NATURAL LAWS AND GOD'S LAWS
by Sheldon Crook
Would you walk out in front of a speeding truck? I would hope
not, but did you ever stop to analyze exactly why you don't do that
sort of thing? Obviously, because we would get seriously hurt but why
would we get hurt?
It has to do with a natural law of motion called
conservation of energy and momentum (OK, so I'm not a physicist but
the name is close enough). Simply put, a body at rest tends to stay
at rest and a moving body tends to continue in a straight line unless
acted upon by an outside force. The outside force acting on the truck
in this case is your body but the only effect of this small a force on
the truck would be a larger than usual bug splat on the radiator grill!
How about this one; you see a metal rod with one end sitting
in a fire. Would you pick it up with your bare hands? If you did, you
would get a quick (and painful) lesson in thermodynamics! The other end
gets hot because of molecular motion and the transfer of heat by this
molecular motion.
Would you want to fly in an airplane designed by an engineer
who didn't have the foggiest notion of the laws of aerodynamics? What
if you looked out the window and realized there was only one wing on
one side? I have a hunch that you wouldn't be too concerned about the
in-flight movie on that one. The airplane flies because it was designed
USING the natural laws of aerodynamics to our benefit, not trying to
change the laws to suit our purposes. That would be a colossal exercise
in futility!
Now, do you conciously think of these physical laws every time
you do anything? Do you compute the mass of the truck compared to your
mass and then lay out the respective motion vectors before you step off
the curb? Of course not. We don't have to know all this because
we are well aware of the consequences of violating these natural laws;
we get hurt.
These natural laws are there for a purpose; they keep the universe
humming along like a well oiled machine (as long as man keeps his
meddling fingers out of it). The universe doesn't work in spite of
these laws, it works BECAUSE of these laws. All nature is in a perfect
state of balance and will remain that way if left to its own devices.
God created this universe and the laws that would continue His creation
moving along the way He wanted it to. The existance of all of these laws
are well known to man, although we don't fully understand all of them
(gravity is a good example). Because we know and understand most of
them, we can adapt our surroundings to our best advantage within the
framework of constraints established by these natural laws. All of these
laws have one thing in common: they have absolutely nothing to do with
man.
These laws will be in place and have effect if man were to
disappear from the universe and never show up again. They have been
in place from the creation of the universe and will be there until
the end.
To deal with man, God gave us a different set of laws, dealing
strictly with relationships, ours to Him and ours to each other. These
are called the Ten Commandments and the Great Commission. Before I go
any further, let me list these for you. (Exodus 20)
1. You will have no other gods before God nor will
you worship these gods
2. You will make no graven image (no idols)
3. You will not take God's name in vain (profanity)
4. Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy
5. Honor your father and mother so your days will be long
6. Don't murder
7. Don't commit adultery
8. Don't steal
9. Don't lie against your neighbor
10. Don't covet (envy) anything of anyone else's
THE GREAT COMMISSION OF CHRIST:(Matt. 22:37-39)
Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.
Now as you can see, I have paraphrased these in my words and I
hope I haven't offended any scholars out there. Let's look at these
laws in some detail and see how they apply in our universe.
As you can see, the first four commandments have to with our
relationship to God and how we are (and are not) to worship Him.
But the other six commandments have to do with our relationships with
each other. They were pretty well summed up by Jesus in the Great
Commission and the Golden Rule (Matt. 7:12). Look at each of these
`rules of life' and see if you would like to have everyone treat you
in this manner. I don't think anyone would like to have someone trying
to murder us or cheat and lie about us. These laws were established to
make our lives more enjoyable and peaceful, not lay a burden of `don'ts'
on us.
If everyone in the world started living by these laws tomorrow
think of what the world would be like; it would be a paradise, just like
God intended it originally.
I would like to wrap this up with a question. It's a rhetorical
question I realize and there probably isn't an answer, but I'll pose it
anyway.
Why does man `religiously' obey all of God's physical laws because
he realizes the consequences of violating them but go out and violate
every one of God's `relational' laws, again knowing full well the
consequences of his actions? If we violate the physical laws our
`punishment' is pain and suffering but these will usually pass away
and we go on with our lives but the consequences of violating God's
`relational' laws is so much worse.
The results of these actions are
eternal and irreversible after a certain point (death). How can we
keep one set of laws but totally ignore the others? Try telling
a traffic cop that you ran that stop sign because you decided to
obey stop `lights' but not stop `signs'. If that works, let me know.
God established man in His universe for His pleasure and to
worship Him. He established all the laws, physical and relational,
to enable man to live comfortably and enjoyably within the universe
He created for us. Let's try a little harder to apply these `relational'
laws to our lives as well as we obey the physical ones. God be with you
and go in peace.
HELP FOR NEW CHRISTIANS
OK! New Christian...What Now? | Bible verse for every letter of the alphabet.| Church History Summary.| The Christian Message.| Election. | Is Hebrews 6 a warning? | Seven Incontestable Questions. | Ironside: Agnosticism. | Issues Of The Heart - J. MacArthur. | Natural Laws and God's Laws. | Possession: The Devil Made Me Do It! | The Preisthood Of All Believers. | Why Jesus? | Knowing Why You Believe - Evidence - Bible. | Discussions With Unbelievers. | Inerrancy. | What Does It Mean To Be A Christian? | First Adam; Then Eve; then what? | What Will People Think? | Perfect For All Time. | Jesus Is Lord. | Spiritual Strength And Power. | The Biblical Calendar Of History. | Studying Your Bible. | Computer Analysis Of The Books Of The Bible. | Early Christianity - Is The Record Sound? | The Bible - The Most Popular Book. | Credentials Of The Bible. | Doomed - to Hell. | Faith And Works In The Plan Of God. | Others Can But You Can't. | Impositions - giving to God and by God. | Why Did Christ Die? | The Successful Christian - #1. | The Successful Christian - #2. | Is It What We Say Or What We Are? | Forty-day Bible Study. | Is Baptism Necessary For Salvation? | How To Overcome Sin - Charles Finney. Death. | Why We Reject This Version. | How Does God Keep His Promises? | Radical Genesis Evangelicals.
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