The Fourth Commandment has produced quite some controversy over the years. The fourth commandment is:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. ¹¹For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

This commandment has been one of the distinguishing features of the Jewish Religion. The Jews made such a fuss over what could or could not be done on the Sabbath that there were so many laws, the Sabbath became a burden to the people, rather than a blessing. In modern times, Sabbath observers tend to exalt this day over and above any of the commandments.

One may wonder why the issue of keeping a day would be so controversial. There can only be one reason, pride. Pride is the curse of mankind. It causes ignorance, misunderstanding, strife, self-righteousness and wars. Pride is the very disposition that says, “I am right” before considering what the facts might be.

Humility resides on the opposite side of the spectrum to pride. Humility says, “I will look at the facts and let them reveal the truth.”

When you first read the fourth commandment, the one fact that stands out is God saying that you shall rest one day in every seven. Not only is God saying that you should rest, but also those who provide you any comfort or service should rest, too. Nobody is to do any work. This basically means that the day is a day of fasting and focusing on what is important about life.

It makes sense for people to have a day of rest, just to break the monotony of doing the same thing every day. Women who were doing the cooking and housework would enjoy having a rest one day a week, where they did nothing other than get out of bed and eat whatever had been prepared the day before and just relax for the day, with no washing up. The men would enjoy the fact that they did not have to labor seven days a week. Also the slaves would have certainly appreciated the fact that they had a day where they could recuperate their spent energy.

The fact that you are requested to remember the Sabbath day is different to the other commandments. This is the only commandment that uses the word “remember”. There has to be a very important reason for this, and there is, so you should not take this lightly. When it comes to remembering something, this also implies reflection. When you remember past events you will reflect upon them in some way. Recalling past events that may have not seemed funny at the time is a common occurrence among friends, but upon reflection take on a different light and now may seem humorous. To remember the Sabbath and its significance is something God encourages people to do. It is notable that even though there are prohibitions within the commandment, the more important element is to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

The word “holy” indicates that something has been set aside for God. The Sabbath therefore is something that needs to be remembered in this light. In fact, God has set aside the Sabbath day as a day of rest.

When you read that the Sabbath day has been set aside by God as a day of rest, it starts to become rather obvious why this day has so much controversy associated with it. Religious zealots can quickly determine whether or not a person is resting or working. However, what happens when property is threatened by flood or fire or is being stolen on a Sabbath? Also, what do you do if an animal hurts itself and needs attention, or a wild animal attacks a herd of cattle or flock of sheep or drove of goats? Or, what if a harvest is being trampled down by wild animals or crops and fruit are being eaten by birds? These problems were addressed by the Jewish leaders by introducing laws for all these situations, which in turn created an industry for lawyers.

If the Sabbath day is to be kept, and honored as a holy day because this is what the Creator God requires, then there should be no need to worry about what happens. The Sabbath is all about putting your trust in God to protect you from harm or disadvantage. Unfortunately, people suffer from unbelief and, because of this, they start working out ways and means of turning something that is for the good of all into a profit for the few.

In the Book of Hebrews the Sabbath is brought into further focus. What is interesting is that the Sabbath rest is compared with entering the Promised Land and is also declared to be not just one day out of seven but everyday as long as it is called, “Today”. From the book of Hebrews we find:

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.” Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”

For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. ⁹There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience (Hebrews 3:7-4:11).

Effectively, the New Testament says that the Promised Land is the land of Sabbath rest. The Sabbath is merely a sample of what God has promised for those who believe in him, that they have nothing to worry about, because God will protect, provide and preserve life. God promises to protect you from harm. God promises to provide all your needs. God promises to preserve your life in his fullness.

The Sabbath day is compared with the Sabbath rest that God is enjoying from his labors of creating the heavens and the earth, that is, the Universe. Evidently, creating the Universe was no small matter for God. Creating the Universe required God to exert huge amounts of energy and this is called labor. When God finished from his labors of creating the Universe, he rested, and is resting still. This is an important biblical truth, which points the way to knowing the true God and not being intimidated by the god of this world or any one of his agents. This is also why the Sabbath was given to the Israelites as a command, so they would remember not just who brought them out of Egypt but also who created the Universe. The God of the Israelites is more than just a god of human imagination, or even the god of this world, for he is the God of the Universe, the very source of life itself.

Jesus declared that he himself is the Lord of the Sabbath and that he gives you rest for your soul. What this means is Jesus is Lord and all who call upon his name can trust him to do according to his word. In fact, so much of what is found in the ceremonial laws given to the Israelites points to the purpose of God as revealed in Jesus Christ that the significance of the Sabbath needs to be understood in the light of the death and resurrection of the Only Begotten Son of God.

Jesus became the Passover lamb, which was killed on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan and eaten during the night. The days were counted from evening to evening, so the Passover lamb was to be killed at the beginning of the Sabbath and not at the end of the Sabbath day, so it could be eaten on the Sabbath. Jesus identified himself as the Passover Lamb when he told his disciples that they needed to eat his flesh and drink his blood.

Jesus said to them,

“Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. (John 6:53-56)

Only the Passover fell on the Sabbath day; for none of the other feasts fall or begin on the Sabbath. The Feast of Unleavened Bread began on the first day of the week and went for seven days. The Feast of First Fruits (the resurrection of those in Abraham's bosom) and the Feast of Pentecost (the beginning of Church Age) both fell on Sunday, the first day of the week. What this means is the significance of Sunday in respect to the resurrection and the Church of God cannot be overlooked. To distinguish the new revelation from the Law as given to the Jews, the celebration of the resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ is held on a Sunday by commemorating His death and resurrection by gathering together to partake of the bread and the wine. These symbols represent not only the death of Jesus but also his resurrection in that the bread represents the body of Christ of which all who believe in his name are partakers, and the wine represents the blood that cleanses Christians from sin when they walk in the light and have fellowship with each other.

Of the other three feasts, the feast of Trumpets falls on the first day of the month, the first day of the week; the Feast of Atonement falls on the tenth day of the seventh month; the Feast of Tabernacle begins on the fifteenth day (the first day of the week).

The significance of this is important because these feasts point to the resurrection of Jesus, separation from the world and devotion to the Lord God, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the heralding of the second coming of Lord Jesus Christ, the revealing of the completion of the work of Jesus Christ in the body of Christ via the atonement and the final gathering of the righteous on this earth.

The Fourth Commandment was to be a day of separation from the world wherein no one did any work for any reason. However, people insist that this day must be kept today as a holy day to the Lord and claim that this is an eternal covenant that is binding upon all people. There is clear evidence in the New Testament that the Mosaic Covenant has been replaced by the Kingdom of God and Christians, who are born of God, need not subject themselves to the Old Covenant with its observances of days, making animal sacrifices and bringing burnt offerings before the Lord. All these sacrifices and burnt offerings pointed to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary who was to be the Lamb of the Passover that enabled people to be free to rest and worship God during the ensuring Sabbath.

Still, many people cannot cope with the idea that they are free to worship God in spirit and truth. They still need to have a particular day upon which they can say they are devoted to God. Those that believe the Sabbath Day is an eternal covenant and the Ten Commandments apply in the Mosaic form to everyone outside of the Israelite nation, have yet to read their Bible.

The Mosaic Covenant was made only with the people who were at Mount Sinai and their descendants. None of the Ten Commandments were given to the fathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and likewise they do not apply in the Mosaic form to anybody else. The first six verses of Deuteronomy chapter five make this very clear:

And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. “The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. “The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive. “The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. “I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain. He said: ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

You shall have no other gods before Me.'”

Since the Ten Commandments were not given to Abraham, and in the New Testament he is called the father of all who believe and are saved, the argument for keeping the Sabbath Day as a religious observance goes out the door.

One Seventh-Day Adventist pastor pointed out to me the dangers of not keeping the Sabbath.

You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you; everyone who profanes it shall be put to death; whoever does any work on it shall be cut off from among the people. (Exodus 31:14)

But when you read this verse in its immediate context it is quite clear that this applies to the Israelites.

