Making Life Work

By: Ronald L. Dart

    Was there something wrong with the Ten Commandments? Were they weak legislation in the first place? Or did they somehow become obsolete with the passage of time? If, as some suppose, the time came for the Ten Commandments to be abolished, there must have been a reason for it. The idea of the abolition of law is not foreign to us. We "abolish" or repeal laws often enough. But when we do repeal laws, why do we do it? There are many reasons. The law may be unenforceable. It may be unpopular with the people, and because of massive disobedience ("They can’t put all of us in jail"), the law simply can’t be maintained. The classic example of this was prohibition.

By: Ronald L. Dart

    If Jesus told you not to think something, would you believe Him? Or would you continue to suppose that something were true when Jesus told you plainly it was not? For example, if Jesus said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets," would you assume that Jesus came to do away with the law?

    Surprisingly, many Christians think that Jesus came to destroy the law when He said specifically that He did not. He said: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17).

By: Ronald L. Dart

    Just what does it mean to "keep the Sabbath?" What should a person do on that day? Or, as some would prefer to ask, what should a person NOT do? Can you work at your normal job? What about emergencies? Can you buy groceries on the Sabbath? What if you have unexpected guests? The Sabbath is indeed a holy day, and to worship God properly requires a right view of His day.

By: Lenny Cacchio

    "The Ten Commandments don’t have any footnotes," said the pundit, the point being to take them literally if you are going to take them at all.

    I appreciate the sentiment, but I disagree with the premise.  Yes, those commandments mean what they say.  "Thou shalt not steal" is a good command to live by, but what if you and your children are starving and you have a chance to slip off with an apple from the produce the aisle.   Are you committing a crime worthy of jail?  A Biblical footnote, if you will, says, "Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry" (Proverbs 6:30).

    From this one might conclude that extenuating circumstances and the offering of grace can temper the commands...

By: Lenny Cacchio

    My daughter recently sent me on a rare but rewarding foray into the world of fiction.  The book is The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.   The Hosseini family was granted political asylum in the United States in 1980 after fleeing their native Afghanistan.  Dr. Hosseini’s novel betrays an evident love of his native land, and while the book is fiction, it certainly reflects something of what Hosseini recalls about being a boy in Afghanistan during the upheavals of his youth.

    This is a book about Afghanistan, both warts and diamonds, as much as it is about a young man coming of age.  If you want some insight into Afghanistan and the Afghani way of thinking (and you should), then read this book.   Insights abound, and...

By: Lenny Cacchio  

    To many people, the Law of God is a set of “have to’s”.   “I have to watch what I say.  I have to keep my mitts off other people’s property.  I have to tell the truth.”  And so on.

    But in reality, the Law of God is a series of “get to’s”.  If everyone kept the law, we would get to live in safe neighborhoods.  We would get to leave doors unlocked.  We would get to have honest and noble civic leaders.  We would get to have strong families and loving relationships.

    And there is something else we would get to have.  We would get to have some time for the important things in life.  It’s a sad commentary that our fast food, 24/7 world leaves us less and less time to cement relationships with those who should...