DECEPTIONS FOUND IN THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. The Ten Commandments Are The Only Words Stated In The Bible To Be Written By God Himself. Yet people dismiss them and abbreviate them thinking that by so doing they are being intelligent.

Are the abbreviated version of the Ten Commandments deceptive?

Harry Riches,  Answers

Deception comes in many forms and when we do not have full information we can easily be deceived. This is the case with the Ten Commandments.

The biggest deception comes with the First of the Ten Commandments, which is often stated as You Shall Have No Gods Before Me.

For a Hindu, “have no gods before me” would be understood as the person is saying that he desires you to worship him.

You can argue it is easily understood that worship of a human is not what is meant by “no gods before me”. Still the question remains, Who is me?

This abbreviated version of the First Commandment is very deceptive. It does not tell us who is God.

The Roman Catholics abbreviate the First and Second commandments into You Shall Have No Gods Before Me. They say that this covers what is written in the Second Commandment as well as the First Commandment.

The Second Commandment speaks about forming images of any likeness that is in Heaven, on Earth or under the Earth. Anyone bowing before those images violates that commandment. So it is a violation first to create an image and it is a violation to bow before them. There would be no reason for the Roman Catholic Church authorities not to promote the Second Commandment would there now?

The Second Commandment also says more than forbidding the fashioning of images and bowing before them. There is also a statement of how iniquity is passed down from generation to generation and how people can be blessed of God. This is lost in the abbreviation ”you shall have no other gods before me” or “you shall make no graven images”.

The Third Commandment tells us more than You Shall Not Take The Lord’s Name In Vain. However, if the First Commandment states that God is “me”, then taking God’s name in vain becomes a pointless matter. But there is more to the story if the full commandments are understood.

The Fourth Commandment is a contentious matter. You Shall Observe The Sabbath or You Shall Keep The Sabbath are two variations of the Fourth Commandment and they both carry different connotations. There are also other variations such as Keep The Sabbath Day Holy and Observe The Sabbath Day And Keep It Holy. These abbreviations do not begin with “You shall remember the Sabbath Day”. There is a big difference in what the word “remember” means and implies and the words “keep” and “observe” mean.

The Fifth Commandment is often abbreviated Honor Your Mother and Father. Once more there is much missing that has major implications when fully understood in the light of the promises of God.

Abbreviations may seem to make life easier, but in reality, they can become unintentionally deceptive and undermine the truth. So often this happens in the course of ordinary life. Unless people seek to understand the meaning of the abbreviations, they will remain ignorant and suffer as a result.

In the Bible we read the following:

• My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. (Hosea 4:6)

For any person who calls himself or herself a Christian or a Jew and who does not understand the only words that were written by God Himself, then that person ought to take notice of what is written in the Book of Hosea as quoted above.

The Ten Commandments Were Designed For You To Enjoy And Possess Life

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE HAS BEEN AROUND LONGER THAN YOU THINK. Most People Have The Idea That Artificial Intelligence Is A Recent Innovation. Little do we know, if this is what we think, for artificial intelligence is exactly what it is called and not the real deal.

What does the Bible says about Artificial Intelligence?

Harry Riches · Answers

What does the Bible says about Artificial Intelligence?

If you are thinking that the Bible says nothing about artificial intelligence, you would be wrong if you define artificial as:

1. produced by man;
2. made in imitation of a natural product, esp as a substitute; not genuine:
3. pretended; assumed; insincere. [1]

We have admonitions by the Apostles Paul and Peter that addresses the above definitions:

• See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

• But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. (2 Peter 2:1)

• But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of stress. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding the form of religion but denying the power of it. Avoid such people. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

True intelligence is bestowed upon men and women so that they might come to God and reason with Him as to what is right and what is wrong; what is good and what is evil; what is true and what is false.