The Lord said to Moses: You yourself are to speak to the Israelites: “You shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, given in order that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you; everyone who profanes it shall be put to death; whoever does any work on it shall be cut off from among the people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the Israelites shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. (Exodus 31:12-17).

The argument that the Sabbath is an eternal covenant is based on this passage. However, it is an everlasting covenant between the Israelites who were brought out of Egypt under the Mosaic Covenant and their descendants, according to physical descent. Since the Mosaic Covenant has been done away with, this is no longer binding even on the Israelites. The Mosaic Covenant was brought in to act as a means of instruction until the new covenant age of the Spirit, which was ushered in on the Day of Pentecost, after the death and resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ, wherein it is no longer binding, but is still instructive in the ways of God.

By way of instruction, the Ten Commandments are very instructive. But they have to be understood, firstly, as being specific to the Israelites who were brought out of Egypt, and then, secondly, recognized as containing eternal truths for mankind. Once it is understood that the First Commandment has a universal application in that the Land of Egypt represents the Earth and the house of bondage represents being in bondage to sin and death, it becomes easier to appreciate that the Fourth Commandment has a wider application than just keeping one day of the week as a sign of a covenant between God and man.

Christians who celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on a Sunday and congregate to partake of the bread and the wine and have fellowship with each other around the Word of God, recognize the new covenant that was willed to them through the death of Jesus, and completed through His resurrection.

The observance of the day is a problem for many people. However, the coming together on the first day of the week (Sunday) is not an observance of a day, or a day of rest, as some like to think. When people come together on a Sunday to observe the rite of partaking the bread and the wine, they do this to bear witness to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This gathering is not because God has rested from his labors in forming the Universe, but because those gathering together are celebrating the salvation that has been made available in Jesus Christ and the hope of his Second Coming. The new covenant has nothing to do with observing a day, even though many people in their ignorance want to make an issue of it. Coming together on the first day of the week is about the fact that JESUS is ALIVE and is coming back again to rule the Earth in righteousness.

As for the fact that God has rested on the Seventh Day of Creation and the Fourth Commandment is a sign for all generations, there are some significant matters that need to be understood.

Firstly, it is to be noted that in the Creation account in the first chapter of the book of Genesis, the first day does not open with a morning and the seventh day does not close with an evening. What you will find is the term evening and morning, the first day; evening and morning, the second day; evening and morning, the third day; evening and morning, the fourth day; evening and morning, the fifth day; evening and morning, the sixth day; but you will not find evening and morning, the seventh day.

If these periods of time were to be literal twenty-four hour days, the sun and moon and earth needed to have been created on the first day at the very least. This is because without a sun there could not be a day as we know it. Moreover, to be really definite that these days were twenty-four hour periods of time,  God would have created the earth and sun and moon and stars before the first day. Then the first day would begin with a morning (which it doesn’t), and the seventh day would have to have an evening (which it hasn’t). The pattern is evening and morning and not morning and evening, one day.

The truth is there are only six evenings mentioned and six days. To have seven complete days as having started and finished, the account would give us eight evenings and mornings. However, since there are only six evenings and morning mentioned, and the seventh day had a morning, but no evening, you can be sure the Sabbath rest that God has taken at the end of his laboring over creation has not ended. This means God is still resting from his labors of Creation.

The book of Hebrews tells us quite clearly that God is resting from his labors of Creation and we are invited to enter his rest. When we do this, we cease from our own labors as God did from his. This is the message of salvation for all mankind. You see, you do not have to strive to do anything in life, apart from entering God's rest. The only thing you need to do is strive to enter God's rest and once you have entered then you have no need to worry about anything anymore. God has become the Lord of your life and you basically rest your soul in his presence.

Just as Jesus said,

“Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, for I will give you rest for your souls.”

This Jesus said because he is Lord of the Sabbath. This is found in Matthew chapters eleven and twelve. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath because he is God and the One through whom all things have been created. The Bible is very clear about this. Jesus reigns in the Sabbath of Creation because he has demonstrated that he alone has been able to keep the Ten Commandments and not break any of them. Consequently, he is Lord of the Sabbath. He is also Lord of the Sabbath because he rose from the dead, after having taken upon himself the sin of the world. Even though Jesus did not sin, he became sin, on your behalf, and my behalf, so we would have a means to escape death.

The reason why the Only Begotten Son of God became flesh and took of human form was to prove that God himself is righteous. You see, you did not ask to be born. I certainly do not recall making any choice in being born into this world. Only the Son of God did. He chose to be born as Jesus of Nazareth. The Jews knew that God had a Son, because it is recorded in the book of Proverbs. When the Word of God, who happens to be the Son of God, was revealed in human form, everything had to be just right for his entering the world, so he could live a life without sin, even though he would be tempted in every respect to sin, just like you and I, but Jesus did not succumb to any desire to sin, because he did not give in to temptation. Instead, Jesus was able to rest in the knowledge that God was his Father and, because of this, he feared what sin would do, if he were to sin.  Jesus simply chose not to sin. Whereas, you and I are not born with the indestructible Spirit of God residing in us, and neither are we born with the blood of God coursing through our arteries and veins, so we are inclined to succumb to the ways of the world. Hence, God has decided to give us the opportunity to extend him mercy.

Matthew 12:7 reads:

“But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. ⁸“For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

The idea that God invites us to extend mercy to Him is foreign to most people's thinking. The reason for this is we are always trying to justify ourselves as being better than other people in some way. You know what I mean: everybody thinks their guess is better than the next person's guess, or their opinion is better than the other person's opinion. But then opinions are only a guess based on insufficient facts.

The truth is Jesus said that we need to learn what it means to show him mercy and not how much we can sacrifice. God wants us to show him mercy and not sacrifice because we did not ask to be born into this world, which is controlled by a being that is intent on wreaking havoc and mayhem everywhere. We are born into an imperfect world, one which is marred by sin and governed by death, and before we die, we have will have to suffer illness or pain or some other unpleasant experience. Since we did not request to come into this world, God has to make amends. This God has done by asking us to show him mercy and give him a chance to prove Himself in our lives. God is not about us proving how much we can sacrifice; rather he is about proving Himself to you. If you are genuine, you will give God a chance to prove Himself, and in doing this, you will acknowledge God for who he really is. God wants to be known as your deliverer. God wants to give rest to your soul. God wants you to enter His Sabbath, where Jesus is Lord.

One of the biggest controversies is to do with the debate between evolutionists and creationists. Evolutionists can be Christians, but those who believe the account of Creation was done in seven twenty-four hour days cannot be evolutionists. Christian evolutionists believe God created the Universe, whereas, secular evolutionists tend to be anti-Christian in their thinking. However, if all the days of creation were to be the same length (and there is no reason why they should be or need to be, except if you want to fit into your pet theory) then the only day by which we could possibly measure the other days of Creation has to be the seventh day, the Sabbath of God. Since this is about seven thousand years, according to the Bible, we would have to say that the other days of Creation would be seven thousand years each (or at least represent this, because the means for measuring years as we know them was not created until the fourth day). This does have some significance in that the seven days of seven thousand years would bring us to the forty-ninth thousand year. Within the Mosaic covenant there is what is known as the forty-ninth year of rest for the land; that is, a Sabbath rest.

The interesting thing about the idea that the Creation could be entering its forty-ninth thousandth year of Sabbath rest is this would correspond with the thousand years of peace that is to exist on earth during the reign of Christ. If this is to be true, this century, the twenty-first century will be ushering this thousand year period. Jesus Christ's return is very close!

What is even more intriguing is the concept of Jubilee. The jubilee year is the fiftieth year. When we put this template of seven lots of seven over the seven days of creation, with the last six thousand years being part of the seventh day, we are faced with the prospect of the jubilee year beginning at the end of the millennium of Jesus Christ's reign here on earth. This is when the Great White Throne judgment will take place and all those who are to be judged at that time will have to give account of themselves and, if their names are not found in the book of life, they will be thrown into the lake of fire that has been prepared for the Devil (Lucifer) and his angels.

