Exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." (KJV)

Learned something new in church yesterday.   There are multiple meanings to the subject commandment.  In addition to forbidding use of the name of God or Jesus as a curse word/phrase it forbids swearing an oath by God and not meaning it and also forbids claiming to be a Christian but not living like a Christian.

     I guess I have a few planks in my eyes after all.

Which is easier: to say your sins are forgiven or to say get up and walk ?

Remember the paralytic guy who got dropped down by his friends to Jesus' feet through a hole in the roof? (Matthew 9,  Mark 2, Luke 5).  Some Bible teachers in the crowd were thinking Jesus' was speaking blasphemy when He said "Your sins are forgiven"  because only God can forgive sins.  So Jesus asked them which is easier; to say your sins are forgiven, or to say get up and walk ?  Thanks to Pastor Steve at church a few weeks ago I now understand his question better.  The Bible Teachers thought they were better than Jesus but he attacked their pride by asking them which was easier.  You see they could not heal the man nor could they forgive sins and if Jesus was a lesser man than He would not be able to either . But He proved that He was not a lesser man because He could both forgive and heal.  When the paralyzed man got up and walked it was proof that Jesus had authority to forgive sins on earth (because He is God).   Thus he chastised the Bible teachers for thinking they were all that and a six pack.

Too busy to blog

Have not visited this blog in quite a while.  life gets busy some times.

God is our greatest treasure. and we are His greatest treasure.

Wonder why God instructed Moses to build a tabernacle.  God could have built it Himself.  Here is a possibility.   Knowing the people had brought other gods with them from Egypt God wanted his chosen people to focus on Him so He could bless them more.  So He had them donate their treasures (those who had it in their heart to do so).  He had them take those treasures and make a tabernacle where He would meet with them.  And where their treasure was their heart would be also.   Making an ornate and expensive cathedral is not to impress God or to attempt to glorify Him with physical stuff but by giving of their treasures the people would no longer need to be worried about hanging on to that stuff.  Always trying to make sure their treasure was safe and secure from loss, damage, or theft.   Once they gave it away they could still enjoy the sight of it whenever they came near to God and hopefully come to realize that God is even more valuable than the treasure had been to them.

Obey the Law unless that causes us to dis-obey God.

Was God telling Moses to be deceptive to pharoah by saying they were going to sacrifice instead of saying they were leaving.  Was God telling Samuel to be deceptive when he went to annoint David and let Saul think he was just going to sacrifice ?

They did go and sacrifice but they also did the hidden agenda.   Moses and Samuel also knew more of God's plan beyond Moses' and Samuel's involvement in it.  Moses and Samuel told the truth but they did not share everything they knew with the king.   They were being loyal to God but dis-loyal to the Kings.
Is it Okay with God for us to decieve the government?  Is there a difference between lies by commission and lies by ommision?    What about people who sneak Bibles into certain countries and share the gospel there.  At what point do we violate our nations laws that we disagree with because of our Christian world view?

God told Moses that God will bring His people up out of Egypt and into the promissed land (Exodus 3:8)
He told Moses "you may bring my people out of Eqypt" (Exodus 3:0).  Notice that He did not tell Moses that Moses would bring the people into the promised land.

Say to the king of Egypt "let us go three days into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God" (Ex 3:18)

Moses and Aaron say "God says 'Let my people go that they may celebrate a feast to me in the wilderness'" (Ex 5:1)  "Let us go 3 days journey into the wilderness tha twe may sacrifice to the Lord our God" (Ex 5:3)

Then they set out and camped on the edge of the wilderness (Ex 13:20).  They went 3 days into the wilderness (Ex 15:20)   The people grumbled for lack of  good water (Ex 15:24),  God made the water sweet (Ex15:25).  They came to a place with 12 springs and 70 date palms (Ex 15:27).  They set out again (Ex 16:1) they grumbled about lack of bread and meat. (ex 16:2-3).  God gave them qauils and manna (Ex 16).  God commanded them to take a sabboth rest every 7th day (Ex 16:29).

God sent Samuel to annoint David as King.  Samuel was afraid of what Saul would do if he knew.  God told Samuel "Take a heifer with you and say "I have come to sacrifice to the Lord"   Samuel did as the Lord said.  He Annointed David  before they ate the sacrificed heifer (1 Samuel 16)