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1So, you might ask , “What advantage do Tribal Members have that others do not have? What good does the cutting of the flesh ceremony do for them?”
2Being a Tribal Member is a blessing in many ways. The greatest blessing is that they were entrusted with the Sacred Teachings of the Great Spirit!
3But, you might also ask , “What if some of them failed to honor this trust? Will their failure stop the Great Spirit from keeping his promises?”
4Never! Creator will be true to his promise, even if every human being fails to be true to him. This is what the Sacred Teachings say about Creator , “You will be true to your word and always decide what is best.”
5As human beings we might think that our wrongdoing only proves that the Great Spirit was right about us all along. Would we then be able to say that it is wrong for him to show his anger toward us?
6This is a weak way of thinking, for if this were true, then how could Creator ever make things right again for the whole world?
7“But if the Great Spirit is proved to be right by my failure to stand true, why am I found to be in the wrong?”
8If this were true, then we might as well say what some have accused us of saying, “We should do evil that good may come of it.” But their own words are proving them to be in the wrong and will take them to a bad end.
9So what are we to say? Are we Tribal Members in a better place than the Outside Nations? I tell you without a doubt that we are not! For I have already made my argument that all human beings have followed their bad hearts and broken ways.
10It is written in our Sacred Teachings of our tribal law, “There is no one who stands upright. Not even one!
11No one walks in wisdom. No one is seeking to walk with the Great Spirit.
12All have turned away from the good path to walk in worthless ways. No one is good and kind. Not even one!”[#3:12 Psalms 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Ecclesiastes 7:20]
13The Sacred Teachings also say, “Their throats are like open graves. They speak with forked tongues.” “From their lips come words full of snake venom.”[#3:13 Psalm 5:9; #3:13 Psalm 140:3]
14“Their mouths are filled with bitter curses.”[#3:14 Psalm 10:7]
15“Their feet are swift to shed blood.
16They leave behind a trail of misery and trouble wherever they go.
17The path of peace is beyond their way of thinking.”[#3:17 Isaiah 59:7-8]
18“They turn their eyes from the path of giving honor and respect to the Great Spirit.”[#3:18 Psalm 36:1]
19From these Sacred Teachings we can see that we Tribal Members have not followed our own tribal laws. Our Sacred Teachings have spoken against us, giving us nothing to say in our own defense, and proving that we, along with all the people of the world, stand guilty. And we must give an answer to the Great Spirit for what we have done.
20So then, it should be clear to all that no one can be in good standing in the eyes of the Great Spirit by doing what our tribal law says. What is clear is that the law shows us how bad our hearts have become and how broken our lives truly are.
21But there is a way to be in good standing with the Great Spirit that does not depend on us keeping tribal law! Even our Law and the Prophets have spoken the truth about this.
22We can stand in a good way before the Great Spirit by trusting in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One and what he has done for us. This good standing is a gift to all who believe. It does not matter whether you are a Tribal Member or from any other nation.[#3:22 Lit. Jew]
23We are all the same because all of us have followed our bad hearts and broken ways,
24but because of the gift of his great kindness all of us are put in good standing with the Great Spirit through what Creator Sets Free (Jesus) has done to set us free and make us whole.
25The Great Spirit sent Creator Sets Free (Jesus) to show through him the full meaning and purpose of the ancient mercy-seat ceremony, where our broken ways are washed clean when we trust in what the shedding of his lifeblood has accomplished.
The Great Spirit did this to prove that he was in the right when he released people from their bad hearts and broken ways in the ages past.
26He also did this to show people in this present age that he has the right to put people in good standing with himself because they trust in what Creator Sets Free (Jesus) has done.
27There is now no room for anyone to brag or boast. Why not? Because the Great Spirit has given us a new kind of law, not one that depends on what human strength or desire can do, but one that depends on trusting in what Creator Sets Free (Jesus) has done.
28Here is another way to see it. Good standing with the Great Spirit does not come by following our tribal law but by putting all our trust in what Creator has done for us.
29For is not the Great Spirit the maker of all people, not just our Tribal People? Yes! He is the Great Spirit of all Nations!
30Since there is only one Great Spirit and Creator, he will treat us all the same. We have good standing with him by trusting in what he has done. It does not matter whether we are Tribal Members who have the cutting of the flesh ceremony or whether we are people from the Outside Nations who do not have this ceremony.
31Does this new way of trusting in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) undo our tribal law? Not at all! Instead, it shows us the law’s true meaning and purpose.[#3:31 See Matthew 5:17.]