Changes

:::::::I would not so much say that Israel chose the law, as it was a matter of that being all there was.  The law taught a great deal about the nature of God, the depravity of men, and the seriousness of sin, among other lessons. The law was given to state how, from at least an outward sense, mankind should behave in order to keep God's perfect law. Under the law, certain sins were deserving of death--this was to show the seriousness of transgression. It is easy for us to look at some sin and say, "Well, it was only one small sin.  Everyone makes mistakes, so just give him/her a break!  It's not THAT serious!"  However, we are judging with sentimentality from the perspective of a sinner.  Only God can judge righteously from the perspective of perfection.

:::::::I would not so much say that Israel chose the law, as it was a matter of that being all there was.  The law taught a great deal about the nature of God, the depravity of men, and the seriousness of sin, among other lessons. The law was given to state how, from at least an outward sense, mankind should behave in order to keep God's perfect law. Under the law, certain sins were deserving of death--this was to show the seriousness of transgression. It is easy for us to look at some sin and say, "Well, it was only one small sin.  Everyone makes mistakes, so just give him/her a break!  It's not THAT serious!"  However, we are judging with sentimentality from the perspective of a sinner.  Only God can judge righteously from the perspective of perfection.

:::::::This rule did not really go away, either.  Certainly we don't execute people for "minor" sins, but James said that "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10).  One singe sin is enough to make us less than perfect, which makes us utterly filthy and unacceptable to God, much as a single act of defiance made an old testament Jew unacceptable to the congregation. God has given us a way out through His Son, but without that, we will face a judgement worse than stoning for a single act of sin (which is itself defiance against the one truly holy God).  Only because of Jesus' shed blood can we be forgiven these sins, and made as though we are perfect, by Jesus' merit. The Hebrews didn't seem to know that Jesus was coming as a sacrifice, rather than a king, but yet they sacrificed animals to gain forgiveness for their sins, looking forward to Jesus' sacrifice.  

:::::::This rule did not really go away, either.  Certainly we don't execute people for "minor" sins, but James said that "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10).  One singe sin is enough to make us less than perfect, which makes us utterly filthy and unacceptable to God, much as a single act of defiance made an old testament Jew unacceptable to the congregation. God has given us a way out through His Son, but without that, we will face a judgement worse than stoning for a single act of sin (which is itself defiance against the one truly holy God).  Only because of Jesus' shed blood can we be forgiven these sins, and made as though we are perfect, by Jesus' merit. The Hebrews didn't seem to know that Jesus was coming as a sacrifice, rather than a king, but yet they sacrificed animals to gain forgiveness for their sins, looking forward to Jesus' sacrifice.  

:::::::In regard to the adulteress specifically, There has been a great deal of debate by people more intelligent than I. Under mosaic law, she was guilty, but it seems that either she was forgiven under the new law and no longer deserving of death, or she should have justly been stoned, but the congregation failed to do so, due to Jesus' words. In either case, Jesus sends her away alive. --[[User:DavidB4|<font color="ForestGreen">DavidB4</font>]] ^{([[User talk:DavidB4|TALK]])} 17:11, 19 April 2019 (EDT)

:::::::In regard to the adulteress specifically, There has been a great deal of debate by people more intelligent than I. Under mosaic law, she was guilty, but it seems that either she was forgiven under the new law and no longer deserving of death, or she should have justly been stoned, but the congregation failed to do so(or the witnesses failed to testify against her properly), due to Jesus' words. In either case, Jesus sends her away alive. --[[User:DavidB4|<font color="ForestGreen">DavidB4</font>]] ^{([[User talk:DavidB4|TALK]])} 17:11, 19 April 2019 (EDT)

== Cyrus ==

== Cyrus ==