Hi Jim,
Please believe that I have not been ignoring you!! I so appreciate the time you must spend on these lessons. They are all so thorough and thought provoking.
I have known the 10 Commandments my entire life. The Bible passages that you have chosen here illustrate without a doubt the those commandments are to be our LAW.
I never really doubted that, and blind faith (faith without the benefit of the concreting passages) has been prevalent. Having grown up in the Roman Catholic faith, the Bible itself was not a large part of out learning. I know that now, time have changed some and there many more Roman Catholic Churches teaching it.
I know in the south, where there are many former Baptists who have converted to the Catholic faith, that the Bible and their firm belief that it is their indisputable map to life, has gone with them. My sister is heavily involved in the Roman Catholic church where she and her husband attend in South Carolina, and it was my first exposure to a Roman Catholic church that was a bible based and bible teaching one.
And for me, I landed in the Church that I have attended for the last 20 years, because it did have a bible base and a pastor who was well known in the area for his great teaching of the bible. I travel 35 miles each way to church now, and probably will as long as I am physically able to get those instructions.
I fall down on the home study - and I am the first to admit that. I take the good Lord with me wherever I go and whatever I am doing, but I have never been able to form the habit of sitting down and studying the Bible - or just plain reading it for that matter. I am often very grateful that perfection is not expected or possible - we are human and non-perfect is normal. Thank you, Lord!!
So, back to the Ten Commandments. Your lesson and the quote from The Desires of Ages, "God desires us to be happy, and He gave us the precepts of the law that in obeying them we might have joy.", was really the first time I had connected joy with the obedience to the Commandments. Imagine that - it took me 60 years to understand that in obeying His laws I would receive joy.
My friend, with this long post, you are probably sorry you invited me back, but I am so joyful that I came. There has been peace and joy in me that, interwoven with the hustle and bustle and stress of "earthly life", has kept me at an even keel for a long time. There is more joy in knowing that I earned that with my obedience to him.
Thank you for putting this study together. It has been very helpful to me.
Blessings, my friend, and have a wonderful day!
Judy