As with everything, we need to look at the scriptures in their whole context and not just certain parts that agree with what we currently believe or want to believe. Family planning is no different.
First, let's consider God himself. He planned a family. In the very beginning He chose to only clone himself once. Just one son. He then created everything else through that son. He said it, and his son obeyed.
Fast forward, and God decides he would like many sons to help him rule his ever-expanding universe. He saw that not everybody agreed with his way. (I'm speaking of the rebels, the fallen ones who once served him as created angels.) So, he and his son discuss this and realize that if God simply clones himself some more that it wouldn't really be fair, because being his clones they'd naturally have his mind (not to say they'd all have the same favorite color or the same exact ideas for things, but they'd be in agreement with him on what was right and wrong, they'd be "one" with him in this way). God is what he is, and to be that kind, you do as God believes is right. Since God and the Firstborn saw that not everyone agrees that God's way is the best way and wishes to be under his authority, they made a plan at the beginning (not the very beginning, but this beginning to which I'm referring here is the beginning of the world that now is) so that the candidates to be sons of God would have a choice to choose his way or reject it.
Now, of course some may say it's not ethical to have put us here like this and suffer, etc., but God decided that it's what He wanted to do, and that's his business. What are we going to do about it? We are the creation, he is the Creator. At least it's TEMPORARY. So, if we do not like his way, then we can die and not be bothered ever again. He will destroy the spirits of those who do not choose his way so that they can never be resurrected again. Between the two choices, God apparently liked this one better than having immortal Sons throughout eternity and having to wonder whether some of them, if given the choice, would have not willingly put themselves under his authority. I personally agree with his ethical decision. As bad as it sounds, it sounds worse to me to force clone myself so that I have sons to help me run the busy universe, knowing some of those sons might not have willingly submitted to my authority.
Now, God did set a time limit on his reproduction. Of course, the less time, the less sons. He'll have a lot of sons, though, but he has a mind-boggling size universe to run. A few thousand years is really a short plan for someone who has been around for who-knows-how-long…mind-boggling in itself. Have you noticed, though, that the older you get, the quicker time seems to fly by? Now, put that on God's scale. A few thousand years must seem like what days seem to us.
Anyway, he did PLAN a family. It was carefully and wisely planned, and the Firstborn, of course loving his Father so much, agreed to be a sacrifice (that's what firstborns are good for…sacrificial love for their younger siblings). He would be given all the power so that he could triumph over sin, but he still would have all the temptations the rest of us have. He would have a choice.
Now on to human family planning.
Let's look at the most-looked-at scriptures concerning both sides of the issue, and based on this is how I formed my own opinion, which is balanced and not to either extreme (that children are terrible wretches to be avoided or that we should try to have as many children as possible).
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. ~Gen. 1:28 (see also Gen. 9:1).
The earth obviously was not filled in these two cases and needed to be replenished. Today the earth has nearly seven billion people. In my opinion, it could hold many more, if a few things changed, but I won't get into that deeply right now. The way people are doing now, the earth is being overtaxed of its resources and being poisoned by its own children. So, in my opinion, it's not a good time to multiply. Maybe add. But multiplying is a bad idea, until people get their problems lined out (in my opinion, that means follow God's Law). This earth is a physical planet, and its children have physical bodies. Physical means there must be death and recycling, or otherwise you get overpopulated. If the earth truly did get full to the brim, the Creator would have to come destroy or to save…or both.
The earth is the mother that God used to produce children. A man's sperm is a type of God's Spirit. A woman's womb is a type of in the earth. Just as the earth can be overburdened by the children she both bears and nourishes, a woman's body can be overburdened by having too many children or by having even one or a few children if her body is in poor condition for some reason (the earth is currently in ever-worsening condition, so polluted and robbed of its bodily resources).
A man is a type of God. The man has ownership over his wife, his children, his livestock, his lands, his material assets. His name is put on all those things. He should have a wise plan. He should not take on more wives than he can support (financially, sexually, living space, etc. (Ex. 21:10). It should go without saying that he should use the same principle for children, livestock, lands, horses (cars, trucks, etc.), and other material assets. The question should be, "Can I afford to take on this debt?" Also, "Can I afford this much time for this many wives and children?"
If God so carefully and wisely made a plan (explained by the meaning of the seven annual feasts), then why should we not plan? God may not know exactly how many children he will have, but it's probably safe to say that he had a minimum and maximum in mind, and with his mathematical genius, he's sure to get within the range he desires with his plan. By the time he gets to the sixth step in his plan (which goes into action during the thousand-year-reign of the sons of God on earth), the possibilities start narrowing. The further candidates will be among whomever is born of humans during on thousand years, and then afterward in the seventh and last step of his plan (during the "Great White Throne Judgement" period) all those who had not been called to the truth in their first life time. We know that not all choose the truth after having their eyes opened to it. Some do not like to do it God's way, just as some children do not like to do their human parents' way.
We know that some throughout the ages have not even been able to bear children, and so of course the command to be fruitful is irrelevant to them. Some also choose not to marry, and of course that command is irrelevant to them. Nor is it wrong for a person not to marry. It is especially beneficial for some not to marry, if they have a special calling. It could be viewed by some that refusing to get married is evading having children, but we know that choosing not to marry is fine. Paul explains this more in his first letter to Corinth (found in chapter seven). Solomon said that a man who marries a wife has done a good thing. So, we see a balanced view. Some marry, some don't, and both choices are fine, as long as the reasons are right in heart. There are some reasons that would not be right. Of course one must be in keeping with the Law of Love.
So, what about married couples who can bear children? Lets' look at the Onan incident:
And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. ~Gen. 38:9
Onan married his dead brother's wife so that he could carry on his father's line in his brother's stead. Er had not yet had a firstborn son by his wife Tamar before he died. This is the reason why Onan was put to death by God. It wasn't simply that he did not want to reproduce. He knew the seed would not be his. He wanted all his seed to be his. Perhaps he would have given seed to Tamar for his brother later, but only after he had married another wife and had his own firstborn for himself. We don't know. Regardless, he was being selfish. He had the wrong heart, the wrong mindset.
There is an interesting tidbit, though, to this. According to the book of Jasher, Er was also struck dead by God because he spilled his seed. If this is accurate, then the question might be why did God strike him down, since he was Tamar's first husband. It's still a matter of refusing to bear a firstborn son to carry on the line of Judah. If a man never has a son, his name will not be carried on. The family name may be carried by a brother, if that man has a brother, but you can't count on that happening. Now it could be that in this case, it was more important to God that someone carried on Judah's line than perhaps just anybody who did this. God may have already decided at this point that Christ would be born through his line. Perhaps it was known way in advance, and perhaps the enemy knew as well. I have meditated on this in the past, and I find it interesting that of three brothers, none planted seed in Tamar. The first two died, and then Judah refused for his son Shelah to take Tamar. It's ironic that Judah himself planted seed in Tamar in order to continue the line. Of course, how it happened is even stranger. But, the reason I've meditated on it so much is because that was the line through whom Christ eventually came.
