Yes, but let us be honest...
So does loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and body, include keeping His commandments?
Let's reveal the ESTABLISHED "FACTS"....
God commanded...THEM...the clan of Moses
THREE things;
Precepts
Statutes
Laws
Neh 9 [
14] ... commandedst them
precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:
Statutes ... Laws ... Precepts ... are THREE DIFFERENT THINGS.
It doesn't matter WHO (Moses, a Scribe, a Secretary) is doing the ACTUAL WRITING.
What matters IS WHO...is making the Degree
WHO the Degree APPLIES TO...
God MADE HIS Degree...Gods Degree
God expressly Reveals WHO He has given HIS Degree TO.
Gods DEGREE was GIVEN TO MOSES.
Within the LIMITS of GODS DEGREE... MOSES was given the AUTHORITY to "MAKE LAWS".
Moses MADE LAWS...FOR "his own clan".
(His family, his wife, his children, their wives, his grand children, his servants, etc.)
As members of MOSES' "clan" left MOSES, land, family, sharing of crops & animals...AND went out ON THEIR OWN to other lands....
"THOSE PEOPLE WHO LEFT"....
Could CONTINUE "KEEPING" Moses' LAWS...
OR NOT.
Those STAYING with Mose's CLAN...would be SUBJECT TO Obedience to Mose's LAW...or face CONSEQUENCES....(also IN Mose's LAW, which was called CURSE LAW, or what we would call today PENAL LAW.....which is a negative Consequence for VIOLATING adherence TO THE LAW).
Can't SAY FOR YOU....HOWEVER, I was NEVER in Mose's CLAN, nor have a (traceable BLOOD relative) FROM anyone IN MOSE'S CLAN who left the CLAN, and maybe or maybe not Continued Mose's LAWS.
So FOR ME.... I do NOT claim to be a Hebrew, or a Jew, WHO through their linage CLAIM a blood-line relationship to Hebrews or Jews...NOR CLAIM their adherence to "THEIR" Laws....as LAWS I am subject to, or required to follow, or have penal consequences FOR NOT obeying "THEIR" LAWS.
IN OTHER WORDS....ANY LAW...that DOES NOT APPLY TO ME....IS MOOT...which is to say...ANY LAW THAT DOES NOT APPLY TO ME....HAS NO FORCE and NO EFFECT toward me.
THe Russians have LAWS...
...MOOT to me...no force or effect on me.
THE Islamists have LAWS...
...MOOT to me...no force or effect on me.
THE Buddhists have LAWS...
...MOOT to me...no force or effect on me.
THE Hebrews have LAWS...
...MOOT to me...no force or effect on me.
THE Jews have LAWS...
...MOOT to me...no force or effect on me.
I am not Russian, Islamist, Buddhist, Hebrew or Jewish....THEIR LAWS do not have force or effect on me.
I am not FORCED to obey their laws.
And there is NO EFFECT (penal consequence) for me NOT FOLLOWING THEIR LAWS.
All the law? All of what law? The civil laws that pertained to Israel? The laws on stoning and offering lambs? Obviously some discernment required here right? But also some wisdom. Do we exclude laws on murder because Jesus "fulfilled the law" Do we exclude any moral standard because it is inconvenient, or superceded by man-made tradition? Can we claim to love God with all our hearts when we divorce our wives for no reason and marry another? Can we claim to love God while transgressing His laws?
There is NOT ONE Law, Statute, Precept...
I AM FORCED to BELIEVE or FOLLOW...
OF GOD or MAN.
LAWS do NOT STOP any man from freely making his own choices to "DO" whatever he wants.
LAWS do NOT GIVE a man "RIGHTS".
LAWS are "governmental" enacted "GUIDELINES"...."FOR" men who CAN NOT BEHAVE according to An "established" government who has "authority" OVER the people within that "governments" jurisdictional boundaries.
LAWS are "also", Religious organizations "guidelines" FOR THEIR RELIGIOUS established standards and principles.
So someone Living in New Jersey...has no subjection to the government of California.
And someone who is NOT a Jew...has no subjection to the Religious Jewish Laws.
JESUS OFFERED.....ANY MAN...ETERNAL LIFE, with HIM and His FATHER GOD....
TO ANY MAN...."WHO" ...
WOULD heartfully CONFESS;
Belief in Jesus the Christ, and God His FATHER, and that He did so raise Jesus from the DEAD.
AND ... such man WOULD heartfully ASK for FORGIVENESS for having NOT BELIEVED.
WHAT does Jesus' OFFER have to DO with ANY agreement to OBEY....ANY LAW, ANY STATUTE or ANY PRECEPT ?
NOtHING.
Jesus' OFFER was BASED ON...A mans WILLINGNESS...to Believe and ACCEPT His OFFER. And what Jesus' was OFFERING...IS ETERNAL LIFE to any man WHO Accepts His OFFER, of eternal LIFE....according to HIS OFFER.......NOT According to a LAW, Statute or Precept.
So....you ask...what about....
All the law?
....Vague...there are hundreds of laws.
All of what law?
.....ANY law YOU personally are subjected to.
The civil laws that pertained to Israel?