The year of Jubilee is about giving people their rightful inheritance and letting them return to the land God said they could have. In the case of the White Throne Judgment, all those appearing before the judgment seat will be judged according to what they have done on earth, with the final arbiter being whether their name is in the book of life. If it is not in the book of life then this means they have rejected God's purpose and have chosen evil rather than the truth. Their eternal habitation will be separation from the presence of God by being cast into the Lake of Fire. It just might be that this will take one thousand years to complete all the judging of the people. This being the case, it would make sense that the days of creation are seven thousand year periods.

If the days of creation are seven thousand year periods, and there is nothing to say that they are not, but if they were: Earth would be a relatively young earth, having been created no more than thirty-five thousand years ago. Many Creationists do not believe that the days of creation are twenty-four hour days, because the sun which produces the twenty-four hour cycle was not created until the fourth day. Also, the arguments for the Hebrew word “yom” being used solely for twenty-four day periods is not conclusive because the very same word is used for longer periods of time. In fact, it is used to express that God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them on a single "yom" in Genesis 2:4:

This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day [yom] that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens

However, there is nothing to say what length of time the days of creation might have been, except the seventh day, so far, looks to be six thousand years old, because God is still resting from his labors of Creation.

The Sabbath was created for man and not man for the Sabbath. God created the heavens and the earth, and then he created a Sabbath, which according to Jesus, was created for mankind. The reason God created a Sabbath where he rested from his labors of creation, could only be so he could enjoy his relationship with Adam and Eve and their offspring. Unfortunately, the archangel Lucifer became jealous and decided to entice them into breaking faith with God. Not only did Adam break faith with God by doing what Eve did, contrary to God's command, but he handed his authority to reign on Earth over to Lucifer. Consequently, God has had to implement a righteous plan to redeem Adam and Eve and their descendants. Fortunately, God's plan is available to us all, and it is possible for everyone to enter into God's rest from his labors.

The Fourth Commandment is not just about resting your body and soul once a week and having fellowship with your family and friends around the Word of God, but about salvation and the purpose of God.

The observance of the Sabbath day (known as Saturday) as a religious rite as a day of rest from our labors during the week is not an eternal commandment that was given to all men and woman to keep for salvation; rather it was given specifically to the Israelites who came out of Egypt led by Moses.

The Fourth Commandment does offer instruction for all of mankind in that it signifies there is a Sabbath rest for all who choose to seek out the true God and the Passover lamb which was to be eaten at the beginning of the Sabbath is the beginning of entering this Sabbath rest through honoring Jesus Christ as Lord. It also points to the significance of the other feasts and patterns that God may have put in place concerning the Sabbath years. However, the keeping of the Sabbath day as a day of observance is not required, because those who have entered God's Sabbath rest have a seventh day Sabbath, which begins today and never ends. Shalom!

(c) 2007-2011 Happy Riches.

This seems a straight forward commandment. All you have to do is honor your mother and father, and God will give you land, and you will experience longevity.

Let us have a look at this commandment and see what God is really saying. The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue, are more than just simple rules to live by. As we have seen in the previous commandments, there is much deeper meaning implicit in these statements of what God requires of his people, and all people, if they are to be numbered among those who belong to him.

The word “honor” means to show respect and acknowledgment for someone that is worthy of the accolade. To claim someone is worthy of honor when they are not really worthy of such recognition is to deceive and bear false witness. People do this all the time. And they do it for their own purposes and not to honor God. In fact, by doing this God is dishonored.

A recent funeral of a man I attended left me really bewildered. Here was a man being declared by church leaders and leaders within the Christian community as a holy saint. In fact, going by what these people were saying about him, I got the impression that he was a man who lived a life that was so close to being Christ-like that he was faultless. But he was a divorced minister who got drunk with his girlfriend, whom he had been having a intimate relationship with for two years, prior to suddenly dying of a heart attack. Essentially, these Christian leaders are saying wrongdoing, which is evil in the sight of God, is good, because they were deceived by the man, or they are doing it knowingly and really only use God as some of kind of genie, who they call upon when they are having a spot of bother. This is not honoring God.

The significance of this commandment goes beyond just honoring your parents because they are your parents. This commandment is the fifth commandment that mentions “GOD”. There are five commandments that do not mention God and there are essentially people to people commandments. Although, the commandments are often said to have four that apply to God and six that apply to man, really this is a typical misinterpretation that occurs so often when people are twisting the scriptures to their own understanding. The truth is the first five commandments apply to your relationship with God and the second five apply to your relationships with other people.

According to Jesus, everyone who does the will of God is his mother, brother and sister. There is really no distinction between human parents and brothers and sisters, once people see each other as God does. Therefore, while the fifth commandment refers to one's parents, it is really a reference to God.

This is the case, even though this is a kind of bridging commandment that applies to both God and man. This commandment is about your roots; how you come to exist.

Biologically, you are the offspring of your father and mother, but this is not necessarily so psychologically or socially or spiritually. God is the creator of all things and when you are born, you are born a living soul, just like all the other creatures on this planet. However, God puts a spirit within you. How God does this exactly, I do not know. But God does do this and this is what distinguishes human beings from animals. God created the first man in his image. Now this does not necessarily mean that the first man, Adam, looked like God, but that he reflected his Creator. To do this, Adam needed to be a spirit being. Actually, when it says God created man in his image, Genesis chapter one, verse twenty-seven says “in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them”. The true image of God then is two spirit beings living in unison. The Bible teaches that God is One God. The Father and the Son are One. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are also One. Therefore, the image of God is in the unity. This is about two becoming one, and the apostle Paul says about a man and a woman, that the two becoming one is a great mystery.

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” ³² This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church.(Ephesians 5:31).

There is a mystery here which requires us to accept what is revealed and simply let what we do not understand to be considered as probably unnecessary for us to know. What is necessary for us to know, God has revealed. It is necessary for us to know that God requires a man and a woman to become one in what they do, so they might have power over the devil, and live as kings and queens on this earth. Unfortunately, in most instances, this is not the case, but for some it can be so, if they are willing to do the will of God, which is what this commandment is all about.

Acknowledging your roots means that you recognize that God is the Creator and there is a purpose for your existence. If there is no Creator, there is no purpose for being here on earth. If the universe came into being from some chance event as a result of chaotic molecules crashing into each other, it is rather amazing that the molecules have been able to organize themselves into life forms with their many stable systems. When you look at how many systems that exist within the ecology of the planet and that the moon moves around an earth that rotates around its axis and revolves around a sun on a regular basis, and has been doing this for not just a year or two but for thousands of years, it is rather inconceivable that there is not a Creator. Mathematically, it is impossible for there not to be an omniscient being who has set in place principles and mechanisms so that life can exist and reproduce. All this means that there is a purpose for your being on earth and you need to discover what you are here for.

Since you didn't ask to be born, then those who brought you into the world are responsible for telling you why you exist. God says that if you honor your father and mother you will live long in the land that the Lord your God gives you. However, there are some qualifications to this.

If your mother is a prostitute and a drug addict, and your father is a pimp and drug dealer who has murdered people and thinks nothing about stealing, bearing false witness, or showing disregard for other people, you might have some difficulty honoring either of your parents. This is because there might not be really much to honor them for. If your parents were negligent and beat you and mistreated you emotionally, always putting you down, then you would have difficulty showing them respect as someone who loved you and wanted the best for you in your life. Yet many people do copy their parents and do what they do, because, in their ignorance, they see this as the best way to survive. Although, everybody does realize that there are some things which produce good feelings within us and some things that produce hatred towards other people within us. But in the main, we will only honor people for their goodness, not for their evil acts.

If your mother and father take an interest in helping you to become the best person you could possibly be and do their best to do this, then you will honor them accordingly. Although, some people, who are brought up in cultures where they are expected to honor their mother and father because they are blood, will do this regardless of their faults. In doing this, you will discover the same sins being perpetuated. But, even in these cases, you will find that there is limited honor shown to the parents. What appears to be honor is more about roots and a person trying to justify their existence from a human perspective rather than God's perspective.

