Christians today are divided along the lines of the Old Law recorded in the Old Testament, and the New Law recorded in the New Testament. The majority of lay persons regard the Ten Commandments with reverence, as do the majority of Churches. How does today’s Church decide whether to follow the law or to trust in the saving Faith of God’s Grace as presented in the New Testament? J. Daniel Hays provides a framework in his essay “Applying the Old Testament Law Today”.…
23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” 25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”…
The essay, Applying the Old Testament Law today, written by J. Daniel Hays reveals an intriguing perception of the Old Testament Law and its application by today’s Christian Church. The author identifies the fact that the Old Testament Law although valuable and necessary for the Israeli nation seems a bit out of place applied to the Christian Church. [1] Initially, He identifies at least a foundational understanding of the existence of laws which Christians may constantly break. Yet, it generally seems that the author is only giving the minimum amount of information needed to lead the reader into the arena of his subject matter. This does not initially seem threatening yet towards the middle of the article there is a statement that stirs some questions about the author’s understanding of scripture and his intentions.…
Mr. Hays made a strong argument about the Sabbath law and about people who goes to church on Sundays. He thinks that this law should be arbitrary to determine the law. Because of Jesus’ resurrection on the first day of the week and His continued appearances on the next few Sundays, Christians worship on Sundays. ( Matthew 28:1, John 20:26, Acts 2:1).…
According to the textbook, the definition of natural law is the expression of what a person knows in his or her own soul to be right or wrong. The Ten Commandments are a perfect way to apply natural law. A great Commandment to focus on when speaking of natural law is the 7th Commandment, “Thou shall not steal.” In the world that we live in today, I believe that this Commandment is often broken the most. About 75% of the people that rob or steal something feel an immediate guilt, whether they are stealing something very small or very large. The guilt that people feel in their conscience is not taught and is naturally inbred into your soul; This guilt is also called natural law. A good example of how natural law affects a person is the…
Genesis 12:2- “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.…
The Sabbath celebration is a day of rest and worship of god. A day of religious observance and abstinence from work, kept by Jews from Friday evening to Saturday evening, and by most Christians on Sunday. It encourages one to designate one day in their lives to appreciate God and all that they have.…
Some who call themselves “evangelicals” argue that since the New Testament does not directly address the matter, we should not be dogmatic about it. They say that it is a “difficult moral issue,” where we need to allow room to differ and not impose our personal views on others. Many evangelical pastors refrain from speaking on the subject because it is controversial and potentially divisive. And many pastors dodge it because they have drifted from the Bible as the source of absolute moral truth.…
Focusing on Christianity, I believe and understand that Jesus is the Lord of Sabbath and God, Himself. Next, as Christians, we should look at progress in different aspects and try to make them workable within our systems. At last but not least, Christianity teaches love and communal growth as the fundamental factors to eternal peace. As Christians, we should therefore embrace one another and fight for the betterment at both individual and corporate levels as this is the last and the living commandment that we were given by God through his son Jesus.…
The first four commandments focus on the relationship between man and God. They command man to revere God and worship Him only. Further, the Sabbath day should be honored as the day a man focuses on their creator. On the other hand, the other six, focus on the relationship between man and another. The emphasis is that people should live harmoniously with one another, thus eliminating vices such as murder, stealing, disrespect, adultery, coveting and bearing false witnesses (Exodus 20, King James Version).…
According to Judaism 101 law 191 states “Not to sell a Hebrew servant as a slave”. Now in 2016 I can say a strong majority of countries can’t sell people into slavery. According to law 302 “That one who has raped a damsel and has then (in accordance with the law) married her, may not divorce her”. Honestly this law is kind of sad because this is saying if you have had sex with a girl before you married you have to stay with her forever. According to law 370 “To break the neck of the first ling of an ass if it is not redeemed” this mean to break a donkey’s child’s neck if it is not blessed. The difference between 613 laws and the 10 commandments is the 10 commandments are moral laws while the 613 laws are small laws the if you repent you’ll be forgiven by…
As with all great literary works, more content is often present than first meets the eye. The Book of Mormon is no exception. One such way that the Book of Mormon proves its literary worth is through the use of paradox. In fact, the Book of Mormon uses paradox strategically to help the reader further ponder the meaning of the scriptures in his or her life, and thus discover statements of deeper doctrine.…
The general argument made by Franz Kafka in his work, “The Parable of the Law,” is that access to the law is something which most individuals cannot attain within their lifetime. More specifically, he argues that every commoner is like the countryman, desiring to somehow gain entry into a realm which is purposely restricted to elite members of society. Every gate into this area is fortified by a doorkeeper who serves as a mere obstacle to the persistent desires of the “countryman.” The sole purpose of the doorkeeper is to discourage an individual from accessing the law by providing him with a pessimistic outlook of ever achieving his desire. Kafka writes, “from hall to hall there is one doorkeeper after another, each more powerful than the last. The third doorkeeper is already so terrible that even I cannot bear to look at him.” In this passage, Kafka is suggesting that there is a hierarchal nature to the legislative process which makes it difficult for any commoner to attain access to higher forms of authority. At these levels, there are increasing obstacles which make an individual’s journey to the top highly improbable. Moreover, this fortified area has enigmas which are vital to its existence. By keeping the population ignorant toward the procedures and methods of its operation, it can easily manipulate them into believing exactly what they tell them. For example, the countryman never asks the doorkeeper why he is being shun from the inside and instead asks him when he will be able to try again. The doorkeeper gives him this false optimism so that he does not begin to ask questions about the nature of the proceedings within the area. Instead, the countryman becomes old and never loses his respectful approach toward the doorkeeper, remaining hopeful that someday he will be given access. The psychological approach from the doorkeeper keeps the man subordinate. In conclusion, the author’s belief is that…
During the ages there have been people who have said The Bible is false and have tried to do everything to prove it. We have had people who tried to say that Adam an Eve never walked the Earth to Jesus Christ was not the Messiah so it wouldn’t be surprise that the Code of Hammurabi is an ancestor to the Mosaic laws. The civil laws in the Old Testament that were given by God to Moses known as the Mosaic Laws were not isolated. Many people debate the similarities between the Mosaic laws and other ancient codes of law such as the Code of Hammurabi. I agree with it as I agree with The Animal Planet article I read that we were once mermaids.…
Thousands of years ago, God presented the Ten Commandments to Moses on the top of Mount Sanai. These commandments are very well known and widely accepted, but these were not the only commandments given to Moses by God. When Moses wrote down all of the commandments to create a rough draft of what would become the Torah, he logged all 613 mitzvot (commandments) that the Jewish people should follow—they became laws for the Jewish community to live by. The Jewish population follows these rules because they come directly from God and they are very important in order to live a healthy physical and spiritual life. The role of law in Judaism is that if all of them are followed correctly, then they will dictate any and all actions that one may take from when they are born until when they die.…