Chapter 7 – Saturday – The Ten Commandments Number 3 - 2008 7 19

I wrote then: Life has been busy and I am not getting out a chapter a day as you see. After all, I still work full-time. Then, when I get home, there are letters to write (mostly e-mail). There is dinner to share with Anne. I have reading to do. We like to watch the news on TV and sometimes something else together. There are plants to water. There may be time for some hobbies, like working on my music.

So, that brings us to Commandment Number 3: "You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain, for The Lord will not hold you guiltless if you do" (Exodus 20:7). In other words, using God's name in vain is a sin and it makes you guilty before God. Using His name, or names, in vain means using them in places in your speech where you shouldn't be using them. It is swearing or, as some people say, cursing. An older word is blasphemy.

Unfortunately, taking God's name in vain has become far too common in our society. Even little children say "Oh My God" when they are surprised by something, or excited about something.  It's even appearing in ads and commercials, often just as OMG, the common e-mail or Facebook usage. And how often do we not hear expressions beginning with "Jesus… this or that," or even "Jesus Christ etc." Jesus is God so using His name in vain is included here. Some people would say that even using words like "Geez" is swearing because it could be a short form of Jesus.

Expressions like "Holy cow" or other phrases using holy (like 'Holy s____') like this may not be exactly using Gold's name in vain. However, it should be clear that this is not good speech for a disciple of Jesus to be using either. Holy should only be used in relation to things that refer to God an the appropriate way.

 As the Apostle Paul is believed by many to have written:

 "Let your speech be always with grace."

A good thought to start the week.

Chapter 6 – Tuesday – The Ten Commandments Number 2 - 2008 7 15

Chapter 6 – Tuesday – The Ten Commandments Number 2 - 2008 7 15

Yesterday I wrote about the first two commandments. Number one is: "I am the Lord Your God." Number two is "You shall have no other gods before me."

The word God is of course just the English word for the supernatural being that we believe made the universe and looks after it. You may remember from the biblical story of Moses that when he met this Being at what appeared to be a burning bush that did not get consumed, this Being simply identified himself as "I Am." God did not say 'I was,' which is English grammar past tense. He did not say 'I will be,' which refers to the future. Whenever and wherever we meet Him, he is always in the present with us. He was I Am with people who met him in the past, and will be I Am when people meet him in the future. He is always I Am.

Isn't that a comforting thought? I think it tells us that God is with us at all times and in all places.

You know I am a psychiatrist. To be a good therapist you have to be a good listener. You have to give your patient all your attention. We say you have to be with your patient in the moment. God is with us every moment. We can talk to him in prayer at any time, anywhere. We can wait to hear his answer anytime, anywhere.

It is as we believe King David wrote in The Psalms, ch. 121, vs 4 – 8: "Look, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep…the Lord shall preserve your going out and coming in from this time forth and forever". If that is God's promise to us, what have we to fear?

Chapter 5 – Monday – The Ten Commandments Numbers 1 & 2 - 2008 7 14

Chapter 5 – Monday – The Ten Commandments Numbers 1 & 2 - 2008 7 14

So, from the introduction to the topic, based on the Bible book Exodus 20. This begins with what we know as the Ten Commandments. These ten statements are the foundation, the basis, of the laws of Western civilization. Many civilizations and nations throughout history have had similar laws, which shows the universal application of their sayings.

The first commandment is based on ch. 20 vs. 1 – 3 which say: "God spoke all these words saying, 'I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage (slavery). You shall have no other gods before me'."

If we believe that God is our Lord, have we gotten rid of the 'other gods'? What might they be?

In the past, and in some countries today, they might be statues that people worship because they think they are gods or represent them. However, most of us do not do that.

For most of us, anything that we pay too much attention to could be a god because it takes away our attention from The God. Things we want too much. Things we are too proud about. Things we spend too much money on. Things that take too much of our time. Anything that comes between 'God' and us could be a 'god'.

Is it our house? Our car? Our body? Our brains (intelligence)? Our clothes? Our jewelry? Something we collect? If we are honest with God and ourselves, we will know what our gods are. The wonderful thing is, if we ask His help, God can help us get rid of our 'gods'.  Let's ask Him to help us with that.

Chapter 4 – Sunday morning – 2008 7 13

I wrote: We do miss those of you who could not worship with us this morning. Those of you who have moved away, and those who missed this morning – you may all have had good reasons for not being with us. You know you can worship wherever you live if there is a church there that you can feel welcome in. You can worship on your own too, but we do need to worship together with fellow-believers too. The writer of The Letter to the Hebrews says in Ch. 10 vs. 25 "not to forsake gathering together, as some do."

The best story I have heard about this goes like this:

            A pastor was visiting a man who was not going to church but said he was a Christian. They were sitting in front of a fireplace. The pastor got up and moved a coal, a burning piece of wood, away from the rest of the fire. Soon the fire in it had died down. The man got the message. We need to be with one another to keep the fire of God burning in our hearts.

