It is necessary to know the reason for the Ten Commandments

Dear Editor,

I was pleased to read the comments by Pastor Dan Gayman in the Letters to the Editor section of your paper on Jan. 27, in response to my article, "Breaking the Law". We are in agreement on most of the content of his letter. He does state, however, that "If I understand this article correctly, the law has no purpose," whereas the entire fourth paragraph of my article addresses that very purpose, which is to bring us to Christ, which he rightly then affirms.

I actually did not mean to imply that the Law disappeared when Christ died, as everyone does still need that "schoolmaster" to correctly identify all of us as sinners. (Everyone has at one time or another lied, stolen something, "worshipped" something ahead of God, or even wished someone dead! And the Bible says that if you have broken even one of the ten, you are guilty of all.)

As Pastor Gayman correctly points out, "...each new generation must understand their guilt before a holy God. Without the law, the guilt of the sinner cannot be established." Amen! My emphasis was, and is, that we must, along with posting the Ten Commandments, ensure that everyone knows that the reason for them is to show them thier dire need for Christ. To post them alone runs the very real risk that people will believe that if they merely do their best to keep them, then they will be okay with God and make it to heaven, which just is not true! A person is not justified (made right) with God by any action or work or obedience of his/her own. The Bible calls all such righteous efforts of ours as "filthy rags".

It's not our obedience to the Ten Commandments that gives us eternal life. (an impossible goal) It's Christ's obedience that He gives to us as a gift that makes us righteous with God. He trades for Christians our inability to obey for His perfect ability to obey! Understanding our righteousness before God based on the finished work of Jesus on the cross enables us to live right and substantially in obedience. So, Pastor Gayman and I agree on the most important fact of all -- you need Jesus Christ to get you into heaven!

Dr. Ron Jones