Old Laws Still Valid?

No. The righteous did not realize that they would be judged by their works alone. It was Jesus who told them that they were righteous because of their works alone. Again, no. The unrighteous on His left thought they could be saved by paying lip-service to loving Him. He told them that the only way to love Him is by loving our fellow man. No. (Third strike.) Whatever we do to the least of His brethern, we do to Him (verse 40). Technically, one good deed could be enough to number you among the sheep.It isn't one strike and you're out. It's one run can win the game.Loving thy neighbour as thyself is the fulfilment of the law. Jesus came to explain that and to be an example of that.The old letter of the law - e.g. eating shrimp, etc. - is invalid because it is not about loving thy neighbour. The old spirit of the law is still valid.

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Read a little further:

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Joh 3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
Joh 3:21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

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It's all in the doing, not in the empty platitudes.It's not enough to claim that you "believe". You have to demonstrate that you believe in Him by doing what He told you to do - that is, to uphold the spirit of the law instead of the letter of the law.

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Read what He said:

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Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Mat 25:42 For I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
Mat 25:43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

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It seems pretty clear how one might get to hell.But, as I tried to explain to Rob, it might only take one good deed to get you to heaven.

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The breaking of the law is in the heart, but the keeping of the law is by material acts.

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Jesus disagrees with you. The quotes have been posted often enough. Nonsense. Holiness isn't even mentioned in the law.When talking about the Law, we're talking about getting along with each other. Love God and love thy neighbour as thyself.

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Holy? Let's take it slowly.Here's what Jesus said about the law:

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Mat 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.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

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Notice the word "as". Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."As" is a comparison. Jesus told us to love our neighbours relative to the way we love ourselves. According to Jesus, the law is relative.If you buy yourself a new plasma TV, you should think about buying one for your neighbour too. (Or at the very least, invite him to watch the Super Bowl on yours.) On the other hand, if you haven't eaten in three days, you don't need to feel obligated to feed the poor.It's all relative. It's all in comparison to what you do for yourself.So "perfection" is irrelevant. You don't treat yourself perfectly, so you aren't expected to treat your neighbours perfectly either. When the Bible speaks about perfection, it's as an ideal to be aimed for. It is not a minimum standard to be punished if you don't attain it.Now, remember how Jesus told us to obey the law:

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Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

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We love God by loving our neighbour, by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the prisoner. We love God by doing. We obey the law by doing.It is the doing of the law that is holy, not the letter of the law itself.

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Frankly, I couldn't care less what you believe. I'm just trying to expose some of your most egregious errors so that people who are capable of reason can make up their own minds.I have quoted what Jesus said. If you choose to reject Jesus in favour of a misinterpreation of Paul, that's your lookout. Yes. Don't be so hard on yourself. Doing something is the easiest thing in the world. Deciding what to do is not always easy, since morality is so relative. Sometimes you will screw up and sometimes you won't. But the only wrong approach is to sit in your ivory tower and do nothing. I agree, but I'm not an admin. If you think that's the "whole" message, or any part of the message, you have good reason to be afraid. Reality is far from perfect. That's the opposite of what I've been saying. I've been saying that we have to live whatever lifestyle suits our neighbour as well as ourselves. And I was quoting Jesus when I said it.

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Silly. And off-topic. I quoted what He said about the law. Respond to that.

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But what does it mean to "believe" in Him?Surely believing that He existed is trivial. Surely believing that He wandered around the Middle East performing miracles is trivial. Surely believing that He was crucified, died and rose on the third day is trivial.Surely believing in Him means believing in the message He brought.With reference to the law, His message was:

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Mat 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.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

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Believing in Him means loving God by loving your neighbour as yourself. All other professions of belief are worthless in the eyes of the law.

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But what does it mean to "receive" Him, if not to receive the message that He brought? But what does it mean to be "born again", if not to start over, to make a new beginning, a new life as He told us to live? But the message is very simple: Love God and love thy neighbour as thyself. The living of the message isn't always easy, but the understanding of it is very simple.You're ignoring what Jesus Himself said about the law: The letter of the law, such as "Thou shalt not eat shrimp," is not valid unless it effects your neighbour. Today, for example, the law might be, "Thou shalt not send peanut butter to school in thy children's lunches," because your child's lunch might kill your neighbour's child.It's all relative.

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Then you must have received His message. You must be adept at loving your neighbour as yourself - for example, not snubbing him when he talks to you. You must understand that that is the fulfillment of the law.

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But the message is how to live that new life.And that's the topic here. Jesus said, "This is what I want you to do: Love God and love your neighbour as yourself." That is the law. That is the message. If you don't live that message, you have not "received" Jesus and you have not been "born again". Unless the law becomes your life, all your woo-woo mumbo-jumbo voodoo protestations about "salvation" are meaningless.And that is what you have not addressed: the law is significant only in how it effects our lives. The law that applied in the wilderness is obsolete.

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Once again, this is Bible Study, not your personal blog for your personal, unfounded opinions.I have quoted the Bible, where Jesus tells us to love our neighbours as ourselves. Anybody can do that whether or not they've been hosed down by the "blood of the Lamb". Muslims do it. Hindus do it. Atheists do it. Even some Christians do it, if they're not too blinded by rhetoric.You don't need anything you don't already have. By kindergarten, you were able to love your neighbour as yourself.Put the parrot back in his cage and quote the Bible to back up your ideas. Show us where it says you can't love your neighbour as yourself.Hint: Think of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37).

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The trouble is that you haven't given any scripture - sum, difference, product or quotient - to back up your own empty opinions.We are discussing the law here. Jesus said that the whole law hangs on loving God and loving your neighbour as yourself. The SUM of that truth is that no law is valid unless it effects your neighbour.Your opinions about being "born again" are utterly irrelevant. That's why I brought up the Good Samaritan.When Jesus was asked, "Who is my neighbour?", He replied with the parable of the Good Smaritan. The Samaritan was not a Christian by your definition, was not "born again" by your definition, he did "reject the blood of Jesus", his sins were not "covered".... He was everything you look down on, just as he was everything the Jews looked down on.Yet he was the one that Jesus used as an example of what we should do. "Go ye and do likewise."The fact that he was not a Christian was irrelevant. The fact that he was not "born again" was irrelevant. The fact that he "rejected the blood of Jesus" was irrelevant. The fact that his sins weren't "covered" was irrelevant.The only relevant factor in the story was what he did. He did what Jesus wanted him to do - what Jesus wants us to do. He fulfilled the law by doing unto others as he would have wanted them to do unto him.The story illustrates very clearly that the law is relevant only in how we apply it to our fellow man.

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Your opinions about being "born again" are certainly irrelevant in this thread, since it's about the law. Kindly say something about the topic for once, will ya? But I've been quoting Jesus' words and you've been ignoring them.Jesus used the example of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan was not "born again", yet Jesus told us what he did and He told us to go and do likewise. Born again or not, the Samaritan is our example.So, forget your dogma for a minute and think about the topic.What was the importance of the Samaritan's example? What did he do that Jesus encourages us to do? How does that relate to the notion of iron-clad Old Testament laws?

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