Most men who buy a piece of land will plant upon it (husbandry). So it is with wives. It is rather strange not to want to bear fruit from your piece of earth (wife).
However, there issues that must be considered. Does a man, after taking a property, have the finances to sow and bear fruit? You must take care of the plants (children). Some men indeed just want to buy a piece of land just to enjoy being on it. He does not have any intention of planting a vineyard or field or orchard. Perhaps a man considers that he does not have what it takes to be a proper father, but his sexual desire is strong, and he wishes not to sin; or he does not want to be lonely, so he takes a wife.
Perhaps the man, his land, or both have certain problems. For example, the land is too rocky for planting, but it's a nice place for peace and quiet. Or maybe the man is lame and so cannot do any sowing. A man or woman may have infertility problems, or they may have serious genetic errors that they would pass on to their children (or perhaps already have, and they do not wish to continue to do so). Maybe they have bad family histories, and so there are curses that live on in the DNA. Or perhaps a woman has a medical problem that makes it dangerous to maintain a pregnancy or makes birth dangerous, and she and/or her husband does not want to take the risk.
Maybe the man doesn't have room to store very many fruits. So, maybe a man does not have much room for many children.
There are all sorts of issues to take into consideration.
My personal take is that we should have balance. I think it's wrong for humans to abort a child or enforce sterilization upon women. But, I also don't think it's wise to act like one is in a competition to see how many children he or she can have. Land needs rest, and it's commanded by the Law. A woman's body needs rest, too. God put special mechanisms into place for proper child spacing, but it doesn't work with an increasing number of women (at least in our part of the world). Lactation should keep the menstrual cycle away for a year or two (sometimes more), but if a woman has high estrogen levels or is overweight (probably also due to high estrogen, as excess is stored in fat), it may come back sooner. There are also other factors, I know, like nursing frequency and night nursing, and perhaps others of which I'm not aware. I don't have all the answers. But, it's common for women who have several children close together to have health problems, even fatalities due to pregnancy or childbirth complications, as well as premature births. It also carries a higher risk of postpartum depression, because of so many young children close in age.
I am personally against surgical contraception, except in extreme cases (health-related, for example). I also am very anti- birth control pills, because they cause too many abnormal changes in body chemistry, and because they are just that--birth control pills. The conception control is good for seventy-something percent, maybe eighty-percent. The other twenty-eight to twenty-nine or more percent is birth control, meaning that if the woman conceives, the newly conceived human being is aborted, because it cannot implant in the hormonally-changed uterus. There are other forms of contraception that I'm against, and then there are some that I am pretty neutral on, partly because I lack knowledge about some of them.
I also believe that if a woman wants more children, but her husband does not want to sow there, she should respect that. He's the husbandman; she's the earth/land. She doesn't own him; he owns her.
I know there's the argument that one should trust God with the number of children, and on the surface of this, I agree. However, there is the issue of blind faith. More specifically, if one is knowledgeable of risks such as genetic issues, other health problems, financial trouble, disagreement by spouse on the childbearing viewpoint, etc., then heading full force into planning another child without careful consideration is an act of blind faith. Yes, God can tend to health problems, financial problems, and other issues, but that doesn't mean we should tempt Him, either. We are warned in the scriptures not to do so, and doing so could come back to bite us in a rather hurtful way. This doesn't necessarily mean someone should be cut so that they almost surely will not have a child, but it means that I think a person should use wisdom and discretion in certain circumstances, just be a little cautious. If one is using a certain contraception method such as natural family planning or condoms, then that shows a cautious approach but still gives a chance for a child and for God to work. He knows when a person yearns for another child but knows it may not be wise to have one at the time. I think true trust is being wise and knowing that God can work in one's favor if he so desires, without one trying hard to make something happen even when there's great risk involved. There's Psalm 127:1-5. And indeed what it says is true. Of course, it must be taken within the context of the whole bible and as a general statement. Just because one cannot have a child does not mean God has cursed him or her. Also, a child is not always a blessing. A child, even when brought up in a Godly home, can become an evil wretch who hates God's way. Children, in general, are a blessing, but those with twenty children are not necessarily more favored by God than the couple who cannot have children. Sometimes God will help a previously infertile woman go on to have a child, as he did for Hannah, Samuel's mother. But, sometimes God will not open a woman's womb, and it's not always because she's not favored by him (though other times that is indeed the case).
Of course, everything has a certain amount of risk, and we do have free will. This takes me to my last point. Just as God decided to enact the plan of making man in his image for the purpose of reproducing more Sons, a father and mother decides their family plan (hopefully within God's will, which wouldn't include selective abortion), and the child cannot say to his or her parents, "You had no right to conceive me and bring me into this horrible world of suffering." We all know before we decide to have children that it's a horrible world, and indeed a time will come when it will not be wise at all to be planning children (Matt. 24:19), but we have the right to bring them into this world for our purpose, in hoping they will be wonderful additions to the family line (and in the bigger picture that they will choose to be Sons of God once they are called, whether in this lifetime or during the GWT Judgment).
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Alien Invaders!
Space invaders! Alien invaders! Alien shooters! It seems we're constantly bombarded with these messages. The more the message is conveyed, the more deluded people become, and then even more the message is repeated. This message is marketed to both adults and children in the form of movies, cartoons, video games, and even comparative phrases such as the one I saw in a recent Mercola wellness newsletter that stated, "Most doctors attack chronic illnesses as if they're an alien invader."
My sons watch Davey and Goliath cartoons that I bought on dvd. For the most part, I really like those cartoons, because they instill Godly values in my children's minds. There are a few things I've seen that I don't like. An anti-alien stance on one episode is one such thing. The main theme of the episode is great and teaches that helping others in need is the right thing to do. However, at the end Davey and another two boys are about to go watch a movie in the theater, called "Boy in Space." Goliath, Davey's loyal dog, had to stay outside the theater to wait. Davey told him that he could keep a watch out for spaceships. Upon asking what to do if he saw one, Davey replied, "Bite it!"
My son got my permission to play some demo games on my laptop that I use for writing, especially when traveling. The games he'd been playing on there were fine. Well, I got out of the shower to hear rock music and shooting. I looked to see what Jaden was playing, and it was "Alien Shooters" or something like that. He was supposed to shoot the aliens. Although the aliens looked like some sort of creepy crawly things, I hated the music and hated that it was geared toward anti-outer space aliens.
