The Ten Commandments form the core of the Old Testament law, as our Constitution and Bill of Rights form the core of the American law. This Old Testament law... 1. Contained the written (codified) moral principles that God places in all of us at the age of accountability. (Rom 2:12-16) 2. Contained the national law for the people of Israel. 3. Contained a ceremonial (worship) law which foreshadowed the New Testament. WHY DID GOD HAVE THE MORAL PRINCIPLES WRITTEN DOWN? Gal 3:19 It was added because of transgressions… 1 Tim 4:1-2 …whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.” Some people became callused to the laws of God because of their refusal to obey (1 Tim 4:2) and others because they were taught that right was wrong and wrong was right. (Gal 3:19) The result was confusion. By God having His law written down, the people could always refer to the written law to make sure what was correct. Nine of the Ten Commandments are moral laws, one is ceremonial-“Remember to keep the Sabbath holy.” Today the Old Testament /Covenant/ /law is… • Old Heb 8:6 • Aging Heb 8:13 • Will soon disappear Heb 8:13 • Changed Heb 8:13; Heb 7:11-12 • Set aside Heb 7:18 • Weak Heb 7:18 • Useless Heb 7:18 • Was only a shadow Heb 10:1 • Canceled Col 2:14 • Was against us Col 2:14 • Taken away Col 2:14 • Nailed to the cross Col 2:14 • We are not under it any longer Gal 3:24-25 • Destroyed Eph 2:14-15 • Abolished Eph 2:14-15 We are under none of the laws of Moses but are under the laws of Christ which contain the basic moral principles that were in Moses’ law. We are under these principles not because they were commanded by Moses but because they are commanded by Christ. We need to be reminded, that much of Moses’ law was not basic moral principles and we are under none of Moses’ law. Before Jamestown and Plymouth this country was ruled by Indians. The Indian nations had their laws. When the Colonial government was set up it had its laws. Today we are under the law of the United States. We are not today under the Indian laws or the Colonial laws even thought in some cases they required the same thing as does the law of the United States. In the New Testament all of the moral laws have been restated. The only exception is the one ceremonial law, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” (which is not a moral law but ceremonial.) This law has not been restated in the New Testament and we are not under this law today.

If I were an atheist would I go to church with a friend? I am not an atheist so cannot answer this from his perspective but I can certainly tell why they should go to church. There is more proof that God exists than that our atheist friends exist. Atheism wraps itself around a fantasy world much like the tooth fairy and Santa Clause. Just because they wish God away that doesn’t make is so. I could spend many hours showing the concrete proofs that there is a God. Now that He does exist where does that leave the atheist? When I was a small boy I took a hose after by big sister. It wasn’t but a second or two that the hose was taken from my hand and she began using it on me. I learned a lesson; DON’T PRETEND THAT YOU ARE BIGGER THAN GOD, you’ll end up on the wrong end of the hose.

The Bible is not just one book it is a collection of books, 66 in all, and they were written between 1,500 BC and 100 AD or over a 1600 year span. It might be valuable also to note that of the 10 most reliable ancient history books the Bible predates the message of all others by 700 years. The oldest copy of these secular history books, in existence today, is from 300 to 1,300 years younger than the copies of the Bible. The greatest number of any ancient history books, not counting our Old Testament, is 634 books. We have 5,000 ancient copies of the Old Testament and 8,000 ancient copies of the New Testament. There is no history book in the world that is better documented for accuracy than our Bible.

We need to read no further than the first 4 words of the Bible to learn of the claim that, “In the beginning God…” Genesis 1:1. The Bible does not begin with a defense of God’s existence, but rather it appears that its author took for granted that everyone would already know that there is a God. The word “God” is mentioned 3,954 times in the NIV Bible.

WHY ARE WE LIVING? WHY DID GOD CREATE PEOPLE? ? The answer can be illustrated by the relationship people have to animals. Man was served by animals. Gen 1:28 “Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” ? God was served by the angels: Heb 1:7 "He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire." ? Man needed companionship like himself: Gen 2:18 “The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”’ Helper (Counterpart, mate) – Strong’s dictionary ? God wanted companionship like himself: Col 1:16 “All things were created by him and for him.” Isa 43:21 “The people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.” ? Gen 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him.” Image = a representative figure, copy, replica. ? Mark 12:29-30 ‘“The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: `Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’” We were created to love, obey and become as much like God as we can be so that He can have the type companionship that a husband can have with his wife

Since God created everything full grown Eve was a mature woman at creation. It would have taken her nine months to naturally produce her first child and if she lived as long as Adam (women generally out live men) she would have lived 930 years or 11,160 months. It takes nine months to produce a child. 11,160 divided by 9 equals 1,240 children she could have produced. Since many people at that time lived over 900 years, we have the answer to how Cain could have built a city. It is possible that there were more people on earth when the flood came than there are now.

Testimonial evidence is the way all court rooms prove the cases before them. If it works for every court in the world we should have no problem with it in proving God’s existence.

It was suggested that John 13:35 is the only sign… of the true church. “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." NIV This is good but we must define love. Love in this verse means to seek the other’s highest good. This love does not necessarily include affection as Matthew 5:44 “Love your enemies…” “Correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience…” (2 Timothy 4:2) This is tough love. I would add that the true church is made up of people who have truly become Christians, (John 3:5) and keep Christ on the throne of their heart (Hebrews 10:26; 1 John 1:7).

Yes

Rev 4:11 KJV “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Since we were created in God’s image I think if follows that He wanted a companionship with people of His equal.