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How
Specific
Does
God
Have
to
Be?
A letter from a
Plain Truth
reader brings up this basic question: How clearly must God speak on a
subject befaré we obey Him?
M
OST CHURCHGOERS
refer
to God as " the Lord ."
Did you ever wonder
why? Even people who are not
religious talk about the " Lord ," if
on ly when sorne majar crisis
arises in their lives.
But have you ever wondered
what the title
Lord
means when
applied to God?
Any dictionary will supply you
the answer. A lord is "one who
has dominion over others; a mas–
ter, chief or ruler; one who has
authority." A lord has the author–
ity to tell others what to do.
That's what J esus understood the
word to mean. He asked: " Why
do you call me ' Lord, Lord,' and
not
do
what I tell you?" (Luke
6:46 , Rev ised Standard Ver–
sion).
God is the supreme Lord. He
has the authority to tell us all
what to do. Yet how many who
claim to believe the Bible under–
stand that? And further: J ust
how clearly and specifically must
God tell us what todo befare we
are expected to do it?
To illustrate, consider a chal–
lenging letter from K.R ., a reader
of
The Plain Truth
magazine. He
wrote in response toan article on
the subject of Easter.
" The reason for Easter's cele–
bration appears to be the same
reason why Christians celebrate
Advent, Chris tmas and birthdays.
January 1981
by
Clayton Steep
The issue concerning the celebra–
tion of Easter in the article and
otherwise is why we
shouldn 't
celebrate.
"Severa! Bible verses were
quoted, supposed ly supporting
the view on why we shouldn 't
celebrate Easter. The first was
Deuteronomy 12:30-32 telling us
not to worship 'God in their [pa–
gan] way .. .' Easter is indeed of
pagan origin....
"Easter being taken from a
pagan trad it ion is of no concern to
me or other Christians.... 1 or
any other living Christians
haven't stolen Easter from any
pagans that we know of.
" My question still is, 'why
not
celebrate Easter?' "
As K.R. admitted in his letter,
"Easter is indeed of pagan ori–
gin." So we agree on that point.
Where we disagree is on what
God's view is of pagan religious
customs. "Easter being taken
from a pagan tradition is of no
concern to me ..." K.R. asserts.
Yes, but
should
it be a con–
cero?
K.R. did not see that these
verses apply to him. The gist of
his argument is that he must have
definite, specific, pointed com–
mandments from God or else he
is going to do exactly what he
wants to do. So K.R. closed his
letter with: "My question still is,
'why not observe Easter?' "
How specific does God have to
be?
Let's examine that question.
The voice of God thundered 1
O
specific, direct comma ndments
from Mount Sinai. They were
uttered in simple, unmistakable
language. All the people of Israel
heard. Then the commandments
were engraved on tables of stone
so they could not be erased or
altered in any way. There was to
be no room for the least doubt on
the part of anybody as to what
God meant. And yet from the
days of those who stood on the
foot of the mountain and saw the
lightning and smoke and heard
the th under and received the
tables of stone unti l
~his
day,
most people have managed to find
reasons for not obeying the Ten
Commandments.
The Ten Commandments are
memor ized, they are featured in
religious publications, they ap–
pear on wall plaques and on jew–
el ry. A spectacular movie was
made a bout them. Still, how
many people do you know who
obey the very specific Fourth
Commandment " Remember the
Sabbath day, to keep it holy" or
the clear Ninth Commandment
against lying? Or the direct
T enth Commandment against
coveting? Human beings are
quite able to reason around them
all to their spi r itual hurt! How
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