What does the Bible say about an apostasy? Part One

Biblically an apostasy is spoken of in one main topic and three sub topics. They are as follows:

1. Personal
2. Israel
3. Early Christian Church
4. As a whole(or as one)

What does the word Apostasy mean? www.dictionary.com defines it this way:

a total desertion of or departure from one's religion, principles, party, cause, etc.

Let's go over a religious apostasy.

1. Personal Apostasy

In researching there are quite a bit of passages about this. However, I would just like to go over a few.

Proverbs 29:18 states:
"Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."

I have noticed Proverbs verses to each have two parts. The first being the lesson we need to apply to our lives and the second how to apply it.

We all have dreams or "visions" of what we think our lives will be. If we didn't have aspirations our lives would have no meaning. No dreams, no life. So, how do we keep our dreams alive? That is the second part of the verse; the "how to" part. We need to "keep the law". What is the law? The commandments, the teachings of Christ, and if you believe in them; modern day prophets.

Next is Matthew 13:21 which reads

"Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended."

This one is harder to define. This is what I got out of it though. The first part is telling us we need to have roots "in" ourselves. To me it means we need to know ourselves. If we are unsure of who we are then, when trials come we might falter. So, if we know ourselves we will be able to go through anything.

On to Luke 12:47

"And that servant, which knew his lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes."

With this passage it is important to know it comes from a parable. The Parable of the Unjust Steward. The parable in context is Luke 12:41-48

I am a firm believer that a verse should not only be able to stand alone but be understood in context as well.

By itself you can see that if we do not follow God's will, or in this parable the master, we need to suffer consequences. In this parable the fictional servant represents those that either serve God or have the desire to serve God(they just may not know where to start). Then there is a warning to the servant(us) to not only follow God's will but also prepare for it.

Lastly is Hebrews 10:26

"For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,"

This one I believe needs to be pondered by each individual. Although one question: Have you found "the truth"?

To be continued...