My mother bought a Scooby-Doo video for the boys. I don't approve of such things, but I let them watch it and then vowed to discuss what they saw afterward and why it was wrong. One of the episodes included voodoo. The other episode was something about "alien invaders." Of course with Scooby-Doo, all the stuff turns out at the end to be staged. But, there it is again: an anti-outer space alien theme.
There is no shortage of movies where other intelligent lifeforms from the heavens are coming to invade or attack the earth's inhabitants. One such movie is "War of the Worlds," based on H.G. Wells' science fiction novel by the same name. That movie seemed eerily similar to some things foretold in the scriptures.
The problem with all these things is that they all paint the earth's inhabitants as the good guys and the aliens (foreign-to-earth aka "not of this world") as the bad guys. There's no doubt in my mind that Satan is working hard behind the scenes to deceive everyone into thinking that if they see spaceships coming to invade the earth, that they are enemies. And of course, that's partly true. The aliens will be the enemies to the inhabitants of this earth who are against them.
NASA and probably other space organizations are already talking about how to get ready to an alien attack, as well as how to shield the earth from such things as meteors and other catastrophic things that could be hurled toward this planet. Of course, as a biblically literate person I just want to laugh at their folly. They will no outdo the Most High God and His Captain of the Hosts, the Lord Jesus. If God wants to send a meteor or asteroid or some other destructive object to this earth to punish the residents thereof, nothing man can do will stop the object from hitting its target. And certainly nothing man and his armies can do against the armies of God and their captain will amount to anything.
The wicked of the earth will see the angels with the vial judgments as enemies and certainly will not repent of their misdeeds and high pride. They will run around with profanity spewing from their mouths.
Despite trying to wipe each other out, the West and the East, all the rulers of the earth and their armies will then come together to try to fight off the great prophesied alien invasion. They will be wiped out.
The scriptures speak:
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. ~Revelation 19:11-21
There's your alien invasion. Now, the question is, whose side are you on? The aliens, the ones not of this world, or the ones that do wickedly upon this earth? I personally plan to be with the "aliens" in body…my new spiritual body.
My sons watch Davey and Goliath cartoons that I bought on dvd. For the most part, I really like those cartoons, because they instill Godly values in my children's minds. There are a few things I've seen that I don't like. An anti-alien stance on one episode is one such thing. The main theme of the episode is great and teaches that helping others in need is the right thing to do. However, at the end Davey and another two boys are about to go watch a movie in the theater, called "Boy in Space." Goliath, Davey's loyal dog, had to stay outside the theater to wait. Davey told him that he could keep a watch out for spaceships. Upon asking what to do if he saw one, Davey replied, "Bite it!"
My son got my permission to play some demo games on my laptop that I use for writing, especially when traveling. The games he'd been playing on there were fine. Well, I got out of the shower to hear rock music and shooting. I looked to see what Jaden was playing, and it was "Alien Shooters" or something like that. He was supposed to shoot the aliens. Although the aliens looked like some sort of creepy crawly things, I hated the music and hated that it was geared toward anti-outer space aliens.
My mother bought a Scooby-Doo video for the boys. I don't approve of such things, but I let them watch it and then vowed to discuss what they saw afterward and why it was wrong. One of the episodes included voodoo. The other episode was something about "alien invaders." Of course with Scooby-Doo, all the stuff turns out at the end to be staged. But, there it is again: an anti-outer space alien theme.
There is no shortage of movies where other intelligent lifeforms from the heavens are coming to invade or attack the earth's inhabitants. One such movie is "War of the Worlds," based on H.G. Wells' science fiction novel by the same name. That movie seemed eerily similar to some things foretold in the scriptures.
The problem with all these things is that they all paint the earth's inhabitants as the good guys and the aliens (foreign-to-earth aka "not of this world") as the bad guys. There's no doubt in my mind that Satan is working hard behind the scenes to deceive everyone into thinking that if they see spaceships coming to invade the earth, that they are enemies. And of course, that's partly true. The aliens will be the enemies to the inhabitants of this earth who are against them.
NASA and probably other space organizations are already talking about how to get ready to an alien attack, as well as how to shield the earth from such things as meteors and other catastrophic things that could be hurled toward this planet. Of course, as a biblically literate person I just want to laugh at their folly. They will no outdo the Most High God and His Captain of the Hosts, the Lord Jesus. If God wants to send a meteor or asteroid or some other destructive object to this earth to punish the residents thereof, nothing man can do will stop the object from hitting its target. And certainly nothing man and his armies can do against the armies of God and their captain will amount to anything.
The wicked of the earth will see the angels with the vial judgments as enemies and certainly will not repent of their misdeeds and high pride. They will run around with profanity spewing from their mouths.
Despite trying to wipe each other out, the West and the East, all the rulers of the earth and their armies will then come together to try to fight off the great prophesied alien invasion. They will be wiped out.
The scriptures speak:
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. ~Revelation 19:11-21
There's your alien invasion. Now, the question is, whose side are you on? The aliens, the ones not of this world, or the ones that do wickedly upon this earth? I personally plan to be with the "aliens" in body…my new spiritual body.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Why I Don't Keep Thanksgiving
I no longer keep Thanksgiving. For nearly six years I have not kept Rome's heathen feasts that the Whore Catholic Church adopted and "Christianized." That would include January 1st, St. Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Halloween, and Christmas (those were the only ones I ever kept).
It was before the first Thanksgiving came around that I discovered that it too had heathen origins but was not like the others in that it wasn't adopted by the RCC but rather by the U.S. government. At the time I didn't fully let the Spirit of God alone lead me, and I relied too much on the elder whom baptized me. I told him what I'd discovered and mentioned a heathen corn/grain god, and since he obviously did not want to stop keeping Thanksgiving, he said something like, "Well, I'm sure the pilgrims did give thanks to God for the corn, and they probably knew the Feast of Tabernacles was to be kept around that time but did not have the means of knowing the dates and so kept that feast." I was influenced quite a bit at that time by him, and so I kept keeping Thanksgiving for the next few years, but I never completely forgot about it, and it kept coming to mind. It was only a few months after discussing that with that elder that we dropped contact between each other, because I did do my own research concerning the mark of the beast and being born again, which are two subjects he is teaching wrongly. I proved those things from the bible myself.
