"Man
Wrote the
Laws,
Not God!"

[thelaws.jpg]

(Now why on earth
would he do that?)

"Morality needs no supernatural sanctions or motivations.   It is not heaven-sent;
it is human-evolved."
  Morain, Lloyd, The Humanist, vol. 48 p.33

ONE ARGUMENT for the Bible being a supernatural book has always been
      the claim that the laws found within its pages are God- inspired.   However,
      some argue that there is nothing supernatural about them; man could have
easily come up with a set of laws such as the Ten Commandments without the
"outside" influence of a deity.   Paul Kurtz, a leading humanist, states in his book,
Forbidden Fruit: The Ethics of Humanism, p. 18:


"We, not God, are responsible for our destiny.   Accordingly, we must create our
own ethical universes.   We should seek to transform a blind and conscious
morality into a RATIONALLY BASED ONE, retaining the best wisdom of the
past but devising new ethical principles and judging them by their consequences
and testing them in the context of lived experience."

Many humanists feel that human beings can rationalize morality; common sense
alone can dictate what is right and wrong behavior; we humans can fall back on our
experience, judging our actions "by their
consequences"
to determine whether
"lying, stealing, and killing" are wrong.
This whole process can take place without
invoking the need of God.   Therefore,
according to Mr. Kurtz, we don't have to
conclude that moral laws could only have
come from God; man could have conceived
the Ten Commandments, and thus written
them himself.
   However, while one can argue that man
could have conceived the laws, the real
question is WHY would he have done so?
What makes the laws "supernatural" is the
reason they came into being--their intended
purpose.   Most people erroneously assume

Rationalizing the
                    "consequences" of
lying sometimes leads us to justify
the act.   As in the case of a "white
lie"
made so as not to hurt
someone's feelings.   The Bible
establishes moral laws as
absolutes; lying is wrong under
any circumstance.   The fact alone
that man's nature is to rationalize
rather than follow absolutes,
makes one seriously question if he
conceived the laws himself.
that following "God's laws" is the intended means by which they can appease God
and merit their way into Heaven.   Yet, that's not what the Bible states at all.   For you
see, the laws of the Bible are meant to act as a mirror.

The kind of mirror man would never construct,
much less hold up to himself . . .

The law, acting as a mirror, reveals three important facts.

1 THE LAW REVEALS WHAT SIN IS . . .
     The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of God said: "I HAD NOT KNOWN
SIN, BUT BY THE LAW: for I had not known lust, except the law had said,
Thou shalt not covet"
(Rom. 7:7).   If man rationalized the laws by first noting the
consequences of sin, why does the Bible say he didn't know what sin was UNTIL
the law revealed it to him?   However, if a holy God originated the law to reveal
man's sin, then the statement, "I had not known sin, BUT BY THE LAW" makes
perfect sense.   "For BY THE LAW is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20).

When man looks into the law, he learns what sin is.   The law represents God's
absolute standard.   Without such a standard "Every way of a man is right IN HIS
OWN EYES"
(Prov. 21:2); one man's sin would be another man's righteous act.
But the Bible says: "WHOSOEVER committeth sin transgresseth also the law:
for sin is the transgression of the law"
(1 John 3:4).   Whosoever includes
everyone!   Everyone abides by the same standard, and when anyone breaks that
standard, the law reflects back a second image--that of a sinner . . .

2 THE LAW SHOWS MAN HE IS A GUILTY SINNER . . .
     To say that keeping the law is the means by which man earns his way into
  Heaven is to miss the whole reason for God laying down the law in the first
place.   The fact is man CAN'T keep God's laws the way the Bible demands.   For you
see, God's Word says it's all or nothing when it comes to following the law:

"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet OFFEND IN ONE
POINT, HE IS GUILTY OF ALL.   For he that said, Do not commit adultery,
said also, Do not kill.   Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou
art become a transgressor of the law"
(James 2:10-11).   "For as many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every
one that CONTINUETH NOT IN ALL THINGS which are written in the
book of the law to do them."
  Gal. 3:10

A person would have to go an entire lifetime without breaking one commandment,
an impossible feat because the Apostle Paul, speaking for all mankind, said under
the inspiration of God: "For we know that THE LAW IS SPIRITUAL [not
man-made]: BUT I AM CARNAL, sold under sin" (Rom. 7:14).   Man's sin
nature and God's biblical laws simply don't mix!   Man's carnality "wars" against
God's laws: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for IT IS NOT
SUBJECT TO THE LAW OF GOD, NEITHER INDEED CAN BE"
(Rom.

