Title: Law and Order comes from Exodus 21
Title: Penalties for Murder
S: Ex 21: 12-14 “ Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death. However, if he does not do it intentionally, but God lets it happen, he is to flee to a place I will designate. But if a man schemes and kills another man deliberately, take him away from my altar and put him to death
O: Intentional murder – death penalty.
-Accidental murder – put him in a designated location….. perhaps a jail. Does not say how long….
-A premeditated murder – to be put to death
P: This is the Old Testament position and the rood of many of our present day laws...whether they are still applicable for today... not sure ..... we are in an era of grace through Jesus and everyone can be saved and forgiven even the worst of sinners. So do the rules of the Old Testament hold true now... not sure.
S: Ex 21: 16 “Anyone who kidnaps another…….put to death.”
O: Kidnapping – death penalty
S: Ex 21:18 If men quarrel and one hits another …..and he does not die but is confined to bed….. he must pay for the injured man for the loss of his time and see that he is completely healed.”
O: So the rule is complete responsibility for compensation until the injured party is restored to health.
Title: Death of an unborn child.
S: Ex 21:22 “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely….. if there is serious injury you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn , wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
O: Not sure if this means death of the woman or death of the unborn child…. Just says serious injury.
Title: Rules on Thieves
S: Exodus 22:2 "If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; but if it happens after sunrise, he is guilty of bloodshed. A thief must certainly make restitution, but if he has nothing, he must be sold to pay for the theft."
O: This is one of the strangest rules that I have read - so if you try and rob someone in the dark of night then you can be killed by your victim and there is no consequence..... however if it is in daylight the person killing the thief is guilty of killing the thief. So in the dark the victim might not have known what he was doing --- but in the light he did know that he was killing the thief. Whatever happens the thief must always pay back the victim in full for the victims losses. So how would this work in real life..... all jails would become workhouses and the prisoners would be assessed a daily wage according to their work and this money would go to the insurance company that had paid out the victim. When the insurance company was paid out in full..... the prisoner had paid his debt and could go free.
Title: The assessed cost of taking a woman's virginity.
S: Ex 22:16 "If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride price, and she shall be his wife. If her father absolutely refuses to giver her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins.
O: If a man seduces a virgin he must either marry her or pay a large amount of money as a fine for taking her virginity and the amount must be equal been paid for a dowry. What would the world be like if the fine for taking a girl's virginity was either marriage or a fine of $100,000 ... and if you could not pay it you went to jail and worked in a workhouse making widgets that would be sold in the world and when you had made enough widgets to pay off the dowry you could get out. Think there would be no unwed mothers and no fatherless children. That would change this country.
Title: What do we give to God - I have seen many innovative ways to raise money for those in Christian service.
S: Ex 22: 29-31 "Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats. You must give me the firstborn of your sons. Do the same with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but give them to me on the eighth day."
O: Not sure what this means.... yes.. do not hold back as we offer what we have to God but our firstborn sons? In times past many good Catholics wanted one son of a family to go into the priesthood..... but is this ever mentioned today.... not really in the Protestant church ... should we still think this way that at least one of a family should be in God's service? I don't think I have heard a sermon in my life about the responsibility of parents to talk to their children about going into God's service. Perhaps this just means dedicating your children to God on the 8th day... like circumcision but not like giving them over for priests. Not sure. Think that when we dedicated our children to God we did not think that it was for a life of full time service, don't think my husband was thinking that anyway.... however give your firstborn, give your cattle means give in these verses. We are to give our bodies as our reasonable service to God - but as salvation and commitment are individual we cannot give our children as priests or missionaries as they must find that commitment themselves. We can do everything in our power to lead them on right paths though and here we have failed as we have been too much in this world and they will follow in our footsteps.
P: Change how we follow you so that it affects our offspring for generations to come.
Acts 4 -
S: Acts 4:12 "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
O: Today I was talking to my friend at her home gym. I said I felt bad that I do not proselytize much as a Christian. She said that she believed she believed in God but that she did not like Christians saying that there is only one way. I said that I believed we were all built with a craving for God and that there could not be several truths but only one way which was the truth. We never carried the conversation on further however this North American world is turned off by jargon and conversation and a message about "salvation is found in no one else" is quickly a statement of offense. Peter and John spoke and 5000 men plus women and children were saved within a short time. There are two things I see.... first of all it is God who nudges each and every person toward God... and secondly this spirit filled passion that Peter and John had is missing .... do I care like they did...... do I have their urgency..... are there any Peters and John's still out there....
P: Passion ......
Title: The secret is being with Jesus
S: Acts 4:13 "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus."
O: What made Peter and John so different They were fireballs for Jesus. The thing was that these two men changed. They became unique. In today's world people who do not profess any religious faith are outshining Christians in their good works. The Angelina Jolie's of this world are out there giving and doing with all they have and not selling any religion. But it is more than becoming a good person or doing good.... it is about finding truth. There cannot be numerous truths. Being with Jesus changed these men from the inside and we all have this craving... this inner emptiness and it was the "being with Jesus" that answered that inner craving that could not be satisfied by good works or fuzzy beliefs in this or that. So many Christians mess up that it gives Christianity a bad name but it is not Christians but Jesus who never changes and is the one who satisfies that hole in the center of us.
P: Guess I am missing things in my Christian walk but I am learning.... it is being with Jesus that will change who I am. Time with you Lord, please.
Title: An inability to be quiet should be our condition.
S: Acts 4:20 "For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
O: I am quiet about my beliefs as I am so polite that I just hate to offend anyone. But I am selling good friends short. Here I am enjoying that inner peace that comes from Jesus and others are suffering. How selfish I am just so I will not offend anyone.
P: Lord make me a braver. Just so Canadian and so polite that really hate to offend anyone. There are people out there that have an aching hole inside... looking for answers... and I know that it is just "being with Jesus".
Title: Coming to the same conclusion as Peter and John
S: Acts 4:29 "Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out our hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
O: They prayed for both boldness and wonders. Don't think I have prayed that very often. Have prayed for those I love who have been sick and have prayed for miracles and seen them..... but to help others believe..... hmm.
A: Prayer must be a commitment, a diligent ordered time set apart to pray for needs of others and for boldness to share who you are.
P: Lord change my prayer life.
Title: Communal living was part of the early church.
S: Acts 4:34 "There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles feet and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
O: Well this definitely is more than mere tithing a tenth of what you have. Guess this is where the idea of communism came from however so far the great experiment has not worked in any society except this one that I know of. The problem is that it would have to be a perfectly unselfish Christian group of people and that is a rare. It happened here in the early church and it works in some small Christian communities still - but very unusual. But the example here is to give all you can....... not just 10 %. This can only happen with a true change of human nature where you care more about others than what you have. I know that I have not taught my children that one.
A: Change my thinking about giving.... it is about how much we can give.... not how much we can save or live on or acquire. This is new thinking.
P: Make this type of thinking come into practice dear Lord.
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