Sodom and Gomorrah Video

He Hesitated

Genesis 19:16
When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them.

Mercy Study #4

I do this search when I study out mercy and I find it interesting to see that over and over again God shows mercy to the Israelite people.

Nehemiah 9:29-31

You warned them to return to your teachings, but they were proud and did not obey your commands. If someone obeys your laws, he will live, but they sinned against your laws. They were stubborn, unwilling, and disobedient. You were patient with them for many years and warned them by your Spirit through the prophets, but they did not pay attention. So you handed them over to other countries. But because your mercy is great, you did not kill them all or leave them. You are a kind and merciful God.

I love that it says that God is a kind and merciful God. 

I found this on Wikipedia and it is pretty good. It shows that mercy can be a work but is more about benevolence, forgiveness and kindness than anything else, at least when referring to Christianity. It is my belief that if you are forgiven of your sins, you would naturally want to help others out, either in a 'works' type basis (IE: serving someone or a group of people) or on a spiritual level (IE: praying for others, studying the bible with people, etc.). So if you receive mercy, the tendency would be to give mercy. If you don't receive mercy, the tendency would then to be more inward focused rather than outward focused.

Mercy Study #3

Matthew 5:1-10

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a hill and sat down. His followers came to him, and he began to teach them, saying: "They are blessed who realize their spiritual poverty, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. They are blessed who grieve, for God will comfort them. They are blessed who are humble, for the whole earth will be theirs. They are blessed who hunger and thirst after justice, for they will be satisfied. They are blessed who show mercy to others, for God will show mercy to them. They are blessed whose thoughts are pure, for they will see God. They are blessed who work for peace, for they will be called God's children. They are blessed who are persecuted for doing good, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them."

I couldn't help it. I had to check out Spiritual Poverty. I had assumed it would be just one word in the Greek, but it is actually two words. Click and have fun.

They are blessed who show mercy... the mercy there means mercy and can not mean anything else. It's just like saying dirt is dirt is dirt and can not be anything but dirt because it is... dirt. So mercy here means mercy which means mercy. This is the Greek word eleemon (pronounced el-eh-ay'-mone). 

Mercy means to be compassionate or to have kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power. To put it another way, you can either be merciful to someone or be cruel to them, as cruel is an antonym. 


Now... God will show mercy to them. The mercy used there has a slightly broader definition, but does mean 'to have compassion toward' and 'to give mercy to'. So if God shows kindness and compassion toward me, isn't that a good thing? And all I have to do is be kind and compassionate toward others.

Gotta Have Faith #2

Genesis 22:1 After these things God tested Abraham's faith. God tests a person's faith. Or does he? The King James Version says that God tempted Abraham, however, the Bible also says that God does not tempt a person, but only their sinful desires... Bible Tools says that test or prove may be a better choice of word than tempt. I personally don't think that God tempts, as the Devil is the one who is the tempter. God does, however, test.

Isaiah 7:7-9 

But I, the Lord God, say, " 'Their plan will not succeed; it will not happen, because Aram is led by the city of Damascus, and Damascus is led by its weak king, Rezin. Within sixty-five years Israel will no longer be a nation. Israel is led by the city of Samaria, and Samaria is led by its weak king, the son of Remaliah. If your faith is not strong, you will not have strength enough to last.' "

I think it is clear that faith and strength are directly related.

Matthew 14:29-31

Jesus said, "Come." And Peter left the boat and walked on the water to Jesus. But when Peter saw the wind and the waves, he became afraid and began to sink. He shouted, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught Peter. Jesus said, "Your faith is small. Why did you doubt?"


Faith can be measured... I believe it is measured in strength. It can be tested and it can run out. Faith is in general the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true. Its primary idea is trust. A thing is true, and therefore worthy of trust. It admits of many degrees up to full assurance of faith, in accordance with the evidence on which it rests. This is not necessarily a bad definition, however, I feel it is lacking. In what, I am not sure, but it just feels incomplete. I think it put it simply, faith is belief in action.