0:00:00 - 0:00:26 Understanding the purpose of God's commandments. This material is expanded on at my blog www dot upward thought.blogspot.com, including in books that are available there for free in PDF and on amazon.com. What are the purposes of God's commandments? There are at least three. The first is to help us avoid 0:00:25 - 0:00:46 negative consequences beyond our present understanding of reality. The second is to help us receive positive consequences beyond our present understanding of reality. And the third is to give us a means of expanding our present understanding of reality. In short, it's all about reality, things as they 0:00:46 - 0:01:11 really are and the commandments are the way that God knowing much more than we do provides a means for us to know more. Let's start with the first one, avoiding negative consequences. Beyond our present understanding of reality in the law of Moses, there are quite a few laws regarding leprosy, everything 0:01:10 - 0:01:33 from how to uh identify it to the treatment in terms of the people who have it, et cetera. And this seems excessive for someone reading it without understanding what the purpose was. This set of laws was designed for people who would be in close proximity and low technology and from the days of wandering 0:01:32 - 0:00:00 in the desert to the days of establishing cities, leprosy was a disease that was quite onerous. And the interesting thing about these rules was that by following them, you would actually eradicate the disease among the people. So uh if you look into how leprosy has spread and its level of contagion, 0:00:00 - 0:02:22 you'd see that it's not actually a really contagious disease. You have to have prolonged physical contact to pick it up. And it's very obvious the symptoms of the disease are very obvious before it's contagious. And so if you followed the law of Moses, you'd actually pick up that you have the disease 0:02:21 - 0:02:45 quite early on and you'd be separated from other people who don't have the disease long before you could spread it. Now, the persistence of the disease is interesting because that says a lot about ancient Israel, but uh at least the persistence among them. But um the purpose of these commandments specific 0:02:44 - 0:03:07 to leprosy was so that the people could avoid any of the negative consequences of this disease in spite of a low level of scientific knowledge and technology. So in general, this is an important purpose of commandments, God's commandments shield us from negative consequences of principles that lay beyond 0:03:06 - 0:03:30 our present understanding of reality. And so if you obey God's commandments, you will minimize the amount of suffering that you endure. At least in terms of suffering for your own mistakes. The second purpose is to receive positive consequences beyond our present understanding of reality. So this is 0:03:30 - 0:03:51 the mirror of the last one we talked about. So a great example of this is that when Adam was cast out of the garden of Eden, he was given instructions by the Lord to offer animal sacrifice. And he was told all about how to do that. What he was not told was why to do that. And so he did this for many 0:03:50 - 0:04:15 days and he was visited by an angel who asked him why he was doing this. And he said, because God told me to and that was his only reason. Well, there are blessings associated with keeping uh God's commandments and those blessings are predicated upon certain principles. These principles are part of God's 0:04:14 - 0:04:40 knowledge. There's an unfortunate tradition that the blessings and punishments of God are arbitrary, that somehow we can obtain his favor through some arbitrary means and that we incur his judgment through some arbitrary means. In fact, these are all you could say natural laws, these are all external 0:04:39 - 0:05:02 principles. And when you learn the principles, you can obtain the positive consequences through living them, or you can avoid the negative consequences of breaking them or living contrary to them. And this is the way it actually works. And so this is why the spirit of God reveals things as they really 0:05:01 - 0:05:24 are. The spirit of God reveals reality to us at a greater extent than our awareness provides. So by obeying God's commandments, you can both avoid negative consequences and receive positive consequences beyond your present level of understanding. But this isn't the most important uh purpose of God's 0:05:23 - 0:05:46 commandments. This is to give us a means of expanding our present understanding of reality. And let's drill down on that. There are two parts of reality. One is the character of God and two is the knowledge of God. So everything we learn about reality will be within everything God knows about reality 0:05:46 - 0:06:12 . And the character of God is very important to understand because it is our goal to have that same character. And also it explains everything around us. This uh idea of using commandments as a way of learning more about what God knows and how God is, is contrary to how almost everyone sees the commandments 0:06:12 - 0:06:37 , which is in this sense from Psalm 32. The Lord said, I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye. And I is a scriptural term here that refers to awareness, be not as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding whose mouth must be held 0:06:36 - 0:07:01 in with bit and bridle lest they come near unto thee. So most people understand commandments is a bit and a bridle to lead a stupid animal that which doesn't have understanding. They think that the purpose of God's commandments are either to obtain arbitrary favor or to uh direct us like robots like 0:07:01 - 0:07:28 automata that just kind of follow the um arbitrary commands of some distant God. And that's not the way it works. The Lord's intent is to instruct us, to teach us to confer upon us the knowledge