. The person to lead the stoning would be the culprit’s closest to kin. That didn’t stop them

We have to also bear in mind the Deuteronomic regulations were only meant to be temporal until the Messiah came.

 

[po18guy]

But God (through Moses) commanded that a man ought to be stoned for gathering wood on the Sabbath, He also said if anyone is defiant to parents they ought to be put to death. Why didn’t God have similar strict laws with divorce and remarriage?

God favors a radical freedom in mankind. He gives rules for man, yet retains man’s freedom to violate those rules. It all descends from love. If love is not freely chosen as it was freely given, then it is not love - but rather, compulsion. God’s substance is love and not compulsion. For our good, God did have strict laws regarding marriage and divorce - but allowed man (i.e. Moses) to violate that so that God might bring the greater good (the Messiah and His teachings) from it.

Evil is not part of God’s plan, but being all-powerful, He alone is able to bring good from it. The Ccrban that Jesus condemned was also a perversion of God’s law, and Moses’ bill of divorce was similar to that - the product of human weakness.

Yet, this raises the question of all time: why did a loving, compassionate God send His Son to earth, knowing that He would be disregarded, abused, tortured and killed?

The redemption and resurrection. Good from evil.

 

[BellsMom]

Yet, this raises the question of all time: why did a loving, compassionate God send His Son to earth, knowing that He would be disregarded, abused, tortured and killed?

This question has bothered me as well. Why did he do it? Especially since he was all powerful he could have corrected the problem of our salvation in a million different ways thru history or even before we were created. It wasn’t like crucifying Jesus was the ONLY option.

It had to be all part of his plan from the beginning.

 

[po18guy]

This question has bothered me as well. Why did he do it? Especially since he was all powerful he could have corrected the problem of our salvation in a million different ways thru history or even before we were created. It wasn’t like crucifying Jesus was the ONLY option.

It had to be all part of his plan from the beginning.

Love. Love desires the good of the other. If we can love and sacrifice for our cats and dogs - who are less than we are, cannot God love and sacrifice for mankind - which is less than He is? We have our ability to love what is less than us, because it came to us from God, Who can love what is less than He is.