The Updated Laws...part 2

This is a continuation from a previous post I started here about the new laws put forth by jesus in the new testament. I started in Matthew chapter 5, this is where jesus began the sermon on the mount. I'm picking up from chapter 6...

#7) Giving/Tithing/Alms

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. Matt 6:1-4

Pretty straight forward here. It would seem then if christians followed their "New Testament" laws there would be no need for a tax right off huh?

#8) Praying

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. Matt 6:5-8

This was the one that got me as a kid. If we were told we should pray in silence, then why the hell do many of the preachers and in my case practically ALL pentecostals have to pray out loud? Especially in a public place like a restaurant? It's as though they feel they have to make a statement like "HEY LOOK AT ME, I'm praying over my food! I'm a christian! Don't you wish you were like me?" When personally, it's just annoying to me.

9) Forgiveness

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matt 6:14-15

Sounds like a pretty simple rule to follow, and hey I agree with this one. Not because I'm concerned with God forgiving me, but because life is to short to carry a grudge.

10) Fasting

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Matt 6:16-18

Seems like this one falls under the category of no longer applies maybe? Again though we are presented with a "reward" in the end. It's almost like training a dog, always have to give them a treat....

That's 10 so far, and we still have 1 more chapter to go..... part 3 to come soon.. I should have called these posts "Review of the Sermon on the Mount" hehe

Who am I

My name is Robert. I'm a 32yrs family man, with a good and understanding wife, and a good son.
Let's start with my background... My first experience with religion prior age 12 was that typical of most people. We went to church for Easter, and Christmas. Except for the brief time I once went to vacation bible school, but that was for a girl... so I don't remember anything about the church or what they were teaching except for learning that damn song about "Germs" my invisible dog.... (I still find myself singing that chorus sometimes lol) . A few years later is when things really changed.... My parents joined a Pentecostal church, and things seemed to change over night. All my music was thrown out, movies at the theaters were out of the question, and I started attending the private school at the same church, just to name a few. To sum it up, from age 12 till 17 I spent around 6 days a week involved in church. After graduating it went back to just every wed night and both services on Sunday from age 17 - 21. After turning 21 I found myself in and out of church till around 25. During this time was when my biggest changes would happen. Although my journey actually began around 10th grade. I remember because it started in school with a course they called "New Testament Survey" and with the Science curriculum that they taught, if your curious the curriculum was ACE. First, let me get this out.... When I was in this private school, Dinosaurs never existed.... they were considered fake because there was no biblical background for them!! You would not believe my surprise when a couple years ago I heard that now Christians claim there IS biblical text that refer to creatures that could have been dinosaurs... wow what a difference 10yrs can make! Back to my story, My first glimmer of doubt came with how the Science course began to explain creation and the flood. Keep this in mind, you are hearing First hand account of what I was taught from 1986 - 1992. At the time the explanation of the creation and the flood went something like this. God created the earth same as you've heard before, by their counts with the whole "day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day to God" therefore the earth could not be any older than 6000 yrs. Next came the explanation for the earth/flood. Basically the entire planet was a tropical paradise. They explained this by saying there was a vapor like canopy of water encompassing the entire planet. This created a "global warming" effect making the planet a perfect place where there temperature was tropical everywhere. God cause the flood by allowing the vapor to collapse onto the planet, with all this water coming down (btw, they never explained the water that supposedly shot up from the earth) the planet was completely covered with water and remained that way for 40 days until the water receded. Even at my age, and even with my strong beliefs at the time.... this was very difficult to accept. I had so many questions that were unanswered, so many unknowns... Another thing that attributed to my yearning to learn more was the fact that I was always told it was "Wrong" to read anything that did not support our beliefs or did not give "God" glory. In that respect , my teenage years were extremely sheltered from real life. It wasn't until I finally started to work in the real world that I found other people who not only had similar doubts, but had completely different beliefs. The only other real interaction with those of different faiths I hung around with were those at the Martial Arts School. They gained alot of respect from me of course, not only because it's part of the study of the Arts, but because of their high level of respect for others regardless of how they believe. I suppose the biggest eye opener was when i began reading books on my own. Starting with of all people "Tim Allens - I'm Not Really Here" , that led to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, witch led to "What the Bleep Do We Know" (a very entertaining read), and "The Dancing Wu Li Masters" (Excellent Book in my opinion), other books I read around the same time but in no particular order include: "essential Philosophy Everything You Need to Understand the World's Greatest Thinkers" ; "everything's Relative and Other Fables from Science and Technology" ; "The Handy Religion Answer Book" (this was a hard read for me.. it's like reading a school book, but it's packed with tons of information about the 8 major religions Judaism,Christianity,Islam,Buddhism,Hinduism,Confucianism,Taoism, and Shinto) ; "Misquoting Jesus The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why" (another excellent book!) ; and "The God Delusion" (another pretty good book). After much conversation with the few people similarly minded, and much deep thought and meditation brings me roughly to where am i today. This post became much longer than I originally intended, but it's seems to be a pretty good background :) If you made it this far, glad you stuck around! Now, it's your turn! Let me know when you post your story, you can email me at rpkthoughts@gmail.com

