My goodness NO! I am happy that I did ask and happy you expounded on your answer Kate. The reason the world (those who do not know Jesus) won't allow the commandments are if they acknowledge that they have a set of moral principles to follow, it would destroy their idolatrous gods, and then god could not be made in THEIR image. You know, even the saved people have a tendency to pick and choose scripture to fit their God view while ignoring the ones that are too costly for them to obey, hence sometimes we deceive ourselves by twisting scripture to fit our own view. Take John 3:16, even the world loves that scripture and I think that is the one scripture that they like the best because it reflects the length, breadth, and depth of God's love. So, they take just that one and build their own theology around it because God is Love, and most everybody wants love. But they forget or wink at the fact that they need to read all the scriptures to get a better understanding of who God really is and what He requires from us. That requirement that brings death is the law, most notably given as the Ten Commandments, not ten suggestions. So, If the world were to acknowledge that the commandments must be obeyed since they are found in the bible and refer to God, then they know immediately they are sinners and they do not know that the remedy lies with Jesus the Christ. So, they ignore, make excuses, deceive themselves, or discount God altogether because then they know deep inside that they would be required to obey because there is a God and this is His standard which they know full well they have not kept nor can keep. Then pride and rebellion enter in because man does not want to give up lordship and control to his life. For ten years I worked at a college as a security officer. When I would be making my rounds to open up the buildings, I had a pocketful of tracts stating the ten commandments and posted them every morning on the billboards. We are at a place of higher education and after all, what is higher than the knowledge of God? They would take them down and I would come back the next morning and post them again. After three months they quit taking them down. This country wants to systematically destroy any reference to Jehovah and his son, Yashua because they hate Him, the apostasy is such that there can be no public display because when they see it, it provokes them to anger. Funny thing, I remember watching a movie that John Wayne was in called operation pacific, made in 1951. In the movie, Wayne is a officer on a ship in which many of his crew members were killed. So, his conscious is bothering him and he decides that he would go to the chapel where the memorial service is being held. He is mildly surprised when he sees his whole crew there. In a poignant moment, he goes to the pulpit and starts to pray and in this prayer, he clearly states that it is in Jesus' name. I started thinking how far we have fallen away from God in this country. There was a time that even the pagan and heathens had a outward show of public respect, and that was not lost on Hollywood, and being a business, they wanted to appeal to that large segment of the public who showed respect for the name of Jesus. These days Jesus is a curse word if he is mentioned at all in the entertainment arena, movies are made with the intent of disrespecting and rebelling against that Name because of what it represents. Yes, there are some movies made that glorify God along with some that give a perverted view of God under good intentions. I have always wondered if God put the idea of making the movie, the passion of the Christ in Mel Gibson's mind in order to show that God is God and he can get His word out using even the evil people to do i. I noticed that CNN was discussing the movie and brought up an open bible with the words easily read on the TV screen. I had to laugh to myself that God could use a media that in essence hates him and get his "advertisement" of the word without cost and viewed by millions in the public arena.
As far as safety lay in obedience, the closest thing I could find in the bible is Psalms 119 "Keep me from disobeying your commandments. I keep your law in my heart,so that I will not sin against you." (10-11,BBE).
If I have a partial scripture reference and do not know where to find it, I use our wonderful technology and search the internet, which will give me the complete verse and where it can be found at. As an added bonus, I can read other peoples, sermons and commentaries about that. But a word of caution, If you do not have a full grounding in the word of God, some sites that mimic authentic Christianity such as LDS and others, have teachings that may appear with some truth but a half truth is a whole lie, and can be dangerous to your spirit man, like cigarettes are to your body, the temple of God.
Ironic about the dream you had. It did happen to me recently. My old fellowship was getting away of from their first Love, and focusing on works and doing evil things to justify their actions. When I approached elders with my concerns and scriptural warning, in the Spirit of Love and Compassion, they acted as though they were asleep to the peril by not wanting to involve themselves to correct the errors. So I in essence, had to leave them there and "run out the door" so to speak to another fellowship. I am beginning to realize that just as the proverbial frog, who put in a pot on the stove, won't jump out of the pot when the heat is slowly turned up, and eventually that lack of action results in his demise. I understand that the insidiousness of sin and deception can start out slowly and I have found I can now see the danger was occurring at my old fellowship long before I woke up and realized how far and how long I had accommodated that error, being deceived.
Indeed, there is always a remnant, just like this forum.
I love when thought provoking posts are made, and sorry for my prolixity, but being overly analytical, I am somewhat verbose in my answers because I want to make my thoughts known as clearly as possible. I do appreciate everyone's patience in suffering me here because of that.
Thanks for clearing that up for me. I too, am constantly reminded when I give cryptic answers without realizing it. Due to my thorn in the flesh mental cognitive issues, I am constantly reminded that I know what I am thinking, but others do not when I speak cryptically. I do welcome that constructive criticism as it helps me cope with my affliction. I most certainly write better than I speak!
In His service,
chris