It is difficult to justify your existence from God's perspective if you have no knowledge of God, or limited knowledge about God. Whereas if you know God as Lord it becomes easier to put everything into perspective and honor your parents for whom they are and what they have done for you. However, you do not need to honor your parents’ failings, and neither should you deny them; rather you can honor your parents for the good that they have done for you and that alone.

When Jesus was confronted about who his brothers and sisters and mother were, he was quite clear about where he stood. Effectively, he denied his mother and said those who hear the word of God and do it are those whom he will identify with and honor.

Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:31-35).

Jesus went on to say:

“that everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven. Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it (Matthew 10:34-39).

The point Jesus is making is that those who want to do dishonorable things are not worthy of him or God. If a people want to honor their parents rather than do the will of God, then that person will be denied by Jesus before our Father in heaven.

A number of years ago, an acquaintance of mine was into experimenting with drugs. His mother was told that her sons were experimenting with drugs, but she challenged the person making the statement and declared her children did not take drugs. One day, she was talking to me, and she told me that she knew God better than I ever would and I had no right to discuss religion or even suggest to her that she or her family ought to seek God. Within thirty minutes of her leaving my place, she got one of her sons to visit me. He abused me and told me that I had no right to suggest that his mother needed to know God and then, looking up at the ceiling with his finger raised, he challenged God, saying that if God is alive he would rather be dead than know him. It wasn't long before her son was killed, when hit by a car, and obtained his request from God. One of her other sons, decided that he would seek Jesus Christ, and asked God to reveal himself to him. Upon having acknowledged feeling some wonderful presence when seeking God, he decided to read the Bible. He took the Bible home to read. His mother told him that he had to put her before God or leave. He chose to honor his mother rather than God. But because of what happened to his brother he decided not to take drugs; instead, today, he is an alcoholic, much to her chagrin.

When it comes to honoring your parents, while this is commendable, what is more important is honoring what is right rather than being loyal to people who would threaten you to do what they require rather than what God requires. Essentially, you owe nobody nothing, because you never asked to be born. However, you do owe it to yourself to find out why you were born and what God would expect you to do on earth.

When you are born you may grow up in an environment that could change a lot, or you might be in an environment that doesn't change much at all; much depends on the society and culture you are born into. Today, everything is changing and you can expect to see much more change than what you would have had you been born into a tribe living in the South American jungle or African plains or North American prairie or New Guinea highlands or the snow capped regions of the Arctic circle or Himalayas, or a Chinese, a Indian or Asian village, or on a Pacific Ocean Island in years gone by. Yet while the world is changing, there is much that stays the same. Children still require a mother and a father, even though same-sex couples are attempting to change this and make procreation a test-tube event. And children will go through the stages of growth that all children go through to become an adult.

The stages of maturation or growing older are universal, except that nutrition and education play a major part in the process. Poor nutrition means susceptibility to various illnesses or diseases and an early death; a lack of education will limit people's ability to appreciate the world around them and to develop their knowledge of themselves and their social and physical environment.

What really happens regardless of where you are born is you will be largely affected by your environment. How you learn to respond to what happens around you socially and your belief system will depend upon what you tell yourself you believe over and over again, which in a nutshell is what happens.

Spiritually, God looks down upon you and sees that you are born into a world which is governed by sin and is watching to see what you decide to do when you are presented with situations that require you to make a decision about what is right and what is wrong.

Initially, you will look to members of your family to copy. Then you will start to see that some people do things different to how members of your family do things. As long as it does not involve breaking God's commandments, then there is no problem; but little things as wanting what your brother or sister or mother or father have, and then deciding to take them without asking, is bordering on sinfulness. As you grow older you might notice that your older siblings or your mother or father do something but disallow you the right to do the same thing. Initially, you might be only modeling them when you copy them, but then there will come a time when you will have to ask whether what you are doing is right or wrong. An instance of this is when you do something that you know you really shouldn't be doing because your parents have told you not to do it. But you do it anyway. Your parents then find out that something is damaged and they ask you if you did what you were told not to do.  You say you didn't and cast aspersions elsewhere, like trying to blame the dog or the cat or a burglar. At this point the issue of right or wrong comes to the fore. You will find your conscience prick you. Now if you fight your conscience, you will begin to lose some of your ability to make sound moral decisions.

When children begin to dishonor their parents in little things by being disobedient and then trying to deceive them, this is a breaking of the fifth commandment. God wants children to respect their parents so that they may learn to be humble and acknowledge that those who have gone before them know more than them. When the Archangel Lucifer decided to challenge God, his moment of blindness caused him to overlook one simple fact, which is God knows more than him, because he was before him. The deception of sin causes people to overlook this one fact that those who have lived longer may know more than the younger. When it comes to children and their parents, this is certainly the case. Parents who love their children teach them what is right, and what is wrong, and show them that the reason why it is better to obey than disobey. In this, children learn to honor their parents; especially when they are not wrongfully punished, but are shown mercy triumphs over judgment and ignorance is forgiven. When they become parents, they will also understand another chance can be given to their own children to demonstrate their willingness to obey and appreciate the benefit of knowledge.

After the Second World War, the concept of teenager was developed and advertisers targeted this group. For the devil this has proven to be a great way to divide and conquer the family unit, so that teenagers see themselves as a separate social grouping, distinct from parents and children. This has created a rebelliousness that has resulted in a rupture in social cohesion, where many teenagers seem to think they can do whatever they like without consequence. This mindset is reinforced further by politicians, who have legislated, in many jurisdictions, that children under the age of eighteen are minors and are therefore exempt from punishment. The corrosion of accountability is compounded when legislation has made it unlawful for parents to use corporal punishment as a means of control when their children misbehave. Consequently, young teenagers, and even preteen children, are stealing, drug-dealing, being vandals and committing criminal acts of violence exempt from fear of punishment. It is as if the concept of teenage years has turned into the cult of the unruly teenager.

Maturation, which is often called “growing up”, goes through a number of processes that have been identified as common to all individuals. The obvious divisions of maturation are adult and child. However, we can divide not only adult into young adult and elder; we can also divide a child into teen and preteen, which can further be divided into young teen and youth, and pre-school age and school age. The different classifications do not stop there. The maturation process has been observed to have different aspects such as physical, intellectual, psychological, social, and spiritual.

There is a powerful truth associated with this commandment. The apostle Paul says that this is the first commandment with a promise. The promise is that when children obey their parents in the Lord, all will be well with them and they will live long on the earth.

The promise is not associated with merely obeying one's parents, but obeying the Lord. What this means is you do not obey your parents if what they are asking you to do or believe is contrary to what the Lord God requires of you.

Here is the scripture in Ephesians, chapter six, verses one to four:

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—this is the first commandment with a promise: “so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

There is also the wider meaning of obeying your parents in the Lord. Contrary to what many might like to believe there are also spiritual parents who are responsible for those to whom they bring to salvation, or adopted parents, when it comes to elders, who become spiritual oversight of a fellowship or congregation. It is profitable to obey these people in the Lord and not to be divisive and act contrary to the spirit of unity, especially if these elders are performing the tasks of true shepherds. This is confirmed for us all in Hebrews 13:17, which says:

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls and will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with sighing—for that would be harmful to you.

This same principle that can be applied to leaders in the church also needs to be realized regarding children's natural parents. Parents who love their children are keeping watch over them and will also have to give an account of what they have done before God. However, children who are disobedient will not reap the rewards that are available for those who love and obey their parents.

In Ephesians chapter six, as quoted above, fathers are admonished not to provoke their children to anger, but rather to instruct them in the way of God, so they might know what is right to do. This also applies to the mother. Unfortunately, today, far too many parents in Western society are seen losing their tempers with their children and, rather than providing them with a worthy role model to imitate and profitable instruction, the parents are having their buttons pressed by their children, who are learning it pays to provoke their parents, if you want an immediate reward. This is because the parents are at a loss with what to do and have no control over their children.