It wasn't until nearly two years ago that I came back to the Thanksgiving topic and seriously considered it again. My conclusion was that I could no longer keep Thanksgiving, for it truly is an addition (Deut. 12:30-32) to God's commanded feasts (Lev. 23) and is also rooted in heathen traditions. Ironically enough, two years before I stopped keeping it the Thanksgivings didn't work out the way they normally do. One year we were in Kansas City when our son Asher was in Children's Mercy Hospital on life support. The next year Nathan had a job going, and I think I had a ruined tire on my vehicle. This will be the second year that I voluntarily do not keep the U.S. feast of Thanksgiving.
I did, however, keep God's annual feast of thanksgiving, the Feast of Tabernacles, which is a seven-day-long feast of thanksgiving consisting of a holy sabbath day on the first day. I LOVE the Feast of Tabernacles and look forward to it each year. It's such a joy to set aside that time to feast and make merry with friends and family (both spiritual and physical) and to have extra time to study God's word and do His work. It's nice to have that vacation and to reflect on all the things for which I have to be thankful. God's harvest festival of thanks is reckoned by His calendar, starting the fifteenth day of the seventh month. I had an awesome feast this year.
I have not written an article on Thanksgiving origins myself, and few have. A brother and fellow laborer in God's work, Keith Hunt, has an article posted on his site that is written by a Bradley Richardson that one can read, if YOU want the truth about Thanksgiving Day: The TRUTH About Thanksgiving Day.
Prove ALL things; hold fast that which is good (I Thessalonians 5:21).
The majority is often wrong, and we shouldn't do something just because the majority does it:
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil (Exodus 23:2a).
True Christians are part of a "little flock" (Luke 12:32). They will be continually growing in grace and knowledge (II Peter 3:18) and hungrily seeking out truth in all things.
www.endtimecog.net
It was before the first Thanksgiving came around that I discovered that it too had heathen origins but was not like the others in that it wasn't adopted by the RCC but rather by the U.S. government. At the time I didn't fully let the Spirit of God alone lead me, and I relied too much on the elder whom baptized me. I told him what I'd discovered and mentioned a heathen corn/grain god, and since he obviously did not want to stop keeping Thanksgiving, he said something like, "Well, I'm sure the pilgrims did give thanks to God for the corn, and they probably knew the Feast of Tabernacles was to be kept around that time but did not have the means of knowing the dates and so kept that feast." I was influenced quite a bit at that time by him, and so I kept keeping Thanksgiving for the next few years, but I never completely forgot about it, and it kept coming to mind. It was only a few months after discussing that with that elder that we dropped contact between each other, because I did do my own research concerning the mark of the beast and being born again, which are two subjects he is teaching wrongly. I proved those things from the bible myself.
It wasn't until nearly two years ago that I came back to the Thanksgiving topic and seriously considered it again. My conclusion was that I could no longer keep Thanksgiving, for it truly is an addition (Deut. 12:30-32) to God's commanded feasts (Lev. 23) and is also rooted in heathen traditions. Ironically enough, two years before I stopped keeping it the Thanksgivings didn't work out the way they normally do. One year we were in Kansas City when our son Asher was in Children's Mercy Hospital on life support. The next year Nathan had a job going, and I think I had a ruined tire on my vehicle. This will be the second year that I voluntarily do not keep the U.S. feast of Thanksgiving.
I did, however, keep God's annual feast of thanksgiving, the Feast of Tabernacles, which is a seven-day-long feast of thanksgiving consisting of a holy sabbath day on the first day. I LOVE the Feast of Tabernacles and look forward to it each year. It's such a joy to set aside that time to feast and make merry with friends and family (both spiritual and physical) and to have extra time to study God's word and do His work. It's nice to have that vacation and to reflect on all the things for which I have to be thankful. God's harvest festival of thanks is reckoned by His calendar, starting the fifteenth day of the seventh month. I had an awesome feast this year.
I have not written an article on Thanksgiving origins myself, and few have. A brother and fellow laborer in God's work, Keith Hunt, has an article posted on his site that is written by a Bradley Richardson that one can read, if YOU want the truth about Thanksgiving Day: The TRUTH About Thanksgiving Day.
Prove ALL things; hold fast that which is good (I Thessalonians 5:21).
The majority is often wrong, and we shouldn't do something just because the majority does it:
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil (Exodus 23:2a).
True Christians are part of a "little flock" (Luke 12:32). They will be continually growing in grace and knowledge (II Peter 3:18) and hungrily seeking out truth in all things.
www.endtimecog.net
Friday, October 23, 2009
In God We Trust?
I get emails and such every once in awhile that make a big deal about the removal of the national motto "In God We Trust" from various public places. I got such an email today.
Now, it's not that I don't think the removal of "In God We Trust" isn't a big deal; quite the contrary. But, rather the point I wish to make is that it's quite hypocritical. After all, seventy-something percent or more of our nation's population claim to be "Christian," and yet if that percentage was truly Christian, we wouldn't even have this issue.
The fact of the matter is that not even close to seventy percent of people in our Israelite nation of the United States of America trust in God. Whenever my husband or I tell one of our children to do something or not to do something, and he or they choose to disobey, we become upset and ask the child(ren) why he did not trust us. Why did he disobey our words? Trust and obedience goes hand in hand. If a person trusts another, why would the person disobey that person's words, unless the person just flat out delights in following that in which he or she knows is false? If I tell my son he's in extreme danger of getting hurt if he rides his bike without his hands on the handlebars as he's going across bumpy terrain, why would he, in his right mind, then ride his bike with his hands up in the air while speeding across bumps? Either he didn't believe--didn't trust--what I told him and rather believed that he was not in danger of getting hurt, or he didn't care whether he got hurt and was willing to take the risk of suffering bad consequences for temporary pleasure of delighting in folly.
Our nation's people, over all, do not trust God. They may trust certain things He has said, but for the most part they do not trust Him. They are liars.
This nation's people--stiff-necked Israelites and the strangers that live among us--have rejected God's words as false. They have rejected His perfect Law, defined by its ten commandments and their statutes.
These people draw close to God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him; they are hypocrites (Matt. 15:7-9).
This people daily breaks the first commandment by putting other people and things before the Most High God. They put other gods before the Most High. It's not wrong to honor others, but God comes first, and when men are wrong, we should rather obey God (Acts 5:29).
The people of this nation breaks the second commandment by making special a likeness of a heathen god with long hair and a beard. They call the likeness Jesus Christ and feel as if they are honoring him by hanging up pictures of this likeness. This people erects idolatrous images such as the Statue of Liberty and the phallic Washington Monument obelisk. They sport obelisks on top of their church buildings. They erect crosses and Christmas trees, and they even sing praises to the tree: "O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, I think you are so lovely!" They then offer gifts (sacrifices--they sacrificed time and money) under the evergreen, just like heathens throughout all time. A certain percentage of this people bow down to and kiss various images, including the heathen goddess known by various names and the title "Queen of Heaven" and whom they claim is the "Virgin Mary," the mother of our Christ.
