SDA Fundamental Belief #4 calls Jesus 'forever
truly God'. I believe this.
I'm sure most of you do, too. My question is this:
FOR
THOSE OF YOU WHO BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS GOD, WHY DON'T YOU
GIVE GOD'S NEW TESTAMENT WORDS THE SAME
AUTHORITY AS HIS OLD
TESTAMENT WORDS?
In the Old Covenant, God spoke these words, with His own
mouth, to those
who would be His people:
And 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. "You shall have no other gods before me. "You shall
not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is
in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water
under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the
LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my
commandments. "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain;
for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and
do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God;
in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your
manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is
within your gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD
blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it. "Honor your father and your mother,
that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
"You shall not kill. "You shall not commit adultery. "You shall not steal.
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. "You shall not
covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or
his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that
is your neighbor's."Now when all the people perceived the thunderings and the lightnings and the
sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and
trembled; and they stood afar off, and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and
we will hear; but let not God speak to us, lest we die." And Moses said to
the people, "DO NOT FEAR; FOR GOD HAS COME TO PROVE YOU, AND THAT THE FEAR
OF HIM MAY BE BEFORE YOUR EYES, THAT YOU MAY NOT SIN."
Exodus 20:1-20
In the New Covenant, God spoke these words, with His own
mouth, to those
who would be His people:
He was still speaking, when lo, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice
from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;
LISTEN TO HIM." Matthew 17:5And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is my
beloved Son; LISTEN TO HIM." Mark 9:7
And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen; LISTEN
TO HIM!" Luke 9:35
In the New Covenant, God also spoke these words, with His own
mouth, to those
who would be His people:
"If you keep MY COMMANDMENTS, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept
MY FATHER'S COMMANDMENTS and abide in his love. These things I have spoken
to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. THIS IS
MY COMMANDMENT, THAT YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU".
John 15:10-12
"If you love me, you will keep MY COMMANDMENTS". John 14:15
"He who has MY COMMANDMENTS and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who
loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself
to him." John 14:21
"A NEW COMMANDMENT I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have
loved you, that you also love one another". John 13:34
"I and the Father are one". John 10:30
"I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins
unless you believe that I am He". John 8:24
"ALL THINGS HAVE BEEN DELIVERED TO ME BY MY FATHER; and no one knows who the
Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and any one to
whom the Son chooses to reveal him". Luke 10:22
"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for
one another". John 13:35
"This I command you, to love one another". John 15:17
"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"
And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first
commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as
yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets."
Matthew 22:36-40
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another,
and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the
first of all?" Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our
God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your
strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'
There is no other commandment greater than these."
Mark 12:28-31
"For I have not spoken on my own authority; the Father who sent me has
himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak. And I know that
his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father
has bidden me." John 12:49-50
Simply put, in the Old Testament, God told His people what He
expected of
them THEN. In the New Testament, God spells out, personally, with His own
voice, what He expects from His people NOW.
If you really believe that 'Jesus and the Father are One',
than you must
also believe that what He did here on earth He did AS GOD. Why, then, do
you feel it necessary to keep jumping back to the Old Testament to get God's
New Testament laws?
Janet Brown, 1995