As we provide answers to these questions, it is important to remember that we are not simply becoming aware of biblical facts. The definition of “learning” is the absorption and retention of facts and, specifically, how to integrate them into our personal lives and in our social encounters. As we practice these truths, we will become biblically wise, and “wisdom” is the capacity to make good decisions based on sound biblical truth.
For each of the following 7 questions and answers, I personally have dialogued with non-Christians and Christians about the application and implications for ourselves and for our society. You will discover the joy and reward of the responses from the people who you engage with. Enjoy the journey!
I have chosen to provide the answers at the end of the questions. Without looking ahead at the answers, how would you analyze and answer the questions?
- Of the 6 listed below check the 4 qualifications based on Exodus 18:21 when selecting government leaders.
#1 they must be able, skilled, and capable.
#2 they should have a morally principled family.
#3 must fear God or have a relationship with God that produces a life of honesty, integrity, purity, and holiness. If his/her past has been suspect and if there is a demonstration of repentance and remorse, leaders can be and should be forgiven.
#4 they should have past leadership experience
#5 must love and recognize the truth otherwise he/she will become closed-minded to sound counsel and not listen to correction or review.
#6 must hate dishonest gain (bribes) not only loathing corruption but also despising fraudulent perks that might have been offered him as a result of his position.
Individuals displaying these four quality traits are to be chosen for leaders at the local, county, state, and federal level.
The Answer to #1
The four are: #1; #3; #5; #6
- Below are 4 types of Laws mentioned in the Book of the Covenants (OT). Match the correct definition to each of the types of Law by placing the corresponding letter next to the type of law.
- The Ceremonial Law ( ), 2. The Moral Law ( ),
3. The Social Compact Law ( ) 4. The Judicial Law ( ).
- The timeless, unchangeable, and universal rules of right and wrong.
- Temple regulations, symbols, sacrifice, dietary purification instructions.
- Laws that are different in each culture yet are vital to maintain a society for they support the law that never changes.
- Laws enacted by society to provide order.
Answers to #2
- The Moral Law. The Moral Law expresses what God says is right and wrong, and it does not change from the Book of the Covenants (OT) to the Renewed Covenant (NT). Whenever God says something is morally wrong, it remains wrong forever. The moral pinnacle of God’s magnificent law is the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5).
- The Ceremonial Law. The ceremonial law was given to Israel in particular and is considered temporary, as types and shadows, prior to the Good News of Christ and His death on the cross. They have been fulfilled by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and are therefore no longer applicable for us today. Look to Hebrew 10:4-14).
- The Judicial Law. Judicial laws are the stipulations of civil penalties attached to the violations of God’s established rights and wrongs. In America, they are established by our political leaders through the legislative process. These laws apply only to the arena of civil government and no other. Two examples: Kidnapping (Exodus 21:16) was punishable by death. For Adultery at the time of the Hebrews it also was punished with death (Leviticus 20:10); At the time of Christ, he still condemned it as an immoral behavior but declined to enforce the previous judicial laws (John 8:11).
An example of a judicial law passed here in America that violated God’s Moral Law took place on June 26, 2015 when the Supreme Court of the United states ruled in the case of Oberfell vs. Hodges, that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same sex couples by the 14th amendment and that the United states must allow same sex marriage
4. The Social Compact Law. These laws involve things such as speed limits, municipal ordinances, parking and regulations, and everything else that is society may enact to maintain an orderly environment for living. A biblical example is Ruth 4:7.
- What does the word “Torah” (the first five books of the Bible) mean? Circle Two. Code, teaching, instructions, doctrine, covenants,
Answer to #3 teaching and doctrine
The Hebrew word Torah has traditionally been interpreted as “law,” that is, a set of rules or legal codes. This is a somewhat misleading interpretation as it implies the rigid approach to life that distorts the inner intention of the idea of Torah. There are many in modern Christianity who consider the Torah as punitive, restrictive, legalistic, and unattainable to obey. It simply means “instruction,” or “teaching”. A better way of looking at it is to see the Torah as an orientation course in the ways of God! Torah is the training syllabus that Israel needed, and we need today to learn to gain an understanding of our covenant God and how we, and society, can thrive according to Yahweh’s Ways. The instruction aims at harnessing and directing all our lives towards a redemptive end. Friends, this is glorious and liberating!
