Love you my Brother.
i am not against keeping the NT Commandments of God, including the BIG 10.
i just know that i am unable to keep them perfectly as only CHRIST can, therefore the focus of my faith is to JESUS.
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking unto JESUS, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. - Hebrews 12:1-2
Peace to you Barney
I confess I have a special fondness for some here, as well, which would include you, my Brother. Many of them have gone. I hope they come back. I miss them.
And, although I can recall no comments you have made discouraging folks from obeying God, just today one of our community said that to keep the commandments of God is to deny Christ. He couldn't have been more plain about it.
I can also tell you that 50 years ago no one outside of a seminary qualified the keeping of God's commandments with the word "perfectly."
And the reason for that is that the counterculturalist, "all-or-nothing" cognitive distortion had not yet fully infiltrated evangelical Christianity. No one cared that the rule of law was imperfect at the heart level. They only knew that society and even the physical universe ran on it.
I am not interested in being "saved" so much as I am in pleasing God today, especially since He so loved His creatures that He emptied Heaven of its beloved Prince to save mankind and purchase the peace and security of the whole universe, the interest of which dwarfs my own sense of carnal survival.
Having said that, I do trust all of His promises to save me but, just as your focus is on Jesus as author and finisher of our faith, I cannot lose sight of His asking us to run the race with endurance, laying aside the weight of besetting sin in practically the same breath.
Again, keep in mind that 50 years ago no one would have objected to the observation I have just made here. If any can bear witness to the contrary, I have yet to see or hear any. And it's not like I've never brought this up before.
I'm going to be starting a thread on the significance and immediate relevance of the 10 commandments as soon as I can block off the time and energy. I'm sure the usual contestants will be on hand to rage and buffet each other, but I'll have no part of that, by God's grace.
Peace to you,
דָּוִד, "Beloved of God."