This people daily breaks the third commandment by claiming that they follow God and yet break His commandments. They worship Him in vain. They commit blasphemy. They throw around His name and titles carelessly and also throw around blessings and curses by Him carelessly and profanely.
The people of this nation break the fourth commandment by profaning the seventh-day sabbath that was sanctified and made holy from the very beginning--from Genesis 2:2-3--and by instead honoring Rome's substitute Sunday, the first day of the week, and today even most professing Christians don't even rest on Sunday or set aside time to spend with God and fellowship with other Christians and do more bible study. They call God's true sabbath and other feasts [like Passover and the Feast of Trumpets] that outline the true plan of salvation a burden of all things, but they delight in Rome's feasts that are entrenched with heathenism--the abominable Christmas, Easter, January 1, Halloween, etc. They reject God's calendar and his new year and his new months (new moons). They engage in unfair labor practices. They reject the Creator's land sabbaths, and instead they rape the land year after year and spray toxic pesticides on the land and its crops. They use toxic synthetic fertilizers to return nutrients to the soil, due to their wicked transgression of the land sabbaths. More and more of this nation's people, even those who profess to be Christians, believe and teach that we evolved from apes, rejecting the creation account in the scriptures.
The people of the United States break the fifth commandment by dishonoring our Father God by disobeying all His commandments, and they dishonor their mother earth that our Father gave to us for our nourishment and nurturing. They dishonor their earthly father and mother by disobedience and curses. The parents dishonor their children with more various abuses and neglectful actions. They do not teach their children the Law of God each day and how to follow it with their thoughts and actions, "marking them on their hands and foreheads."(Deut. 6:7-8) Instead, parents teach their children lies like the Christmas Santa Claus and that Christ was born on December 25 and the Easter Bunny and egg hunting (rooted in heathen worship of sex and fertility) and that Christ rose on Easter Sunday. They encourage them to have Rome's mark on their hands and foreheads (Rev. 13:16), to follow the ways of Rome in their thoughts and actions. The parents sacrifice their children to Molech by aborting them or making daycares and unGodly public [government] schools rear them.
Our stiff-necked people breaks the sixth commandment by murdering a hefty percentage of every child conceived, especially children who would have been destined to be firstborn. They are sacrificed to the god of this world. They are sacrificed for convenience, for the pursuit of materialism, for selfishness. Infants and older children are injected with deadly vaccines. Babies are fed ill-health-causing formula even when the mothers can breastfeed. People feed themselves and their children abominable meats like pork, squirrels ("tree rats"), lobsters ("cockroaches of the sea," as my husband calls them) and would-be healthful meats like beef and chicken, if they weren't factory-farmed. They delight in gluttony and drunkeness and the abuse and misuse of other drugs--some of which are fine in moderation for recreational, medicinal, and religious use; and some dangerous manufactured ones that should never be used. They believe and trust the US FDA, rather than believe and trust God's FDA. Much of the food and drugs that this people consume are absolutely abominable. There are more and more whacked-out citizens of this nation who go on killing sprees and murderous rampages. More innocent children are brutally murdered. Children are even murdering other children. People are hateful and disrespectful to each other. Less and less people even smile or wave, anymore. People delight in fighting sports--both people fighting people and animals fighting animals. They engage in reckless driving and road rage. They let their dangerous pets roam loose, without regards to the protection of their neighbors. Men abuse their wives or their children. People partially or totally disregard their health, hygiene, and safety or that of others.
The hypocritical people of this nation that claims to be "under God" nearly totally disregards the seventh commandment. The marriage covenant is not taken seriously. Divorce is considered almost a certainty in every new marriage, and adultery thrives. It's actually statistically higher among those who profess to be Christians. Fornication and pornography runs rampant. Homosexuals engage in the most abominable acts. Children are prey for sexual perverts, at risk of pornographic exploitation, molestation, and rape. Musical lyrics are tainted with immoral sexual references. Books and movies are awash with cheap immoral sex. A large percentage of the populous is infected with at least one STD. People engage in sex during menstruation and delight in doing so. This hypocritical people lusts after movie "stars." They wear immodest clothing. The physical fornication and adultery of this nation reflects their spiritual fornication and adultery, their fornicating with a false christ, all the while claiming to follow the true Christ, who kept His Father's Ten Commandments.
This nation's people delight in breaking the eighth commandment. They steal from God in denying Him tithes (Mal. 3:8). They steal time and property from their employers. They shoplift. Some commit burglary. Some commit robbery. Some commit identify theft and/or credit card fraud. They violate copyrights, and they plagiarize. Some are guilty of kidnapping. Some mistreat their hired servants and cheat them of wages. Bankers and individuals are guilty of excessive usury or usury upon the poor. The hard-working poor are oppressed, and the lazy poor are rewarded for their laziness. Vandalism and other property damages are common. Animals' rights are unheeded.
Our people reject the ninth commandment. False witnesses are numerous. We're swamped with bribes. It's hard to find trustworthy friends and associates. Vows are broken. Gossip reigns.
Our people delight in breaking the tenth commandment. Contentedness is nearly non-existent in this nation. Desiring material things is okay, but not when it leads to idolatry, stealing, etc. When a person cannot desire something while being content with what he has so that if he does not obtain what he desires, he's still happy, then he has a problem. Our people just want and want and want more and more and are simply not content with what they already have. They are unthankful and materialistic.
So, "In God We Trust" is a blasphemous motto when it is uttered from the mouths of most of our people. It's a transgression of the third commandment when it comes from most people's mouths. If our people truly trusted God, they would not hesitate to deeply repent of their sins. They would stop coveting and fornicating. They would stop their idolatrous observance of Rome's festivals and would delight in observing God's, including his seventh-day sabbath. They would start teaching their children the ways of God as a way of life and stop watching the trash on television. They would break their idolatrous images. They would throw away their pornography and dust off their bibles. They would change their food and drug habits and their style of dress. They would stop their stealing and their fighting and their cold attitudes toward others.
This nation as a whole does NOT trust in God. They complain about the taking down of the displays of the Ten Commandments and the removing of the motto "In God We Trust," but in their living they reject the Law of God saying that it has been "done away." If the Law has been "done away," then there is no sin. Sin is the transgression of God's Law (I John 3:4), and where there is no Law, there is no sin (Rom. 5:13). If there's no sin, then there's no need of a death sacrifice, and so Christ died in vain. But, of course there is a Law, and only those who repent of transgressing it receive grace. The rest must die for their sins, because the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). The sacrifice of Christ does not cover the unrepentant. Many will say to him, "Lord, Lord, were we not good Christians who went to church every Sunday and gave to the poor and prayed to you daily for others?" And Christ will say to them, "I never knew you. You transgressed my Father's Law" (Matt. 7:21-23).