• Put me in remembrance, let us argue together; set forth your case, that you may be proved right. (Isaiah 43:26)

• Set forth your case, says the Lord; bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob. Let them bring them, and tell us what is to happen. Tell us the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, that we may know their outcome; or declare to us the things to come. Tell us what is to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; do good, or do harm, that we may be dismayed and terrified. (Isaiah 41:21-23)

• “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. (Isaiah 1:18)

In the Bible, we learn that there are many attempts by artificial intelligence to usurp the authentic quest for truth. Lusting for influence and power, this artificial intelligence creates false religions. This artificial intelligence also creates false teachings among those who have latched upon the initial realization of the existence of God and the impoverishment of a human’s spiritual condition.

There are those who claim they are religious but always pray in terms of: “God, we are so wicked, our thoughts are so deceitful, we are not worthy, how could we come into your presence.”

These people reject faith towards God and claim people have no freewill, even though the Bible admonishes people to come to God and set forth their case, present their argument and reason with Him.

Instead of coming to God and realizing that Lord Jesus Christ cleanses from sin and baptizes in the power of the Holy Spirit, so they can overcome their deceit and their wickedness and their ineptness, these people become the hypocrites that are so common among the religious. They lack any real power that comes with knowing and walking in the truth.

Yet, while claiming to be deceitful, these deceived individuals seek out other fools and expect them to believe that they are telling the truth—tragic, really. No wonder they want to argue about their philosophical doctrines rather than learning how to overcome their cognitive dissonance, their deceit and their wickedness.

In the Bible, we are told that we are to glorify God as Christians (1 Peter 4:16).Among those who are referred to as Christians by Muslims, Hindus, Atheists, Buddhists and other non-Christians are people who are branded as Anglicans/Episcopalians, Baptists, Catholics, Orthodox, Pentecostals, etc. However, these are not true Christians. They are whatever brand they claim to be. They might like to think that they have a particular brand of Christianity that is special or more true than other brands. But meet a true Christian and he or she will identify with Christ (1 Peter 4:16)—not a brand that originated from artificial intelligence.

After a genuine Christian has asserted that a Christian is what he or she happens to be, the Christian (1 Peter 4:16) might tell you where he or she meets to have fellowship. This distinction is found throughout Christendom and tells the inquirer whether the person identifies with Lord Jesus Christ as a Christian or whether the person identifies with an organization or the philosophy or teachings of humans that originate from artificial intelligence—an imitation. All deception originates from artificial intelligence.

Those who have truly met Lord Jesus Christ, also begin to learn that the 66 books of the Bible bear witness to Him and exist as a written authority for instruction regarding wisdom, sanctification and righteousness.

The Ten Commandments Were Written By The Finger Of God Yet Are They Discarded And Rejected As Obsolete By People Who Claim They Are True Believers

Footnotes

[1] http://Collins English Dictionar...

THE GREAT FLOOD IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS STILL LEAVES PEOPLE IN A STATE OF UNBELIEF. Amazing Evidence Exists That Verifies The Flood Of Noah. Still people question whether such an event could be real yet swallow the concocted story about evolution as fact.

How literally should we take the Great Flood story in Genesis (Bible) such as being worldwide?

Happy Riches · Answer requested by Richard Easey

Some people approach the Bible with the presumption that it is codswallop. Likewise, I once thought that doctors could save lives. Then I learned my grandparents died.

When I recognized for myself the truth that people die and I would too, I realized that doctors cannot save lives. Doctors may prolong lives on Earth, but they cannot really save lives from death—yet this is the impression we get when told that doctors save lives.

Deceivers and the deceived adamantly insist on repeating the mantra that doctors save lives and the Bible is a myth. This is the case, even though in the good ol’ USA, iatrogenesis was responsible for 250,000 deaths in 2015 and medical misdiagnosis and treatment rates as the third leading cause of death these days. Whereas, contrary to the hostile mantra of the anti-Christians, the Bible is repeatedly proven to be historically accurate.

The question of evidence is always lacking when it comes to disproving the Scriptures and God's non-existence. Instead, theory, or garbage dressed up in a tuxedo and bow tie is spewed out as propaganda for the ignorant masses to consume.

