I like this and borrowed it from Charl, a South African friend. He has a great blog at: A Coffee Community. Swing on by and say, "Hi".
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On the cross Jesus does away with all the rule-keeping, debt-collecting, point-scoring, merit-awarding rigmarole of religious systems that try to control God and limit heaven to people like us. Bishop of Reading Stephen Cottrell
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God Spots 
Edie Cain can you give me scripture that specifially says He did away with rule keeping unless its mans rules in which you speak.
8 hours ago ·
Nathan Lambshead In His authority, He also stated he did not come to change one pen-stroke of His Father’s commands. Hmm.
8 hours ago ·
Edie Cain not even ONE …….
8 hours ago ·
Edie Cain Mary do you use the old testement at all ?
8 hours ago ·
Vickie Deppe What about Romans 13:8-10, 1 Corinthians 10:23, Galatians 5, James 2:8-13? Is anyone suggesting that we are to keep the Jewish ceremonial laws?
7 hours ago ·
Edie Cain No I am suggesting that we are to keep His instructions which you call jewish ceremonial laws
7 hours ago ·
Nathan Lambshead Ii did not suggest anything, other than when I read what Jesus said, it makes me wonder what He really meant. Lately this particular area has been the one of my most fervent prayer and study. I trust no man’s suggestions anymore myself.
7 hours ago ·
Edie Cain thats good nathan seek his word cuz if you follow man you in trouble,alwasy align with the word 🙂
7 hours ago ·
Edie Cain It amazes me that when you quote scripture ,you get the reactions we do hmmmm
7 hours ago ·
Vickie Deppe So, Edie, just so I understand correctly, you keep the OT law in its entirety? No cotton-poly blends, no pork, you observe the sabbath year and the year of jubilee, you keep all the festivals, all of that?
7 hours ago ·
Edie Cain I keep what He tells me that I am to keep .I do keep feasts ,sabbaths,no pork etc
6 hours ago ·
Nathan Lambshead Myself, I started keeping the Sabbath separate from my usual work and such, a year before I ever met any Messianics or read their teachings. All I did was start reading the Bible anew, and for myself with no mans opinion about it. I do not consider myself Messianic, nor OT keeper at all.
God’s commandments came long before the Jews were a nation.
The Pharisees made the Ten Commandments a burden no-one could keep, and today’s christianity mostly says they gone now since Jesus died on the cross. (except tithe of coarse)
Neither is right as far as I am concerned. The Ten commandments, I realized, are only ‘law’ to those who do not know the Father’s heart. The additions of men are another story. Those additions become the tradition we call religion. There is no heart in it. Jesus taught about the heart of the law, because the pharisees did not know God’s heart. The heart of the law was always there.
Gods commandments are life, not law, a delight not a burden, a joy, not a drag. They are Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness….
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6 hours ago ·
Edie Cain AWESOME Nathan well put 🙂
6 hours ago ·
Nathan Lambshead Boy Archie, do not use the word ‘rule’ anymore. 🙂
6 hours ago ·
Nathan Lambshead oh, PS, if He had said “I WAS” I might change my mind on some things, but He said “I AM”. lol
6 hours ago ·
Barbara Rogers-James wow, what a great conversation, when I read what Archie wrote, I took it as “rule keeping of religious systems” …..as doing away with man’s rules such as “follow these rules to keep your church membership card” type rules…” and going with that thinking I say – Thank You Jesus!
6 hours ago ·
Nathan Lambshead I originally meant to say that too Barbara, but the comments went elsewhere. I did realize that Archie was talking about religious rules of man. Once it got on ‘law of God’ it took on a life of it’s own. Both are good topics to discuss and better yet to understand.
6 hours ago ·
Nathan Lambshead Do some churches actually have membership cards? or was that joking?
6 hours ago ·
Barbara Rogers-James Nathan, I am sad to say that is too true, MANY churches do – believe it or not! A certificate or card – something you get when you “place membership” ……that’s a topic for another day!:-)
6 hours ago ·
Nathan Lambshead I thought I heard it all. Interesting how much of a country club we turned it into.
6 hours ago ·
Vickie Deppe What about Romans 14?
4 hours ago ·
Mary Landry His commandment may have been written on stone, and they are in the hearts of a christian but, they are the law of the LORD>
3 hours ago ·
Kyle Maritz Our obedience to God does not come about by adherence to rules – but by our relationship with Him. This is how Jesus fulfills all the requirements of the law through us. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are made holy as we walk closely with God, not by trying to obey rules.
2 hours ago ·
Mary Landry I agree, as we walk with the Holy Spirit , it is not that we should not follow God’s laws and we know that Gods law are not rules. But, if they are rules made for us to follow like stopping at a red light we are to stop.\right? The difference between a God’s law and rules are two different things. You can not have a relationship with God that is holy if you do not follow his ten commandments.
about an hour ago ·
Vickie Deppe What about Paul’s epistle to the Galatians?
20 minutes ago ·
Nathan Lambshead Do you think Paul told the Galatians that the Ten Commandments no longer meant anything Vickie? That God somehow ‘turned over a new leaf’ and did an about face in His word to us now? What His commandments were to his children before, is now a load of legalism, since calvary?
I ask, because this is the subconcious assumption of many christians. Not spoken like I just said it, but acted out as if it is.
12 minutes ago ·
Archie Rhines NOT FAIR! I had to work and missed the dialog. Time to read and catch up, shortly. Thank you everyone! I copied the dialog and pasted to my blog. I can’t wait to read and glean from your wisdom!
58 minutes ago ·
Nathan Lambshead Watch out for the folly too. Both wheat and chaff available. 🙂
🙂
29 minutes ago ·
Vickie Deppe Nathan, I hope you did not misconstrue my questions as an excuse for license. That’s not what I was trying to communicate.
When Paul writes to the Galatians, he doesn’t say, “you’re keeping the law with the wrong motivations,” but rather, “stop trying to keep the law.” In Romans 14 he admonishes us to stop judging each other with regard to what we observe or don’t observe.
“The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” Gal 3:24 & 25
“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Rom 13:8-10
I believe love for others is the natural by-product of a life of abiding in Christ and walking according to the Spirit, rather than striving to keep a list of commandments, no matter how well-intentioned the effort may be (and far exceeds anything the Law required, by the way). Any time we are unsure about what the loving course of action is, the Scripture is our tutor. But as you said earlier, it’s really about the Father’s heart. Perhaps we’re just having a hard time communicating what is cause and what is effect.
3 minutes ago ·
Archie Rhines Lots of passion. I am much too simple minded. It is my thought that things did change between the OT and NT. Grace came into the picture because of what God allowed and Jesus did on the cross. Our focus is now JESUS. Anything less than a focus on Jesus, I believe may be offensive to God the Father. Think about it. God allowed His Son to die …
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3 minutes ago ·
Vickie Deppe You touched a nerve with this one, Archie!
2 minutes ago ·
Archie Rhines I am blessed with the passion of believers on this thread. My heart breaks for those that have not passion. It is the luke warm, God spews out. Thank you all for your passion and love for each other.
about a minute ago ·
Jesus paid the price, it is by grace that I am saved, and not by what I am doing or keeping. I can keep all the laws and all the rules and still not know Jesus as Savior.
Thank you Archie for the post. Jesus my all.
Be blessed