Short-term Purpose

Submitted by sank on Mon, 11/03/2008 - 14:55

To populate and take good care of His creation

God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Then God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food (Genesis 1:28-30).

Initially God gave only one commandment to Adam.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die" (Genesis 2:15-16).

But Satan tempted them and they disobeyed God's one and only commandment and sinned against Him. Till Adam and Eve sinned there was harmony among God's creations. Now the population on earth began to multiply and evil also spread widely.

The Ten Commandments

People began to disobey God and hate one another and the harmony among all His creations was lost. So God gave the following commandments (Laws) to Moses as an advance preparation for redeeming humanity from Satan and death.

And God spoke all these words:

Exodus 20:1-11 (Our rightful response to God)

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Exodus 20:12-17 (Our rightful relationship with one another)

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not give false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

He commanded us to love and obey Him (as our Father in Heaven), love our neighbour as ourselves, live in peace with one another as a big family here on earth, and take care of the things (the creations, environment etc.,) He has entrusted to us.

God knew that man cannot in his own strength obey His commandments.

"... through the law comes knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20).

God gave these commandments to remind us that we need Him to help us live the way He wants us to live in this world.

But we (the human race) miserably failed our Creator God. So what happened to man?

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Short-term Purpose

To populate and take good care of His creation

The Ten Commandments