The Perfect Law of God

[Brickjectivity]

The first stone commandment is "I am the LORD thy God." I think this is a commandment. It is not a declarative statement. Again, it is not a declarative but an imperative sentence. It is something to obey, not something to inform. The term 'God' here implies justice and invokes all the mitzvot including the challenge to judge fairly. It appears one cannot keep the commandments without keeping mitzvot.

 

[Ron Hackel]

None of the laws HAVE TO KEPT. God is unconditional love. Unconditional means there are NO conditions that have to be met. BUT, God as a loving God gave advice on how to live a happy life. If you don't keep the commandments your life will not be as fulfilled as it would if you had kept them.

Now you'll say like most Christians that they are commandments and not just advice. The Jews asked for a pagan god at Mount Sinai. God simply kept his part of the covenant. He said he would be their god. They chose and he obliged. He came down on Mount Sinai and scared the crap out of the Jews like a pagan god. He shouted down commandments with the penalty being death if they didn't toe the line. The Christian church worships this god and it is not a true picture of his character. Read DEUTERONOMY 18 :15-18 and you'll see that Jesus had to come to show the true picture of God.

The Mount Sinai god was a pagan god (a man made god-and I stress MAN). Think of some of the laws he gave the Jews. If a girl was caught having sex before marriage she was to be stoned to death. If a boy committed RAPE he had to pay the girl's father 50 shekels of silver. Aaron and Miriam complained that they should have a leadership role. Miriam had leprosy for a week, BUT nothing was done to Aaron. Sound like a male dominated society?

Almost everything the Mount Sinai god said was refuted by God's prophets (Peter said the prophets said nothing of their own will but were carried along by the Spirit) or Jesus. The Mount Sinai god allowed the MEN to divorce their wives-Jesus said NO. Mount Sinai god said life for life-Jesus said NO. God said through the prophet Ezekiel:

EZEKIEL 20 : 25 "I also gave them over to statutes that were not good and laws they could not live by."

Here is what the Mount Sinai god said about sacrificing to him:
LEVITICUS 1 : 3-10 "If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he is to offer a male without defect................He is to slaughter a young bull...........If the offering is a from the flock, from either the sheep or goats burnt offering"
LEVITICUS 2 : 1 "When someone brings a grain offering to the Lord, his offering is to be fine flour"

Here is what God said about this through the mouth of his prophet:

ISAIAH 66 : 3 "But whoever sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a man, and whoever offers a lamb, like one who breaks a dog's neck (basically hurts your pet); whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig's blood and whoever burns memorial incense, like one who worships an idol."

Jesus said his words were Spirit and that the flesh counted for nothing. When he said he was going to destroy the temple and rebuild in 3 days the Jews took him literally. They used man's definition (flesh). He of course meant his body. Everything said through the Spirit is truth. The prophets, Jesus and the disciples(given at Pentecost) had the Spirit. DON'T use our definitions for words in understanding the Bible. Our definition of righteous is a moral life. In Scripture Rahab the career prostitute is called righteous(James 2:25). Lot who was going to throw his two virgin daughters out to be raped by a sex crazed mob was called righteous(2Peter2:7) Abraham fathered children by 5 different women. He was married to two. All TRUSTED IN GOD though. Here is what Paul said about the 10 Commandments:

2 CORINTHIANS 3 : 9 "If the ministry that CONDEMNS men (Mount Sinai god) is glorious (gave us the perfect way to interact), how much more glorious is the the ministry that brings righteousness!"

It brings trust in God because it is a reflection of his character, He kills no one!

 

[Hawkins]

Question. If the Law of God is perfect, as Psalms 19:7 says, where is giving in the law?

Law is never given in, as it's never a necessity to give in the Law.

God has an absolute set of Law for the judgment of both humans and angels. Satan and Adam broke this set of Law. Since then humans are living in a realm Satan has a deep influence. It is proven through Adam till Noah that when humans are put in such a realm they can't abide by God's Law. It means when judged by God's absolute set of Law, no humans are savable. Earth originally is intended as "God's field for the harvesting of human souls", that is, earth is for God to produce humans to be brought to an eternal realm we call heaven. His this purpose is defeated when can no longer produce humans who can go passing the final judgment to enter heaven. When this sole purpose of earth is defeated, earth shall be destroyed. This is the story of Noah.

On the other hand, if earth is destroyed it signifies that God's plan has failed and Satan wins. However it's not yet, God introduced the series of covenants by the blood of Christ to be shed. Generally speaking, the purpose of Law (any set of them such as Mosaic Law) is to serve the purpose of identifying the righteous from the wicked. If it's this purpose is defeated, that is, under this set of Law that no humans can be saved, then it's about time for a newer covenant to be signed off. When the absolute set of Law of God can no longer save the righteous, God grants a covenant with a set of Law capable of identifying the righteous such as Noah and his family. This set of Law come with Noah's covenant remains to be our conscience and moral code embedded in our hearts. It is called God's Law written in our hearts.

God then grants another set of Law (Mosaic Law) to the Jews. It's a written set of Law which makes it easier for the Jews to follow. It by no means says that the Jews no longer need to follow their conscience to act. The Mosaic Law is added upon humans' conscience. That is to say, the Law embedded in a previous covenant doesn't simply go away. This previous Law may not save you (efficiently) though. Similarly, when New Covenant is accepted by a Christian, it by no means says that he doesn't need to follow conscience and moral code to act. It only means that under the circumstance that he can no longer rely on the older covenant to be saved, he can now choose to be under the protection of the New Covenant.

Matthew 5:17 (NIV2011)
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.