How far does that old Bible Verse go...If it causes you to sin...?

Question

i.e., If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out...better to be without an eye, then to miss the kingdom of heaven.
How far does it go?
and what would it cover, as far as say...
Something causes me to sin, so I gouge it out, or whatever...what if one were to die from that, are they then Dam*ed eternally, or di they just get their ticket to the eternal kingdom of God.
Maybe this is a very bad Q.

Answer 1

I will pray for you today and ask that you never change. You are a beautiful person with a beautiful outlook on life. God has a purpose for us all and you may be content in the knowledge that you are indeed serving your purpose. He loves you and I love you for who you are deep inside and the wonderful person you show yourself to be to those who love you and are loved by you.
May God bless you eternally

Answer 2

It's an interesting verse, I think he's being sarcastic. Sin is serious business. But if you cut off your hand to make yourself not be able to sin, but you still long for the sin and end up wishing you hadn't cut off your hand, you haven't changed at all. Heart change is the essence of the Christian life, isn't it? Heart change by the power of Jesus Christ?

To quote an author I read, "You could very easily follow this to the letter and role into heaven (or hell) a bloody stump." Jesus may have very well been speaking to the ultra-religous Pharisees of the day, who had created many many rules and methods of "sinning" and "not sinning" so that they could do the bare minimum for God and get away with anything they could get away with. But this isn't what God wants. They hadn't understood the desire of God. God not only wants you not to sin, but first he wants your heart to change, or repentence, and not even DESIRE sin, but rather desire him and his good law. It's about heart change, Jesus said to the Pharisees, "You clean the outside of the cup (keep from sinning by will alone) but the inside is still filthy (wanting evil). Clean the inside of the cup (change your heart) and the outside will become clean (it will be your joy to not sin, it will be a pleasure to live righteously - also see Psalm 40:7-8).

Remember, Jesus spoke often in parables to obscure what he was saying. He is, remember, "the stone in zion" "that many will fall over, never to come up again."

Mark 4:11-12
"I use parables for everything I say to outsiders, so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled:

‘When they see what I do,
they will learn nothing.
When they hear what I say,
they will not understand.
Otherwise, they will turn to me
and be forgiven.’”

So, I think Jesus was demonstrating how rediculous the idea of trying not to sin apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in your life truly is. It's works-righteousness, the "yeast of the pharisees" we're warned about in Matthew 16:6, the seductive teaching of working yourself to God. The proper reason not to sin is out of love for God and people, and the sheer joy of living a righteous life. If you are abstaining from sin and it's a burden to you, you are not doing it for the right reason and you need a heart change, this is called repentence.

If you have any questions about overcoming sin, you should read the book of James, especially regarding prayer and confession of sin to your brothers so they can also pray. Sin = suffering, it's never good for us.

Answer 3

That would disobey the scripture that says not to mutalate yourself. It is saying that it would be that bad to be foolish, such as misunderstanding that scripture. It's saying that not being sensible will cause much harm to yourself maybe even an earlier.death. It's apparently a somewhat common type of Greek expression in those days.

Answer 4

That verse is a metaphor, not literal
It means if something in your life is messing with your faith than get rid of it. Like say you have some friends you like but they are really into, I don't know, porn or something and its screwing you up. According to that verse, get rid of them even though they seem to be a part of you. I'm not saying I agree I'm just saying what I think the verse means.

Answer 5

It's a metaphor. Ever heard someone say "It's raining cats and dogs"? Was it really raining cats and dogs or was it just raining really hard? The term you refer to simply means that if something causes you to sin, abandon whatever that something is. Quit doing it. Stop. It's doing you no good-so don't do it.

Answer 6

All that means that it is better to lose an eye than to go to hell, it don't mean to gouge your eye out to keep from sinning....

Answer 7

I know its in the NT.

I dont think it means to put your eyes out for looking at someones boobs. I think it means to accept that fact that you have done something wrong and to ask for forgiveness and work as hard as possible to not sin again.

Answer 8

Make sure your eye don't do that!
Slap it good first off.
If it keeps it up, you're gonna hafta cut out that part of your brain that makes your eye do that.

That would be detrimental.

Answer 9

In Matthew 18:8-9 Jesus is speaking figuratively, regarding the spiritual place called hell. To understand the meaning of the message here, one must have an understanding of the place of departed souls.

The original word used here for hell is Gehenna.

The Greek word Gehenna is used to translate two Hebrew words "Ge" and "Hinnom" meaning, the "valley" of the children of Hinnom.

The valley of Hinnom is a term used that originally refers to a ravine on the South side of Jerusalem where pagan deities were worshipped.

It was in the valley of Hinnom, where the children of Israel passed their sons and daughters in worship through the fire to the pagan god Molech.

In 2 Kings 23:10 we read; And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.

In time, the valley of Hinnom became a large garbage dump and a place of abomination, where fire "burned" continuously. Gehenna then became the Hebrew picture of hell, and became synonymous with a "place of continuous burning." In that it formed an appropriate image for the eternal burning fire of hell.

So, let's compare the continuous burning fire of Gehenna with Mark 9:43-48 where Jesus says; And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:

Then Jesus adds an addition condition of hell.

Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

Here Jesus uses the word Gehenna, identifying hell as place of "unquenchable fire" where "their worm dieth not" and where the "fire is not quenched."

Now, some have attempted to use the statement by Jesus "where their worm dieth not" to show that hell is not a place of eternal torment. In that, Gehenna was a garbage dumb for dead animals, and the remains of their carcasses, that was not consumed by fire, was consumed by worms / maggots.

They say Jesus was using Gehenna symbolically, to show hell as a place of complete and utter destruction, via, spiritual worms, and not eternal punishment, in an eternal spiritual fire!

Here we see, in their self preconceived and predetermined perception, looking for some reason, not to believe in hell! They look for something to contradict, and in so doing, they overlook one very important factor!

Jesus was speaking, metaphorically, to the torments of the guilty in the world of departed souls, and this valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem, was where the filth of the city was cast (a picture of hell) and in those days, Gehenna, was "alive" with worms.

However, if we look at the metaphorical structure of the sentence, and not in original use of words, Jesus is using the word "worm" symbolically, for the departed souls in hell, and not an actual, literal, physical or spiritual worm. (Man the extremes some will go not to believe!)

Because, metaphorically, Jesus is saying, hell is a place where the "soul" of mankind will never die, it will never be consumed, and there will never be, complete and utter destruction! For Hell is a place where the "soul" (the symbolical worm) dieth not, and neither is the fire quenched!

For Hell is a literal spiritual place, of eternal punishment for the unsaved.

I use the phrase "literal spiritual place," because Jesus, in his encounter with Nicodemus in John 3:6, shows us of there is a Physical and Spiritual Realm. Jesus says "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

That which is born of the flesh is physical, and that which is born of the spirit is spiritual.

Many err in the understanding of hell, because they look at hell, from the physical, instead of a spiritual or even a supernatural understanding.

They look at hell from a literal understanding, as a physical place, with a physical fire, instead of a spiritual place, with a supernatural fire.

This we will see in the life or should I say the death of the rich-man in Luke 16 where he pleads to Abraham to send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool his tongue, for he was tormented in the flames.

In this we see the fire of hell, as a supernatural fire which burns from the "inside out" and "not" the outside in!

In James 3:6 we read; And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

Answer 10

i think that this scripture
was making a point through exaggeration