May God give us all a blessed week!

NOTE:   Chapter 3 is not included in this series as it concerns my wife's story, which I did not feel I was at liberty to publish, although I had shared it with our class, who knew her, of course.  Remember, this series was originally written for our Bible class in the summer of 2008.

Chapter 2 – Thursday - My Story - 2008 7 10

Remember... re the level of English - this was written for ESL students. Actually, I believe the politically correct term now is EAL students - English as an Additional Language. that's fine with me.

My ancestors have been Christians for over 200 years. Maybe even over 400 years.

My father was a teacher, missionary and pastor. My mother was also a teacher and she and my father worked together. So, I grew up always knowing about God and Jesus. The Bible (The King James Version in fact – a birthday present for my 6^th birthday) and other Christian literature (such as Back to the Bible Hour's Good News Ambassador paper) were what I learned to read first. 

I believe I was blessed to grow up in a home where the love of Jesus was felt, with parents who followed The Way of Jesus. It probably helped keep me from getting into a lot of trouble. It also helped me learn a lot.

Once when my younger sister and I were about 7 years old, we were having our evening prayers and readings with our parents. We realized from what we heard that we were sinful creatures. Knowing this made us cry because of sadness for whom we were. However, our parents knew there was a way out of feeling like this. My father read these verses that I will always remember:

                        "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ…he is the sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world"…The First Letter from John, ch. 2, vs. 1-2.

That was wonderful news. Jesus represents us to God. He stands before His Father to plead our case on our behalf. That is what an advocate is. It's like Jesus is our Lawyer in God's court. If we believe in what he is doing for us, we will not receive the final punishment for our sins. We can be forgiven and have new and eternal life.

My sister and I prayed for forgiveness that evening. That was our beginning in the New Life.

NOTE:   Chapter 3 is not included in this series as it concerns my wife's story, which I did not feel I was at liberty to publish, although I had shared it with our class, who knew her, of course.  Remember, this series was originally written for our Bible class in the summer of 2008.

LETTERS TO FRIENDS AND STUDENTS

VOLUME 1 CHAPTERS 1-14

 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

Introduction -  Chapters 1-3

The 10 Commandments - Chapters 5-14

Chapter 1 – Wednesday – Introduction - 2008 7 9

                        "I call you friends, for everything I have heard from my Father I have made know to you...these things I ask of you, that you love one another"...The Gospel According to John, ch. 15, vs. 15 & 17.

I first wrote this series to some ESL Bible students my wife and I had begun to work with in the summer of 2006. Many of those students are now our friends. Some we mentored as they joined our church. We had not even been at Richmond's Peace Mennonite Church three full years when I wrote this for them during the summer to replace our weekly classes.

Now I share this with a wider audience of friends…

Advice on Sexuality for Young People

As a psychiatrist working in the public health field, it is sometimes difficult to really say to your patients what you want them to hear. This is because what I really want them to hear comes Not only from what I have learnt in medical school and subsequently, but also from what I believe, which has its roots in my faith. Naturally, one is not allowed to say anything that favours a particular faith and could be misconstrued as trying to proselytize when you work in the public sector.

Unfortunately, as others have written, the seeds sown by the so-called Sexual Revolution of the 60s and 70s, are now yielding a harvest of too many individuals who see sex as nothing more than another of life's pleasures to be sought after. They don't know what they are really missing.

Of course, too often this results in sex outside of the marriage bond, where Our Creator intended it to occur. For many, it is simply too "old hat" to talk like this. However, even if we leave aside things like the 7th of the so-called 10 Commandments given but The Creator to the  Hebrew prophet Moses, perhaps early in the 2nd millennium BC, there are still many reasons to take another look at this.

There is evidence that the rate of divorce among those who don't wait until marriage before “consummating their relationship” is higher than among those who do wait. The partners of those who wait simply appear to have greater trust in the fidelity of each other than those who have not waited. Just think about how much better life would be for so many families, couples and their children, if there were no divorce. I know I certainly would have a lot less work.  That would be fine with me.

Another reason for waiting and containing one's sexual relationship within the marriage bond is the prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections. There would be no STIs if everyone followed The Creator's rule in this regard. Think of the misery and public health costs that STI's create, especially with the recent HIV/AIDS epidemic.

There is also good evidence to suggest that the rates of cervical cancer and papilloma virus infections would be much lower and perhaps nonexistent as well if we could contain our passions until and within marriage.

People like to think that being able to have sex with whomever whenever is a sign of freedom. They know how much freedom they really have in doing so. Sometimes there is force used, which certainly does not indicate freedom. Sometimes there is suspicion, or fear, or the simple feeling that one has to yield to pressure. That is not freedom. Real freedom is doing whatever one wants out of the kind of love that only exists within the marriage bond.