Questions:,1. Who is the Mechelsadeck? 2. Can a Christian be a blood donor(give own blood to others)?,Answer:,Melchizedek was the ruler of Salem in Canaan. Salem later became known as Jerusalem. He is a very enigmatic figure in the Bible. He was not a Jew, yet he was a worshipper of Jehovah/God. When Abraham returned from the successful war against Kerdolaomer he gave a tithe of the war booty to Melchizedek as a priest of God. This story is found in Genesis 14:17-18.,There is only one reference to Melchizedek in the Old Testament outside of Genesis which points toward a great significance to this non-Jewish priest. It is Psalm 110:4. “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”,This is a prophecy connecting Melchizedek with the Messiah. The myster is lifted, at least in part, by referring to Hebrews chapter 7. Here the Hebrew writer explains is some detail the significance of Melchizedek. He tells us that Melchizedek is a historical prefigure of Jesus Christ. The point of Hebrews is that because Melchizedek was greater than Abraham because Abraham offered a sacrifice before Melchizedek. This is a prefigure of the fact that Jesus is a high priest, but according to the priesthood of Aaron. The Jewish high priests were descended directly from Aaron. Yet, their sacrifices did not really put away sin in a permanent way. Their priesthood and their sacrifices did not cause salvation. The Hebrew writer tells us that a priest like Melchizedek had to come to offer a greater sacrifice than that offered by the Jewish priests who were descended from Aaron. His point is that when Abraham offered a sacrifice before Melchizedek, it was a prefigure of the need for a new and different High Priest–one from the order of Melchizedek. How was Jesus like Melchizedek? He was like him in that his priesthood was appointed directly by God rather than gained by being born the son of a priest. Melchizedek, like Jesus had no descendents. His coming, like Jesus was unpredictable. The point of all this is that the covenant brought in by Jesus Christ is far superior to the covenant given at Mt. Sinai.,If you go to my web site, you will find an outline on Hebrews which goes into more detail about Melchizedek in the part on chapter 7 of the book.,Can a Christian give blood donations? The answer is of course they can!!!!! Why not? Please do not be intimidated by the bogus doctrinal stand of the Jehovah’s Witness. They try to use Old Testament laws given to Moses to deny us this right. Even if we were under the Mosaic Law, I still say that this would not deny us the right to give blood to help other people, but that is beside the point as Christians are not bound by the Old Testament laws. Jesus gave his blood for us. It is difficult to imagine a more Christian behavior than sacrificing our time, a little pain, and literally our blood to help out a person who is in medical danger. It is both bad hermeneutics and cynical hypocricy for people to claim biblical authority for denying Christians the right to help in this way. I have given blood many times myself.,John Oakes

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