These things I place here so that they may be evident to all who read. I realize that not everyone has time to read every post in the archive, so here is an abbreviated list of “things Pancakeloach believes” for your convenience.
Jesus Christ died for your sins. Believe in Him, and you shall be saved from every imperfection in your being that separates you from God in His perfect Holiness.
Out of gratitude for our great salvation, Christians desire to obey the commandments of the Lord, so that we may show our love for Him and become more perfect by His grace. Those commandments are summed up in this principle: Love the Lord your God with your entire being, and your neighbor as yourself.
However, there are some specifics that Christians have generally recognized as binding commands from God, communicated to us in the Bible. This list is not intended to be exhaustive or authoritative, and is followed with some more personal remarks of my own. If you would like references and your Google-fu is failing you, please ask for them.
- You should have no other God but the LORD Almighty.
- You should not take any good thing out of creation and make it the most important thing in your life. That spot belongs to God.
- You should not treat the name of God with disrespect. He’s listening.
- You should honor the Sabbath. You should attend church on Sundays with other believers and place yourself under the authority of your church elders.
- You should respect your parents, obeying their commands faithfully while you are a child, and giving them honor as your parents when you are an adult, even if you come to believe that they were wrong about things and/or you are now under the authority and headship of another.
- You should not murder, nor harbor hatred in your heart for another human being, who is created in the Image of God. You should seek to live in peace, as far as it lies with you. Christians should not settle their differences in a secular courtroom. You should not respond to humiliation with retaliation; rather, you should do good for the one who has offended you and/or made your life difficult.
- You should not have sex outside of until-death-do-us-part marriage vows between one woman and one man. You should not partake of any form of entertainment which causes you to direct your sexual energies towards any other outlet but your spouse. You should not indulge in any pastime which causes you to burn with lust without direction towards its proper outlet in marriage, nor any pastime which causes you to become unhappy with your spouse. You should not divorce if at all possible; and the only acceptable cause for divorce is physical adultery. Deceiving your spouse about premarital fornication probably counts and is forbidden by #9 anyway. Spouses should never deny each other sex, except temporarily by mutual agreement for higher purposes than “I dun wanna.” Abuse is cause for separation, not divorce. Separated spouses must remain celibate. Abandoned spouses may remarry. Pick your spouse wisely with this in mind and seek advice so you don’t fall prey to a narcissist.
- You should not take the property of others. You should respect the labor of the worker and pay him his full wages. You should not vote for any government scheme which takes the fruit of the labor of one and gives it to another who has not labored for it. You should give freely of your own property and of your own labor, to aid those in need.
- You should avoid lies assiduously. You should not ever tell lies about someone else for personal gain or revenge. You may be honestly mistaken, but you should always strive to know the truth and to tell it rather than falling into complacency in your thinking or clinging to beautiful delusions. You should always tell the truth without needing an oath to bind you to truthfulness. If a madman comes to your door and asks you where his ex-girlfriend is so that he can kill her, you should probably fib and then call the cops.
- You should not allow envy a root in your heart. Desire what is good, without entertaining fantasies of taking anything that belongs to another.
- You should respect the lawful authority of those who rule over you. Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s; the congregation should obey their elders; wives, their husbands; children, their fathers; and slaves, their masters. Thankfully in America having slaves is illegal, but not all countries are so blessed.
- Those who wield authority should remember that all are accountable to God, and take care to avoid the traps and temptations that are specific to those who have power over others. Don’t enslave people, either literally or metaphorically.
- Random people on the internet are not authorities: the reader should not take them as authorities nor should bloggers claim authority beyond their legitimate bounds. The principles listed above are not principles because I say so: they are principles because God says so. However, the words are mine; I am fallible; I may be mistaken. However, I’m obviously fairly confident in thinking I’m right about these things being binding on everyone or I wouldn’t post them as moral imperatives.
- Calling out someone for sin or calling them unChristian should be done with utmost caution, only after extending every benefit of the doubt, and never without proof of their having violated an explicit and unquestionable command of God without repentance. Keep in mind that God’s gift of repentance may come at a later time to even the most rebellious heart, and always be ready to accept them back into fellowship.
- Be angry with unrighteous behavior all you like, but refrain from declaring that you know exactly what is in someone else’s heart. Only God sees the heart.
Something Fishy 