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Did Jesus mean we should literally pluck out our eyes?
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We're going to answer that question.
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You can also discover more on GotQuestions .org.
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In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says something that must certainly have seized his hearer's attention.
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If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away.
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It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
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And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away.
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It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
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These graphic word pictures still grab attention today, and they raise the question of how literally
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we should take Jesus' commands in these passages.
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Does Jesus actually mean to say that we should pluck out our eyes or sever a hand if we are
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It may be of comfort to know that Jesus' instructions in these particular verses are not meant to
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We need not mutilate our bodies as a punishment for our sin.
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Rather, Jesus means that we should be prepared to make exceptional sacrifices if
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Jesus had warned his audience against using their eyes for lustful purposes, so his
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prescribed remedy for lust to pluck out an eye makes sense in a radical sort of
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But it is the radical nature of his statement that makes it so memorable.
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When Jesus advises us to pluck out a sinful eye or cut off an unruly hand, he is employing a
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figure of speech known as hyperbole.
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Hyperbole is an obvious exaggeration or an intentional overstatement.
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Examples of hyperbole in modern speech would include statements like, This bag of groceries weighs a
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I've been waiting forever.
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Hyperbole, like other figures of speech, is not meant to be taken literally.
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Jesus' purpose in using hyperbole is to magnify in his hearer's minds the heinous
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Sin is any action or thought that is contrary to the character of God.
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The result of sin is eternal death and a one -way ticket to hell, from which Jesus wants
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Jesus says that whatever is causing you to sin, take drastic measures to get that thing.
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It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet
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and be thrown into eternal fire.
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It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire
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Nothing is worth missing heaven for.
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Nothing is worth going to hell for.
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God takes sin seriously, seriously enough to sacrifice his only begotten son to destroy.
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We must take sin seriously as well.
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A lack of repentance is a crime punishable by eternal death.
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It is better to deny our flesh, to pluck out an eye or cut off a hand, as it were, than to risk sinning
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God demands holiness, but we naturally tend to pamper ourselves and excuse our sin.
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That is why we need Jesus' shocking, radical hyperbole to wake us from our spiritual
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That answers the question, did Jesus mean we should literally pluck out our eyes?
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