The Abuse of Casting Lots

The abuse of casting of the lot is a sin of the third commandment. The casting of the lot is an extraordinary or unusual request made to God that He would reveal His will in an important controversy which cannot be resolved by either wisdom, skill, or strength. It pertains to an issue that must be resolved, as there would otherwise be danger or great disadvantage to the country, church, or individual. The lot is abused in petty decision-making, games of chance, and gambling.… Read More The Abuse of Casting Lots

The Successive Steps of Going Astray

It rarely, if ever, happens, that the heart throws off at once all the restraints of virtue, and plunges suddenly into the depths of vice. It is not by one stride, that the moral youth passes from sober habits at home to those of an opposite nature abroad—but generally by slow and successive steps. The judgment and conscience would recoil from a temptation which proposed to him to become profligate at once; and if he ever becomes proficient in vice, he must be led on by insensible degrees, and little by little make advances in the way of wickedness, and in the counsels of the ungodly. This is what is meant by the deceitfulness of sin.… Read More The Successive Steps of Going Astray

What Does “Stumbling Block” Mean?

What does the Bible mean by the terms “stumbling block,” “offence,” and “scandal” (Matthew 18; Acts 15; Romans 14; 1 Corinthians 8; 1 John 2:10; Revelation 2:14; etc.)? The following excerpt is from James Durham’s A Treatise Concerning Scandal (pp. 4-17). James Durham’s rich and exhaustive treatise was last published by Naphtali Press in 1990,… Read More What Does “Stumbling Block” Mean?