Re: Reply to Mike
William T. Yates (yatesb@mugu.navy.mil)
Tue, 13 Aug 1996 16:49:12 -0700PMJAQUA@am.pnu.com wrote:
>
> To my query:
> >>What I'm not clear on is just what you consider "acts that are
> >>clearly proscribed". Could you provide some examples and the appropriate
> >>scriptural references?"
> Burgy wrote:
> >The answer to this is so clear I am puzzled by the question.
> >The classic "ten commandments" contain several examples, for instance. Or
> >are you looking for something different? If not, do you want to discuss
> >one or another of them? I'll pick -- just for grins, the last one.
>
> OK. The big ten sounds like a good start. Now the big question.
> Do they clearly proscribe actions in a manner valid for today's world?
> Let's look at some of them.
> 1) No other gods. Well this clearly eliminates any possibility of
> Hindus, Buddhists, Shintoists and many others being in a right relation to
> God. Are we all prepared to accept that?
> 2) Make no idols. Same point as 1.
> 3) Don't use the Lord's name in vain. What does this say about
> the "name it and claim it" crowd? Certainly they believe that they are
> being spiritual in their use of the phrase "in the name of Jesus", yet many
> make a good case that such practices are vain and trivializing uses of the
> Lord's name.
> 4) The Sabbath. How many of you stay away from work and go to
> worship on Saturday?
> 5) Honor parents. How clear is this? What about abusive parents,
> or parents that demand that you not be a Christian?
> 6) Don't murder. Pacifists would say that this proscribes killing
> in war of self defense.
> 7) Adultery. The Bible says that if you divorce and remarry
> you're committing adultery. Do we really hold to that?
> 8) Don't steal. What about those who steal to feed their family
> in times of hardship? Then there's the position that taxation and
> redistribution of wealth is a form of theft.
> 9) Don't lie. This commandment is of course held in the highest
> regard and there's no debate on it. And that's the truth.
> 10) Don't covet. Just for grins I'll leave this one alone.
>
> It appears that modern society is far too complex and varied for
> these old rules to provide *clear* guidance.
>
> Mike Jaqua
Actually, they provide rather clear guidance. We just like to
rationalize a lot.
-- --Bill Yates--wtyates@aol.com--wtyates@vcnet.com--yatesb@mugu.navy.mil--http://www.vcnet.com/wtyates/wtyates.html