Saturday, February 21, 2009

Tht Benefits of Christianity - The Second Commandment-Part 2




In the 2nd Commandment the obvious blessing is mercy. God promises," mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments". In other words God is saying I will not give you what you deserve. It will be like when we go before the courts when guilty of a crime. We will get imprisonment instead of the death penalty. Perhaps, probation instead of a prison term. That is indeed a blessing.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Benefits of Christianity-The 2nd Commandment




The question is often asked why should I keep the Ten Commandments? What benefit will I get out of it? Can't I just live my life and experience true happiness without keeping the Ten Commandments? Well, that is a good question. Let's take a look at one of the commandment, the 2nd commandment. It says that,"thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth".

"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me";And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments".

First, we are told not to make any graven image. A graven image is an image that had been made through engraving, etching or something that had been sculpted (cut). The 2nd Commandments not only says don't make any graven image, but it also says don't make any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth". What is in the heaven above? In literal heaven there are angels. In heaven(sky)flying creatures and light sources? What is in the earth beneath? There is so much in the earth beneath, but I will try to make it short. In the book of Genesis in the Bible it gives us an idea of what was put on the earth during creation week. There was grass, flowers, trees, creeping things, animals, man, woman, etc. In the water there were swimming creatures such as whales, dolphins, and all other types of sea creatures. The 2nd Commandment emphasis is on worship. It say don't bow down to them. What it is really saying is that an image should not be made of them and worshipped.


The question then is what is wrong with worshipping an image? This is what God has to say,"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me";And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments". In other words God is offended by this. These things are not worthy of worship. These things once made in an image do not represent him (God). These are things that he created. They should never be put before him. That was not His purpose for creating them. The Bible calls this idol worship. These images represent God's enemy, Satan. This is why God is offended. So, then how do we worship a God who we can not see? "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24)Jesus the Son of God said this.

Today these images are called by other names like statues, monuments, or historical pieces. Some of these images resemble saints, men, women, angels, animals,etc. But, God said regardless who they may resembles or what they may resemble don't bow down to them. In Bible times many worshipped images and it displeased God. The Philistines worshipped Dagon the fish god (1 Sam 5:1-7). Diana also called Artemis, she was the goddess of the moon.

Jesus says," But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Mt6:33). Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you (Mt 7:7). The benefit of keeping this Commandment and the other nine is having the God of the Universe smiling on us. Another benefit is having the power of getting what we need when we need it, just by simply asking for it. God wants us to have a relationship with him. He came to seek and save the lost. It is sad to say that those that worship images, pictures, people,etc can't be blessed by that which they worship. True happiness comes from God and God alone. God says it is better to obey than to sacrifice.Let's give God a chance to help us experience the benefits today.