Thoughts on God's Law

God’s law, or the Law of Moses is a very interesting topic of debate. I have a hard time understanding why so many people believe that following the commands of God is the incorrect way to live. I understand that the majority belief is that men cannot keep the law of God. I do not agree with this, but, let’s just say for arguments sake that it is true and men in no way are able to keep the laws that were given by the Creator.

Psalm 119:7, 20, 30, 52, 160

I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws.

My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times.

I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws.

I remember, Lord, your ancient laws, and I find comfort in them.

All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal H5769

What we can see from this is that His Laws are righteous, the way of faithfulness, comforting, and eternal. The Hebrew word for eternal is `owlam H5769 and it literally means forever. This is the very same word that God uses when He tells Noah about never flooding the Earth again. Therefore, if we believe that He changed His mind about His people keeping His Law, we must also entertain the idea that He can change His mind about flooding the world again.

Genesis 9: 16

And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting H5769 covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

Just because we cannot keep His commandments and His given ways of life, does that mean we should avoid them altogether? Does that mean that we are able to create our own ideas for what living a godly life should look like? Does this mean that we can create our own, new definition for what sin is? The simple answer for all three of these questions is a resounding NO. God is the only one that can make the choice about what He considers Holy and unholy, righteous and unrighteous. He defines sin.

1 John 3:4

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

Deuteronomy 6: 25

And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”

Ezekiel 18:9

He follows my decrees and faithfully keeps my laws. That man is righteous; he will surely live, declares the Sovereign Lord.

Romans 2: 13

For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.

God shows us that His Law is righteous, and our following of it shows our righteousness. I am not claiming that the law makes us righteous however, but rather just sets us apart from the rest of the world.

Romans 3:20

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Based on verse 20 in Romans 3, we absolutely still need the law. How can we become conscious of our sin, if we don’t have the law as part of our daily life? As I said, I do not, in any way, believe that the law plays a role in our salvation, in terms of obeying it in order for salvation. However, I do believe that once we become Believers in the resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus), we should want to obey God’s Laws in order to show our love for Him.

1 John 5:2-3

This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome

As we can see, we are supposed to carry out the commands of God, the Father. In doing so, we are showing our love for not only His children, but also Him. These are just a few examples of why I have such a hard time understanding what people are preaching about the word of God.

I understand and agree with the FACT that no man has the ability to be saved by his works of the God given law. That is not what I am trying to say in terms of keeping and following the commands from the Father. What I do want to say is that God gave His people a set of laws, or instructions intended to guide their way of living. These instructions are the cheat sheet for living a perfect godly life. 

Therefore, even if we fall short from living them out perfectly, wouldn’t it mean that we would still

1. Have a closer relationship to the Father,

2. Be able to live a life set apart from the world as the New Testament tells us, and

3. Not looking like a bunch of hypocrites to non-believers?

I believe that if we try to follow Gods given instructions we will undoubtedly get closer to Him, and if and when we fall short, we will have GRACE to catch us. Think about it, God gave us His instructions because He wanted us to follow them and bask in the blessing that accompany them. When we, men, chose not to keep them and were doomed to the curses that come with failure to comply. Now the New Testament comes along and the Messiah saves His people from the curses that accompany not following God’s commands. Nowhere do we ever get told not to continue to follow these commands, but simply if we continue to try and fall short, we need not worry about suffering the curses for falling short.

1 John 2:1

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Let me rewrite this or at least give you my breakdown of this verse.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not break God’s Law. But if anyone does break God’s law, we have an advocate with the Father- Yeshua Ha Machiac, the Righteous One. So, we are supposed to try to keep the law, the best we can, in order to show our love to the Father, and to show that we are not of this world. We are His children and not partakers of fleshly desires. We are abstaining from the things God has declared unclean or unrighteous, and denying ourselves certain worldly pleasures. God’s Law is good, holy, and Righteous. Why would we ever want to deny it? In fact, Jesus IS the word of God, therefore, it seems likely that denying the Torah, or the law of God, is in fact denying Christ Himself. 

