borhood, the office and the life of the community in general. Salt re tards decomposition. Fresh meat is sometimes placed in a salty brine which will eliminate the danger of it rotting and spoiling. Our influ ence for the Lord can be used to retard the decomposition of sin and evil which creeps into the world, as well as into our very homes. Salt will also create thirst. By our lives and example we should cause oth ers to desire to drink of the water of life which completely satisfies. Let us make sure that we have not "lost our saviour." Q. Santa Ana, Calif. " Would you please explain I Peter 3:19-21?” A. There have been many unfor tunate and unscriptural teachings put forth from this passage includ ing the erroneous view that per haps there is life after death with a second chance for salvation. Such could not be further from the truth. The physical body dies but the spirit either lives on, if one is a believer in Christ, or it awaits the final judgment and condemnation of Cod. The Lord Jesus on the cross did not die in the spirit. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Holy Spirit. This pas sage teaches us that the same Holy Spirit who raised Him from the dead patiently sought to win men before the great flood who are now in hades awaiting their final sentence of doom. No one in the abode of the wicked dead has any one preaching to him, nor does he have a chance to change his loca tion (Luke 16:26). That there were eight souls saved by water gives us a picture of baptism which is sim ply an outward sign of an invisible inward work of grace. This "figure" Page 26
does not mean that every flood pictures the ordinance of baptism. If a person does not believe in Christ, just putting him under wa ter will not help one iota. It is rather "the answer of a good con science toward Cod." We have another similar example in I Peter 1:10, 11. Here we see that the prophets foretold the coming of Christ by the Spirit (see the New Scofield Reference Bible, pg. 1335). Q. Lompoc, California. "Solomon, through the Holy Spirit, said, 'Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.' How do you recon cile this with the fact that Solomon himself backslid from the presence of the Lord in later years?" A. The Holy Spirit did instruct Sol omon to write this assuring word and admonition. It is also true that every rule has certain exceptions, which was evidently true with Da vid's son. One might ask, "What greater glory could God get if Sol omon departed from the Lord?" Actually, he serves today as a last ing example that one so highly privileged needs to beware also. Consider, too, Judas who was so close to Christ and yet a downright traitor in the end. His real nature and character were revealed. Q. Huntington Beach, Calif. "How could David be a man after Cod's own heart when he committed the sins he did?" A. We do not want to magnify or to minimize the wickedness of the Lord"s servant. Keep in mind that all iniquity in the sight of God is as heinous as another. It is true David committed murder to fulfill the lust of adultery. What could be
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