that he has so that we can become like him. And with an awareness of things as they really are, that we can 0:07:28 - 0:07:55 avoid unnecessary suffering and also navigate reality and obtain blessings. So we should not be horses. So here are some illustrations to help understand the way we can use God's commandments to expand our understanding of reality, to learn more of what God knows and more about how he is. So on the left 0:07:54 - 0:08:18 hand of the screen here, you see an eye and a watch. And um if you're looking at the face of a watch, you can see the hands moving and, and uh you can infer from that what must be going on inside the watch to produce that observation. OK. And there are many instances in reality where you have some sort 0:08:17 - 0:08:39 of a hidden mechanism that's driving things you can observe where you have to kind of figure out what's going on behind the curtain. And this is how it works with God's commandments. So um in Psalm 19, we read the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure making 0:08:39 - 0:09:02 wise the simple, the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart, the commandment of the Lord is pure and lightening the eyes. So what does it mean to convert the soul to make wise? This simple to rejoice the heart to enlighten the eyes? Well, when the Lord conveys his knowledge, he also or sorry 0:09:02 - 0:09:21 , when the Lord de delivers commandments to us, it is with the intent that we learn what's going on behind the scenes that we acquire the knowledge that these observations um that generate these observations. So here's a slightly different illustration. And this time, there's no watch on the left side 0:09:20 - 0:09:41 . But we have this picture which is meant to denote law, the law of God His commandments. And on the right hand side, we, we have two gears. OK? So the right hand side is God's knowledge. And the left hand side is God's commandments, which we observe. And if we obey and seek more understanding, and we 0:09:41 - 0:10:02 think about these things critically, what will happen is our knowledge of what's going on uh will expand our knowledge of, of our share of God's knowledge, the amount of God's knowledge we possess and understand and we will receive more commandments. And this process is iterative. It's cyclic, it just 0:10:01 - 0:10:23 keeps going right. And eventually, we know an awful lot about God's character and we share an awful lot of His knowledge and we have an awful lot of commandments. But this is an oversimplification of the real situation because we don't just receive additional commandments. We also receive replacement 0:10:22 - 0:10:45 commandments and these can be one for one, they can be many for one or they can be one for many. And so typically, and I've written and spoken about this, typically, it's much easier to receive additional commandments. So things in addition to what you believe than it is to receive replacement commandments 0:10:44 - 0:11:05 , which are commandments, which replace what you currently believe. And we can see some of the struggles that people have with this in the sermon on the mount when the Lord replaced some of the previous beliefs of the people he taught with new beliefs that were better and they really struggled. One of 0:11:05 - 0:11:26 the reasons we struggle with this is just because tradition is a hard thing. And another reason we struggle with this is because uh typically we can attach positive outcomes to things we previously believed and we can uh believe the lie that just because something is good. Uh Well, we believe the lie 0:11:26 - 0:11:50 that because something is good, there can't be something that's better and that's a a dangerous proposition. So what does it mean if our commandments don't change if we hold on to the same fixed set of beliefs? What does it mean if our commandments are created or modified by men? And what does it mean 0:11:50 - 0:12:13 if we aren't finding ourselves learning more about God as we obey his purported commandments? Well, if our commandments don't change means we're not learning more and, and we're being like a horse from that passage from Psalms and that's not good. Um If you blindly obey God's commandments, you will receive 0:12:13 - 0:12:33 blessings. There's no doubt about it and you will avoid suffering, but you're really missing out on the majority of the benefit, which is to actually learn more. What if your commandments are created or modified by men? Well, that's very bad. It means you're on the hamster wheel of tradition and you 0:12:33 - 0:12:55 can invest a massive amount of effort and go nowhere in, in terms of actually growing closer to God. You can practice all the forms of obedience. But because you're not obeying God, you're just obeying men. You will not have his power in your life in nearly the same quantity as you would. If you were 0:12:55 - 0:13:17 actually obeying him and not some person or people, what if you don't feel you're learning more about God? Well, there's a few, there are a few possibilities. Maybe you're not obeying partial obedience is not obedience. Maybe you're not thinking enough. If all you do is just act like a robot, you won't 0:13:17 - 0:13:37 grow and you won't uh receive the benefit that you would if you were asking questions, studying deeply praying and all of these things. And lastly, uh if you, if you find yourself not learning more about God, you might be in a situation where your commandments are actually the commandments of men So 0:13:37 - 0:13:54 , in conclusion, the there are at least three purposes to God's commandments. First, to help us avoid negative consequences beyond our present understanding of reality. Second, to help us receive positive consequences beyond our present understanding of reality. And lastly, to give us a means of expanding 0:00:00 - 0:00:26 Understanding the purpose of God's commandments. This material