What about YOU? Do you trust in God?
Psalm 119:142, 163
Now, it's not that I don't think the removal of "In God We Trust" isn't a big deal; quite the contrary. But, rather the point I wish to make is that it's quite hypocritical. After all, seventy-something percent or more of our nation's population claim to be "Christian," and yet if that percentage was truly Christian, we wouldn't even have this issue.
The fact of the matter is that not even close to seventy percent of people in our Israelite nation of the United States of America trust in God. Whenever my husband or I tell one of our children to do something or not to do something, and he or they choose to disobey, we become upset and ask the child(ren) why he did not trust us. Why did he disobey our words? Trust and obedience goes hand in hand. If a person trusts another, why would the person disobey that person's words, unless the person just flat out delights in following that in which he or she knows is false? If I tell my son he's in extreme danger of getting hurt if he rides his bike without his hands on the handlebars as he's going across bumpy terrain, why would he, in his right mind, then ride his bike with his hands up in the air while speeding across bumps? Either he didn't believe--didn't trust--what I told him and rather believed that he was not in danger of getting hurt, or he didn't care whether he got hurt and was willing to take the risk of suffering bad consequences for temporary pleasure of delighting in folly.
Our nation's people, over all, do not trust God. They may trust certain things He has said, but for the most part they do not trust Him. They are liars.
This nation's people--stiff-necked Israelites and the strangers that live among us--have rejected God's words as false. They have rejected His perfect Law, defined by its ten commandments and their statutes.
These people draw close to God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him; they are hypocrites (Matt. 15:7-9).
This people daily breaks the first commandment by putting other people and things before the Most High God. They put other gods before the Most High. It's not wrong to honor others, but God comes first, and when men are wrong, we should rather obey God (Acts 5:29).
The people of this nation breaks the second commandment by making special a likeness of a heathen god with long hair and a beard. They call the likeness Jesus Christ and feel as if they are honoring him by hanging up pictures of this likeness. This people erects idolatrous images such as the Statue of Liberty and the phallic Washington Monument obelisk. They sport obelisks on top of their church buildings. They erect crosses and Christmas trees, and they even sing praises to the tree: "O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, I think you are so lovely!" They then offer gifts (sacrifices--they sacrificed time and money) under the evergreen, just like heathens throughout all time. A certain percentage of this people bow down to and kiss various images, including the heathen goddess known by various names and the title "Queen of Heaven" and whom they claim is the "Virgin Mary," the mother of our Christ.
This people daily breaks the third commandment by claiming that they follow God and yet break His commandments. They worship Him in vain. They commit blasphemy. They throw around His name and titles carelessly and also throw around blessings and curses by Him carelessly and profanely.
The people of this nation break the fourth commandment by profaning the seventh-day sabbath that was sanctified and made holy from the very beginning--from Genesis 2:2-3--and by instead honoring Rome's substitute Sunday, the first day of the week, and today even most professing Christians don't even rest on Sunday or set aside time to spend with God and fellowship with other Christians and do more bible study. They call God's true sabbath and other feasts [like Passover and the Feast of Trumpets] that outline the true plan of salvation a burden of all things, but they delight in Rome's feasts that are entrenched with heathenism--the abominable Christmas, Easter, January 1, Halloween, etc. They reject God's calendar and his new year and his new months (new moons). They engage in unfair labor practices. They reject the Creator's land sabbaths, and instead they rape the land year after year and spray toxic pesticides on the land and its crops. They use toxic synthetic fertilizers to return nutrients to the soil, due to their wicked transgression of the land sabbaths. More and more of this nation's people, even those who profess to be Christians, believe and teach that we evolved from apes, rejecting the creation account in the scriptures.
The people of the United States break the fifth commandment by dishonoring our Father God by disobeying all His commandments, and they dishonor their mother earth that our Father gave to us for our nourishment and nurturing. They dishonor their earthly father and mother by disobedience and curses. The parents dishonor their children with more various abuses and neglectful actions. They do not teach their children the Law of God each day and how to follow it with their thoughts and actions, "marking them on their hands and foreheads."(Deut. 6:7-8) Instead, parents teach their children lies like the Christmas Santa Claus and that Christ was born on December 25 and the Easter Bunny and egg hunting (rooted in heathen worship of sex and fertility) and that Christ rose on Easter Sunday. They encourage them to have Rome's mark on their hands and foreheads (Rev. 13:16), to follow the ways of Rome in their thoughts and actions. The parents sacrifice their children to Molech by aborting them or making daycares and unGodly public [government] schools rear them.
Our stiff-necked people breaks the sixth commandment by murdering a hefty percentage of every child conceived, especially children who would have been destined to be firstborn. They are sacrificed to the god of this world. They are sacrificed for convenience, for the pursuit of materialism, for selfishness. Infants and older children are injected with deadly vaccines. Babies are fed ill-health-causing formula even when the mothers can breastfeed. People feed themselves and their children abominable meats like pork, squirrels ("tree rats"), lobsters ("cockroaches of the sea," as my husband calls them) and would-be healthful meats like beef and chicken, if they weren't factory-farmed. They delight in gluttony and drunkeness and the abuse and misuse of other drugs--some of which are fine in moderation for recreational, medicinal, and religious use; and some dangerous manufactured ones that should never be used. They believe and trust the US FDA, rather than believe and trust God's FDA. Much of the food and drugs that this people consume are absolutely abominable. There are more and more whacked-out citizens of this nation who go on killing sprees and murderous rampages. More innocent children are brutally murdered. Children are even murdering other children. People are hateful and disrespectful to each other. Less and less people even smile or wave, anymore. People delight in fighting sports--both people fighting people and animals fighting animals. They engage in reckless driving and road rage. They let their dangerous pets roam loose, without regards to the protection of their neighbors. Men abuse their wives or their children. People partially or totally disregard their health, hygiene, and safety or that of others.
