There is, and has been, a great deal of concern about people trying to ban the "Ten Commandments" from governmental places. This concern seems to be a purely Christian thing. It seems that they, the Christians, have adopted these commandments as basic to their faith.
Are you ready? Here comes the most awful heresy.
The Ten Commandments have nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity.
The commandments were dictated by God to Moses as the most basic rules of conduct for the Jews. This happened a few thousand years before the birth of the Christ.
When you become a Christian, a follower of the Christ, a believer that Jesus is the actual son of God, the ballgame changes.
Herewith the words of Jesus as reported in the Book of Matthew, the twenty-second chapter, beginning with the thirty-sixth verse:
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
That's it. That is the law. The new law.
It applies to both Jew and Gentile. It applies equally to all mankind.
Now, if you will take the Ten Commandments and study them, you should quickly discover that most of them are encompassed within the above.
There are now only two – but they cover so very, very much ground.
If you love God with all your heart, your soul and mind, will you then chase after other gods or golden calves or mighty statues?
If you love your neighbor, will you steal from him, or kill him? Will you covet that which is his, causing you to be jealous and switch from love to hate?
Jesus was a Jew. He was, in fact, a Rabbi: an interpreter and teacher of the law. He came to save the Jews and to bring them this new law. Some of them, a relatively small number, followed him, becoming thereby the first Christians. From them grew all the Christian churches.
After Jesus was gone God recruited Paul to take the story of Jesus, and the salvation therein, along with this new law, to the Gentiles.
This is the law we Christians serve. That we love God and love our neighbors.
So why am I making a big deal of this?
Well, a lot of Christians have never thought about it. They do not give this love its proper place in their lives.
Whenever someone sues to take the Ten Commandments out of a building, there is an uproar. And when there is an uproar, love falls by the wayside. Things are said and done that are great violations. And worse, a terrible example.
The next time it happens, think on the current law in your reaction and response. Think on that and think of this: God created everything that has ever been created. If he wants the Ten Commandments to be in a place – they will be there.
Your job is to rescue souls from eternal damnation. Being in the street with rage on your face, shaking your fist and screaming hateful things may not be the best way to accomplish that.
No comments:
Post a Comment