PLUCK YOUR EYE OUT - NYOBS 69.15

PLUCK YOUR EYE OUT

Will gouging out your eyes stop you from sinning?

First Thoughts

·         At a very young age, when I heard that Jesus said to “Pluck your eyes out if it causes you to sin”, became very bothersome to me.  My very first thoughts were; Number one, it would hurt me very badly and Number 2, I would not be able to see anymore.

·         Another verse said to cut off my hand or even my foot if it causes me to sin; that it would be better for me to be a cripple on earth than to be thrown into hell at the judgment.

·         My mother would say, “If you do that again, I’m going to skin you alive”.  I never thought my mother would skin me; but I sure got the point”. - Did Jesus really mean what He said?

Matthew 18:9 – Eye cause you to sin; pluck it out
⁹ And if your eye causes you to sin, PLUCK IT OUT - TEAR IT OUT and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. (ESV) (NKJV)

Matthew 18:8 – Cut your hand or foot off to stop sin
⁸ And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. (ESV)

Heart Disease

·         Hyperbole is not a word that we use very much in our everyday speech and seems to have taken root during the elections when those running for office would often say things and then seem to change their mind by saying that it was just; a figure of speech; a hyperbole.

·         Hyperbole is an exaggeration that is used to create a strong impression and evoke a strong feeling or emotion and is usually NOT MEANT TO BE TAKEN LITERALLY. 

·         Jesus is using a hyperbole to express how serious sexual sin actually is.  He did not have an expectation for me to actually pluck my eye out or cut off my hand or foot, but was said to me to get His point across that LUST is an ADDICTION that requires DRASTIC MEASURES.

·         The eye is the door to the heart which guides the hands and feet in its actions. – If you actually plucked out your eye or cut off a hand or foot, it would not change anything since LUST is an issue of the Heart. – NYOBS 08.18 – SEX ADULTERY & FORNICATION

·         Anyone who looks at someone with lustful intent has already committed adultery in their heart with them. – It’s in the Book. -  

·         What should be plucked out is the source that peaks your sexual interest; it might be pornographic tapes, DVD’s, books and even the INTERNET. -  If you are addicted to porn, PLUCKING OUT the internet, and CUTTING OFF old Friends and old Places and old things that cause you to stumble would be a giant step forward. – NYOBS 27.25 – SEX RULES

·         Jesus is emphasizing the significance of pursuing the kingdom of God; and just to get our attention, He uses things that are very precious to us, like our eyes, hands and feet. – The surgery suggested is not PHYSICAL, but SPIRITUAL; it is a sickness; a condition of the heart.

Matthew 5:28 – Lustful thoughts is the same as doing it
²⁸ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (ESV)

In the multitude of counselors,

there is wisdom.

Proverbs 11:14

I am grateful to those that went before me providing concepts, ideas, historical

information, and scripture verses.  Because of them I can stand on their shoulders

and see further that I otherwise ever could have.

                                                                                                                                     

A Commentary; Critical, Experimental and Practical - Eerdmans

Antiquity of the Jews – Flavius Josephus Matthias

Apocrypha – Goodspeed

Baker Commentary on the Bible – Elwell

Bible Almanac; The – Packer-Tenney-White

Bible Commentary – F.B. Meyer

Bible Dictionary – Harper and Row

Bible Dictionary – Nelson’s

Dake’s Annotated Bible – Dake

English Standard Version Bible – ESV

Expositor’s Bible Commentary – Frank E. Gaebelein

Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow; The – Constance Cumbey

Illustrated Bible Dictionary; The – Tyndale

Interlinear Greek-English New Testament - Baker

King James Version Bible – KJV

Matthew Henry’s Commentary - Zondervan

Mysteries of the Bible – Readers Digest

Nave’s Topical Bible - Zondervan

New International Dictionary of the Bible; The – Douglas - Tenney

New International Version Bible (2011) – NIV

NOTE: The “new” NIV has been corrupted and made gender neutral.  AVOID IT.

Thru the Bible – J. Vernon McGee

Vincent’s Word Studies of the New Testament – Mac Donald

Who’s Who in the Bible – Paul D. Gardner

Wycliffe Bible Commentary; The – Pfeiffer & Harrison

Wikipedia –

Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible; The – Tenney