God's Law
Sorry it's taken a couple of days to get to this blog. I have to admit, this is a toughie. Hmm... first I've got to figure out even HOW to brainstorm on this topic. I'll just write what I've been thinking for the past couple of days.
In order to truly understand why God gave us (specifically the Jews) the Law in the first place, we have to understand God, right? I mean, if the Law was given by God, then it's a reflection of God. In general, laws are a reflection of the "law-givers". Spanish laws reflect Spanish culture & leaders, Iranian laws reflect Iranian culture & leaders. When the leaders & culture change, the law changes. (However, God's character doesn't change, so what's in the Law doesn't change.)
How can we describe God's character? Perfection, Love, Goodness. There are also other attributes that demonstrate God's abilities: He is the giver of life, all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful, ever-living (eternal). Anything else I missed?
So then, if the Law is a reflection of who God is, then the Law must be a reflection of perfection, a reflection of love, a reflection of goodness. So why do we hate the Law? Because we can't match up to it. No matter how hard we try, we don't love perfectly, we don't always do what is good, and therefore we aren't perfect.
Why are we this way? It has been understood by the Jews that what the parents do affects future generations. Because of Adam and Eve, the scales were tipped and we gained a tendency to sin. However, God didn't give up on humanity at that point. His love for us was so great, that instead of destroying us, He planned on restoring us.
Why would He have to restore us? I'll save that for the next blog. But until then, why do you think God would have to restore us? Why not leave us the way we are?
I'd love to hear your honest feedback on all this because I'd like to try to anticipate some questions people might have in the back of their minds when I discuss this on Sunday. Are there things in this blog you think others might have a problem with? Anything unclear or missed?
I know, I'm giving a lot of questions... but I sooo want to help others truly understand what the Law really is. Thanks for your help! :)
Labels: Theology
posted by Heather R. at 7/14/2006 02:07:00 PM
8 Comments:
good point. i liek it.^.^
welcome back by the way i haven't heard from you ina while.
hmm... another idea of why god might give us law... because he wants us to better ourselves, which we can only do through him. we have to be like him, its somethign we are supposed to strive to do. even people p[[psed to jesus try to be god like, but they try and be god like by differnt means and with differnet ways, usign teh power instead of the love.
back to the point...
when you lvoe someone, you want the best for them, and god gives us rules so that we can have the best, becuase he loves us and will bless those who folow him and listen to what he says to do.
7/15/2006 12:17 AM
he he, sorry about the lat post. typing on a different keyboard, and i made a lot more mistakes.^.^
7/15/2006 12:18 AM
GF, yeah, God gave us the written Law (10 commandments to Moses, and later on even more laws) after Adam and Eve already sinned, and we can't follow the Law perfectly. So what other reasons did God give the Law? (Again this is all brainstorming for all of us, so I'd like to hear your ideas).
And good point about how sin has been transforming the world, making it more corrupted from where it ought to have been. Now I'll post about love and goodness (and defining what "evil" is as well).
7/15/2006 4:17 PM
WB, tat's ok. eye cud undrstand ur lat pothst. ;)
Yeah, we're striving to be like God, but for all the times when we go against Him, even on purpose (I admit there have been times in my life where I've done something while knowing it was wrong, and later felt very badly about it), when we truly turn away from what we did, that sin is nailed to the cross.
Here's one story I was thinking about using tomorrow... tell me what you all think about it. (It's not my original story... I got it from somewhere else:
There once was a guy named Emanon (nonamE backwards). He wasn't very bright at all, but he didn't know it. All his friends, parents, teachers, and everyone decided to act as if Emanon was a true perfect genius. He was never given any standards to match up to. People never told him what he did wrong... only what he did right, so he got all A's (he never lost any points on an exam for getting the wrong answer) and was valedictorian. He went on to college but everyone knew he really didn't match up to the Einstein people around him. Finally, someone got tired of the game of deception and just told Emanon that he really didn't have perfect the intelligence that he thought he had.
Now let's discuss this story. Emanon didn't know of the standard of perfection. But because nobody told him that he was wrong in anything, he kept believing that he was perfect. Nobody presented him with a "standard" until the person at the end.
Who do you think did the loving thing: the deceivers or the person who finally told the truth?
This story is also open-ended... after finding out that he wasn't really as smart as he thought, what should he do then? In reality, what would he probably do?
Any other questions for discussion you'd add to this?
7/15/2006 4:43 PM
GF, I totally agree with you. And without having a standard to compare himself with, how could he improve?
And this is one of the things Jesus did... He came to earth to show us the way. And now, because of our love for him, we can strive to be more like him. (And I think love's got to be set in place first before trying to follow in his footsteps... otherwise the footsteps only appear as a "rule book" instead of having the picture of an apprentice following the master.)
7/17/2006 12:48 PM
i agree with both of you.^.^ i love this!! lol
when can we expect another blog post??? i've been patiently waiting. ^.^
7/17/2006 1:32 PM
hehe. I'll post a new one this evening! promise!
*Heather goes and pats WB on the head*
thanks for being so patient! ;)
7/17/2006 6:49 PM
*Heather pats GF on the head too* ;D
7/17/2006 7:30 PM
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