It is OK for a dispensationalsit to be critical of Israel

[Update 2020: I'm not a proper Dispensationalsit anymore.]

It is OK for a dispensationalsit to be critical of Israel

Another post on my Eschatology Blog that alludes to a political issue.

I have some advise for anyone who might be a Parent.

This should be common sense, but it seems for many parents it's not.

Don't try to keep your kids from doing something you yourself are doing, that applies to drinking, smoking, extra-marital sex, whatever kind of thing it is doesn't matter, just don't.

Saying "I pay the bills I make the rules" is a legal augment not a Moral one. Forbidding someone to do something your doing is the definition of hypocrisy, period. But it's not even a good legal argument, a just ruler follows the rules they expect their subjects to follow.

The most effective way to encourage whatever Morality you believe in is to lead by example.

Levitcus 19:20, slavery and sex

Leviticus 19:20 is a situation that is uncomfortable for modern readers to begin with. But the KJV rendering here is one of the most problematic of all of those very few places I'm willing to consider the KJV translation outright wrong.

And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.

First off a lot is added to the translation that is not really in the text, including each occurrence of the word "she".

Second, both "whosover" and "husband' are the same word in the Hebrew, Ish which also means man.

Third, The word for "betrothed" here (Charaph. (khaw-raf')) is used many other times but the KJV only translates it "betrothed" in this one passage, no other occurrence is a meaning linked to marriage at all. 'aras is the usual word for betrothed. Ya`ad is another word the KJV translated that way in the context of dealing with a Slave, but it's also usually translated something else, but is much closer to being accurate then Charaph here. Charaph is most often translated reproach, and then several times defy, but also words like rail, upbraid and winter.

Fourth, Biqqoreth (bik-ko-reth) which is translated "scourged" only appears this one time, but various other translators feel this word means something like a trail or investigation rather then punishment. Some have also interpreted it as being a financial compensation that is to be paid. But the investigation theory makes most sense given the root it comes from. Bagar, which gets translated --(make) inquire (-ry), (make) search, seek out.

An online Jewish Translation of the Masoretic Text renders this.

And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, designated for a man, and not at all redeemed, nor was freedom given her; there shall be inquisition; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.

This particularl Jewish translation seems to mostly just follow the KJV and fix things they consider wrong because of Christian bias.

The following verses make clear that ONLY the Man is at fault here. So the KJV translating this as though the female slave still received some punishment is absolutely absurd, in fact it seems grammatically awkward even in the greater context of what the KJV says.

I think a good rendering is

A man that inseminates a woman, that is a bondmaid, designated for a man, and not at all redeemed, nor was freedom given her; there shall be an inquest; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.

Margaret Sanger(Planned Parenthood founder)quotes

I’m not taking these from Pro-Life propaganda sources, these are independently sourced directly from her own writings.  Their indisputable.

[We propose to] hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. And we do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.

-Commenting on the ‘Negro Project’ in a letter to Dr. Clarence Gamble, December 10, 1939. - Sanger manuscripts, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, North Hampton, Massachusetts. Also described in Linda Gordon’s Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right: A Social History of Birth Control in America. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1976.

The third group [of society] are those irresponsible and reckless ones having little regard for the consequences of their acts, or whose religious scruples prevent their exercising control over their numbers. Many of this group are diseased, feeble-minded, and are of the pauper element dependent upon the normal and fit members of society for their support. There is no doubt in the minds of all thinking people that the procreation of this group should be stopped.

-Speech quoted in “Birth Control: What It Is, How It Works, What It Will Do.” The Proceedings of the First American Birth Control Conference. Held at the Hotel Plaza, New York City, November 11-12, 1921. Published by the Birth Control Review, Gothic Press, pages 172 and 174.

All of our problems are the result of overbreeding among the working class

-“Morality and Birth Control”, February-March, 1918, pp. 11,14.

As an advocate of birth control I wish … to point out that the unbalance between the birth rate of the ‘unfit’ and the ‘fit,’ admittedly the greatest present menace to civilization, can never be rectified by the inauguration of a cradle competition between these two classes. In this matter, the example of the inferior classes, the fertility of the feeble-minded, the mentally defective, the poverty-stricken classes, should not be held up for emulation…. On the contrary, the most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective.

-“The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda”, October 1921, page 5.

Eugenics is … the most adequate and thorough avenue to the solution of racial, political and social problems.

-“The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda”, October 1921, page 5.

The campaign for birth control is not merely of eugenic value, but is practically identical with the final aims of eugenics.

-“The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda”, October 1921, page 5.

..give dysgenic groups in our population their choice of segregation or sterilization.

-“A Plan for Peace”, April 1932, pp. 107-108

Always to me any aroused group was a good group, and therefore I accepted an invitation to talk to the women’s branch of the Ku Klux Klan at Silver Lake, New Jersey, one of the weirdest experiences I had in lecturing… Never before had I looked into a sea of faces like these. I was sure that if I uttered one word, such as abortion, outside the usual vocabulary of these women they would go off into hysteria. And so my address that night had to be in the most elementary terms, as though I were trying to make children understand. [npg] In the end, through simple illustrations I believed I had accomplished my purpose. A dozen invitations to speak to similar groups were proffered. The conversation went on and on, and when we were finally through it was too late to return to New York.

