".....thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head"

[Openly Curious]

'agua' date='Feb 6 2010,

Rom 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

My interpretation to this verse is we are told "avenge not yourselves" we are not to determine a plan against the one or ones who caused us harm of any kind. There are so many causes where it would be extremely hard not to want vengeance. But the Lord doesn't want us to avenge our ownselves but he want's us "rather to give place unto wrath"

If we avenge our ownselves then those who have done the wrong towards us will be punished by us as we did not give place unto our wrath but carried it out instead.

But the Lord said, for it is written "vengence is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" Basically God is telling us flat out that vengence belongs to him and not to us and we are not to avenge or carry out our own wrath-vengence-upon them.

It is when we give the wrongs of others over to God that is giving place to our wrath and this is, giving our enemies over into the hands of the Lord who will carry out his wrath upon the wicked-all those who never gave their hearts and lives to the Lord. The Lord will one day carry out his wrath as scripture has said.

Heaping coals of fire on those who wronged us in anyway, is to obey the word as God plainly instructed us that "vengence is mine saith the Lord" and not us.

It is almost like putting a mark on top of their head. If you've ever seen coals of fire burning, it completely burns red all around and all throughout the middle is yellow and amber and white.

Whenever the coals of fire are burning you can hear popping and crackling sounds. That sounds to me like "hell fire" and that is a description of "coals of fire" Revelation tells what the "wrath of God" will be upon the wicked all those who have never accepted Christ as their personal Lord and saviour believeing he arose from the dead. The book of Revelation speakes of hell, fire, and brimestone. All I know is that fire of any kind is torment should you be in it. This is why IMO the Lord told us not to avenge ourselves and made it plain to us that vengence is mine I will repay saith the Lord"

God knows the intents of the heart of everyone born again that being the saved and the unsaved. It is only the Lord who can righteously judge the intents of the hearts of his children the righteous, and of all the unrighteous that has wronged us in any way. If those who have done to us wrong comes to a place of repentance and turn from there sins then they will be saved from the "wrath to come."

Hopefully those that wronged us will see the "mercy in your wrath" for within this your behaviour shows and gives a "word picture of the wrath of God" at the same time it shows the mercy of God towards the unrepentant. Having the knowledge of what God is trying to say, through us we can pray for them to accept Christ as Lord and Saviour thus experiencing the mercy of God in the which they escaped from God's wrath and the wrath that is yet to come.

[tracks77]

wait....what?

I think I need a reference for that. Seems kind of strange to wrap hot coals in something and then caryy it on your head. Drag it behind you or strap it to a donkey, sure. But carry hot coals on your head?

To the best of my memory, I heard a preacher use this explanation. There's a good chance that I didn't get it quite right. Sorry!

I did a short serch and found references to coals being carried in clay pot shards on the head. This was done to enable a neighbor to start a fire.

I also feel that if we avenge ourselves, we deserve the vengence do to us.

Luke 6:37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Edited February 9, 2010 by tracks77

[canuckamuck]

As for me, when I have burning coals heaped on my head (conviction) I thank God and repent.

I do not doubt that people have in the past have carried hot coals in a container on their heads, but I have serious doubts that this is what the verse is describing.

Hot coals heaped on someone's head gives you an image of searing pain, head pain. If the author wanted to describe an act of love towards a neighbor, certainly a more obvious illustration could have been found than heaping burning coals on his head. How about giving him a warm coat for his journey?

In fact the passage already shows the acts of giving food and drink, which is clearly an obvious act of love.

Love is the best tool to witness to the lost, no man repents without the coals burning on his head.

That's my two cents worth

[Openly Curious]

'canuckamuck' date='Feb 9 2010,

As for me, when I have burning coals heaped on my head (conviction) I thank God and repent.

Do you think that having coals of fire heaped on your head is the only way one can repent and thank God?

I do not doubt that people have in the past have carried hot coals in a container on their heads, but I have serious doubts that this is what the verse is describing.

I've never heard your idea before about those in the past carrying their hot coals within a container on their heads.

Hot coals heaped on someone's head gives you an image of searing pain, head pain. If the author wanted to describe an act of love towards a neighbor, certainly a more obvious illustration could have been found than "heaping burning coals" on his head. How about giving him a warm coat for his journey?

Could you please explain more in details as I'm not getting your meaning, I do not think? Thank you

In fact the passage already shows the acts of giving food and drink, which is clearly an obvious act of love.

Where is the passage of scripture that you are referring too showing that giving food and drink is an act of love "only" in relation to heaping coals of fire? And how does that relate to not, "avenging ourselves"but instead leaving the vengeance to God because, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord

Love is the best tool to witness to the lost, no man repents without the coals burning on his head.

This says, to me one's faith has to be put in coals of fire burning on his head because no man repents without them. I do agree that love never fails for it is the perfect gift.

But one can repent of their sins, all sins do not come under the same catagory of leaving the vengeance to God as it belongs to him as this is the lesson we are to learn

vengeance does not belong to us. But plainly God told us that, VENGEANCE IS MINE"

That's my two cents worth

Blessings

[canuckamuck]

Openly Curious:

Clearly you misunderstood me in some parts of my post, and disagree with me on others.

I don't want to go through piece by piece on your criticism (too many quote boxes) so I will try to make a more clear statement.

First off, I wrote my comments in reaction to a few other peoples comments who felt that the heaping hot coals on someone

[Openly Curious]

Openly Curious:

Clearly you misunderstood me in some parts of my post, and disagree with me on others.

I don't want to go through piece by piece on your criticism (too many quote boxes)

Hey canuckamuck, I responded to the things you wrote IMO they were short questions that I asked. You are right in somethings I did agree, and others I didn't agree, and some I didn't know one way or another.

I do not know of one place (to many quote boxes) where I criticized you in anyway, and if I did would you please show me the place.

Just because someone may have a different view than you, that does not mean they have criticism toward you. This is an open discussion I thought and that is all I have done.

[canuckamuck]

Openly Curious:

Clearly you misunderstood me in some parts of my post, and disagree with me on others.

I don't want to go through piece by piece on your criticism (too many quote boxes)

Hey canuckamuck, I responded to the things you wrote IMO they were short questions that I asked. You are right in somethings I did agree, and others I didn't agree, and some I didn't know one way or another.

I do not know of one place (to many quote boxes) where I criticized you in anyway, and if I did would you please show me the place.

Just because someone may have a different view than you, that does not mean they have criticism toward you. This is an open discussion I thought and that is all I have done.

Criticism is not always a negative thing and I was in no way offended by your discussion (critique) of my post. If you remove my word 'criticism' and replace it with the word 'analysis' you will still get my intention. Please don't worry, I am extremely hard to offend.