Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.
Matthew 7:7 (NASU)
This verse describes a great promise of Jesus Christ that, if taken at face value as He intended, means that those who are honestly seeking out the truth will indeed find it. This should be a source of comfort for those who worry about the fairness of judgment, the question of ignorance, etc.
One of the most misunderstood Biblical concepts is the concept of faith. This powerful source of spiritual strength for all believers has been misconstrued by both claimed believers and non-believers alike. The primary area of misunderstanding is the notion of faith without proof or evidence (e.g. “the leap of faith”). God has never asked or expected man to believe in truths without evidence, nor has He asked man to follow His Word without very real assurances.
One universal truism about the nature of mankind is that men and women make very poor masters of our own lives. Without exception, we at some point fail and fall short of God’s expectation (Rom. 3:23). However, even knowing this, there is a strong temptation to be the master of our lives and to allow a “self”, which those in Christ have spiritually died to (Rom. 6), to once again be an influence over our decisions both great and small.
The world today is filled will all sorts of extremists focused upon a singular cause, such as the environment, a particular economic system, various religious beliefs, etc. Such extremes are manifest in various ways whether benign through activism or malevolent through violence. In seeing such extremism around us, one can begin to believe the world has become a truly polarized place.
The term “outlaw” is commonly used today to describe someone who has broken the law of the land in some fashion and is wanted by the police. This carries a large part of the original idea that term “outlaw” once held, but years ago under English Common Law (which America emulated) this term had a slightly different meaning. Not only was such a person wanted for acting “outside the law”, but they were also “outside of the law’s protection”.