you are quite possibly right.

the judgments start Exo 21:1 Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
Exo 21:2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
Exo 21:3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.
Exo 21:4 If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.

Exo 21:5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:
Exo 21:6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever. so, with your permission, lets go through them one by one, preferably in order, and see which ones should be written in the heart.

Teresaq, I assume it is your understanding that this particular aspect of the "judgments and laws" applies nowadays in principle rather than in particular. Is that a safe assumption?

"He did not even then trust His precepts to the memory of a people who were prone to forget His requirements, but wrote them upon tables of stone. He would remove from Israel all possibility of mingling heathen traditions with His holy precepts, or of confounding His requirements with human ordinances or customs. But He did not stop with giving them the precepts of the Decalogue. The people had shown themselves so easily led astray that He would leave no door of temptation unguarded. Moses was commanded to write, as God should bid him, judgments and laws giving minute instruction as to what was required. These directions relating to the duty of the people to God, to one another, and to the stranger were only the principles of the Ten Commandments amplified and given in a specific manner, that none need err. They were designed to guard the sacredness of the ten precepts engraved on the tables of stone. {PP 364.1}

Teresaq, in light of the underlined apart above, how do you see the passage you posted above applying to us nowadays?

to start off, we are in agreement that God never instituted slavery, arent we?

Yes.

so how do you see that being written in the heart because im not seeing it? or are we going on "principle", to use toms word, and what principle would that be? im asking for the understanding you have formed so far on this.

Teresa, to continue, are we in agreement that the "judgments and laws", which include the proper and humane treatment of slaves, is "only the principles of the Ten Commandments amplified"? If so, then in answer to your question, I believe they are an amplification of the second half of the great law and the last six commandments of the moral law which enjoin upon us to treat others with kindness and love.

this seems to be redirecting from the question i asked. if we are no longer to practice slavery how is this judgment to be written in our heart?

i have to ask also if you are wishing me to take only that one statement into account(automaton), disregarding her other statements referring to the same issue (automonous).

so that we dont get too far off course i repost the judgment under question.if we dont have slavery, nor wish to practice it, what specifically is being written in the heart?

God forbid. Please, do what you believe is right. It was never my intention to force you to do anything.


Are we in agreement that the "judgments and laws", which include the proper and humane treatment of slaves, is "only the principles of the Ten Commandments amplified"? If not, then I'm not sure anything I can say will make sense to you. However, I will state what I think and hope it helps.

The "judgments and laws" God gave to the COI regarding the righteous treatment of slaves are based on the basic premise and principles delineated in the second half of the great law and in the last six commandments of the law of God, namely, love each other the way Jesus loves us. The "judgments and laws" pertaining to slaves are "only the principles of the Ten Commandments amplified".

The principles upon which they are founded is what is written in the hearts of those whom God has not entrusted with slaves. Slavery is a fact of life in some parts of the world, and where it is practiced God expects them to adhere to His "judgments and laws" which regulate it. Yes, people should seek to end slavery. However, in some cases, setting them free would be worse than treating them the way God commands.

MM, I think the point she's trying to make is that the law of Moses was customized for the COI. Therefore there are things which don't apply to us. For example, it was never God's intent that there be slaves. This is yet another example, one of many, of God's meeting fallen humanity where it is. In addition to slavery other examples of this principle include having a king, polygamy, the Old Covenant, and the episodes of "commanded" violence.

The fact that God did or said certain things is not necessarily an indication that these things are His will. It could have been an accommodation, such as divorce (another example; not God's will, but something God did "because of the hardness of your heart." God did many things because of this). It's enough to have the 10 commandments written in our heart. We have the life and teachings of Jesus Christ to help us out in interpreting these commands. This is the "greater light" that we should be looking to.

Because God is so gracious, and was so accommodating in meeting the hard-hearted and ignorant Israelites where they were, it can be confusing to differentiate between what would have been God's will without the accommodation, and what was an accommodation. From the SOP, we see that apparently even holy angels were confused regarding some things.

Enter Jesus Christ! In Jesus Christ we get to see God's will without the accommodation. That's a reason why the picture from Jesus Christ is so much clearer, and why it should be our primary focus. Once we understand God's character, as revealed by Jesus Christ, then we can go back to the OT and try to make sense of things, to figure out what was actually God's will and what was merely an accommodation. Basically anything that doesn't look like Jesus Christ was an accommodation.