Hey Drew,

Those 10 commandments are quite something. When I read down them I think I’ve broken them all at some time or other. How strict is God about these? I’m thinking of the one about being angry or not honoring your parents. I’ve told “white” lies. The other day I told the most obnoxious girl in my history class that she had more friends than she thought when, in fact, she has none. And when she asked me if her bum looked big in her new jeans, although I was tempted to say “yes, you little porker”, I just smiled sweetly and said, “no way”. Was that a sin if I was trying to be nice and not hurt her feelings? Hey, Drew, you don’t think she’s coming on to me?

But, to be serious….You’ve said that God forgives sin if you ask him, but is there a crime or set of crimes that he just won’t forgive. Do you think Adolf Hitler or Gengis Khan who killed thousands if not millions of people would have made it into heaven if they had asked forgiveness?

Jack

Jack upon Tyne,

The 10 commandments are quite something indeed, and you’ve rightly pointed out one of their purposes: “the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). When we read down them and realize that we’ve broken them, they point out our sinfulness and our need for salvation, and finally to Christ. It’s like holding up a mirror to your face to realize you have a pimple. You feel the pimple, but you’re not quite sure how bad it is until you see it in the mirror for what it really is, a blocked pore building up pus like Mt. Vesuvius.

You ask how strict God is about the 10 commandments. I think it’s important to note here that the law God laid down in the Old Testament reflects his character and are not arbitrary rules to keep people under control lest someone somewhere might have fun. The law, it should be remembered, is part of the revelation of God that is the Scriptures, and because the law is part of God’s revelation to us, we should see what it is revealing. Two main characters it reveals information about are us and God. As you mentioned, we’ve seen that the law reveals how sinful we are and that we are in need of the Christ, the chosen one of God to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Secondly, as a cursory look at the Psalms will show, the law of God exhibits many of the same characteristics as God. It follows because God is pure and holy, his word will be equally as error-free and true. To return to the question at hand, I would argue that because the law is God’s word to us, it should be taken equally as serious as God himself.

There is a story from the Old Testament that shows how seriously God takes his law. It is from 2 Samuel 6 and it concerns the transportation of the ark of the Covenant which was a box which God had the Israelites make to transport the ten commandments and some other goodies, and also be a place for the priest to meet with God. (You can read about its making in Exodus 25. What happened in 2 Samuel 6 was that King David was having the ark brought to Jerusalem, but they weren’t transporting it correctly according to how God had told them to in his law. They were having it pulled by oxen on a cart when the Levites (priests) were supposed to carry it on their shoulders using poles which went through rings of the box. One of the oxen stumbled, a guy named Uzzah stuck out his hand and touched the ark to steady it on the cart and “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God” (v.7). What effect did this have on the people? “David was angry because the Lord had burst forth against Uzzah” (v.9) and he, for some odd reason, no longer felt like bringing this box into his city. I bet you from that day forward people took God and his law seriously. We should do the same.

Is there any sin which God will not forgive? Jesus said that “every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven” (Matthew 12:31). Moses for example murdered an Egyptian guy. Paul, before he was a Christian, persecuted Christians and helped get them arrested. What Jesus is saying is that these sins will be forgiven but the person who blasphemes, or rejects, the Holy Spirit who testifies about Jesus will not be forgiven. This sin is an outright rejection of the person and work of God in Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This is what you have to worry about being not forgiven because Jesus it won’t be. So the better question might be, Did Hitler ultimately reject the Holy Spirit working in his life? His actions seem to lean toward more of a yes than a no.

Psalm 95:7-8 says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” If God calls your cellphone, pick up. If the Spirit comes knocking on the door of your conscience via the 10 commandments, don’t shrug it off and continue in sin, but yield to God and live. Have you heard his voice?

Praying that your heart might not be hardened,