The paradox is the very laws that have been designed to protect children from abusive parents and child exploitation have enabled children to abuse and manipulate their parents without punishment, because they can exploit the law to their own advantage. If a parent resorts to punitive measures, the child can simply contact a government agency, which will then proceed to convict the parent for child abuse, while neglecting to attend to the child's real needs.

Every child has needs as it grows up. God has equipped every mother and father with the means by which these needs can be met. The mother is able to nurture the child as a baby. As a toddler, the child will still be looking to its mother, but also more aware of its father's existence. Sooner or later the child becomes aware of both parents and how they require the child to behave. In what are described as more primitive societies, the mothers usually look after both the girls and the boys until the boys are considered old enough to be taught by the men. There is usually a rite of passage about this time, where the boys are acknowledged as young men. Likewise the girls have a rite of passage whereby they are recognized as young woman. Unfortunately, sophisticated societies like we see today, do not have such a simple dichotomy of social recognition, where one day you are declared to be no longer a child but an adult.

When a child grows up, there are six stages that have been identified by Eric Erickson, which have to be entered and exited in a fulfilling manner for true maturity to take place. The first stage is that of trust verses mistrust. The second stage is where the child needs to learn autonomy rather than shame and doubt. The third stage is that where autonomy begets initiative rather than guilt. The fourth stage is where the child builds on what initiative has been explored and finds fulfillment in becoming industrious and exhibiting self-confidence and self-mastery rather than feeling inferior. The child then enters puberty and has to discover new truths about life and personal bodily transformation, or lack of it, which brings about identity issues and a self consciousness that previously did not exist, which can very quickly manifest in rebellion against authority and the status quo. This in turns leads to either the child entering the later years of youth seeking intimacy and finding a fulfilling role as parent or isolated from a sense of meaningful existence.

There are differences in cultures. The violence and lack of self control that is becoming more prevalent in Western society, as a result of the permissiveness that prevails social life, does not necessarily mean that young people do not acknowledge their roots; rather that disjointedness in an age-related peer groups that form the basis of modern society tends to isolate and alienate many teenagers from their parents and authority. In societies where the culture is not as sophisticated and family life is the place of learning, there is a greater attachment to parents and the elders and their roots.

Jean Leidloff wrote a book called “The Continuum Concept. In this book she documented her observations of a Venezuelan tribe of Indians with whom she lived for some time. What she observed was the natural process in which the children grew up in a society where anxiety and frustration were unknown. The men and women had defined roles and competition was not something that was encouraged. Nobody was required to do anything other than what they saw they needed to do. The parents were the role models for the children, and as the children grew older, they simply played together and helped out wherever needed, when they were shown what to do. When it came time for pubescent boys to leave the camp, the boys would see the elder waiting for them in the forest and eventually would decide to leave the females and prepubescent boys and follow the elder as part of the rite of passage. There was no aggression or insistence that the boys leave the camp, evidently, each one would do it by venturing further away until they were with the elder and the camp was left behind. The young girls grew up to become young woman and mothers.

One woman I know decided to use the idea of the continuum concept to raise her son. She breast fed her son until he was three years of age and carried him on her back until she couldn't carry him anymore. Her son proved to be a pleasant, mild mannered boy, who did quite well at school and did not have any of the difficulties many other children seemed to have. Unfortunately, the woman died when the boy was about twelve years of age. At the age of twenty, this boy, now a young man, exhibited that he was confident of himself and felt in control of his circumstances, having gotten engaged to be married.

The experiment conducted by this woman in raising her son to replicate the experience of the Venezuelan Indians proved the value of letting go, and being let go, as a natural consensual process between mother and child, rather than pushing her child away before he was ready to let go. Being in a Western social setting, the fact this child exhibited a peaceful self-assuredness, and no signs of an identity crisis in his teenage years, supports the idea that the maturation process requires each child to naturally evolve through the processes, like a snake or lizard sheds it skin, as it grows older and bigger. When a child does not complete the evolutionary process through each stage of its development naturally, underdevelopment in terms of self-mastery and psychological maladjustments start to become problems, because future maturation starts to have restrictions rather than become truly full and rich. However, this does not mean each individual is no longer accountable for behavior or actions. For each child has a conscience and is capable of determining right from wrong.

The age where children start to learn right from wrong is usually the toddler age. This is where toilet training and parental patience often come into conflict. According to Erickson, shaming is often the means within various societies that develops a preconscious conscience within children. This is the age of what is known as the terrible twos. Children either develop a sense of autonomy which is often seen as rebelliousness or a sense of shame or doubt, and this is often perceived as stubbornness. In the main, children do appear to be conditioned by their environment which is largely governed by their parents. However, this does not mean the parents are to be totally blamed for their children becoming rebellious, even if poor parenting does play a major factor.

When you grew as a child you formed ideas about the world around you. These ideas formed what is known as your personal worldview, which it is largely influenced by how you see the world through the interactions you have with your parents and older brother and sisters and, to a lesser extent, other significant people in your life (play-mates, relatives, school teachers, etc). Your worldview is really your belief system and will be based on attitudes more than clear thinking. So if people did kind things to you as a child, they would be liked, while the people who did nasty things to you would be disliked. Nonetheless, your thinking about your father and mother, and how you perceive them, will affect your attitude and shape your belief system. You may see your parents as grown-ups you should respect from fear; or kind persons you respect out of love; or just people you should show respect for because they are your mother and father; or maybe individuals not worthy of your respect.

How you see your mother and father will shape your thinking of other people, life and God. For example, one person told me he became a Christian because he thought God was angry with him. Later on he revealed that his own father was always angry with him, because he would do wrong things; so he saw God as angry father figure. Whereas I have always seen God as somebody who loves me because I grew up in an environment where those whom I adopted as parents showed love to me, in that whatever I received was for my good.

Whether you like it or not, everybody has a mother and a father, and this is something that cannot be gotten away from. Admittedly, there are same-sex couples who are trying to change this, so children grow up with two male figures or two female figures, with one masquerading as the other gender, and the child not knowing who one, or both, of their biological parents may be. Adopted children in heterosexual relations are often raised without knowing who their biological parents are. When they realize this is the case, what often happens with children who are adopted is they want to know who their real parents are. This appears to be a natural yearning for children who have been separated from their biological parents, in particular, their mother. It is as if every person has this inner need to acknowledge his or her parents from whom each one has received their body and soul.

For children not to honor their father and mother means they are disrespectful to God. Jesus made this point when noting that the religious leaders of his day insisted that giving the offering to the temple took precedence over supporting a person's parents.

Then he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’ But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is Coban’ (that is, an offering to God)— then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on.(Mark 7:9-13).

The honoring of one's parents is very important in the eyes of God. However, there is a difference between honoring God over your parents, and not doing the will of God by meeting the needs of your parents, if they have a need and it is within your power to meet that need. Jesus did say that those who do the will of God are his mother, brother and sisters. He also said, that if any one love mother or father more than himself, they are not worthy of him. This may seem contradictory, but when you see the complete jigsaw puzzle, it makes sense to honor the Creator before the created.

When Jesus was confronted by a rich young ruler who claimed he kept all the commandments from his youth and honored his father and mother, Jesus said to him,

"You lack one thing, go and sell all you have and distribute to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, then follow me."

It is one thing, to honor your parents but another to honor God and your parents at the same time. Do this and God will give you twice as much as you might think you would have.

The fifth commandment comes with a promise that if you honor your father and mother in the Lord, all will be well for you and your days will be long in the land that the Lord God gives you. It is God's will that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 3:2). More than this, God also promises you to have land of your own. However, it is better to use the word "property” rather than land, because in today's world people live in large cities, and wealth is not quite a matter of herds and land, but more businesses, shares, dwellings and premises. The principle is the same, it is just the commodities have changed, because the nature of the society has changed from a rural and agriculturally based culture to an urban and technologically based culture.

The fifth commandment does not address so much how people are to be raised, rather the responsibility of each person to honor their father and mother and, in doing this, each one will honor God. Nonetheless, it is quite obvious from other scriptures that parents have a responsibility in raising their children, even if they are not mentioned here; it is suffice to say that parents should not provoke their children, which suggests that parental behavior plays an important part in raising children.

