Extreme Makeover ?

What if you spent one year following every rule in the Bible? A. J. Jacobs did exactly that. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20910659/site/newsweek/from/ET/

If ever there was a quest doomed from the beginning- this is it! I have yet to meet anyone (myself included) who can honestly say that he has obeyed the first ten! Let's go look at them in Exodus.

The Ten Commandments (God's good person test). Exodus 20:1-17

Here's how it works:

1) Choose any three numbers from 1-10.
2) Reference those numbers in the list below. Be sure to read the comments included with each, then ask yourself "have I ever broken this commandment?"
3) Scoring will be a simple pass/fail on each one- God does not grade on a curve.

1
And God spoke all these words:
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
"You shall have no other gods before me.

What other gods do you have in your life? Your house, car, spouse, job, bank account? Or sports, TV, recreational activities. Do any of these hold a higher place in your life than God?


2 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

People I talk to try to define God in terms of their own preferences "The God I worship would/would not- fill in the blank." Any time man tries to define God in his own terms or frame of reference, the result always looks like the person doing the defining. This is idolatry pure and simple. God is God and I am not!

3 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

What did you say the last time you smacked the nail right on your thumb with the hammer, or someone cut you off in traffic? These days, the most common way a child hears "Jesus Christ" or "God" used is in a string of swear words.


4 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

On the surface, this looks like an easy one, a day of voluntary rest- who can't do that? Do you make it a holy day dedicated to communion with God your creator, or do you use it to worship your other gods- see question 1 above?


5 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Oof! another one that looks easy on the surface, but what have you done to honor your father and mother lately, or have have you even said "hello" or "I love you" lately. It isn't just the younger generation that is disrespectful these days.

6 "You shall not murder.

Finally an easy one- right? Very few people I talk to have commited murder- but.... How about that person who cut you off in traffic, or the one who cheated you out of hard-earned wages? In the Sermon on the Mount (Mathhew 5) Jesus said that being angry with someone is the same as commiting murder in your heart. More about this one later.

7 "You shall not commit adultery.

Again, in the Sermon on the Mount... If a man(or woman) looks at a man (or woman) lustfully it is the same as adultery in the heart

8 "You shall not steal.

Even so much as a paperclip? "In for a penny- in for a pound"

9 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

Some equate this one with lying, I think it is more akin to gossip.


10 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

It seems like our favorite pastime is keeping up with the Jones'. Nuff said.


Honest answer now- how did you do? Yeah, me too!

If you chose questions 3, 7, and 9 at the beginning, then in God's eyes you are a blasphemous, lying or gossiping, adulterer at heart by your own admission.

If you chose 2, 5, and 8, then you are an idolatrous, disrespectful, thief in His eyes.

About now somebody is saying "Hold on, you can't judge me like that! You don't even know what my answers were!"

First off I am not judging anyone- that is why the test is "open-book" (I did not write the book- I just read it and believe it). If you answered the questions honestly, you have judged yourself in God's eyes.

Second, I don't have to know your answers because I know what my answers were, and you and I are the of the same nature.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote:

9What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." 13"Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips." 14"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." 15"Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16ruin and misery mark their ways, 17and the way of peace they do not know." 18"There is no fear of God before their eyes." Romans 3: 9-18

About here is where people want to tell me "well, everyone does it". Yep, everyone does do it- that does not make it acceptable in God's eyes.

Again in Romans:

...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23

and the net result:

For the wages of sin is death... Romans 6:23a

We are presented here with a delimma- we all have broken God's commandments and deserve God's just punishment-death.

What can we do about our problem?

The answer will be in the next post.