This soapbox idea came to me while making the comic for the Ezekiel 17-22 portion comic. Two verses really stood out to me that I didn't want to be the focus of the portion comic but did want to point out.

Ezekiel 20:11 ESV - I gave them my statutes and made known to them my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live.

If you read the context of the verses before, this is speaking of the Israelites coming out of Egypt. What I would like to note here is "if a person does". That word there for person is אדם (adam) or mankind. Meaning that all mankind are to do them, which we do have a second witness of Ecclesiastes 12:13 - The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Which when we take into context of when Moses gave the choice to the Israelites to keep them (Deut. 30:19) he was telling them that they can obey for life or disobey for death. We know that death isn't just being buried in the ground. You can be walking dead. Jesus told someone who wanted to follow Him to "let the dead bury the dead" when asking to let him bury his father first. How is someone dead? When they are not following life: the commandments. Which brings us to the second verse that stood out.

Ezekiel 20:18 ESV - “And I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor keep their rules, nor defile yourselves with their idols.

You may have seen in my Biblical Charts series, I've spoken about Chiastic structure in Scripture. This chapter in Ezekiel has that structure to it as well with 20:11 and 20:18 being paired together.

As I point out in the comic, God is saying here: My Way or your way, those are your options.

I have Teenage Church stating he is going to make a third option because that is what the Church thinks it should be doing. However, this third option is really just the "your way" option.

What do I mean by a third option though? Many in the church teach dispensationalism: the idea that there are different time periods and different laws for those time periods. I've covered several issues with dispensational thought in other comics, but to my point here the thought is that we are in a different dispensation than those of the past. When we read in the Bible that people had to do XYZ to live correctly for God, that was just for them and their time.

However, when you look through the commandments there is a pesky phrase that has to be ignored or explained away: "this shall be a statute forever." I found 17 instances of this or a similar phrase.

The author of 2 Kings, long after David wrote the Psalms that foretold of the Messiah coming, understood that the commands are forever:

2 Kings 17:37 ESV - And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods,

If something is forever, it can't just be for a certain time period.

Though, if you really wanted a third option, there is one spoken about in Revelation 3:

15 I know your deeds; you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

https://thestraightandnarrow.cfw.me/comics/825

#bible #bibleverse #bibleverseimages #biblestudy #biblestudynotes #church #christian #webcomic #webcomicseries #cartoon