The fifth commandment points to God in that every person can be traced back as having come from the first man and woman whom God created. God is the one who is the father of life and the source of life. Our lives exist, humanly speaking, because of our parents, but we all exist because God created the first man and woman and thereby created us. While the first human beings had to know God as their creator, we do not, unless we seek him out. If we have no respect for our parents because they are our parents, then it might seem impossible for us to have any respect for God. Only, as with the case of the young man who challenged God and put his mother before the Almighty, parents must not come between their children and the Author of Life.

It is not the parents who are mentioned in the fifth commandment as providing the land. It is God! The Lord God simply requests that all children learn to honor their parents for what they have done in providing for your needs as a child, but not to put them on a pedestal and commit the sin of idolatry, by putting them before the Almighty Creator, in Whom alone dwells immortality.

(c) 2007-2011 Happy Riches

Time and time again people have been forced into wars and given a gun so they can kill other human beings, yet this is not their wish. In the Second World War both opposing sides had many men who did not really want to kill other people. But being confronted with the belief that unless they killed the other person first, they would themselves be killed, men shot at each other and asked questions later.

There are stories of horrific crimes committed in war, where people were killed in gas chambers, shot by firing squads, blown up, buried alive, and, often, the ones who were just following orders did not really want to do what they did; even though they may have found the act repugnant, the fear of themselves also being among the victims, enabled them to carry out their heinous crimes against their fellow human beings. Whatever the case, the perpetrators would still have to somehow justify their actions when they kill another human being, even in war, and this requires people to harden their hearts as they sear their consciences.

Not all people have gone to war upon the threat of death. Those who were genuine pacifists protested and were prepared to die rather than take another human life. In many countries, pacifists aid the war effort by being employed in support operations as civilians rather than enlist in the forces. Many others join the armed forces with the aim of being trained and obtaining employment, but not expecting to go to war or do any active duty where they might have to actually kill someone.

Of course, there are those people who actually look forward to being able to kill people legitimately without retribution and enjoy the idea of being in the armed forces and killing other people. These individuals are considered to have a psychological issue that really needs to be addressed, but not only this, in many instances, they have been programmed by their culture to see the enemy as those who are not the same as them. So killing someone who is an enemy is not the same as killing another human being.

Many people find it rather ironical, and some even say hypocritical. that the Decalogue teaches "You shall not kill," and then not long afterwards God is telling Israelites that they are to kill anybody who is a homosexual, a murderer, a sorcerer (anyone who practices witchcraft or consults the dead); and even people who devote themselves to God as a ransom are to be put to death (Lev. 27:29). Besides this, God decreed the death of all who did not live according to his requirements, and is on record himself as having sent plagues and disease upon people, even killing one individual for having committed the sin of masturbation and King Herod for accepting adulation from a crowd.

Many people like to deride the Bible because of the fact God, on the one hand, says that you shall not kill, but, on the other hand, seems to kill people for all sorts of reasons. You might find that this is does not fit the profile of the Christian God of love. The letter of John tells us:

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.(1 John 4:7-16)

When you read about the God that Christians talk about as a loving being who desires to bring about in humans the best attributes of life, it is very difficult to reconcile such a loving Creator with the one spoken about in the Old Testament. The God of the Jews seems to be such a blood thirsty, revengeful, wrathful, ogre that you would not want to know. From a limited human perspective it is very difficult to reconcile the Old Testament view of God with the New Testament view of God. What needs to be taken into account is life has many paradoxes; many things seeming contrary to common sense at first, but when understood within the scope of the bigger picture, make sense.

Jainism is a Hindu offshoot and has been compared with the Jews because their members are educated and wealthy. Unlike the religion of the Jews, blood and death is something the Jains eschew, with some going to extreme lengths to avoid killing any creature or life. They are commonly seen sweeping the path on which they walk, lest they step on an ant or some other very small creature and kill it. Some Jains wear a covering over their mouth lest they breathe in microbes and kill them. Jain thinking values life as precious and should not be destroyed. Yet the futility of this thinking is seen that they are vegetarians and have to kill plant life to survive themselves, although, plants are not considered to have souls, whereas all creatures do. And accordingly to Jainism, the reason for this is all souls are on an evolutionary journey from some ethereal state of being to another ethereal state of being. Jains believe killing souls, in any form, will delay the journey.

This is not what the Bible teaches. The Bibles teaches that God is the Creator of the Universe and gave humans the right to exercise their own volition. The original aim was that as a spirit being placed in a biological body, humans would choose to be obedient and enjoy life in paradise. Unfortunately, one of the previously created spirit beings, the archangel Lucifer, who had been given charge to watch over humankind, thought the humans were getting too much attention and became jealous. Lucifer then conspired to cause the humans downfall by inveigling them with trickery into breaking faith with God.

The seed of evil was planted in the mind of Eve, who began to doubt Adam's instruction concerning God saying that they could eat of any fruit within the Garden of Eden, except the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve decided to give in to the natural tendencies of her biological nature and ate the fruit. Adam saw her eat the fruit and could not believe that Eve had not died, because this is what God told him would happen on the day that he ate of the fruit. Since Eve did not die, Adam ate the forbidden fruit. Had Adam eaten of the fruit from the tree of life, he would have lived for ever. Instead, he saw Eve eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and still live, and in utter unbelief, did the same; thus, Adam rejected the authority of God's voice to heed that of Eve and the archangel Lucifer, who deceived her, by putting doubt in her mind when asking her how she knew God told them they were not to eat of the forbidden fruit. The truth is God told Adam, and Adam told Eve that they were not to eat of the forbidden fruit.

Not only did Adam and Eve find themselves being banished from the Garden of Eden, which was paradise on earth, but Lucifer found himself out of God's favor. In deceiving those who were in his charge, so they would disregard God, Lucifer committed what can be construed as the first act of murder, or attempt of murder, since Adam and Eve were not completely cut off from God. Although it is worth noting that Jesus made a point of stating to the Jews that their father was the Devil, who was a murderer, and they honored him and not GOD (John 8:45-49).

Fortunately, God in his mercy overlooks people's ignorance and has put in place a means by which every human being can be redeemed from being separated from Him. Nonetheless, Lucifer still had charge over the Earth and the human race, but he lost his pre-eminence in heaven and was cast out from his position as an Archangel. Lucifer was also able to lure many other angels to join him in his rebellion against God, when they saw that the daughters of men were fair and there was a possibility of them creating their own race. The Bible implies that the women copulated with the Angels and gave birth to offspring, who were designated as Nephilim. There is a lot of speculation about the Nephilim. However, it is possible these offspring were giants, very strong physically, but appear to have been sterile, just like a mule is sterile. It is possible that they had no spirit but were like massive apes that had the ability to imitate, but not the intellect to be able to create or speak a human language, because God did not put a spirit in them. These massive creatures then resorted to violence. And because there was so much violence on the earth, God decided to destroy all except Noah and his family, because Noah found favor in his sight.

The first recorded human murder happened when Cain killed Abel. This murder also came about in a similar way to which Lucifer decided to bring about the fall of Adam. Cain was born before Abel, just like Lucifer was created before Adam. Cain got jealous of Abel, because Abel found favor in the sight of God, just like Lucifer became jealous because Adam was the Creator’s latest delight. Cain's response was to eradicate Abel, so he would be the one who would be pre-eminent. Lucifer did the same. Cain sought to cut Abel off from life by slaying him, and human blood was spilled for the first time when he was killed. God declared that, from that time on, a life shall be required for a life.

Jealousy is very much at the heart of people killing other people. Lucifer consumed with jealousy tried to kill Adam by causing him to disobey God and cut himself off from the very source of life, the Life-giver Himself; the One in whom alone there is life and immortality; the One who exists; who the Buddhists and Hindus and Jains like to call the Atman or All Soul, and have a very different concept of the Lord God as revealed in the sacred scriptures of the Bible, which have been penned by the inspiration of the Spirit of God. The biblical version of creation containing the purpose of humankind’s existence and fall of the first man and woman from their exalted position in the Lord God’s creation tells us death came into the world through jealousy, and God has had to use death as the means to show his favor towards the man and woman whom He made in his image. This can be construed as bringing about a balance of justice, a balance of energy, but it is the workings of a righteous God, who shows mercy and justice and establishes good faith with all his creation.