Allow me to pontificate for another paragraph. There is a profound logic going on with the mind of Yahweh God through the Torah. It is His logic that relates all aspects of life to His will and Ways. Therefore, everything— one’s work, one’s domestic life, one’s health, one’s worship—has the same significance to God. He is concerned with every aspect of a believer’s life. In the Western spiritual tradition we have tended to see the “religious” as one category of life among many. The Hebrew mind integrates religious existence into all life. As such there’s no distinction whatsoever between the secular and the sacred in the Hebrew worldview. All of life is sacred when it is placed in relationship to the living God. The Hebraic mind can draw a direct line from any and every aspect of life to the central purposes of God—this is the logic revealed in the wisdom of Torah.
This is an entirely different view of the “law” that is characterized in most modern Christian circles. At the very least we should recognize that the Torah does not imply a legalism in the heart of God, but rather an attempt to orient us to concrete expressions of life, something we have generally failed to do.
- What do the words for “worship” (shaw-khaw’) in the Book of the Covenants (OT) and “worship” proskyneō in the NT (Renewed Covenant) mean? Select only three.
- Singing, 2. conforming into His Image, 3. bowing low in contrition or obeisance, 4. to celebrate, 5. attend a worship service, 6. praise in song, 7.to physically bend our knees on the ground and rise to obey, 8. Listening to teaching, 9. to physically prostrate oneself on one’s knees.
The correct answers for number four are: #3, #7 and #9.
It all starts with the correct definition, understanding, and application of worship! The Bible treats sin primarily as a matter of turning away from God and serving other gods, (alternative kingdoms) that we erect. The secondary matters of sin are specific immoral behaviors. The first command is after all, the first commandment– “You shall have no other gods before Me.” The 2nd commandment addresses erecting false gods, “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind…”
Only after we are straight about whom we are worshiping will begin aligning ourselves with true “Worship.”
From my perspective, it is important not mesh any definition of a particular word with other definitions — like calling worship everything we do, from singing, to working etc. I think the Scriptures are more specific and, therefore, we also should be. Based on the definitions of worship both in the Book of the Covenants (OT) and the Renewed Covenant (NT) it starts with physically bowing in contrition. Worship is completed when I get up and obey in response to my physical and spiritual brokenness, demonstrated with my physical posture of kneeling.
Much like the word “grace,” which means “unmerited favor,” but the complete definition of grace is never static, but always dynamic. In other words, when I receive unmerited favor, I am to extend appropriately unmerited favor to others.
I find it ironic that Muslims correctly bow in worship, however they are worshipping the wrong god! They are worshipping a false god!
- A Biblical Total Truth Worldview (BTTW) is the capacity to look at ALL aspects of life and evaluate them through the lens of Scripture. True or False?
The answer to #5 is True.
Christianity is not just religious truth, it is Total Truth—covering all of reality. For much of modern Christendom, we have no shared biblically based set of assumptions on subjects like law, education, economics, politics, or science. As a moral being, the Christian follows the biblical ethic and this is good. As a spiritual being, he or she prays and attends worship services. But as a thinking being many Christians have succumbed to secularism, accepting a frame of reference constructed by the secular mind. When we enter the stream of discourse in our field or profession, we participate mentally as non-Christians, using the current concepts and categories, that the culture and especially the media dictate to us.
We maintain our private biblical beliefs and values but because we fear man or are ignorant of a Biblical Total Truth Worldview, we comply to the messages shouted from the megaphone of culture.
I discovered this reality when I was pastoring. I asked the pastoral staff if they believed, biblically, that homosexuality was wrong. Unanimously they said, yes. When I asked them if they would teach this from the pulpit, they said, no. Why? I asked. “For fear of the public outcry from members of the congregation and the secular voices,” was their reply.
Like I have said for years, the number one sin in the American Church is cowardice, which rests primarily with the leaders who are adjusting the message to fit the culture.
- Does EVERY worldview answer these three questions? Yes, or no?
Creation: What was it like originally?
Fall: What went wrong?
Redemption: What will make it right again?
The Answer to #6 is yes.
