Over the past few years, the body of Messiah has been under fierce attack by those who attempt to interpret the Bible through the lens of modern social sensibilities. Many of those who are promoting these unbiblical notions do so by twisting Scriptures and scriptural interpretations so that the Word of G-D appears to agree with their positions.
Unfortunately, many people have been deceived into believing that their actions, which have always been considered sin, should no longer be considered sin, based upon the purposeful twisting of biblical words and concepts. The concepts have been surgically removed from their context by modern, liberal theologians and teachers.
If we don’t speak out against this changing of the meanings and context of the Scriptures, we will end up with friends and family believing that the unacceptable is acceptable, and therefore, they won’t seek repentance and restoration because they honestly believe their actions are righteous, instead of unrighteous.
One of the concepts that has been wrongly taught is the idea that G-D made us the way we are and therefore how we are must be okay with G-D. This thought stream is based upon verses such as Psalms 139:14:
“I praise You, for I am awesomely, wonderfully made! Wonderful are Your works— and my soul knows that very well.”
While it is absolutely true that G-D awesomely (some translations say fearfully) and wonderfully made each of us, the context of that verse is speaking of our being formed in the womb, as we see in the preceding verse:
“For You have created my conscience. You knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Ps. 139:13).
In other words, we were awesomely and wonderfully formed in the womb. However, once we were born, each one of us began to interact with and be affected by our experiences in this world. Every one of those interactions, both positive and negative, changed who we are as human beings. No matter how old you are today, what you are today is a result of all of your responses to every experience that you have experienced.
In other words, it is true that each and every one of us was awesomely and wonderfully made when we entered this world. None of us is still that newborn child that was awesomely and wonderfully made. Each of us is the product of our life experiences, both good and bad, with each one of those experiences fundamentally changing who we once were to who we are today. So, it is unjust for us to say that who and what we are today is the same as the baby in the womb that was awesomely and wonderfully made. If you are a liar today, it is not correct to say G-D wonderfully made you, so He made you to be a liar, likewise, with drug addiction, abusive tendencies, sexual immorality or any other lifestyle choice that we have adopted in our journey to today.
The good news is that while none of us is still the baby within the womb that was fearfully and wonderfully made, and that each of us has sinned and fallen short of the glory, it is equally true that every one of us can, through the Good News of Messiah Yeshua, become reborn. But, in order to be reborn, we must admit that we are no longer the person we were when we were awesomely and wonderfully made. This is the message that Paul shared in 2 Corinthians 5:17:
“Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
And this is also the message that we find in 1 John 1:8-10:
“If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”
So, the bottom line is that we were all awesomely and wonderfully made in the womb. Then we entered into this sinful world, and as life interacted with us, we all became something less awesome and less wonderful.
However, if we believe what the Bible says about the Good News, and we seek forgiveness by confessing our sins, then every one of us can be awesomely and wonderfully remade.
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Eric Tokajer is the author of Overcoming Fearlessness, What If Everything You Were Taught About the Ten Commandments Was Wrong?, With Me in Paradise, Transient Singularity, OY! How Did I Get Here?: Thirty-One Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before Entering Ministry, #ManWisdom: With Eric Tokajer, Jesus Is to Christianity as Pasta Is to Italians and Galatians in Context.