is expanded on at my blog www dot upward thought.blogspot.com, including in books that are available there for free in PDF and on amazon.com. What are the purposes of God's commandments? There are at least three. The first is to help us avoid 0:00:25 - 0:00:46 negative consequences beyond our present understanding of reality. The second is to help us receive positive consequences beyond our present understanding of reality. And the third is to give us a means of expanding our present understanding of reality. In short, it's all about reality, things as they 0:00:46 - 0:01:11 really are and the commandments are the way that God knowing much more than we do provides a means for us to know more. Let's start with the first one, avoiding negative consequences. Beyond our present understanding of reality in the law of Moses, there are quite a few laws regarding leprosy, everything 0:01:10 - 0:01:33 from how to uh identify it to the treatment in terms of the people who have it, et cetera. And this seems excessive for someone reading it without understanding what the purpose was. This set of laws was designed for people who would be in close proximity and low technology and from the days of wandering 0:01:32 - 0:00:00 in the desert to the days of establishing cities, leprosy was a disease that was quite onerous. And the interesting thing about these rules was that by following them, you would actually eradicate the disease among the people. So uh if you look into how leprosy has spread and its level of contagion, 0:00:00 - 0:02:22 you'd see that it's not actually a really contagious disease. You have to have prolonged physical contact to pick it up. And it's very obvious the symptoms of the disease are very obvious before it's contagious. And so if you followed the law of Moses, you'd actually pick up that you have the disease 0:02:21 - 0:02:45 quite early on and you'd be separated from other people who don't have the disease long before you could spread it. Now, the persistence of the disease is interesting because that says a lot about ancient Israel, but uh at least the persistence among them. But um the purpose of these commandments specific 0:02:44 - 0:03:07 to leprosy was so that the people could avoid any of the negative consequences of this disease in spite of a low level of scientific knowledge and technology. So in general, this is an important purpose of commandments, God's commandments shield us from negative consequences of principles that lay beyond 0:03:06 - 0:03:30 our present understanding of reality. And so if you obey God's commandments, you will minimize the amount of suffering that you endure. At least in terms of suffering for your own mistakes. The second purpose is to receive positive consequences beyond our present understanding of reality. So this is 0:03:30 - 0:03:51 the mirror of the last one we talked about. So a great example of this is that when Adam was cast out of the garden of Eden, he was given instructions by the Lord to offer animal sacrifice. And he was told all about how to do that. What he was not told was why to do that. And so he did this for many 0:03:50 - 0:04:15 days and he was visited by an angel who asked him why he was doing this. And he said, because God told me to and that was his only reason. Well, there are blessings associated with keeping uh God's commandments and those blessings are predicated upon certain principles. These principles are part of God's 0:04:14 - 0:04:40 knowledge. There's an unfortunate tradition that the blessings and punishments of God are arbitrary, that somehow we can obtain his favor through some arbitrary means and that we incur his judgment through some arbitrary means. In fact, these are all you could say natural laws, these are all external 0:04:39 - 0:05:02 principles. And when you learn the principles, you can obtain the positive consequences through living them, or you can avoid the negative consequences of breaking them or living contrary to them. And this is the way it actually works. And so this is why the spirit of God reveals things as they really 0:05:01 - 0:05:24 are. The spirit of God reveals reality to us at a greater extent than our awareness provides. So by obeying God's commandments, you can both avoid negative consequences and receive positive consequences beyond your present level of understanding. But this isn't the most important uh purpose of God's 0:05:23 - 0:05:46 commandments. This is to give us a means of expanding our present understanding of reality. And let's drill down on that. There are two parts of reality. One is the character of God and two is the knowledge of God. So everything we learn about reality will be within everything God knows about reality 0:05:46 - 0:06:12 . And the character of God is very important to understand because it is our goal to have that same character. And also it explains everything around us. This uh idea of using commandments as a way of learning more about what God knows and how God is, is contrary to how almost everyone sees the commandments 0:06:12 - 0:06:37 , which is in this sense from Psalm 32. The Lord said, I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye. And I is a scriptural term here that refers to awareness, be not as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding whose mouth must be held 0:06:36 - 0:07:01 in with bit and bridle lest they come near unto thee. So most people understand commandments is a bit and a bridle to lead a stupid animal that which doesn't have understanding. They think that the purpose of God's commandments are either to obtain arbitrary favor or to uh direct us like robots like 0:07:01 - 0:07:28 automata that just kind of follow the um arbitrary commands of some distant God. And that's not the way it works. The Lord's intent is to instruct us, to teach us to confer upon us the knowledge that he has so that we can become like him. And with an awareness of things