Tom, I agree Jesus is a fuller, more complete revelation of God’s character. But in so saying you seem to be implying God did not command Moses to stone the Sabbath-breaker to death. Please answer the question plainly – Did God command Moses to stone the Sabbath-breaker to death?

A couple of posts ago I wrote:

Apparently not!



Cool! I like it when that happens!



There is never a time when divorce is not evil or sinful. There may be an innocent party involved, so that this party is not doing anything wrong, but there's always at least one guilty party involved, and divorce is always an evil and sinful thing.



The quote is very clear, MM. It was the evil of divorce, given for trivial reasons, which Christ came to correct. He pointed out that divorce was granted by Moses because of the hardness of man's heart, but in the beginning God created Adam and Eve, one wife for the one man.



I'm applying it for exactly what the quote says:



The underlined portions speak to the evils which Christ came to correct.

Here it is described in the SOP:

PP 409
He was taken in the act and brought before Moses. It had already been declared that Sabbathbreaking should be punished with death, but it had not yet been revealed how the penalty was to be inflicted. The case was brought by Moses before the Lord, and the direction was given, "The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp." Numbers 15:35. The sins of blasphemy and willful Sabbathbreaking received the same punishment, being equally an expression of contempt for the authority of God. {PP 409.1}

Regarding capital punishment and the phrases "as the LORD commanded" and "shall surely be put to death" the Law of Moses has the following to say. Of the 55 times that the phrase "as the LORD commanded" is use in the KJV, not once does it imply compliance was optional or open to discussion. Obedience was expected.

Exodus
7:6 And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they.

Exodus
16:34 As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.

Leviticus
16:34 And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.

Numbers
17:11 And Moses did [so]: as the LORD commanded him, so did he.

Numbers
31:31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.

Leviticus
20:2 Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever [he be] of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth [any] of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.

Leviticus
20:27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood [shall be] upon them.

Leviticus
24:23 And Moses spake to the children of Israel, that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of the camp, and stone him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses.

Numbers
15:36 And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.

Deuteronomy
13:6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which [is] as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
13:7 [Namely], of the gods of the people which [are] round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the [one] end of the earth even unto the [other] end of the earth;
13:8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:
13:9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
13:10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
13:11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.

TE: There is never a time when divorce is not evil or sinful.

MM: Are you applying this insight to the things God permitted in the Law of Moses? Please state your position clearly. Thank you.

TE: The underlined portions speak to the evils which Christ came to correct.

MM: Are you applying this insight to the things God permitted in the Law of Moses? Please state your position clearly. Thank you.

No. I was applying my comment to divorce.



No, I was applying my comments to the points Christ made in the quote I cited, especially the portions I underlined.

Regarding the other post, we see in Jesus Christ how God treats people. This is His ideal will. If we wish to know what God is like, and how He treats people, and how He wishes we treat people, we can't go wrong by following the example of Jesus Christ.

Did God not "treat people" in Old Testament times? Did He wait to "treat people" until Jesus was manifest in the flesh?

Did Moses and other "Old Testament" people "go wrong" because they could not follow the example of Jesus Christ?

Did God somehow change dramatically from the Old Testament to the New?

These questions are all very important, because I see a growing trend to discount the first half of the Bible as being somehow "less inspired." I am interested in knowing your position on this.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Tom, it is impossible to study this topic with you so long as you continue to evade the topic. The facts are:

1. The Law of Moses permits divorce under specific conditions.

2. The Law of Moses permits polygamy under specific conditions.

3. It is not evil or a sin to get divorced in accordance with the Law of Moses.

4. It is not evil or a sin to have more than one wife at a time in accordance with the Law of Moses.

If you disagree with the facts, then it is up to you to prove it. So far you have not.

Please stop the accusations. I answered your questions directly. I had answered them previously in great detail.



Yes, and Jesus specified what these conditions were:





The SOP says that polygamy was not sanctioned even once by God (hence not by the law of Moses), and was "contrary to His will."



This isn't addressing my point. My point was that divorce was an evil. I pointed out that the innocent party needn't be doing anything wrong, but anytime there is divorce, an evil has occurred. God hates divorce. It's contrary to His will.



The words of Jesus, quoted above, make clear what God's will regarding marriage was. This can also be easily seen from Genesis.

I've presented the following from the SOP many times now:



You say I haven't proved this, but it's easily seen from this statement that polygamy is "contrary to God's will" and has not been sanctioned by Him "in a single instance" (this means it wasn't sanctioned in the law of Moses, since "not in a single instance" means "not ever").

Hence your assertion this was not proved is incorrect.

I've cited the following a number of times as well:



This defines polygamy as "a violation of the law of God," which is, of course, sin.

Sin is a violation of the moral law, which is to say, that which is contrary to God's will. That something is permitted in the law of Moses, or anyone else, does not make something which is sin not to be sin.

Do you agree polygamy was permitted in the Law of Moses?