- Do not murder
- Aggravated life-taking with no valid reason
- Abortion (see right above)
- Abuse (all kinds)
- Neglect (apathy)
- Racism (hatred)
being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers
and to require human worship; specifically : one controlling a particular aspect
or part of reality.
Have you ever wondered why Abraham was considered righteous?
Abraham was called by God to sacrifice his only true son, Isaac. Abraham went through the whole ordeal but it seems as though he lied to his servants. He told his servants to stay while they go worship and then they will come back! Now if he was to sacrifice Isaac, he knew only he himself would come back. Did Abraham lie? And he was still considered righteous. Well, he didn't lie.
Abraham knew Isaac would live. Before all of this happened Abraham was promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the grains of sand. When Abraham took Isaac up the mountain he knew that somehow Isaac would be coming back down with him. So when he said "we" will return, he meant it. However, he probably also expected that Isaac would have to be actually sacrificed, in the literal sense. So why would he think both would be coming back? Isaac would be resurrected! To Abraham, Isaac was already dead. He knew that he would have to truly give a sacrifice, not just an offering. Sometimes true worship means just more than your offering (money, feelings, times or any aspect of life). Abraham knew that true worship meant giving all you have. Isaac meant the world to him. It was all Abraham had. True Ishma'el was there but Ishma'el was not born out of faith. He was born of the flesh. He was born out of desire. He was not the promise God had for Abraham. The true son of Abraham was Isaac. The true sacrificed had to come by or through him.
And because he acted out of faith God provided a way out. Such as in our lives. Sometimes we see an easy way out. We see the things born out of the flesh as what can satisfy us and so we take that route. But God calls us to a place. He calls us to His route. If we stay faithful and follow His route and not our own, God will provide all we need. Since Abraham stayed faithful and was willing to sacrifice Isaac, God gave him the lamb caught in the brush. God called Abraham to a place. He didn't tell Abraham to sacrifice there at home. That would not have been a sacrifice. Staying home is our comfort zone and we would tend to remain to comfortable and not put our full focus on what God calls us to do. Therefore we may not even follow through with our sacrifice or worship. Abraham had to follow the directions of God to prove his faithfulness. The mountain that God told Abraham to go to was Mount Moriah, the highest peak in the area. This just happened to be the same mountain Christ was crucified on.
In all ways Abraham trusted in God. This is what made Abraham righteous. His trust. His faith. Hebrews tell us, "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going." This is why the promises he was given were granted. Faithfulness gets you the promises of God.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed.- CJB
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life- NIV
This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed.- The Message
It doesn't matter what translation you may have, the message here can not be lost in any translation. No one can say that there is any discrepancy between any of them. Jesus Christ was sent to this earth to save us from our sins and to get this salvation we have to believe in him. And who sent him? God the father. Why? So that we can all have eternal life and not go through any destruction of any kind once we have passed on. However, there is a point that people do miss with this verse.
Most when hearing this piece of perhaps the most famous line from the Bible will focus on what has already been said.
Of course these are very important points and all are true and need to be heeded, but perhaps there is even another very important matter with this scripture that we should start to really focus on. God loved the world! Sounds like a cliche' but it is worth looking at. God, the Supreme Being, the Creator, the Father, the Almighty, had so much feelings for the world that He knew He had to do something to save it. Even though His creation had become murderers (of all forms of the word), liars, thieves, slanderers, idolaters, gluttons, drunkards, abusers, and all other sick things we do, He still loved us. We had become the exact opposite of what he had planned for us and yet he showed so much compassion that he sent a way out of our mess. If you were an artist and created a work of art and it didn't turn out like you wanted it to, the first reaction would be to destroy it and start again. But for us he didn't. Do not miss the point. It is not about being an artist who created something imperfect or saying that the art is a creation of an imperfect artist. We have no analogies on earth that can describe this relationship. All who try to do this are laying down facades to prove their own agenda. You CAN NOT describe it. The real point is God loves us.
But there's more. Who is the "world"? The world is anything that can believe in Jesus Christ. Does God love the Pope? Yes. Does God love Bill Graham? Yes. Does God love those who give to charities? Yes. Does God love those who give their time to help others? Yes. Does God love those who are having problems? Yes. Does God love those who are going through life aimlessly and with no cares? Yes. Does God love those who deny him? Yes. Does God love those who hate him and would do anything to destroy his image and his words? Yes. God loves all.
Many times we go through life wondering why God hates us so much or why God allows things to happen that seem like it always goes against us somehow or someway. We tend to feel that God doesn't really love us if he allows things to keep happening. Maybe we feel he even forgets about us personally. But the fact is, he still loves each and every one of us. He doesn't hate you. He hasn't forgotten about you. Jesus Christ when he came to the earth did not just choose certain people to die for. He died for all. Even if you deny his existence. Even if you deny what he did Jesus still died for you. Paul tells us that what he did, he did once and for all.