Friday, July 29, 2016

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (2)


RECAP.  Laws that define sin.

The Ten Commandments are ten valuable laws given by our Creator God to reveal His way of life—His way of love. The Bible tells us that God Himself wrote them with His own finger on tablets of stone (Exodus 20:1; 31:18).

RESUME.  

4. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
The Sabbath day was made for man and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). It is about Sanctification and Relationship.

Note. God starts off the fourth Commandment with the word “Remember”. He knew we would forget it. God asks that we keep it set apart for Holy purposes so we can draw nearer to Him.

v The Jewish celebration of Sabbath (Shabbat) begins at sundown on Friday evening and lasts until sundown on Saturday. Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christians go to church on Sunday, treating it as the Lord’s Day instead of Saturday to honor the day Christ rose from the dead.
v Jesus Christ allowed works of necessity, charity and piety to be done on Sabbath day.
v The Sabbath day should be a day of rest from worldly labor. All works of luxury, vanity or self-indulgence in any form are forbidden.
v Trading, paying wages, settling accounts, writing letters of business, worldly studies, traveling, visits, journeys or light conversation are not in the spirit of keeping the Sabbath day holy.


5. Honor Thy Father and Mother

Respect for Parental authority. Families are the building blocks of societies that build strong nations. This commandment shows us from whom and how the fundamentals of respect and honor are most effectively learned. It guides us to know how to yield to others, how to properly submit to authority and how to accept the influence of mentors. Further, this commandment obliges the faithful to show respect for their parents — as children and adults. Children must obey their parents, and adults must respect and see to the care of their parents, when they become old and infirm.

6. Thou shalt not kill

Respect for Human life. The better translation from the Hebrew would be “Thou shalt not murder” — a subtle distinction but an important one to the Church. Killing an innocent person is considered murder. Killing an unjust aggressor to preserve your own life is still killing, but it isn’t considered murder or immoral.

v God asks us to demonstrate love and not hate towards others by not murdering.
v We must learn to control our tempers. Taking another person's life is not our right to decide.
v God is the giver of life and He alone has the authority to take it or to grant permission to take it.

v John wrote, “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” 1 John 3:15. 

                                             ….to be cont’d on Monday, August 1st


In Christ,



Playwright Janet Irene Thomas
Founder/CEO
Bible Stories Theatre of
Fine & Performing Arts

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