On many occasions, I have had the opportunity to express this answer to non-Christians as well as to Christians. Once again, their responses were ones of contemplation, inquisitiveness and illumination.
Here are two examples of worldviews which answer these three key questions—Marxism and the Judeo-Christian Faith.
#1 Marxism: is the foundational ideology of leftist movements such as Black Lives Matter, Identity Politics, or Critical Race Theory. These liberation movements are sometimes called neo-Marxism because they apply Marxist forms of analysis to groups identified by race or gender urging them to raise their consciousness and throw off their oppressors. Neo-Marist’s ideologies always pit the oppressed against the oppressor. By placing the word “neo” at the front of a word it integrates aspects of the ideology defined.
For Marxism–
Creation: A utopia manifested in a classless society. Marx called it primitive communism.
Fall: The creation of private property or capitalism which created class struggle.
Redemption: Destroying private ownership and class supremacy through revolution against the ruling class or hegemony (the dominate social group).
#2 Judeo-Christian Faith
Creation: The self-existent God (Elohim) as revealed in the Bible created everything perfect without sin and decay.
Fall: Man’s sin. The Bible teaches that all parts of creation–including our minds, our souls, and our spirits are in a great rebellion against the Creator.
Redemption: The coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His Kingdom will make everything right by mankind falling under His authority and rule.
Comments about Creation:
It is important to remember that the Christian message does not begin with “accept Christ as your Savior and Lord”; it begins with “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The Bible teaches that God is the sole source of the entire created order. No other gods compete with Him; no natural forces exist on their own; nothing receives its nature or existence from another source. Thus, His Word, laws, and ways, when followed, give the world its order and structure.
Comments about the Fall:
The fall (when Adam and Eve disobeyed God) subverts our ability to understand the world apart from God’s regenerating grace. Scripture is replete with warnings that idolatry or stubborn disobedience toward God makes humans “blind” or “deaf.” Paul writes, “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Sin literally darkens the understanding. 18 “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts” – Ephesians 4:18 NIV.
Comments about Redemption
At the end of the world God will “redeem” — that is deliver from all decay and restore all of His creation back to its original perfection — the creation of the “New Heavens and New Earth” (2 Peter 3:13), with no more suffering and pain (Revelation 2:4) and will reign for eternity.
Redemption also consists of continually destroying our mental, social, and relational idols (false gods) by obeying the true God in following His decrees (prescribed tasks). When we do that, we experience His transforming power renewing every aspect of our lives. To talk about a Biblical Total Truth Worldview (BTTW) is simply another way of saying that when we are redeemed, our ENTIRE outlook on life is re-centered on Yahweh God of the Bible and rebuilt on His revealed Truth.
- The great credo of the modern and ancient Jewish faith was the “Shema” found in Deuteronomy 6:4. Circle the word below that defines the word “Shema”:
To rejoice, to praise, to hear, to pray, or to obey?
The Answer to #7 is to hear.
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” – Deuteronomy 6:4 NASB95
Deuteronomy 6:4 was a claim of Yahweh God over against the competing claims of the many gods in the polytheistic religious environment of the day. It is and was a call for the loyalty of the people under the authority of One God, not many gods. This statement is therefore an attack on heathen religious polytheism rather than just a theological statement about so-called ethical monotheism. The claim has direct and concrete implications: it is a call for the Israelites, and for us as followers of Christ, to live our lives under the Lordship of one God who is made known through the person of Jesus Christ. It is a call not to be under the tyranny of many other false gods that vie to get our priority. In other words, it’s a practical call not to live one’s life as if there was a different god for every sphere of life, like a false god of money, a god for education, a god for the family, a god for politics, or a god for education. Judaism and Christianity loudly proclaim that there is only one God and He is Lord over every aspect of our lives. Here again, is the concrete and the practical nature of Hebraic thinking.
So Now What?
- This short but informative quiz just might be helpful to someone else. Pass it on.
- Many of you have been using the questions and answers for discussion with your mates, friends, home study groups, family and business associates. This is great! Keep it up.
- Which of the questions was the most challenging to answer? What did you learn from my answer?
- Which of the questions did you feel the most confident in answering? Why was this true?
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In Christ,
Dale