Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 21, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 16.

[To Our Inquirers.— (1) The name and address of all who ask questions must accompany questions, not necessarily for publication, in token of good faith, and that we may reply by letter if thought best. All communications will be considered confidential if so desired, and no name will be published unless requested. But we have no time to give to anonymous or unsigned epistles or articles. (2) Let the questions be to the point. Do not say, “Explain Josh. 7:1-8,” but state the thing upon which help is desired. (3) Questions can not be answered immediately in this department. Sometimes it will mean a month or more of waiting. We can not reply to the same question frequently. Read answers to other questions; you may find reply to yours. (4) Members of the Bible Band will kindly enclose stamp if answer is desired by letter. Others will please enclose ten cents. This does not begin to meet expenses oftentimes. (5) “Foolish . . . questions avoid.”]

2818.— Unforgivable Sins.

Will you please explain Heb. 6:4-6, and the statement in another place that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost and that all sins are under the promise of forgiveness but this sin, adultery being that sin?

Heb. 6:4-6 refers to those who turn away from every means by which God can save them. The two great agencies that God has in salvation are the death and offering of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the constant operation of the Spirit of God. When men utterly reject these, when they will not have them in harmony with God’s pleading, what hope is there for help to any soul? When “those who were once enlightened,” who know of God’s power, know of His working, have “tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come,” and then turn away from these things, not having to do with these things at all, how is it possible to renew them again unto repentance? “Seeing they crucify,” or as the margin in the Revised Version reads, “The while they crucify,” during the very time, “they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame;” and then the illustration that follows shows how that this is the right application. The land upon which rain falls, that brings forth herbs, receives blessing from God; but supposing that same land, instead of bringing forth good herbs all the while that the rain of blessing is falling upon it, bears thorns and thistles, of course it is rejected and nigh unto a curse. So it is with the human being; if he will use God’s blessing aright, there is hope for him, but if he knows God’s blessings and tramples them underfoot, what hope is there to turn him to God just as long as he uses God’s blessings in that way? The unforgivable sin is the unrepentable sin. Let that be an established fact in your theology. We read in 1 Cor. 6:20 that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit will always come in if we are willing to let it and will yield up everything that is contrary to it. There is nothing, however, in the word of God which tells us that this sin is adultery—absolutely nothing. Any sin which we may cherish, it matters not how small it may be, contrary to God’s word and the conviction of His Spirit, will lead us at last to that place where we will have no desire for repentance; and when we come to that place where there is no desire for repentance, we have come to the time in our experience where our sins are unforgivable because they are unrepentable; we have no desire to truly repent.

2819.— Can Satan Cure Sickness?

In Matt. 12:26 Jesus said Satan could not cast out Satan. Does it not say in some other place in the Bible that in the last days Satan shall work with all power and signs and lying wonders, curing sickness? A friend told me that sin led to sickness and death. If this is so, Satan could not cure sickness. Please explain.

B. B. 1538.

Satan had not been able to cast out Satan, and yet it would seem as tho he could command his own demons. The Bible represents the devil as the head of a company of evil angels called demons. These demons are at his command. They may affect an individual and cause functional difficulties and troubles, and Satan may be able for a time to relieve the individual so as to seem to cure the disease. There are two classes of disease: Functional, in which the action of the organs are disturbed, and organic, in which some part or organ of the body is seriously affected, as by tuberculosis or cancer. Many times the first class is cured by the removal of the cause, the latter by miraculous power or by natural forces. It would seem very reasonable to believe that where Satan caused the difficulties, as he does many times, he could in some instances, at least, remove them, so as to seem to cure. It is in 2 Thess. 2:8-10 where we are told that he will work “with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness.” Notice the falsehood that is implied in all of this. All true healing of sickness and all ultimate healing include both body and soul. The devil would be glad to have us turn our whole attention to the healing of the body, which is important; but infinitely more important is the healing of the soul from the effect of sin, because sin is the cause primarily of all trouble; for sickness would not have come had it not been for sin. But that does not mean that every one that is sick is necessarily a sinner. There are many who have inherited sickness; some have it because of fruits of evil sowing, of which they have repented, altho the fruits are not yet passed away.

2820.— Observance of Lent.

Is the religious observance of the season of Lent, as practised by some churches, a Christian duty? Or is it as some Christians believe, a non-essential in religion?

F. F. F.

Why should we consider it for one moment an essential? God has nowhere commanded it or given it as a duty in His word. “Ye are My friends,” He declares, “if ye do whatsoever I command you;” “if ye love Me, keep My commandments;” but nowhere are we told to keep Lent in any way. A physical benefit comes by a partial fast, but the temperance that is manifested on the part of professed Christians during Lent ought to be the temperance that is manifest throughout the entire year. All these extra-religious institutions which men bring in are entirely apart from the Gospel.

2821.— Liberty.

In the SIGNS of March 3 the editor says, “We plead not for liberty for ourselves, but for each and every man—for our neighbor, be he infidel or believer, Protestant or Catholic, Jew or Gentile. As long as the liberty of the individual is secured, the liberty of all is safe.” Will the editor please give a fuller explanation of the liberty above mentioned? Liberty to do what? liberty to believe what? from a Christian standpoint.

F. F. F.

We hardly know what our inquirer means by “from a Christian standpoint.” What is meant by the note, is religious liberty, liberty that should be recognized by all civil powers; liberty to believe or not to believe; liberty to obey God or not to obey. Civility is another thing. It is the duty of every one to be civil within the province of civil law. Civil government is ordained to prevent incivility; in other words, to protect a man’s property, life, chastity, and reputation. Further than this, it can not go. It has no right whatever to prescribe what man shall do as relates to his duty to God. It was Jesus, the very Founder of Christianity, who said: “If any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” Therefore one whose inalienable rights are recognized by the civil power has the privilege to believe in religion or not to believe, without let or hindrance from his fellow men.

2822.— Matt. 21:44.— The Stone.— W. S.—

The falling on that Stone, Christ Jesus, is to be broken to pieces, by confession and contrition. The Lord is said to be with him who is of a contrite spirit. Isa. 57:15. The word “contrite” comes from the same word as “triturate,” the breaking up into very fine, small particles, just as the druggist triturates the crystals with mortar and pestle. God would have us break our hearts in repentance and contrition, falling upon the Stone our Lord Jesus Christ with true repentance of heart. Then He will bind us up and fill us with His life, but if we do not do that, then there will come a time when as in the figure, the Stone will fall upon us and destroy us.

2823.— Smoking Flax.

In Matt. 12:20 it speaks of smoking flax. What does this mean?

W. S.

“A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench.” It simply means this, that God in His great goodness would not cut any one off so long as there was hope for him. The reed might be bruised, but He would not break it. He came to bind up. The smoking flax might be consuming, yet He would not put out the fire. He would not override the will of the sinner. He would not attempt to force moral conclusions. In His great mercy and goodness He would do everything He could to help the weak, who seemingly were without help.

2824.— This Generation.— Matt. 24:34.— W. S.—

By “this generation,” Jesus evidently meant those who should see all these things fulfilled, beginning with the closing of prophetic time in 1844 and continuing till He comes.