.....NOT for me. I am not an Israeli, nor in ......in their jurisdictional boundaries.
The laws on stoning and offering lambs?
......I was never given a LAW that
......pertained to stoning. So irrelevant to me
Obviously some discernment required here right?
......Of course, By what applies to WHOM.
But also some wisdom.
......Absolutely.
......With Knowledge and Wisdom, ANYONE
......can OBSERVE HISTORY of LAWS....
......Governmental LAWS and Religious LAWS.
......and WISELY CONCLUDE...LAWS do NOT
......PREVENT ANYTHING..every LAW ever
......made by men has been BROKEN by men.
Do we exclude laws on murder
......I suppose YOU COULD if YOU wanted to ......But then IF you are not God, or a ......and elected official with authority
......to make such a law for the public at large
......it would have no force and effect.
......IF you are head of your household, you ......would have the authority to make such a
..... law for your household, but then it would
......be superseded by a government law, and ......governmental jurisdiction would have the
......authority to make charges against you,
......and subject you to governmental penal
......law consequences.
However REGARDING GODS LAW against MURDER..."IF" a man is a man WHO has, ACCEPTED JESUS' OFFER of FORGIVENESS and EVERLASTING LIFE, and thereafter the man murders another, "THAT" DOES NOT MAKE JESUS a LIAR...
Jesus HAVING GIVEN the man FORGIVENESS man EVERLASTING LIFE...does not Change ....Jesus is NOT a LIAR.
What changes is the man has committed murder.
What has NOT changed is the "man" WILL BE SUBJECT TO ... the LAWS of Whatever Governmental has established Jurisdictional Authority over that man.
That man may be TRIED, Convicted, Imprisoned, or in some cases Killed.....
He may additionally, lose his job, lose his possessions, lose his reputation, lose his freedom, lose his family.
Additionally, that man will LOSE, BLESSINGS, he could have had from God....but that the man chose to forfeit...when he did works that did not glorify God.
But he will not LOSE, the comfort of the Holy Spirit, or his eternal Life with the Lord.
Do we exclude any moral standard because it is inconvenient, or superceded by man-made tradition?
....Again...you can IF that IS your choice to ....do those things.
....And again...Laws, will not StOP you. God
....will not STOP you.
....You will simply forfeit Blessling from God,
....you could have had.
....You will be subject to Whatever Penal laws
.....men have made....
.....You will be subject to Whatever Society,
..... your family, your neighbors, "DO'
......toward you....reject you...disown you,
......You will "suffer" those consequences.
Can we claim to love God with all our hearts when we divorce our wives
Sure.
Loving God is one thing.
A person divorcing a spouse is not a delclaration of "NOT LOVING GOD".
Divorcing a spouse is a Declaration one no longer wanting to be married to that person.
Don't kid yourself. There is always a Reason, whether you know the reason or don't accept the Reason.
Can we claim to love God while transgressing His laws?
Yes. Do you really think, a man WHO LOVES GOD......STOPS LOVING GOD,
Because ... the man;
Divorces their spouse?
Plows their field on the Sabbath?
Tells a lie to another man?
Cheats a man out of his full change?
Charges a man exorbitant interest on a debt?
Forgets to put out feed for his animals?
Steals from another man?
Kills another man?
DO you NOT SEE....those are "TRESAPASSING" BEHAVIORS of MEN "AGAINST" MEN?
What does a mans BEHAVIOR toward OTHER men ..... have to do with a mans LOVE TOWARD GOD?
NOTHING.
Scripture Teaches AT Length ABOUT behavior BETWEEN MEN...
And I just covered that...
1) how you treat other men, will result in ...
Either blessing from God...or failure to receive blessings from God.
2) how you treat other men, will result in...
Men receiving your treatment with gladness...
Or their rejection of your behavior And consequences toward you THEY will dole out toward you.
God TEACHES...HOW for one man TO TREAT another man....for your most BENEFICIAL RESULT...
IF you follow Gods Teaching of men toward men....expect a beneficial result....
IF you do not follow Gods Teaching of men toward men....expect a negative result....
NOTHING proclaims....God will STOP LOVING a MAN....or that a man WILL STOP LOVING GOD....because of HOW a man treats other men.
Scripture FURTHER TEACHES.....a MAN CAN NOT ..... try really hard to LOVE God....or LOVE an ENEMY.......and SUCCEED in LOVING GOD....OR LOVING AN ENEMY.....
WITHOUT THE POWER OF GOD...WITH or IN that man.
Some OT men....HAD the POWER OF GOD WITH THEM....some didn't.
NT men and forward....SOME HAD/HAVE the POWER OF GOD "with" them...SOME "in" them.
ANY man with the POWER OF GOD...."IN" them, is a POWER, that WILL NeVER LEAVE THAT MAN.
THAT man, CAN NEVER Stop Loving God...and CAN NEVER Stop Loving his Enemy.
THAT man, MAY certainly NOT ALWAYS TREAT OTHER MEN....how God has taught....and that man WILL SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES ....
OF THE OTHER MEN.
But that man WILL NEVER Stop Loving God, or Reject God, or BE Rejected BY God.
Glory to God,
Taken