It is no surprise that when the police are investigating a murder they always look for a jealous motive. Jealousy is the cause of most murders. Revenge can even be seen as a jealous response, because a jealous person will revenge another to restore any perceived integrity that might have been lost, and to preserve faith in a name that is perceived to be honorable. This is why many feuds occur between families and tribes. People are jealous about the perceived honor they have. The same applies to men going to war. The men need to feel that they are personally affected in some way as to become jealous of the perceived integrity of their country being betrayed, dishonored, harmed, or under threat in some respect. This way killing other people makes sense, because the other nations need to understand the extent that they will go to protect their country's honor by placing their own lives on the line.

God yearns jealously over the spirits that dwell in human beings that have chosen to call upon his name and call upon his mercy and grace. This is what the Bible says:

Or what do you think the Scripture means when it says that the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, watches over us with tender jealousy? (James 4:5; Living Bible).

Even when people return to God, they still have the right to exercise their own wills. Consequently, God gives them strength to survive temptations and protects them. The story of Satan attacking Job with every known disease but not being allowed to take his life exemplifies this. Once Job learnt his lesson that God alone is the one who is able to save, he repented and Satan fled. God does not let the god of this world (also known as Satan, Lucifer, and the Devil) reign when men and women who desire a relationship with Him are innocent of the Evil One’s charges because of their ignorance.

While the Devil would attempt to completely destroy believers, God uses the evil one’s attempts to harm believers to help them glorify His name. Once a person becomes a true believer, any prayer offered to God is heard, providing there is no sin in the person's life. This is why Jesus said that if anyone has anything against you go and reconcile with him or her before bringing your gift before the altar of God. To sin against another believer is the same as cutting them off. Sin is a breaking of faith.

Because the Israelites persisted in breaking faith with God, they were all going to be destroyed in the Wilderness at one stage. Moses interceded on behalf of the people:

But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for in your might you brought up this people from among them, and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people; for you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go in front of them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if you kill this people all at one time, then the nations who have heard about you will say, ‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them that he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ And now, therefore, let the power of the Lord be great in the way that you promised when you spoke, saying, The Lord is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children to the third and the fourth generation.’ Forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now.” Then the Lord said, “I do forgive, just as you have asked; nevertheless—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord— none of the people who have seen my glory and the signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tested me these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their ancestors; none of those who despised me shall see it. But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me wholeheartedly, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.(Numbers 22:13-24).

Not too long later, not only were the Israelites again breaking faith, this time some of them, led by one man, challenged God's holy character and were intent on dishonoring his name. But Moses and Aaron pleaded with God to save the congregation, putting forward an argument that it is not right that other people should pay for the sin of someone else.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: Separate yourselves from this congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment. They fell on their faces, and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one person sin and you become angry with the whole congregation?”(Numbers 27:16)

God heeded Moses and Aaron's words as they presented their reasons. Even though the Israelites had broken faith as a whole nation, with a few exceptions, obviously not all of the people were totally caught up in the rebellion of this time; otherwise God would probably have wiped them all out.

There is a very important point made by Moses and Aaron in the argument presented to God. Why should God destroy everyone because of the sin of one man? There is more implied in their short reasoning with God than meets the eye. Just like there is more implied in the statement where God says that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and Jesus pointed out the hidden meaning in the implication (Matt. 22:32).  As implied by Moses and Aaron, Adam sinned and because of this all men have been born into sin; this is a state of existence that is separated from God because it is controlled by the god of this world.  Nonetheless, the Lord God has seen fit to continue dealing with men and women born into a sinful world.

While you might understand this world in a physical sense, it is to your advantage that you realize there is more to this world than what you can see. The mere fact you cannot see bacteria and it exists, or viruses that are even smaller than bacteria, and you believe these exist, testifies of the possibility that there could be infinity of smallness beyond what you can conceive. The same applies to the size of the universe and the many solar systems and galaxies that exist within its boundaries. Fractals also testify of the endlessness of a given thing and how there could be an infinite number of worlds or spheres of existence within the world in which we exist. When this is taken into account it is not too difficult to understand that there may be many different dimensions of existence happening in what you might perceive to be the space in which you live. Not only does this help you to understand that you yourself are a three dimensional being, with a spirit, soul and body, but angels and other beings can be watching your every move.

Sin came into this world through one man, Adam (he gets the blame), but, through Jesus Christ, grace and mercy have been extended to all who have been born into this world, even though it exists in a state of separation from God. The angels that have sinned have been committed to deep darkness and they roam around in some world which could possibly be in the confines of the space occupied by Earth. Some people believe that God cannot kill angels because they are spirit beings and that would make him a murderer. God can kill humans in this temporal existence but cannot kill the spirit of a man and therefore they are going to be thrown into the lake of fire, which has been created for the Devil and the angels that have left their positions of authority. This, too, will apply to the seventy angels who had been given authority to look after the seventy nations separated by language when God confused the languages of men at Babel. Many of the wars and territorial issues are as a result of these angels fighting one another.

When Jesus was on earth, he spoke of the house of Satan being divided. The reason the house of Satan is divided is, although Satan has authority over the Earth and humankind, there are seventy other angels who have been given authority over the seventy language groups that form the nations of the world. They are known as princes. They are princes who have decided to do what they like and sometimes they are on God's side and other times they are opposing God, and other times they are just warring among themselves. These princes were originally known as the heavenly council and the hosts of heaven. But when they realized the power they had, they decided to go their own way, just like Lucifer, that is, Satan. While they have authority in Lucifer's kingdom, they do not have authority over Lucifer, and he appears to have minimal authority over them, if any at all. These princes are now known as princes of darkness.

The book of Daniel makes reference to these princes and the fact that God is waging spiritual warfare with them. They all have their own armies who fight each other over who is going to rule what areas. God has to work with all this and engineer his purpose; this is why the archangel Michael was delayed in answering the prophet Daniel's prayer. Michael was caught up in battle with the Prince of Persia. But he also knew that the Prince of Greece was preparing a campaign, which later came in the form of the Macedonian, Alexander the Great. It is not that God condones murder that these murderous campaigns of war have occurred; it is because of political plays that are being made in what are known to us as the spiritual sphere of existence.

Many humans see killing as barbaric because to take another man's life devalues their own life. This is the same reasoning behind why it is thought God cannot kill a spirit, but has to confine them to prison. However, the death of a human being is not the cessation of his existence, and neither does it automatically mean the entry into eternal life, because much depends of each one's relationship with God. The Bible tells us that there is such a thing as eternal punishment, originally created for the angels who departed their positions of authority and trust, but which will also be for the reserve of those whose deeds are evil and hate the truth. Evidently, this is a decision that is made by us, because if we love the truth we come to the light that our deeds might be seen to have been worked out in the goodness of God. If we are not so willing to do what God wants us to do, we will hate the truth, and flee from the light because of our personal fears and shame of not doing what we knew what we should have done, when it was in our power to do what is right.

Today people are always fighting rights in courts of law. Many of the rights of the citizens have been stripped away and people defending themselves, when being assaulted in their own homes, have been convicted of committing a crime when killing someone in self-defense. Meanwhile, in many jurisdictions murderers escape punishment while their victims suffer, or get what are very light penalties rather than have their own life taken. This is because many people in positions of power (politicians and the judiciary) see murder as a barbaric act and believe that they are lowering their standards by sending a convicted murderer to the gallows or the guillotine or electric chair. God has no such illusions and stipulated that a human life murdered, shall require the life of the murderer.