If the eruption of Mount St. Helens could initiate a situation in which a canyon one-fortieth the size of the Grand Canyon was formed in one day, and the eruption of Mount St. Helens was by no means the largest ever (dwarfed by the last eruption measured at Yellowstone, which produced 2,000 times the explosive power), then what would a person expect to happen when the “fountains of the deep” were broken up and the entire world was covered by water as in Noah’s Flood? Surely, the evidence from Mount St. Helens shows that catastrophic origins of geological features like the Grand Canyon are a possibility. The ideology of those who refuse to acknowledge the Flood’s geological force demonstrates a refusal to be scientific and open-minded by those who claim to honest professionals. —But then we know people value power, prestige, position and pocket-money more than honesty.

Noah’s Ark has been found and rests in Turkey. However, this evidence is such that it means that every atheist and every person who hates the truth prefers it to remain where it is so people can be deceived. Yet when you watch the evidence in the video below, you will see that there is more to this than what people want to admit. Some significant experiments have been conducted and analyses made from the find. [NB. The last time I presented the video below on Quora it was down-voted and collapsed. Because the deceivers and the deceived who hate the truth do not want people to see this video.]

As for the many theories that abound, after reading Kuban’s biased attempt to debunk Walt Brown’s Hydroplate Theory, I decided to look into the theory myself. I came across Bryan Nickels explanation of the Hydroplate theory. I find it a more satisfactory explanation than any other theory I have encountered.

I have to confess that before I became a Christian I was an evil bastard. So I am not a gullible person who believes what people say, as I was not too inclined to trust people. Now I trust people to never let me down, and in the main they don’t.

Why?

Because I can trust every person to be selfish, conceited, deceitful and sinful.

Nevertheless, I will give everyone a chance to prove themselves and while they do demonstrate that they are genuine, I accept that their integrity is intact.

Honesty is a rare commodity, yet people vote for politicians and say it is alright if they are dishonest, because this is required to be elected. Likewise, scientists who claim a theory as fact are just as deceived or, if not, they are trying to deceive—and the gullible say that this is okay.

However, each one of us are on our own quests, unless we are content to accept that we are born to die, and before we do die, suffering is supposed to be what life is about. For those who are not as lucky as us, who are healthier and wealthier than the less fortunate, maybe suffering is not something we think about.

Everyone desires to be healthy, wealthy and wise and not just healthy and wealthy. As for being wise, the Book of Proverbs states that the beginning of wisdom is simply "get wisdom". The question becomes a matter of working out where one starts in order to become wise.

In respect to the flood mentioned in the Bible being worldwide, if I did not have the assurance of eternal life, I would be skeptical. But then I would also be skeptical about any theory developed by anybody to explain the obvious. For the obvious I can see, but the explanation, as soon as it leaves the realm of the five senses, if it cannot be truly proven now, it enters the realm of imagination and The Brothers Grimm—whose stories gave me nightmares as a child.

The Real Truths Are There To Be Found But Why Believe Theory When You Can Know The Truth For Yourself And Experience The Assurance Of Eternal Salvation

MANY PEOPLE DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE GOSPEL EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE BEEN READING THE BIBLE FOR DECADES. Ask Then When The Gospel Was First Preached And They Have No Idea. Yet the Bible clearly states when the gospel was first preached..

What is the gospel and to whom was it first preached?

Could the gospel have been preached before the death and resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ?

Harry Riches · Answers a question posted on Quora.

Since nobody has answered this, I shall.

What is the gospel and to whom was it first preached?

Could the gospel have been preached before the death and resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ?

Most people would probably say that the gospel was first preached by Jesus of Nazareth. Others may say that this could only occur after Jesus had been raised from the dead.

Some may even suggest that John the Baptist preached the Gospel. These people would see the Gospel as repentance from dead works, faith towards God and baptism in the Holy Spirit, since this is what Peter preached at Pentecost.

