Well, Carla, here we go again - probably with a few additions because I never know when to shut up! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

God has always had His people - even before Judaism amd Christianiy. Abraham and Job are just two examples. It is true that the Jews have their morality, and some of that morality comes from God (ie: Old Testament Scriptures). The trouble is, today, as always, and as we are all inclined to do, the Jews have added to God's word - requiring that which God has not required, and taken away from His Word - not requiring that which God does require. The ones that Jesus got the most angry with were the leading religious "authorities of those days - the Pharisees, because they added to and took away from His Word - much like Roman Catholicism and other groups today. What the Jews missed then, and are missing today is the understanding of God's Word.

Yes, God gave us laws to live by and He expects us to live by them. But even one infraction of those laws brings down the wrath of God on our heads! "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10 Like the breaking of one link breaks the whole chain, the breaking of one law makes us guilty of breaking the whole Law. The dilemma is this. NO ONE can keep the Law. It is not possible for sinful creatures! The Jews and many, many others don't realize that you can be the most moral person in the world and still fall short of keeping God's Law. That is why, in the OT, the Jews were required to bring animal sacrifices. The animals had to be perfect, without blemish. They were killed in place of the person bringing the sacrifice. They were a subsititute for the person who deserved to die for his sins ("The wages of sin is death.") Those sacrificial animals pointed forward in history to Jesus, who is Messiah (Saviour) Who, as a perfect, sinless sacrifice, would die on the cross taking the place of every sinner who would place their trust in Him, instead of their sinful selves, for salvation. Jesus is God the Son, taking the wrath of God upon Himself, so tht those who would trust in Him "...would not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 Sadly the majority of the Jews, who had the prophecies about Jesus, refused to believe those prophecies which spoke of a suffering Messiah. They only believed the prophecies which spoke of a triumphant Messiah and they felt that Jesus had come to remove the Roman foot from their necks. Jesus did not come to do that, but to die for His people. He will one day return, triumphant , and all who have refused to trust in Him will call for the rocks to fall on them rather than to have to face Him. (see Revelation)

Some Jews, by the way, did believe - in fact the very first church was made up of many, if not mostly Jews. There are Jewish Christians today - they are called Messianic Jews. When the Jews, as a nation, rejected their Messiah, the gospel(good news)was taken to the world - yes, the Roman world at the time, but it wasn't long before it was taken further and now there are Christians all over. True Christians are few in number and there are many who profess to be Christian, but are not. The Jews, as a nation, "dropped the ball" so to speak, and God's message of redeeming love is now in the hands of Christians (both Jewish and Gentile Christians) to pass on to whoever will listen, regardless of race, color, etc. And we often do a very poor job of it.

The (non-Christian) Jews' morality that they speak of, is their attempt to follow God's Law, with some of their own sprinkled in, and on that basis, they think they are righteous because they think they outdo most other people. But they don't realize that their bragging about their morality is sin (pride) and that God's standard is, and has always been, perfection, and that they lack the perfection found only in Christ, so their eternity is no better than that of any other unrepentant sinner. Thanks be to God that He has shown me the way, or I would perish in my sin also, for I am no better than anyone else.

Any culture can form its own morality and may, in some areas, seem to us to be pretty morally upright. But God does not look at outward appearances, He sees our hearts. Even the Jews fell into the trap of thinking that if their outward behaviour was "decent" they were o.k. but Jesus stripped that line of reasoning away.

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgement. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca' shall be in danger of the council, But whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be in danger of hell fire." Matt 5:21-22.

and...

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Matt. 5:27-28

Those are just two examples of how Jesus showed us that the law is even harder to keep than we could ever imagine.

God's standards are above ours. In our culture today, we are tossing God's Laws and developing our own morality, to our own peril -now, in the future, and for all eternity. Yes, all cultures, without Christ, although they may have a morality that helps them to get along, are deficient in God's eyes, for He is the only Lawgiver and to supplant His laws with our own is foolishness in the extreme. Try telling even a policeman that you have made up your own speed limit!

The "god" that many worship today is, as my husband calls it, a buffet deity - one in which we get to pick and choose the attributes we like Him to have, and it bears no resemblance to the God Who created us and has every right to expect us to treat Him as the King of kings and Lord of lords that He is. He is a God of perfect justice - which we like to forget - and a God of perfect mercy.

Many on this forum like to say "Well I believe this..." or "I think God is like that...." . I fall into that trap many times too. But it does not matter at all what I think or what anyone else thinks or believes. He has revealed Himself to us in His Word, the Bible. If what we think or believe contradicts what He has revealed in His Word, we are wrong.