Mt 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mt 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mt 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mt 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets
1Co 7:10 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
Eph 6:2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise.
Very nice Scripture quotes. What is your point? I'm guessing that you still are demanding obligation to
the law. At least that is what it looks like to me. I also guess that you demand that we say we follow the law or aren't Christians.
The Mat 22 reference isn't a command to do anything and the Eph reference is to children and not Christians. Thus it doesn't fit in making
the law an obligation to Christians.
Now it might be a confession that you love the Lord with all your heart. I also have that confession. I'm not a legalist. There are many thing called sin in the instutionalized church that simply aren't. They take away the liberty we have in Christ Jesus for manipulative causes that include greed (known as lasciviousness - Eph 4:19, Jude 4) and destroy our witness and ability to reach the lost. Most church people's idea of Christianity doesn't come from the Bible. They have let the world define and confine them to an unatainable behavior for the most part. This fits the statement found in Romans 2:24. Yes many have no understanding of the effects their behavior cause.
I no where condemn anyone for their idea of holding to
the law or part of
the law.
The law is a single undivisible unit as I've shown with and by Scripture in several posts. I simply destest religion with all my heart. It is the worst thing to ever happen to mankind. Yes I certianly understand that is a word we use to catogorize and talk about a relationship with God.
I do have a very stiff problem with those requiring and demanding I become them to get along. I'm simply not a mindless sheeple. If I can't examine what is put before me and make a free will choice, it simply won't be considered. If some one defending an opposing position is a problem, you're in the wrong place. We are both here by choice.
Look if you want bondage, more power to you. This has passed the personal testimony stage long ago. So if you want
the law, please suit yourself but don't demand that I follow
the law. You have no such right or authority from the Bible. Acts 15 is a great back up for this statement. Those demanding
the law be followed were called subverters (those subverting souls). To subvert is to destroy. Look it up. I have chosen grace. Here is why I have chosen grace - Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by
the law; ye are fallen from grace.
I'm not justified by
the law. I'm justified by Jesus Christ my Redeemer through the grace of God. To reject this is to make void what Jesus did for me.
I've covered being justified more than once. If one obeys a law for any reason they are justified by that law. If they violate that law they can't be justified unless the proper fine/scarifice/procedure is accomplished.
One simply can't have both as Gal 5:4 states. So a demand to follow
the law to be saved or maintain that stated of redemption voids grace and one can't have it, thus no salvation. If this bothers you, I suggest you have a little chat with Jesus as the song goes.
Gal 3:
1O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
2This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
The flesh here is a reference to perfomance of
the law or
the law itself. Paul relates
the law to the flesh in more than one place.