8:7).   Man's rebellious attitude makes him guilty before God: "Now we know that
what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that
every mouth may be stopped, and ALL THE WORLD MAY BECOME
GUILTY BEFORE GOD"
(Rom. 3:19).   "FOR ALL HAVE SINNED, and
come short of the glory of God"
(Rom. 3:23).   "As it is written, THERE IS
NONE RIGHTEOUS, no, not one"
(Rom. 3:10).

Why would man make up laws that expose him as a sinner?   Why would he
create and then hold up such an incriminating "mirror" before his self-righteous
face?   Whereas, if the laws originated with a holy God then their use as a mirror
makes perfect sense.   The laws become the instrument by which God convicts
man of his guilty sinful state, reflecting back a third revealing fact . . .

3 THE LAW REVEALS OUR NEED OF A SAVIOUR . . .
     Once we look into the law and realize our guilt before God, the law further
  reflects our helplessness to save ourselves from God's eternal judgment.   The
Bible says: "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh"
(Rom. 8:3).   Man doesn't have "the strength" to keep
the Ten Commandments, much less all the laws of the Bible.   His sin nature, "the
flesh,"
always gets in the way.

Man can't save himself and that's why he needs a Saviour.   That Saviour is Jesus
Christ, who died on the cross for our sins: "But God commendeth his love
toward us, in that, while we WERE YET SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR
US.   Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be SAVED
FROM WRATH THROUGH HIM."
  Rom. 5:8-9

"Wherefore the LAW WAS OUR SCHOOLMASTER TO BRING US UNTO
CHRIST, that we might be justified by faith"
(Gal. 3:24).   Considering man's
prideful tendency to try to save himself through a thousand and one religions,
would he make up the biblical laws to show himself he needs a Saviour?

Having seen what the Bible says about the law's intended purpose, who would
have most likely conceived them, God or man?   The Bible says of man: "For he
FLATTERETH HIMSELF in his own eyes"
(Psa. 36:2).   One can easily
picture God looking down on sinful man--a pride-filled, self-righteous creature
standing in darkness--and saying, "Here, look into My law and learn just how
bad a sinner you really are.   You need a Saviour . . ."

IF you were to die today, are you 100% SURE
you would go to Heaven?
  The Bible says
YOU CAN BE SURE (1 John 5:13).

BUT FIRST, you must realize that what keeps you
from going to Heaven are your sins, because:
"...your iniquities [sins] have separated
between you and your God,"
Isaiah 59:2.
In fact, in God's eyes YOU ARE A SINNER: "For
all have sinned, and come short
of the glory of God;"
Romans 3:23.

SECONDLY, you must realize that there is
NOTHING you can do to save yourself and earn
Heaven: "For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God: Not of works, lest any
man should boast."
  Eph. 2:8-9   Baptism, good
deeds, church membership, self-righteousness are
all examples of good works that cannot save you,
because: "Not by works of
righteousness
which we have done, but
according to his mercy he
[Christ] saved
us
,"
Titus 3:5.

THE ONLY WAY you can get saved is through
Jesus Christ.   He said: "I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me."
  (John 14:6)   THAT'S
WHY
: "...while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us
."
  (Rom. 5:8-9)

THEREFORE: You must REPENT (change your
mind
); admit that you are a Hell deserving sinner
and can't save yourself.   And call upon Christ, and
Him alone, to save you.   "if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus
[REPENT], and
shalt believe in thine heart
[TRUST] that God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved."
  Romans 10:9

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