3
" We cannot, therefore, blame the courts, public schools, media, or government for our own theological unfaithfulness. We are the ones—the prophets and priests —who have contributed to this “Ichabod,” this departure of God’s glory in our time. Only by returning to sound, effective God-centered preaching and teaching can we restore the confidence not only of Christians themselves in God’s greatness, but of an unbelieving world that is more apathetic toward our benign, helpless, happy deity than hostile. "
― Michael S. Horton , The Law of Perfect Freedom: Relating to God and Others through the Ten Commandments
4
" The prosperity evangelists talk about “decreeing” things into existence by the “force of faith,” just as God created the world by His faith-filled words. But according to scripture, faith is not a power. Faith itself can do absolutely nothing. If faith could save, heal, or bring prosperity, faith would be God. The New Age mystics and prosperity preachers, in attributing to faith the attributes of deity, are propagating idolatry. Faith is like a telephone wire—it cannot create a conversation between two people, but can only be the instrument through which two people communicate. Faith in anyone or anything other than the true God as He has revealed Himself in Christ and the written Word is idolatry, even if it is faith in good, worth-while, and noble things. "
― Michael S. Horton , The Law of Perfect Freedom: Relating to God and Others through the Ten Commandments
7
" The first commandment is not only a command, but a promise. In other words, one can even find the gospel in the commandment. Essentially, God is telling His people, “Look, I am the sovereign God of history who spoke this world into existence and led you out of slavery. I am the only one in this mess who can save you because I am all-powerful. But not only am I the only one who can save you, I want to save you, because I am gracious and merciful, in spite of the fact that you do not deserve it. Because I am sovereign, I am the only one who can save you; because I alone can unconditionally love, I am the only one who wants to save you and will continue to save you in spite of your sin and resistance. "
― Michael S. Horton , The Law of Perfect Freedom: Relating to God and Others through the Ten Commandments
13
" It is rarely declared but often practiced: God is in charge of the area called “religion,” but life itself is ruled by a pantheon of deities: career, possessions, greed, self-esteem, family, friends, entertainment, fashion. Whenever we make a decision to violate God’s revealed will in favor of one of these “deities,” we are putting other gods before the one true and living God. "
― Michael S. Horton , The Law of Perfect Freedom: Relating to God and Others through the Ten Commandments
16
" Jesus Christ is called “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). The Greek word used for image in the passage is eikon, from which we get the word icon. Jesus Christ is the only exact icon or physical representation of the invisible and unrepresentable deity. “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). This is what paganism attempts with its idols—having a point of contact with God. By being close to the idol, the worshiper hopes to be close to God, for to his mind the idol possesses some degree of deity in itself. But just as God ridiculed the pagan idols as being blind, deaf, and dumb, so surely did Jesus Christ not only possess sight, hearing, and speech but give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and speech to the dumb. He was God in the flesh, walking among us, talking to us, eating with us, weeping with us. "
― Michael S. Horton , The Law of Perfect Freedom: Relating to God and Others through the Ten Commandments
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" there is a matter about which we as Christians must be especially sensitive. We steal from our employers even in the exercise of what we consider spiritual tasks. Complaints abound about workers reading their Bibles, praying, or witnessing on company time, reducing productivity. After all, the thinking is, Jesus is coming back, and this business will be burned up with everything else. We need to remember Paul’s advice: “Mind [our] own business, working quietly with [our] hands, so that [we] may win the respect of outsiders” by the quality of our work. We must earn the right to share the gospel, and we cannot win respect for our faith if it is perceived to corrupt our obligations. "
― Michael S. Horton , The Law of Perfect Freedom: Relating to God and Others through the Ten Commandments