-Autobiography 1938, Chapter 29, “While the Doctors Consult”, p. 366.

In passing, we should here recognize the difficulties presented by the idea of ‘fit’ and ‘unfit.’ Who is to decide this question? The grosser, the more obvious, the undeniably feeble-minded should, indeed, not only be discouraged but prevented from propagating their kind.

-The Pivot of Civilization1922, Chapter 8, “Dangers of Cradle Competition”

Eugenics aims to arouse the enthusiasm or the interest of the people in the welfare of the world fifteen or twenty generations in the future. On its negative side it shows us that we are paying for and even submitting to the dictates of an ever increasing, unceasingly spawning class of human beings who never should have been born at all—that the wealth of individuals and of states is being diverted from the development and the progress of human expression and civilization.

-The Pivot of Civilization1922, Chapter 8, “Dangers of Cradle Competition”

Our ‘overhead’ expense in segregating the delinquent, the defective and the dependent, in prisons, asylums and permanent homes, our failure to segregate morons who are increasing and multiplying … demonstrate our foolhardy and extravagant sentimentalism. No industrial corporation could maintain its existence upon such a foundation. Yet hardheaded ‘captains of industry,’ financiers who pride themselves upon their cool-headed and keen-sighted business ability are dropping millions into rosewater philanthropies and charities that are silly at best and vicious at worst. In our dealings with such elements there is a bland maladministration and misuse of huge sums that should in all righteousness be used for the development and education of the healthy elements of the community.

-The Pivot of Civilization1922, Chapter 12, “Woman and the Future”
The following is not her’s in origin, but she still said it.

The mass of ignorant Negroes still breed carelessly and disastrously, so that the increase among Negroes, even more than the increase among whites, is from that portion of the population least intelligent and fit, and least able to rear their children properly.

-W.E.B. DuBois, Birth Control Review, June 1932. Quoted by Sanger in her proposal for the “Negro Project.”
Below is not directly her’s but fromBirthControlReview.

Eugenic sterilization is an urgent need … We must prevent multiplication of this bad stock.

-Ernst Rudin, Birth Control Review, April 1933.

It is not my desire to turn anyone I disagree with into a 2 Dimensional Cartoon villain.  So I will not deny she also expressed legitimate concerns about Women’s rights.

Actually what’s amusing is she still in-spite of all this would not agree with the modern Pro-Choice movement’s insistence that the Unborn don’t qualify as Human beings.

Religious Wars, Fact or Fiction?

A good video refute the myth of religion being to blame for any wars.

Was Marriage ordained in Genesis 2 or Genesis 3?

Was Marriage ordained in Genesis 2 or Genesis 3?

A study from my Eschatology blog that is relevant here.

You do not need to Repent to be Saved

There are a number of verses you can cite out of context to make it sound like you need to Repent to be Saved, but it's the same with Baptism, in fact their in the same passages often. But no serious Christian today thinks Baptism is necessary for Salvation, after all Paul makes a point out of how he's only ever Baptized two people in 1 Corinthians. But many Evangelicals won't apply the same logic to the references to Repentance that they do to Baptism, which is arguably referenced more often then Repentance is.

How often Salvation is discussed without mentioning it is a more powerful argument. It doesn't occur in Romans 10 when Paul declares "All who call upon the name of The Lord shall be Saved", and plenty of similar places. (Same verses that refute the idea of Baptism being required)

The Gospel of John does not use the word Repent, or Repentance or any other form of the word even once.  Some argue that everything we need to know to be saved in the Gospel according to John, based on how it ends. To me for any of the four to lack reference to Repentance would be odd if it was necessary for Salvation.

It never occurs in James epistle, or Jude's and only once in Peter's two epistles. And it is a rare occurrence in Paul's Epistles. Only showing up Twice in Romans, a few times in 2nd Corinthians and Hebrews. When something doesn't show up until a 2nd epistle to the same recipient, that usually means it was a lower priority.

Romans is called the definitive statement on Christian doctrine. The first 8 Chapters nail down the fact that Salvation if by faith alone. And the word "Repent" appears only once in Chapter 2, where we haven't gotten to Salvation yet, Paul is still laying out how Sinful the state of mankind is. It never appears in Galatians, the other key Gospel on Faith vs Works.

That's the thing, people claim they believe salvation is by faith alone not works, but still Preach that you need to Repent to be saved. Repentance is a work, most of God's commands are commands not to Sin, even not Sinning is a work.

Other verses
"And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." - Acts 16:31
"But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." - Romans 4:5
"Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." - Romans 3:28
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." - Ephesians 2:8,9

It's also never brought up in the account of how the Ethiopian Eunuch is saved in Acts 8.

Repentance is something we should be doing, after we're saved, as part of our walk with Christ. But it's not necessary for salvation, and we won't lose Salvation by failing to do it, but we still ought to do it.