as they really are, that we can 0:07:28 - 0:07:55 avoid unnecessary suffering and also navigate reality and obtain blessings. So we should not be horses. So here are some illustrations to help understand the way we can use God's commandments to expand our understanding of reality, to learn more of what God knows and more about how he is. So on the left 0:07:54 - 0:08:18 hand of the screen here, you see an eye and a watch. And um if you're looking at the face of a watch, you can see the hands moving and, and uh you can infer from that what must be going on inside the watch to produce that observation. OK. And there are many instances in reality where you have some sort 0:08:17 - 0:08:39 of a hidden mechanism that's driving things you can observe where you have to kind of figure out what's going on behind the curtain. And this is how it works with God's commandments. So um in Psalm 19, we read the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure making 0:08:39 - 0:09:02 wise the simple, the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart, the commandment of the Lord is pure and lightening the eyes. So what does it mean to convert the soul to make wise? This simple to rejoice the heart to enlighten the eyes? Well, when the Lord conveys his knowledge, he also or sorry 0:09:02 - 0:09:21 , when the Lord de delivers commandments to us, it is with the intent that we learn what's going on behind the scenes that we acquire the knowledge that these observations um that generate these observations. So here's a slightly different illustration. And this time, there's no watch on the left side 0:09:20 - 0:09:41 . But we have this picture which is meant to denote law, the law of God His commandments. And on the right hand side, we, we have two gears. OK? So the right hand side is God's knowledge. And the left hand side is God's commandments, which we observe. And if we obey and seek more understanding, and we 0:09:41 - 0:10:02 think about these things critically, what will happen is our knowledge of what's going on uh will expand our knowledge of, of our share of God's knowledge, the amount of God's knowledge we possess and understand and we will receive more commandments. And this process is iterative. It's cyclic, it just 0:10:01 - 0:10:23 keeps going right. And eventually, we know an awful lot about God's character and we share an awful lot of His knowledge and we have an awful lot of commandments. But this is an oversimplification of the real situation because we don't just receive additional commandments. We also receive replacement 0:10:22 - 0:10:45 commandments and these can be one for one, they can be many for one or they can be one for many. And so typically, and I've written and spoken about this, typically, it's much easier to receive additional commandments. So things in addition to what you believe than it is to receive replacement commandments 0:10:44 - 0:11:05 , which are commandments, which replace what you currently believe. And we can see some of the struggles that people have with this in the sermon on the mount when the Lord replaced some of the previous beliefs of the people he taught with new beliefs that were better and they really struggled. One of 0:11:05 - 0:11:26 the reasons we struggle with this is just because tradition is a hard thing. And another reason we struggle with this is because uh typically we can attach positive outcomes to things we previously believed and we can uh believe the lie that just because something is good. Uh Well, we believe the lie 0:11:26 - 0:11:50 that because something is good, there can't be something that's better and that's a a dangerous proposition. So what does it mean if our commandments don't change if we hold on to the same fixed set of beliefs? What does it mean if our commandments are created or modified by men? And what does it mean 0:11:50 - 0:12:13 if we aren't finding ourselves learning more about God as we obey his purported commandments? Well, if our commandments don't change means we're not learning more and, and we're being like a horse from that passage from Psalms and that's not good. Um If you blindly obey God's commandments, you will receive 0:12:13 - 0:12:33 blessings. There's no doubt about it and you will avoid suffering, but you're really missing out on the majority of the benefit, which is to actually learn more. What if your commandments are created or modified by men? Well, that's very bad. It means you're on the hamster wheel of tradition and you 0:12:33 - 0:12:55 can invest a massive amount of effort and go nowhere in, in terms of actually growing closer to God. You can practice all the forms of obedience. But because you're not obeying God, you're just obeying men. You will not have his power in your life in nearly the same quantity as you would. If you were 0:12:55 - 0:13:17 actually obeying him and not some person or people, what if you don't feel you're learning more about God? Well, there's a few, there are a few possibilities. Maybe you're not obeying partial obedience is not obedience. Maybe you're not thinking enough. If all you do is just act like a robot, you won't 0:13:17 - 0:13:37 grow and you won't uh receive the benefit that you would if you were asking questions, studying deeply praying and all of these things. And lastly, uh if you, if you find yourself not learning more about God, you might be in a situation where your commandments are actually the commandments of men So 0:13:37 - 0:13:54 , in conclusion, the there are at least three purposes to God's commandments. First, to help us avoid negative consequences beyond our present understanding of reality. Second, to help us receive positive consequences beyond our present understanding of reality. And lastly, to give us a means of expanding 0:13:54 - 0:14:03 our present understanding of reality, which includes at least a knowledge of God's character. And also a share of the knowledge that he has.