The hypocritical people of this nation that claims to be "under God" nearly totally disregards the seventh commandment. The marriage covenant is not taken seriously. Divorce is considered almost a certainty in every new marriage, and adultery thrives. It's actually statistically higher among those who profess to be Christians. Fornication and pornography runs rampant. Homosexuals engage in the most abominable acts. Children are prey for sexual perverts, at risk of pornographic exploitation, molestation, and rape. Musical lyrics are tainted with immoral sexual references. Books and movies are awash with cheap immoral sex. A large percentage of the populous is infected with at least one STD. People engage in sex during menstruation and delight in doing so. This hypocritical people lusts after movie "stars." They wear immodest clothing. The physical fornication and adultery of this nation reflects their spiritual fornication and adultery, their fornicating with a false christ, all the while claiming to follow the true Christ, who kept His Father's Ten Commandments.
This nation's people delight in breaking the eighth commandment. They steal from God in denying Him tithes (Mal. 3:8). They steal time and property from their employers. They shoplift. Some commit burglary. Some commit robbery. Some commit identify theft and/or credit card fraud. They violate copyrights, and they plagiarize. Some are guilty of kidnapping. Some mistreat their hired servants and cheat them of wages. Bankers and individuals are guilty of excessive usury or usury upon the poor. The hard-working poor are oppressed, and the lazy poor are rewarded for their laziness. Vandalism and other property damages are common. Animals' rights are unheeded.
Our people reject the ninth commandment. False witnesses are numerous. We're swamped with bribes. It's hard to find trustworthy friends and associates. Vows are broken. Gossip reigns.
Our people delight in breaking the tenth commandment. Contentedness is nearly non-existent in this nation. Desiring material things is okay, but not when it leads to idolatry, stealing, etc. When a person cannot desire something while being content with what he has so that if he does not obtain what he desires, he's still happy, then he has a problem. Our people just want and want and want more and more and are simply not content with what they already have. They are unthankful and materialistic.
So, "In God We Trust" is a blasphemous motto when it is uttered from the mouths of most of our people. It's a transgression of the third commandment when it comes from most people's mouths. If our people truly trusted God, they would not hesitate to deeply repent of their sins. They would stop coveting and fornicating. They would stop their idolatrous observance of Rome's festivals and would delight in observing God's, including his seventh-day sabbath. They would start teaching their children the ways of God as a way of life and stop watching the trash on television. They would break their idolatrous images. They would throw away their pornography and dust off their bibles. They would change their food and drug habits and their style of dress. They would stop their stealing and their fighting and their cold attitudes toward others.
This nation as a whole does NOT trust in God. They complain about the taking down of the displays of the Ten Commandments and the removing of the motto "In God We Trust," but in their living they reject the Law of God saying that it has been "done away." If the Law has been "done away," then there is no sin. Sin is the transgression of God's Law (I John 3:4), and where there is no Law, there is no sin (Rom. 5:13). If there's no sin, then there's no need of a death sacrifice, and so Christ died in vain. But, of course there is a Law, and only those who repent of transgressing it receive grace. The rest must die for their sins, because the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). The sacrifice of Christ does not cover the unrepentant. Many will say to him, "Lord, Lord, were we not good Christians who went to church every Sunday and gave to the poor and prayed to you daily for others?" And Christ will say to them, "I never knew you. You transgressed my Father's Law" (Matt. 7:21-23).
What about YOU? Do you trust in God?
Psalm 119:142, 163
Monday, October 12, 2009
God Doesn't Always Give Us for What We Ask
A few days before we left for the annual Feast of Tabernacles my six year old son Jaden (formerly known by his middle name William) asked God to replace something immediately upon the spot. It happened to be one of my back windows to my Jeep. It was busted out by a rock thrown by the lawn mower well over a month ago, and we still haven't replaced it (but will soon). Jaden told me that what he'd asked.
I proceeded to tell Jaden not to expect a new glass window to appear before his eyes. He asked me why not, since God can do anything. I had to explain to him that God is not a magic genie that grants every wish upon our command. There are plenty of times where God doesn't even give us what we want, even though He's a loving Father to many.
I said, "Jade, it's much like all the times you ask your Daddy or me for things, and we tell you 'no.' It's our pleasure to give you thinks for which you ask, but we don't always give you those things, and many times it's not even in your best interest."
I explained that we'd likely have to buy a new window and pay someone to install it. Even though it was an accident, we still have to put the money and effort into replacing it ourselves. I told my son that most of the time we had to work for things to get done or to earn things. We are no different than God in this respect. My Father doesn't pass out goodies and blessings and easy fixes to me or any of His other children every time we ask. It simply doesn't work that way.
Jaden was satisfied with my explanation and learned a little more about what God is really like with that lesson.
I proceeded to tell Jaden not to expect a new glass window to appear before his eyes. He asked me why not, since God can do anything. I had to explain to him that God is not a magic genie that grants every wish upon our command. There are plenty of times where God doesn't even give us what we want, even though He's a loving Father to many.
I said, "Jade, it's much like all the times you ask your Daddy or me for things, and we tell you 'no.' It's our pleasure to give you thinks for which you ask, but we don't always give you those things, and many times it's not even in your best interest."
I explained that we'd likely have to buy a new window and pay someone to install it. Even though it was an accident, we still have to put the money and effort into replacing it ourselves. I told my son that most of the time we had to work for things to get done or to earn things. We are no different than God in this respect. My Father doesn't pass out goodies and blessings and easy fixes to me or any of His other children every time we ask. It simply doesn't work that way.
Jaden was satisfied with my explanation and learned a little more about what God is really like with that lesson.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Family Project Made Private
I'll soon start blogging again on a regular basis. However, I have decided to make the Family Project a private project, at least at this time. If I know and trust you, and if you're interested in the ongoing Family Project, just let me know, and I will decide whether to share with you. Right now, I'm not even working on it. When time permits, and I am into it again, I will continue.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Moral Absolutes or No: Why Both Extreme Views are Erroneous
Many serious Christians and some others claim that there are moral absolutes; while others in the world say there are no moral absolutes and that truth is relative. In other words, the latter groups claim that truth varies from one individual to the next and "what may be the truth to you is not true for me." Of course this latter view is foolish, but let's look more closely at the Christians' view on moral absolutes and absolute truth to see where it is also erroneous.
God's Law, organized into ten commandments and then broken down into statutes, is the truth. And so the quick and easy answer is that, yes, moral absolutes and absolute truth exist. But, the truth of the matter is that it's not a quick and easy answer. Like with so many subjects, two gravely opposing sides do not stop and resolve to put their evidence together to arrive at the real truth. So, like with so many subjects, both sides have truths/facts, and both sides are in error, because neither has the complete truth.
As I said, the quick and easy answer is that each commandment is true, but that is only true when they each stand by themselves. Since we live in an imperfect world, there are sometimes situations where one or the other commandment must be broken in order to keep a higher commandment. The ten commandments are ordered in a certain way, and perhaps most people do not give this much thought. The first seven commandments call for the physical death penalty in most cases if physically broken. The last three usually do not. And as you shall soon see, there are some situations in which certain statutes must be broken in this imperfect world in order to keep the higher priority commandments.
