Q&A – Page 87 – Church of the Eternal God

Would you please explain Matthew 5:21-22? Why are there distinctions in judgments and penalties, and what do they mean?

November 10, 2006February 8, 2021

In Matthew 5:21-22, Jesus speaks about literal murder as well as feelings and expressions of hate. The passage reads as follows:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ [Margin: Lit, in Aram., Empty head] shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell [Margin: Gr. Gehenna] fire.”

As seen above, the New King James Bible, as well as most translations, render the last expression as “fool.” However, as this word is understood today by the common reader, it does not seem to be much worse than the term “Raca” (i.e., “empty head”). Why, then, the strong difference in potential judgment? Some commentaries and

Would you please explain which animals are clean (and may be eaten) and which are unclean (and must not be eaten)?

November 3, 2006

The Bible clearly prohibits the consumption of animal meat which it describes as “unclean” in Old and New Testament passages (such as Leviticus 11:1-47; Deuteronomy 14:3-20; and Acts 10:1-21, 28). For more information on this prohibition, please read our free booklet, “And Lawlessness Will Abound.”

According to the Biblical designation, certain animals are considered “clean” and their meat is therefore appropriate for human consumption (compare, for example, Leviticus 11:3: “Among the animals…that you may eat…”). Although some have chosen to abstain from the consumption of animal meat, it should be noted that such a teaching, if adhered to and followed for RELIGIOUS reasons, is described in Scripture as a doctrine of demons, compare 1 Timothy 4:1-3.

Is the Biblical story of Noah's Ark based on fact, or is it mere fiction or folklore?

October 27, 2006

The Biblical account of Noah’s Ark is clearly factual. Some have
advanced arguments saying that Noah could never have built the Ark, and
that the Ark would not have been big enough to hold all the animals.
Both objections are without foundation.

Some of the following
material has been published in “The Good News” magazine, February 1980,
and in “Exploring Ancient History–The First 2500 Years,” Imperial
Schools, 1967.

Based on the Holy Scriptures, God spoke directly
to Noah, telling him of His decision to destroy wickedness from the
earth (Genesis 6:13). He told him to build a great ship through which
his family and all birds and land animals would be saved alive, while
God covered the earth with a flood (Genesis 6:14-21). The building of a
gigantic sea craft presumes a knowledge of workmanship with brass and
iron–showing that all the fundamental crafts of culture and society
were known in that day. God said that Noah would not have to go looking
for the animals, for they would come to him (Genesis 6:20), but he
would have to provide quantities of food and grain.

Skeptics have
claimed the Ark could not possibly hold all those animals and

After Adam and Eve sinned by eating from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil, would they still have lived eternally, if they had eaten subsequently from the tree of life?

October 20, 2006

In order to answer this question, we need to explain first what the two trees symbolized.

As
we read in the first three chapters of the book of Genesis, when God
created Adam and Eve, He placed them in a beautiful garden, called the
garden of Eden or Paradise. In that garden, God had planted two special
trees. Although these trees were literal trees, they also had specific
symbolic meaning and significance. The two trees were called the tree
of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

God said
that man could eat from all trees in the garden, including the tree of
life, but man was forbidden to eat from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. Therefore, God offered man to eat FREELY from the tree
of life. The Church of God has long understood and consistently taught

Why did God want to slay Moses after He had commanded him to free Israel from Egypt?

September 29, 2006

The question addresses a seemingly difficult passage in Exodus 4:24-26, which reads:

“And
it came to pass on the way [to Egypt], at the encampment, that the LORD
met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and
cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ [literally: his]
feet, and said, ‘Surely you are a husband of blood to me!’ So He let
him go. Then she said, ‘You are a husband of blood!’–because of the
circumcision.”

Please note that this incident occurred after God
had prophesied to Moses how Pharaoh would react to his demand to let
the people of Israel go (verses 21-23). It would therefore make little
sense to assume that God had changed his mind a few hours later to kill
Moses. Note that verses 22-23 record God’s words to Moses, which

What was David seeking of the LORD when he asked: “Cleanse me from secret faults” (Psalm 19:12)?

September 22, 2006

David, in verses 7-11 of Psalm 19, had just described the
considerable blessings which exist in obedience to God’s law and His
Way of life! He spoke to the law of the LORD, to the testimony, to the
statutes of the LORD, to the commandment, to the fear of the LORD and
to the judgments of the LORD. He knew that all of God’s laws were in
existence during his time and had been established for all times–even
to the end of this present society and on into eternity! These laws
describe the very character of our God and a Way of life for us!