The Updated Laws..

After reading some very excellent posts recently... I noticed that many Christians reject some of the Laws of the old testament claiming the 'New Testament' contains the new laws that they follow. So, in order to be informed about this I decided to list the "New Laws" additions and changes that Jesus made in the New Testament.... I wonder how many Christians follow these to the letter?

Lets begin the same way Jesus did...

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach [them], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Matt 5:19

OK, so if ANYONE breaks this list of "New Laws" AND Teaches others to do so, will be called the "least" in the kingdom of heaven... Ok, so you won't go to hell, but they will pick on you about it LOL...

#1) Killing

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. Matt 5:21-26

What a doozey we have here.... Now we have gone from facing judgment if we kill someone, to facing judgment if we are angry with someone (of course there is the loop hole here "without cause" nice out huh?) However there is not much of an out in the other addition to the law.. If you call your brother Raca or Worthless you will be in danger of Council, and if you call your brother a Fool well now your going to hell! He continues adding to the law basically saying don't even come to church if there is malice or discourse between you or your brother. Further more he commands that you "Agree" with your enemy!!! so you don't go to jail, cause if you do... per Jesus you should pay/serve the maximum time.. wow...

#2) Adultery

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast [it] from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not [that] thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast [it] from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not [that] thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Matt 5:27-30

WHOA!!! There is no way around this here... we are screwed! What is interesting to me here, is notice Jesus did NOT lay blame on the woman! He put the blame on the man lusting after the woman. So, it does not matter if the woman wears something provocative. If the man lusts after her, in keeping with this new law he should take out his eye, and if he jerks off, bye bye hand! Other wise your whole body is bound for Hell.

#3) Divorce....

It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. Matt 5:31-32

Pretty straight forward here.... If you divorce your wife you cause her to commit adultery, and if you marry a divorced woman you commit adultery. Oddly, seems like it was ok to get a divorce before.... as long as it was documented...

#4) Lying/Cussing....

Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. Matt 5:33-37

Interestingly enough, apparently you were allowed to lie before just not to yourself.. However, the new Law is Don't lie, Don't cuss, even with your thoughts.... In addition when you talk, only say yes or no.... Anything else will bring evil. Sounds like Jesus was high this time... he went from talking about lying, then telling you not to lie by earth cause it's his gods footstool , and do not lie by Jerusalem cause it's the city of the great king, to don't cuss in your head, and ending with Hey, just say yes and no.... That must have been some good stuff that day :)


#5) Eye for an Eye

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have [thy] cloke also.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Matt 5:38-42

I'm sure we have all heard this one before, turn the other cheek.... But what about the other additions to it? If you get sued, give the person double... IF you are forced to walk a mile, walk 2.... and Don't turn away anyone that askes to borrow from you.


#6) Love/Hate

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more [than others]? do not even the publicans so? Matt 5:43-47

I think this is really funny here, not the love your enemy part, but the fact that he is relating it to politicians... lol Jesus is saying here... hey look, be like the politicians... they are nice to the people that hate them... come on if they can do it so can you.


All that and I did'nt even get to chapter 6. One day I might actually sit down and write this all out... but you get the idea.