Subject: Love for all, judge not anyone |
Bible Note: Shalom Kamschoolgrad, Well, here I am, getting myself into trouble again here, but I have to agree for the most part with your dilemma. We love to quote the "Ten Commandments" and then weekly come up with excuses why we don't observe Shabbat. Just because the Jews didn't observe it properly is not a good reason that we shouldn't at least try. (I find it a joy.) Jesus observed Sabbath. Eating according to what is written in the Bible is not difficult (all the man-made dietary laws probably are - but the Bible only has about 2 pages of do's and don't's and those are not too hard). Jesus observed God's dietary dictates. Now, some of the death penalty situations - the only thing I can state there is that as individuals we MUST abide by our city, state, and country laws even when they seem to go against the written judgments of God. (We must believe that God put these lawmakers into office for His own good reasons.) We cannot become a society of vigilantes. That would be as bad as the civil laws being totally wrong. Even the Jews, way back before Jesus walked the earth had come to the conclusion that one man in 70 years put to death was too many - so we (Christians) are not the only ones who think we know better than God in some cases!! :o) So, for those areas that we cannot take into our own hands - just pray, and pray about the situations - we can do nothing else. As far as things that we, as individuals, can do to obey God's judgments, I believe that we should. We are to be disciples of Jesus and one of the main things a disciple is expected to do is to DO what and as the Master does/did. A disciple talks like his Master, thinks like his Master, acts like his Master, reads what his Master reads, loves what his Master loves and hates what his Master hates. (Most Christians do this.) The only real answer I can tell you to give these friends of yours is to never mind what others do or don't do, if they believe that they are being led of the Spirit to obey God's commands (that is, the ones they can legally do) they should. If the Spirit is not leading them, then they should not, because it would just become legalistic "works" that benefit nothing. For the most part, I believe Christians do obey the majority of God's statutes and judgments when they simply keep Jesus the focus of their lives - the Holy Spirit is NOT going to lead them astray!! So, Sunday, ham, man-made observances over God-ordained feasts is not really the issue - it's Who dwells within, Who guides you in your decisions. Sorry I couldn't help more in the death-sentence areas. Maybe someone else can...:o) Cheri |