David
described the extreme value of God’s requirements of men; and then
raised the question in verse 12, “Who can understand his errors?” He
realized that he was not perfect in all his ways, when compared with

Why did God use Deborah in the leadership role as prophetess and judge to Israel, and why is this recorded in God's Word?

September 15, 2006

An important key to use when studying God’s Word is to understand
WHY God has inspired certain stories: “Now all these things happened to
them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom
the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). Read the context
of this quote in verses 1 through 13, and you will understand that God
used their examples as a warning to others. He also revealed very
detailed information about Moses for the purpose of instruction: “And
Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a
testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward” (Hebrews
3:5).

In Biblical accounts, what is recorded represents the
actual circumstances and actions of people. The fact that God has
chosen to show examples that involved all kinds of human behavior does
not mean that He necessarily sanctions what was done! Rather, the Bible
tells the story of both faithful, obedient people and of those who
rebelled against God.

Concerning prophetesses, the Bible
reveals that certain women spoke in exactly the same fashion as any
number of prophets through whom God revealed both His will and future

Would you please explain the meaning of the Old Testament law, requiring "an eye for an eye" and "a tooth for a tooth"?

September 8, 2006

This well-known law has been grossly misunderstood by some, thinking
that God actually required the maiming of an offender who was guilty of
injuring another person. However, this is clearly not the intended
meaning of the “an eye for an eye” principle, and the Church of God has
never taught otherwise.

The “an eye for an eye” principle is
commonly known as the “lex talionis,” which is Latin for the “law of
retaliation.” It is mentioned in the Old Testament in Exodus 21:23-27;
Leviticus 24:18-20; and Deuteronomy 19:21.

Rather than
requiring the literal maiming of a guilty person, this law has been
correctly understood as requiring equivalent monetary compensation. The
law made it also clear that victims were to be compensated fairly, as
determined by judges and magistrates. Victims were not to resort to
“self-help.”

The Wikipedia Encyclopedia states the following about the “an eye for an eye” principle:

“The
basis of this form of law is the principle of proportionate punishment,
often expressed under the motto ‘Let the punishment fit the crime’…
The Torah’s first mention of the phrase ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for

Would you please explain John 9:31, which says that God does not hear the prayers of sinners. Aren't we all sinners? If so, does this mean that God hears none of our prayers?

September 1, 2006

An important tool in understanding a particular passage in Scripture
is to look at the passage in context, as well as in the light of other
Scriptures. In John 9, Christ healed a man on the Sabbath who had been
born blind. The Pharisees and the Jews accused Christ of breaking the
Sabbath and concluded that He was not from God (verse 16) and a
“sinner” (verse 24, in Greek, “hamartolos”). In response, the healed
man said: “Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is
a worshipper of God and does His will, He hears him… If this Man were
not from God, He could no nothing” (verses 31, 33).

As a
consequence, he was put out of the synagogue (verse 34), and Christ
later told some of the Pharisees that they were not blind, but that
their unrepented sin remained (verses 40-41).

The Pharisees had
made terrible accusations against Jesus. They had accused Him of
casting out demons with the help of Beelzebub, the “ruler of the
demons”–another designation for Satan (Matthew 12:24). Some even
claimed that He was possessed by Satan (Mark 3:22). Christ warned them
in that context that they were in danger of committing the unpardonable

Would you please explain 1 Corinthians 15:29, speaking of "baptism for the dead." Are we to be baptized for those who have already died?

August 25, 2006

Certainly not. Our free booklet, “Baptism–A Requirement for Salvation,”
explains in detail that only adult LIVING persons are to be baptized,
after they repent of their sins and believe in the Sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. A person who has died, cannot repent and believe in anything,
as long as he is dead. The reason is that a dead person knows nothing
(Ecclesiastes 9:5). Our free booklet, “Do We Have an Immortal Soul?,”
explains that a person who dies is without consciousness–he or his
soul does not go to heaven or hell, because he–the person–IS the
soul. As long as he is alive, he is a living soul, and when he dies, he
has become a dead soul.

As Romans 6:3-4 explains, baptism–the
total immersion of the person under water–points at the figurative
death of the person. He “dies,” spiritually speaking, in the watery
grave. His old man dies (verse 6), and a new man arises out of the
watery grave (Colossians 3:9-10). In a sense, the new man is
“resurrected,” figuratively speaking, from the spiritual dead.

With