“And if thine eye doth cause thee to stumble (sin), pluck it out and cast from thee; it is good for thee one-eyed to enter into the life, rather than having two eyes to be cast to the gehenna of the fire.”–Matt. 18:9 Young’s Literal Translation
When Jesus stated these words he was not ordering people to literally gouge out an eye because they were tempted to sin by what they see. What jesus was doing was urging people to stop doing the sin as it ultimately ends in destruction. Remember that Romans 6:28 tells us that the wages of sin is death. Jesus warned people about the awful garbage heap of destruction where the corpses of criminals often would end up. It was a place of stench and maggots were crawling around continuously. Here and there was a a slow smoking fire where wind would push some of the smells around about. Some view it as a prototype of the final lake of fire where all the bad things are consumed. Sin eventually leads to such an end.
There are some sins we often get caught up in but generally do not think of these as such. One of these is the sin of compromising with wrong. We may find ourselves watching a dirty movie because everyone else is. We think to ourselves that I do not womanize or gamble and drink but then we turn around and enjoy a movie that celebrates these things…when we should shun it. Christian maturity needs to be developed to the point of avoiding these things. And this is something to think on.
pastor zomok