The Fourth Commandment: Remember the Sabbath
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 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 male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For…
Why Doesn’t God Abolish All Evil Immediately?
Atheists and agnostics often claim that if there were indeed a God who is both all-good and all-powerful, He should abolish all evil immediately. If you’ve ever wondered why doesn’t God abolish evil – keep reading. Since all human beings are sinners and all have been contaminated by evil, one would be wise to rethink…
Does Evil Prove God Is Finite?
Some claim that the existence of evil in the world indicates God must be limited in power and is therefore finite. They suggest that God may want to do away with evil (that is, He is a good God), but He simply does not have the power to carry out His wishes. Does evil prove…
The Third Commandment: Don’t Misuse God’s Name
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name” (Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11). Let’s look further at the phrase: Don’t Misuse God’s Name Got to admit, I thought I was golden on this one. I rarely cuss (in polite company, at least), and for the…
Evil Does Not Disprove God is Good
Misunderstood Bible Verses Consider this trifold dilemma: 1. God is all-powerful. 2. God is all-good. 3. And yet, evil exists. Many have struggled to make sense of this trifold dilemma. However one chooses to resolve it, I am convinced that the solution is not found in denying, compromising, or redefining God’s goodness. In my thinking,…
Second Commandment: Generational Curses?
“You shall not make for yourself an image 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 parents to the third and fourth generation of those…
Evil Does Not Disprove God
Today we face the reality of both moral evil (evil committed by free moral agents, involving such things as war, crime, cruelty, class struggles, discrimination, slavery, ethnic cleansing, suicide bombings, and various injustices) and natural evil (involving such things as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and the like). Atheists typically claim that such moral and natural evil disproves the existence of God.
The Second Commandment: No Idols
In the first commandment, God forbad the recognition of any other god. Basically He told them, “I’m your God, not only because I chose you to be mine, but because in reality there are no other gods. Not even one.”
Now, God goes a step further and told His people that they were not to give the worship due to Him to any other thing—anything in heaven, in earth, or in the ocean depths. Nothing made (e.g., a wooden idol), nothing imagined (the power of the sun, moon, stars), nothing experienced (feelings, external forces), nothing natural (trees, rocks, gems) were to take His place as our object of worship.
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