John the Baptist preaching:

• Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. “Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:8–12)

The Apostle Peter preaching:

• Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.” (Acts 2:38–39)

What John the Baptist and the Apostle Peter said is similar in terms of repentance, baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. The difference is John the Baptist was talking to hypocrites and spoke about them losing what they thought they had before the foundation of the world (grace alone—unmerited favor—is insufficient, a response is required). The Apostle Peter speaks about the promise that is to be received and was speaking to people after the resurrection and ascension of Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul went further and said that the Gospel was not just a matter of being baptized in water and receiving the Holy Spirit but that this was an act of faith (the assurance/substance of things hoped for and the conviction/evidence of things unseen—Hebrews 11:1) that had been secured by Abraham. Paul writes:

• He therefore who supplies the Spirit to you, and does miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith? Even as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are children of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the [Gospel] beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.” Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, “The righteous will live by faith.” The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,” that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:5–14)

The Gospel is about the death and resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ, because without Him the good news would not exist. However, the Gospel is the good news that everybody who has faith in God’s promise is to be blessed because of the Son of God, Lord Jesus Christ. When God first spoke to Abraham, the good news (the Gospel) that was preached to him was about the blessing.

• Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1–3)

The quote from Galatians 3:8 (In you all the nations will be blessed) appears to have come from when Abraham had passed the test of being willing to sacrifice Isaac on the basis that God will raise the dead by providing the Lamb that is to be sacrificed, so all human beings could have the option of life:

• After these things, God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” He said, “Here I am.” He said, “Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.”…. Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together. Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, “My father?” He said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they both went together…. Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son. Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide. As it is said to this day, “On Yahweh’s mountain, it will be provided.” (Genesis 22:1–14)
• All the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because you have obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22:18)

The Gospel is the good news. The good news is that there is something better available than being born to die. There is a hope that transcends the way of this world into we are born—which is bondage to corruption (Romans 8:20–21). Abraham was given this good news when he first heard from God. For he was told that all the families of the Earth were to be blessed through him—the implication being that a better hope was available, life for evermore.

The Gospel was first preached to Abraham when God first spoke to him and he responded and obeyed God’s voice. The Gospel message is that all will be blessed and overcome futility through faith in the death and resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ, the offspring of Abraham. Faith without works, or not producing fruit of faithfulness, is not faith at all; for only those who are righteous through faith shall share in the promises of Abraham. The essential message has not changed, merely that this is now manifested by receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit through faith—the guarantee of our inheritance until we take possession of it. (Ephesians 1:11–14)

The Gospel Has Not Changed, Only The Faithful Who Walk With God Understand

Written May 26

MORAL COMPASSES ARE NOT EXACTLY THE SAME AS A NORMAL COMPASS. Nevertheless. A Moral Compass Is Required For Us To Get Our Bearings Right In Life. Without a moral compass instead of heading North and to the upside, we could be heading south to the downside, if we understand Heaven is up and Hell is down.

What moral compass did people use during biblical times?

Happy Riches · Answers

Every person has been endowed with a conscience and this is an internalized component of each one’s constitution. The conscience is the ability that enables every one to distinguish between good and evil. However, like a computer operating system, the software has been programmed to perform a certain function; but what a person writes upon it to create another program is another matter. Consequently, people develop what can be termed moral viruses. Malfunctions occur in their capacity to judge right from wrong, good from evil and truth from fiction.

While everyone starts out with a clean slate, the programming can corrupt a pure conscience so that it becomes one that develops a multiplicity of personalities. This is very much evidenced when people develop an anarchistic conscience yet find themselves possessing a inner conflict when having to make choices about moral decisions within certain situations.

For instance, I have known a person who would steal anything at anytime and at any place—even in front of your eyes without you knowing it; yet from one particular person, when it came to stealing from him, he felt compunction taking something when not asking. The reason being is a bond had formed between the two persons over a decade. The other person was a homosexual who took the young boy in at fourteen and taught him the value of saving money and investing; as a result the boy, now a man, was quite prosperous, owning five houses and possessing a substantial share portfolio.

