Our Thread

Pasa Graphe' Theopneustos Kai Ophelimos (Greek) is one of the most often-repeated passages from the Scriptures, ie, the Bible. The passage appears in the heading of our Facebook page. But what does it say to us in our various tongues? Well, for those of us who speak English, this passage is a bold testimony from the pen of one Paul, a first-century scholar from the Isrealite tribe of Benjamin. It is also a statement steeped in the thelogy of the Biblical narratives. So, Paul wrote to a young ethnic Jew named Timotheus: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable......"
At the time Paul wrote those words, there was not yet a codex known as the "New Testament." The scrolls of papyrus on which were written the Scriptures are what we call today the "Old Testament." In its immediate and limited interpretation, Paul is saying that the messages in the Old Testament are inspired by God. That being so, who is the man who would say that the record of the flood in Noah's day was simply an allegory, and not an historical account?

Prostitution

What are prostitutes like? It's in the Bible, Proverbs 9:13-18, TLB. "A prostitute is loud and brash, and never has enough of lust and shame. She sits at the door of her house or stands at the street corners of the city, whispering to men going by, and to those minding their own business. 'Come home with me,' she urges simpletons. 'Stolen melons are the sweetest; stolen apples taste the best!' But they dont realize that her former guests are now citizens of hell."

God forbids involvement with prostitutes. It's in the Bible, Proverbs 5:3-14, TLB. "For the lips of a prostitute are as sweet as honey, and smooth flattery is her stock in trade. But afterwards only a bitter conscience is left to you, sharp as a double-edged sword. She leads you down to death and hell. For she does not know the path to life. She staggers down a crooked trail, and doesn't even realize where it leads. Young men, listen to me, and never forget what I'm about to say: Run from her! Don't go near her house, lest you fall to her temptation and lose your honor, and give the remainder of your life to the cruel and merciless, lest strangers obtain your wealth, and you become a slave of foreigners. Lest afterwards you groan in anguish and in shame, when syphilis consumers your body, and you say, 'Oh, if only I had listened! If only I had not demanded my own way! Oh, why wouldn't I take advice? Why was I so stupid? For now I must face public disgrace."

God's desire is that we stay sexually pure. It's in the Bible, I Thessalonians 4:3, NIV. "It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality. Exodus 20 14, NIV says, "You shall not commit adultery."

God offers salvation and forgiveness and acceptance to prostitutes. It's in the Bible, Matthew 21:31-32, TEV. "Jesus said to them, 'The tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the Kingdom of God ahead of you. For John the Baptist came to you showing you the right path to take, and you would not believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him."

God includes the prostitute Rahab among those saved. It's in the Bible, Hebrews 11:31, TLB. "By faith—because she believed in God and His power—Rahab the harlot did not die with all the others in her city when they refused to obey God."