When the Israelites were to set up their citizenship in the Promised Land of Canaan, they were to set up cities of refuge, where a murderer or someone who was suspected of murder could find refuge and would not be killed, for his crime or supposed crime or unintentional crime, in the event of an accidental slaying. The cities of refuge allowed the accused to live his life in a protected environment, but if the accused were to move outside the boundaries of his protection, then he could be killed on sight. What this shows us is God wants mercy and justice and faith to be part of society, not corruption, distrust and fearfulness; but violence is on the increase in the cities of the world, and the police are doing very little to curb it, because of the laws that restrict their powers and the leniency of the judicial system. In fact, it appears that those who want to terrorize others seem to be able to do so with impunity. This is especially the case with juvenile criminals, and it flows over on to the young men, and even young women, who are frustrated and go to clubs and pubs looking for a fight, or prowl the streets looking for some defenseless person to bash and rob. Consequently, career criminals develop their careers when they are young because of the lack of proper punishment and rehabilitation provided to curb violence.

The irony of the law today is that it is considered unlawful to murder another person, assault people or commit a crime of violence, yet juveniles go unpunished. Unfortunately it also unlawful for schools and parents to use appropriate disciplinary measures that include the use of corporal punishment and enforced rehabilitation measures, which have been proven to correct the behavior of children and teenagers who are looking to stray. An instance of this is seen in the sport of boxing. This is considered barbaric by many who want the sport banned, but the numerous testimonies of young men who have become less violent as a result of learning the discipline of becoming a boxer bears witness to the worth of the sport. With the frustration that exists because the young men are not getting a supervised and disciplined outlet for their energies and developing personal disciplinary habits that are required for any rigorous sport, the authorities need to find some answers to subdue the violence that is becoming more prevalent in the cities of the world. The Bible has some very clear instructions how it can be done.

When the Israelites were given the land of Canaan by God, it was because the nations that existed there at the time had developed their sinful practices to such an extent that their sin had gotten so bad that God could rightfully issue the command to destroy them. God had told Abraham that there would be four generations pass by before the Amorites’ sins would be complete, and then his descendants would be given the land. God is righteous and abides by his own code of conduct, which unlike any human code of conduct has much more authority because, even though his instructions might appear simplistic to human lawmakers, they are well thought out and come from an omniscient mind and not a politician on the run. God says capital punishment and corporal punishment is needed as an appropriate punishment for those who commit such crimes. Sin against God is also a capital sin for human beings in their biological state; not to mention everyone's eternal state.

The difference between murder and killing is one arises out of the passion of the flesh, while the other is merely the act of exterminating a person. A murderer is killed for his crime, not murdered. The commandment is not "you shall not kill" but, as translated in most versions of the Bible, "you shall not commit murder", and this makes sense.

There is a move against violence in families, where men beat their wives. Wife beating is contrary to the spirit of love that God actually desires mankind to enjoy, and especially in a marriage relationship. Men who bash their wives have often already committed murder in their hearts, as often the only reason they don't actually kill them is that they are afraid they might get caught. Others may not beat their wives, and simply murder them or have them murdered instead. But murder can be committed when a person simply hates the other person. Tragically, many people have lived in a relationship where murderous thoughts have predominated and hatred has turned hearts cold towards each other. Hatred is the same as murder (1 John 3:15).

Women are known to stop loving their husbands when they have children. While there are men who are violent towards their wives and live-in partners, there are also numerous women who treat their husbands with contempt once they have a child or two. Marriage relationships are being killed off at a rate approaching fifty percent in western societies. Some say that wife-beating is the main reason these marriages end, but it does not seem probable that thirty-three percent of the marriages of people claiming to be born-again Christians end in divorce because of wife-beating. There have to be other reasons, and at the heart of the reason is the sin of murder. Hatred is murder in any form. If two people cannot learn how to love each other, then it is highly unlikely that they would be able to love another person. However, if a man beats his wife, it is understandable that she would want to murder him. Why should a wife suffer being beaten up and have to live in fear because of an unloving husband? In which case, God says "a life for a life." Hence, if the husband does not love his wife, he is guilty of murder. Likewise, if a wife does not love her husband, she too is guilty of murder.

Jesus said that Moses gave the ruling about divorce because of hardness of heart. God hates divorce, because it is tantamount to murder. God also knows that people's hearts can be filled with hardness and hatred; therefore men who were not pleased with their wives could divorce them. It was hard on the wife, but at least the wife was free from being bashed and treated cruelly. Hence, today, if one person in a marriage refuses to love the other person, then it is not right that the one (who is effectively guilty of murder) live with the one they are hurting with their hatred. If there is no hope of reconciliation it is better for the two to separate.

In respect to women not being able to divorce men in bygone days, what needs to be realized is that society in those days was different to that of a first world economy today. These people had a different lifestyle to modern society and, when fully understood, what was found in the laws given to Israel through Moses was fair and equitable and provided justice for the people. The mere fact the people themselves failed to comply with God's requirements is not an indictment on the laws provided to the people so they could live a healthy, prosperous and meaningful life on earth.

The reason why people who sinned, or introduced sin, into the Israelite nation were to be put to death was so the nation would be preserved from social disharmony, as is so common today. Those who deride the biblical injunctions to put to death people who break faith with God do not live for the good of the community but for their own self-interest. When you understand the spiritual influences that are at work to destroy humankind, then you will appreciate why homosexuality, lesbianism, sexual perversion, immorality, licentiousness, witchcraft, consulting the dead, praying before statues and the like are all punishable by death. These practices do not lead people to knowing God and his purpose.

Humans in their wisdom say that it is a crime punishable by law to use any form of corporal punishment as a means to bring children or any citizen into line because he or she refuses to listen to reason. Yet at the same time, abortions can be performed at will, because this is not a crime. Suicides, on the other hand, must be prevented at all cost, because this is a waste of life, yet the person committing suicide is exercising their own volition. Euthanasia, on the other hand, is permitted in certain instances because this is sometimes perceived to be in the best interests of the person who is being killed. The death penalty cannot be administered because this is barbaric and unbecoming of a human. Meanwhile, more and more people are becoming violent and people are seeking to live in communities that have guards at the entrance to the housing estate, because they are afraid. They cannot live as they once could without fear.

The sixth commandment is about not just killing people but more a prohibition on murdering people and hating people. Life is sacred, yet in order to preserve a community of people that are able to live free from fear and enjoy relations with each other, understanding why God prohibits murder is essential; especially, when God instructs that people who violate certain regulations and requirements of this faith covenant are to be killed.

The sixth commandment, when studied in the light of the other requirements of the Mosaic Law, provides an understanding of how corporal punishment and capital punishment can be used to better society today. There is provision made for people who accidentally commit manslaughter as distinct to murder; but a life for a life, especially in the case of murder, should not be treated so leniently by the courts and the lawmakers. Forgiveness is one thing, justice is another, but so are clear cut laws that are enforced without corruption.

The sixth commandment highlights the need to love one another rather than living in relationships where murder infests the inner person and creates social disharmony, even on the home front. What is needed is an open community where people understand the risks of violating the commandments of God. Violating the commandment about murder would be acted upon swiftly in the context of a life for a life. Contrary to secular thinking, such a community would be a deterrent to murder and violence. Any fear about wrongfully killing an innocent man can be avoided by providing a city or community for people to flee and find refuge and live a meaningful life, just like the cities of refuge that God required the Israelites to set up.

The sixth commandment is about being educated in the sanctity of life and why people should love one another. This is not a negative commandment as many people would tell you that the laws of Moses are. This is a positive commandment which points people to where the boundaries exist, so each one of us might know what is right, and what is wrong, and why life needs to be valued, and why we should value each other. For there is a time to be jealous of what is right and to defend this to the death. God did this in the form of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and bought a pardon for all humankind, since Jesus was the only human who was devoted to God without sin. Nothing which contained sin could be devoted to God because it would be unacceptable, and this is what is meant when talking about any person who is devoted to God must die; such persons must be sinless and therefore acceptable to God. Only Jesus has been without sin, and he has fulfilled the just requirement of the Law, and on every person's behalf, through the sinless Son of God, the Eternal Father has bequeathed an inheritance of eternal life for all who believe in him.