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NASB | Exodus 20:1 Then God spoke all these words, saying, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Exodus 20:1 Then God spoke all these words: |
Subject: Murder vs Killing |
Bible Note: Greetings, Doc, Val, John, Rolff and Jeff, My boyfriend and I have spent the last few days studying your answers. Frankly, we have been struggling to comprehend your rationale. Jeff, you said "context, context, context and then context." This is exactly what we did. We deliberately consider the context. Reading carefully the book of Deuteronomy, the true context is obvious. God is establishing standards for true prosperity. He has delivered His people from the bondage of Egypt and is setting them up as a model society. A model society for the world to witness the blessings available to those who live their lives as God has commanded. He promises them tremendous blessings if they would merely follow His commands. In Deut 12:32, He says do not add to nor diminish from any of His commands. There can be no misinterpretation of this directive. As John answered by quoting Deut 32:4, His work is perfect, For all His ways are just. Psalm 111:7-10, says that He has commanded His covenant forever. The context is obvious. God does everything right and it lasts forever. Nothing is temporary. The context cannot be misunderstood. God is eternal and does not change. Ecc 3:14, Whatever God does shall be forever; nothing can be added or taken from it. The context is an unchanging God commanding that You Shall Not Commit Murder, Deut 5:17, and then He commands the killing of a dissenting family member in Deut 13:9-10. Further, in Deut 11:32, "And you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgements which I set before you today." If God wanted some of His commands to become obsolete and outdated, as you seem to feel, don't you think He would not have been so adamant about them being established forever? The true meaning is the true context of what God intended. Who are we to change what God has done? Who are we to say that God commanded Do Not Murder as being forever but Kill Your Dissenting Brother as being only temporary? Doc answered that God provides the standard for our morality, commanding us as He sees fit. He has commanded us not to commit murder and we all accept it. He has commanded us to kill our dissenting brother, but here we all object, doubting that God knows best. Val answered that it is God's character, holy, pure, righteous, just and eternal, however God was only speaking to the nation of Israel, not to my family. That is hard to swallow since we are all children of God. How can you explain that God made everything perfect and just, pure and righteous, holy and eternal for the children of Israel, but the rest of His children are given different standards? If God was speaking only to the children of Israel then why did Jesus teach us Christians that heaven and earth must pass away before any part of God's law fails? The context of Deuteronomy is God was outlining the parameters for a model society where blessings would abound if all of His commands were adhered to. Rolff answered that "if we could understand God, He would not be God." How is this not totally against Christianity? If we can't understand God, how are we to understand salvation? We all presume to understand God when He says Do not commit murder, but then you claim we can't understand God when He commands us to kill our dissenting brother. Why should it be anything different then just what He says? Why is "Do Not Commit Murder" applicable to all of God's children, but "Kill Your Dissenting Brother" only applicable to the children of Israel? God has made it easy to understand, we just don't want to accept what we must do, do we? The tragedy is that if Rolff is right and we really can't understand God, then how are we to share our faith? kamschoolgrad |