From: xxx
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 10:32 PM
To: SHEILA VITALE
Subject: Fw: The Death of Christ?
Greetings Pastor,
Please allow a few minutes and an open mind to answer some of my thoughts.
I have just read your question/answer towards the movie "Passion of Christ"... You quoted that Jesus didn't suffer as humans would when he died on the cross? Comparing to the pain these people have laying on burned coals. Please enlighten me.
You might not agree, but I believe that Jesus had to suffer and feel every humiliating, excruciating pain at it's worst. Isn’t this the price for our Salvation/Sins? Paid in Full!
[Pastor Vitale says:] No, this is not true. We are reconciled by His death and saved by His life, not by His suffering:
Rom 5:10, For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. KJV
XXXXX: I believe those people [Hindu men, martial artists, cultists] deal with the pain with proper meditation but cannot handle the pain our Jesus did - they would certainly quiver and pack up.
[Pastor Vitale says:] They do use meditation, but this is not a contest as to who can bear the most pain. We are saved through union with the Son:
1 Cor 6:17, But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. KJV
[Pastor Vitale says:] Jesus never told us to glorify His death:
Mark 12:27, He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. KJV
Luke 24:5, And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? KJV
Just some thoughts,
[Pastor Vitale says:] Thank you for you Godly form of communication. May the Lord bless you in all things, reveal all things to you, and make you all you can be in Christ Jesus.
God bless you and thank you for writing.
Sincerely In Christ,
Sheila R. Vitale, Pastor, Teacher & Founder
Living Epistles Ministries