Christmas Story

Is Christmas day, December 25^th, the biblical birthday of Christ? If so, we should be able to prove it from scriptural evidence. If we cannot prove this with scripture, then what should we say about keeping that tradition? Would Christmas, if not found as commanded by God, then be considered a tradition or men?

If we are to believe that Christmas is the birth of Christ, then it is considered doctrine based on the definition of Doctrine according to Google definitions, “a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a church, political party, or other group.”

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “Christmas is the most popular of all festivals among Christians and many non-Christians alike, and its observance combines many strands of tradition. From the ancient Roman pagan festivals of Saturnalia (December 17) and New Year’s come the merrymaking and exchange of presents. Old Germanic midwinter customs have contributed the lighting of the Yule log and decorations with evergreens. The Christmas tree comes from medieval German mystery plays centered in representations of the Tree of Paradise (Genesis 2:9).”

Christ’s Biblical Birthday

Based on scriptural evidence, it seems that December 25^th is simply out of the questions. There are two main reasons that I say this. First of all, we are told that Joseph and Mary were heading Bethlehem to register for the census that was decreed by Emperor Augustus (Luke 2:1-5). To give a census during winter would have been asking for people to be unable to complete their registration due to poor traveling conditions. Basically a self-defeating decree.

Luke 2: 1-6

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.

The second reason I say Christ’s birthday could not have been during December is because the shepherds were still in the fields.

Luke 2: 8

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

The herds would freeze if they were still in the fields during the winter months. Normally, they are moved to warmer climates making many of the shepherds somewhat nomadic. In any case, keeping the flocks outside during the winter months, especially at night, would not have been sufficient due to the cold and lack of food opportunities.

Santa

Encyclopedia Britannica has this to say about Santa Clause. “Another popular medieval feast was that of St. Nicholas of Myra (c. 340) on December 6, when the saint was believed to visit children with admonitions and gifts, in preparation for the gift of the Christ Child at Christmas. Through the Dutch the tradition of St. Nicholas (Sinterklaas, hence “Santa Claus”) was brought to America in their colony of New Amsterdam, now New York. The sending of greeting cards at Christmas began in Britain in the 1840s and was introduced to the United States in the 1870s.”

Christmas ham

The Christmas ham is directly linked to the ancient pagan god Freyr. Originally, it was known as the Yule ham and was given to this god as tribute. Aside from this fact that this “christian” tradition is directly associated with paganism, the even bigger issue I have is that fact that this particular animal has always been considered unclean to the God of the Bible (Deuteronomy 14:8, Leviticus 11:7). But, for arguments sake, let’s say it is no longer unclean. Even still, the Old Testament states in several passages that swine is not for eating. So, why would we celebrate our God by eating a meat that He, at least at one time, considered to be unclean? We are never commanded to eat this animal in honor of Him, but rather we are told to avoid worshiping Him in similar ways as pagans worship their gods (Deuteronomy 12: 31).

Conclusion

I completely understand how difficult it may be to give up Christmas, especially if you have small children. I too struggle with this issue. I was raised to celebrate Christmas and I have many, many, fond memories from my childhood that revolved around this day.

Proverbs 22: 6

Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.

Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

Mark 13: 13

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

The word all is translated from the Greek word pas and it can literally be translated as every man. Therefore, isn’t it funny that so many people absolutely love Christmas? Even non-believers celebrate this particular holiday. Doesn’t that seem to defy what the Messiah’s words indicated?

I find it absolutely amazing that almost every aspect of what we call Christmas seems to violate the commands of God. But to take it even further think of it this way. Christ said that the world would hate His people because of Him. If this is the case, and Christmas was really about Him, do you really think the world would love it so much? Before you start saying that not everyone loves Christmas that much consider this. Christmas sales annually make up to 60% of retail sales during the last three months of the year.

I still plan to add more including the following

Christmas tree

Lights and decorations

Gift giving

Yule

Elves