Examples of Good, Bad and Ugly found here with answers to guide us.
Those of you who have read my posts know that I am a believer in the Word of God as expressed in the Holy Bible. Despite persecution, death and danger, the Bible has never been destroyed by despots who don't want the people to know or remember the importance of God's Word. They scorn it, but are also terribly fearful of it, so that should give us all great pause. Why are they so afraid of it? Do they not want to face the consequences of what it says or think as long as they say they don't know they are okay? I can't answer that question, but I do know that whether you are a believer or not it has great truths of benefit to all and it also is a great help in maintaining societies with good social order. What do I mean?
Think about some of the most wonderful passages in it, like the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) and the Sermon on the Mount (Gospel of Matthew, Chapters 5-7). These are two very important passages in the Bible which provide rules to maintain social order and a guide to live by, showing kindness, decency and love to all. Let's look at them separately.
The Ten Commandments were given to Moses when he went up the mountain to meet with God. His people were in the wilderness at Mount Sinai and despite what he had done to lead them out of bondage, they were weak and faltered, creating a lack of commitment and doubt about the promised land. Moses was concerned and needed guidance and God gave it to him in tablet form and he left God to return to the valley below to tell his people that he now had God's Law. What did he find? He found them participating in lewd and lascivious behavior, they couldn't even control their urges for the few days he was gone. And so they wandered in the wilderness for forty years and Moses was on the cusp of entering the promised land when he died.
So, the Ten Commandments provided the formal Law with rules that were firm, yet they still violated them and many years later God realized that He had to do something more. Mortal man needed something to strengthen his resolve from weakness and God decided He had to give of Himself, offer up His only Son to save them. That brings us to the Sermon on the Mount, the most famous sermon of all time where Jesus put the human element to the Law. He added love, hope, and forgiveness and this sermon spelled it out with love being the primary element to use with the Law. Including both the Beatitudes and the Lord's prayer, it provided a methodology to update the law with the real reason for living with faith and provided the mechanism of forgiveness to maintain hope.
And this brings me to one other point which is critical, for I've heard many Christians, mostly younger, who say they devote their time to the New Testament which, of course, begins with Jesus and they are of the opinion that the Old Testament is just ancient history that only applies to those who follow Judaism. While it might be interesting, they see it is not of much consequence to believing in Jesus. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Old Testament gives us the foundation of where the Son of Man came from, after all, He was a Jew. But it adds the actuality of the life and times of Jesus, his life and that of His disciples and followers and the consequences of what it means to the faithful. It was prophesied in the Old Testament and longingly looked for and is just the bringing of the message of the Old Testament to live with love and hope.
The bottom line is this. If you want to put real purpose to your life and understand how it offers you a new and permanent life, you need to understand it, believe it and base it on faith. While there is plenty of evidence in support of the Truth, it only becomes real when you open your heart to the Spirit. And even if you don't believe, ti gives you a good basis for rule to live by with positive societal consequences and in doing so, it just might open your heart. It has been the basis for successful living for thousands of years, to think that mortal man has the answer from some other source is folly. Look at so much strife, turmoil, confusion and hate in the modern world and lifestyles that violate the laws of nature, nature created by God. The answer is clear.
Think about some of the most wonderful passages in it, like the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) and the Sermon on the Mount (Gospel of Matthew, Chapters 5-7). These are two very important passages in the Bible which provide rules to maintain social order and a guide to live by, showing kindness, decency and love to all. Let's look at them separately.
The Ten Commandments were given to Moses when he went up the mountain to meet with God. His people were in the wilderness at Mount Sinai and despite what he had done to lead them out of bondage, they were weak and faltered, creating a lack of commitment and doubt about the promised land. Moses was concerned and needed guidance and God gave it to him in tablet form and he left God to return to the valley below to tell his people that he now had God's Law. What did he find? He found them participating in lewd and lascivious behavior, they couldn't even control their urges for the few days he was gone. And so they wandered in the wilderness for forty years and Moses was on the cusp of entering the promised land when he died.
So, the Ten Commandments provided the formal Law with rules that were firm, yet they still violated them and many years later God realized that He had to do something more. Mortal man needed something to strengthen his resolve from weakness and God decided He had to give of Himself, offer up His only Son to save them. That brings us to the Sermon on the Mount, the most famous sermon of all time where Jesus put the human element to the Law. He added love, hope, and forgiveness and this sermon spelled it out with love being the primary element to use with the Law. Including both the Beatitudes and the Lord's prayer, it provided a methodology to update the law with the real reason for living with faith and provided the mechanism of forgiveness to maintain hope.
And this brings me to one other point which is critical, for I've heard many Christians, mostly younger, who say they devote their time to the New Testament which, of course, begins with Jesus and they are of the opinion that the Old Testament is just ancient history that only applies to those who follow Judaism. While it might be interesting, they see it is not of much consequence to believing in Jesus. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Old Testament gives us the foundation of where the Son of Man came from, after all, He was a Jew. But it adds the actuality of the life and times of Jesus, his life and that of His disciples and followers and the consequences of what it means to the faithful. It was prophesied in the Old Testament and longingly looked for and is just the bringing of the message of the Old Testament to live with love and hope.
The bottom line is this. If you want to put real purpose to your life and understand how it offers you a new and permanent life, you need to understand it, believe it and base it on faith. While there is plenty of evidence in support of the Truth, it only becomes real when you open your heart to the Spirit. And even if you don't believe, ti gives you a good basis for rule to live by with positive societal consequences and in doing so, it just might open your heart. It has been the basis for successful living for thousands of years, to think that mortal man has the answer from some other source is folly. Look at so much strife, turmoil, confusion and hate in the modern world and lifestyles that violate the laws of nature, nature created by God. The answer is clear.
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