What this person, who grew up learning to be a pickpocket and prostitute, understood that stealing was something you just did. It was acceptable as long as you did not get caught. Likewise hocking his anus was something he did if he was in need of money as an older child. Later on, as a older youth and an adult, he bit the pillow for pleasure whenever the occasion arose. That is what happens to boys who are seduced and corrupted by perverted adults when they are innocent children. His conscience was seared in two areas.

There is no difference between biblical times and today really. Such activities that I have described already have been going on since the Devil was able to exercise his influence on fallen man.

The Israelites had the Torah but disregarded it. Consequently, Israel was forsaken by God. Then the people would wonder why God did not answer their prayers. So they turned to false gods like the nations around them. In the book of Proverbs we read:

• If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. (Proverbs 28:9)

The Law was a tool for Israelites by which they could sharpen their consciences. The Ten Commandments when fully understood provide us with true morality. Unfortunately, as do people today, the Israelites turned away from the Ten Commandments. In doing this, they seared their consciences.

Since people have to live with each other, our consciences let us know that some of the things we do are wrong and some are right. Lying, stealing and sexual perversions are the first pricks of conscience we learn to suppress. Across the spectrum of human behavior, searing our consciences in these three areas so that we become unmoved by these actions is all too common. Yet we hate people lying to us; hate people stealing from us; and we hate perverts watching us when we want privacy.

Interestingly, different codes of behavior among humans, while having the metadata (information that informs about the legitimacy of these codes) embedded within our conscience, has people developing different cultures. Stealing and murder are the two big “no-nos”. Yet when we consider what people do, we will find that they have a fragmented conscience, where it is alright to steal some things but not others; it is alright to lie about some matters but not others; it is alright to do certain sexual activities with some people but not others forms of perversion.

Mahatma Gandhi was of the opinion that culture shaped conscience and our worldview towards our gods and mankind. Nothing has changed much since Gandhi’s view some 100 years ago, for this appears to be the case. Just as nothing has changed in this respect since the creation of mankind.

The conscience is actually what distinguishes us from animals. But if people sear it, they become animals. Which is what history tells us that people become when they are left to their own devises. Instead of sharpening their consciences, too many people dull their consciences. The next step is to sear the conscience. A seared conscience is evidenced when someone like Idi (the third President of Uganda 1971–79) obtains enjoyment out of personally torturing those who oppose him. Or when the likes of Vlad the Impaler (1431–1476)—Prince Charles of England look alike and relative—revel in impaling tens of thousands of people alive.

King David of Israel, a man declared to have a perfect heart towards Lord God Almighty, committed adultery, then in the cover up, arranged to have the woman’s husband killed by making it look like an accident. This is a man who claimed that the blessing is found in meditating the Law of Lord God Almighty day and night.

Now when the prophet Nathan used a parable to inform David how a man did such a despicable thing as he had done, the King was furious. David was going to see to it that the person was apprehended and justice was executed—literally! Well, that was until his conscience was ignited when he, being the king, realized that his own behavior was more than despicable, for it was execrable in the extreme, after Nathan had told him that he, King David, was the man he sought to execute (2 Samuel 12:1–13).

Self-deception is the same as lying—only it is lying to oneself. In the biblical case just cited, the cover up had been blown and King David was immediately cut to the quick before God. Anguish from internal torment would have to have been exploding within. Nevertheless internal torments are better dealt with now, while there is hope of mercy, rather than having to front up to one’s malfeasance at the time the Bible points to being the day of the Great White Throne Judgment.

The moral compass that we all possess resides in our spirit. This has been the case with every human being. Unfortunately, it is seared when we override it. Doing this begins to fragment our conscience at first, but eventually it is seared and needs restoration if it is to function properly. Fragmented consciences mean fragmented relationships and nobody, apart from Lord Jesus Christ has kept the Ten Commandments without fragmenting them at one point.

A Sharp Conscience Is Better Than A Sharp Knife That Cuts Through Soft Butter

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