Let me give three examples to demonstrate what I mean:
1. The man-run government under which you live has wickedly demanded that certain persons in the land are to be put to death. These persons are innocent and are being targeted solely on the basis of who they are. You are protecting such persons in your home, whether they are infants, elderly, a different nationality/skin shade, etc. Government officials drop by to see whether there are persons fitting their target description in your home. Oh! There's a conflict here. Is it absolutely wrong to ever lie? Well, yes, lying is wrong. But, you are not God. You are a human being with no means to protect these people without lying (or killing the government officials, if they try to murder those persons in your home). Under God's Law, you would be just as guilty of breaking the 6th commandment as those government officials, if you willingly brought them out of hiding and handed them over (albeit, your transgression of the 6th commandment would be on a lower level, but you nevertheless would transgress it). So, you have a choice to either transgress the 6th commandment, transgress the 9th commandment, or you could transgress both (by admitting you have such persons hidden in your home but then killing the government officials so that they cannot enter). Now, what is the moral thing to do? Surely you are not put here by God to be brought into a situation where you must be immoral. No, of course not. The right thing to do is to lie to the government officers in order to save the lives of those innocent persons. So, while a "what may be truth to you is not true for me" stance is wrong and foolish, the stance that "lying is absolutely wrong" is misleading. Yes, when it stands alone, lying is absolutely wrong, but when faced with a choice of lying--breaking the 9th commandment--or murdering--breaking the 6th commandment--lying is the RIGHT thing to do in this imperfect world. I also will include two biblical examples, both of which reveal God's view on lying in order to protect the life of the innocent.
1a. In the first chapter of Exodus, we find that the pharaoh of Egypt had ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill male children who were born to Israelite mothers. The Word tells us that the midwives feared God and so did not do as the king of Egypt said. They obeyed God by disobeying the pharaoh. Then, we are told that when the midwives were questioned by the pharaoh, asked why they were not killing the male newborns, the midwives lied by saying that the Hebrew women birthed too quickly, before the midwives arrived. Now, while that may have been the case sometimes, we know that overall it was a lie, because we were previously told that the midwives just disregarded the pharaoh's commandment. Then we are told that God blessed the midwives. More specifically, it says that God, "dealt well with the midwives...and it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he [provided households for them]" (1:20a, 21).
1b. In the second chapter of Joshua, Joshua sent two men to spy out the land of Jericho. A harlot named Rahab hid the two men in stalks of flax on her rooftop. The king sent someone to Rahab to order her to deliver the two men that they knew had gone into her house. She lied by saying that they had come but had left, and she said that the king's men should pursue after them. She then went to the two men and said that she knew the ETERNAL was the God of heaven and earth and to please promise her that she and her family would be saved when Israel came against Jericho to destroy it. They instructed her to tie a scarlet line and hang it from a window in her house and that they would save her and her family alive, unless she uttered the men's business to anyone else. She kept quiet, and when Israel came against Jericho, Joshua saved her and her family (chapter 6), and God was with Joshua.
2. You are stranded on a remote island or in some wilderness. You have found a source of water, but you are starving. You do everything you can to find something FIT ("clean") to eat, but you can't find anything or whatever clean plant you might can find is not enough alone (or causes you to have diarrhea in high amounts). However, there is a plentiful unfit ("unclean") animal available, whether it be crabs in the ocean that come up to the shore, lots of wild rabbits or wild boars (pigs), or whatever. You know that if you were in normal living conditions, consumption of these animals would be detrimental to your health and well-being. They are forbidden by God's Law, falling under the 6th commandment. However, deliberate neglect of one's body to keep it in a living condition also violates the 6th commandment. So, you have a choice. Kill and eat unhealthful food that could cause you health problems (and possibly death) but would nevertheless provide you with protein, vitamins, and minerals; or totally neglect your body and continue to starve to death because of your total or great lack of food. It's better to take one's chances with the sub par menu items than to certainly die from neglect. You can continue to hold on to the hope of survival and/or rescue where you have a future of good health and eating, if you eat the unfit food, while if you starve to death, you have no hope of a future of good health and eating. The living can praise God, but the dead cannot (Psa. 114:17). Again, both the neglect and the eating of unfit food fall under the 6th commandment. Which statute or principle is higher? Total neglect is a more serious offense. This example would also apply to some lifesaving drugs that are detrimental to one's body but will allow a person to go on to live and be able to mostly correct the damage later through fasting, detox, and good diet. The other alternative is to die. This would apply to extreme emergency, life-threatening situations. People should not regularly take in highly detrimental drugs and/or unfit foods. God knows the difference, and so do His righteous servants.
3. Someone in your household is bleeding to death or has some other extreme life-threatening emergency. Your vehicle won't start. You go seek help from your neighbor, but your neighbor is not home. However, you neighbor has another vehicle there with the keys in it. Under normal circumstances, taking off with your neighbor's car is absolutely morally wrong, a transgression of the 8th commandment. In a life-threatening situation, however, nonliving material property pales in importance to a human life. If there is no way to potentially save the individual except to use that car with the keys conveniently in it, then is the right thing to do is to transport the individual to life-saving help in your neighbor's car. You can worry about making up for the transgression of the 8th commandment against your neighbor later, when you return his car. Pay an agreed-upon amount or whatever. And if your neighbor is a God-fearing person, then if he gets his car back, that would probably be enough. He'll probably be glad his keys were in his car to help. If he's a hateful character, then you may very well have trouble ahead of you, but you chose life. Neglecting to do everything you could to save that person's life would have been a transgression of the 6th commandment. Temporarily stealing a neighbor's car for saving a human life is a transgression of the 8th commandment. This particular spiritual statute under the 6th commandment is of higher priority than this particular spiritual statute under the 8th commandment.
Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house (Proverbs 6:30-31).
If a person is starving, no righteous person will hate that person for stealing to eat, but the transgressor will nevertheless be expected to make amends. In God's perfect Law, people are supposed to leave the edges of their fields unharvested so that the poor can eat. Then, there would be no stealing. If people would not oppress the poor, we wouldn't have people feeling the need to steal in order to eat. How much more should a man not despise someone who takes a car temporarily to save a fellow human's life?
God has shown mercy in many cases and has allowed lower commandments to be broken in order to show mercy and love and so that people can keep higher priority commandments.
Study also: Psalm 119:142; Matt. 23:23; Luke 11:42; I Samuel 21:1-6; Luke 6:1-10
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