 The Bible does not condemn wine or strong drink, nor does it forbid God’s people to use them. It specifically says that God provided them for us to enjoy for his glory. Wine that makes glad the heart of man (Psalm 104:15). He will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine (Deut. 7:13, 11:14, 14:26, 28:39). And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheers God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees (Judges 9:13)? So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine… Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that are of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more (Proverbs 3:10, 31:6,7). And the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which you have labored (Isaiah 62:8). READ MORE>>
- The Prohibition: blood may not be apart of Israel's diet at all. See Gen. 9:4; Lev.7:26; Dt. 12:16, 23; 15:23; 1 Sam. 14:32f.
- The Reasons for the Prohibition (a) The Life of the body is in the blood. These verses identify the life of an animal with it's blood. When the animal loses it's blood, it dies. Blood, as the carrier of life, was sacred to Jehovah. The life of the body ceases to exist when the blood is shed. Blood is a witness to a physical death. (b) God has chose blood (spilt) to be the symbol of life (taken in death) substituted for the life of the guilty in the atoning sacrifice. ("make atonement '=' pay a ransom.") In other words, the ransom-price for a person's life was the life of the sacrificial animal represented by it's blood splashed on the alter.
- The Lessons in this Prohibition (a) Since "life is in the blood", to refrain from eating blood is to honor life and to eat blood is to despise life, Gen. 9:4. "Thus one purpose of this law is the inculcation of respect for all life."-Wenham. It was God's way of weaning them from bloodthirstiness with its abuse and misuse of life. (b) It was intended to keep before the believers mind, every time he ate meat, the solemn truth - "without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin."
- Is this Prohibition still Binding on Christians today? (a) The Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15:29 urged gentile converts to abstain from blood so as "to avoid offending Jewish sensitivities", (Rom. 14). (b) "But Paul does allow Christians to eat food offered to idols as long as the meal does not take place in a pagan temple and it is not misinterpreted by pagan friends (1 Cor. 8; 10:25). It seems likely, therefore, that Paul did not view eating blood as something that was intrinsically wrong, but held that it should be avoided whenever it might offend Jewish Christians, (Romans 14:2-3; 14:14-15)."- Wenham
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God gives thee...And he that smites his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death...And he that curses his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death (Exodus 20:12, 21:15,17).
- Cursing parents with profanities, obscenities, vulgarities, and actual curses is intolerable in a Christian society. Honoring parents is such a fundamental responsibility in a Christian social order that cursing them is considered a blatant assault and an act of aggression against the foundation of that society. (A) Profanity (sins against the third commandment) is not only an act of defiance of God, "it is indicative of revolution in process. It is an index to social deterioration and degeneration."-Rushdoony (B) The parents are viewed as God's appointed representatives and to strike them viciously or to curse them is to insult and defy the true God.
- The security of an entire society is endangered in any assault to parental authority; hence, cursing parents is a capital crime. These are not children who need the rod of correction (Proverbs 22:15, 29:15) but youth who have gone out of the control of their parents and have broken civil laws as well. They have become a threat to family and society.
- Jesus Christ himself upholds this crime as deserving of capital punishment in Matthew 15:4 and Mark 7:10.
Exodus 22:1-15 The laws of restitution and compensation.
Property is tied directly to man's calling under God to work toward godly dominion over the earth. Therefore any assault on or invasion of the property is a serious crime. And the protection of and respect for private property is a cornerstone of civilization.
The Ratio of Restitution (Exodus 22:1)
"Restitution must calculate not only the present and future value of a thing stolen, but also the specialized skills involved in its replacement."-Rushdoony
The Defense Against Theft (Exodus 22:2,3)
If a thief is caught breaking in at night the owner of the property is not at guilt if in defending his family and property he kills him, because the owner cannot be sure how great a threat the thief may be. In the daytime, however, the thief may not be killed except in self-defense, because in daylight, his intentions are more obvious, and he can clearly be identified and apprehended. If the thief cannot make restitution then he is sold into slavery to make restitution.
The Degree of Restitution for Theft (Exodus 22:4 )
The normal amount of restitution for theft is double the amount of the thing stolen. The thief had to restore the thing stolen plus equivalent, i.e., the exact amount he expected to profit in his theft. This made sure that crime did not pay. It costs.
"Thou Shalt not Steal" applies to Civil Governments
Theft can also take place at the ballot box. The commandment against theft does not read "Thou Shalt not Steal except by majority vote. We need to have private-property rights respected not just by criminals, but also by individual citizens who find that they can extract wealth from others by means of state power. Furthermore, private property must be respected by profit-seeking businesses that would otherwise petition the state for economic assistance: tariffs, import quotas, below market interest rate government loans, etc. To violate this principle is to call for the so-called "corporate state," another form of the welfare state-fascism, monopoly capitalism, or whatever. Whenever such a system has been constructed, it has led to reduced productivity and an increase in bureaucracy.-Gary North
Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee (Leviticus 19:19).
Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together (Deuteronomy 22:9-11).- These laws are based on God's order in creation of making all things "after their kind (Genesis 1:11)."
- God has established certain distinctions in his creation which are not to be overlooked; and man is not to try and bring about any union of these distinctions. (a) If hybridization involves either the god-like desire to improve upon God's efficient creation or the loss of fertility in men, animals or plants, then it is a violation of God's Law, which has its purpose the enhancing and maintaining of life, Rom. 7:10. The life-death principle favors all types of fertility. (1) This would prohibit most vasectomies and tubular ligations in humans, as well as spaying animals. (2) There is a growing consensus among professional nutritionists that hybridization may be a factor in lowering the nutritional content of food grown today.
- (Dt. 22:10) This law is kind to animals, for the step and pull of these animals are so different.
- Wool and linen cannot be mixed in a garment because it brings together vastly different things in an unnatural way, disregarding created distinctions.
- Homosexual relationships can be included in this commandment since God did not design two men or two women to "mix" together.
- This law is applied in "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14)." Unequal yoking plainly means mixed marriages between believers and unbelievers and is clearly forbidden. Just as the created differences of the animal and plant world must be recognized, the separation of God's holy people from the unholy world must be maintained.
- Not to sow your seed with mingled seed. According to the administrators of the law during the second Temple, the prohibition is only applicable to diverse seeds for human food.
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