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I almost pee'd myself Mike, still sitting here laughing so HARD!!!!!

 I love the satire!!!!

That was SO great!!!!

Sorry, no time to comment. Friends, you are so compassionate!

(Told you, I'm livin' it up. I'm going for a bike ride w/my son....ON THE SABBATH!!!)

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Sigh...another rowdy criminal out there breakin' the law.  Tsk, tsk, tsk!  What are we gonna do with you? ;-)  Guess we'll just have to turn you over to Jesus, huh?  

Dear Cathy Crane, Connie anne and everyone:

Cathy, I don't know if Mike knows you our not; I don't have the honor and privilege of knowing you myself.  I'm sorry that you appear to have found these parodies to be offensive.  It's often a good way to teach to take things to their logical conclusion and that is all that Mike was doing; and I know that's what I was doing.

How could we know that you were going through the hardest time of your life if you did not tell us?  I'll hope that you'll choose to believe that there was no intent to cause you, or anyone else, intentional pain...except the pain of realizing the tragedy of trying to live the Christian life in self dependence and as if it is a list of rules rather than the kindest person who has ever existed, living his life through us.

Connie...what Lara said!  It is a parody that is intended to show up the absurdity of mixing the flesh and spirit, the law and grace.

Blessings!
Craig

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Mike I totaly got this and I am.....ROTHLOL.....
I too went shopping, to a wedding. danced, but I didn't take a bike
Oh my Mike you and I are are doing all this on what did you say?.....
(Told you, I'm livin' it up. I'm going for a bike ride w/my son....ON THE SABBATH!!!)

BTW.......YOU ROCK, I'LL SEE YOU SOON AT CALVARY... "SUNDAY"

sigh.....

To your DEAR friends who were afraid I might really be giving up. Even though I said I should, I am sure I won't. You see, the reason I do all of the acts of service and devotion I mentioned in the blog is NOT the Law! My God, if it was, it really would all be WORTHLESS! (see "Pharisee" or "scribe" in your Bible dictionary, or Concordance)  The reason I do them is out of LOVE and APPRECIATION, i.e. DEVOTION to my Friend and Savior, Jesus Christ.To have a relationship with the Living God is a wonderful thing my friends. And thus far, he hasn't told me to become a law-keeper. Don't get me wrong, he's instructed me and commanded me to do many things, but he has pointed out no laws for me to keep!

If I learn anything from reading the gospels (Matt, Mark, Luke, John), it's that those who kept "the Law" were the ones excluded from the kingdom of heaven. It's no accident the people he gravitated towards were the ones who knew NOTHING about the law! And I promise you, he didn't go to them to teach them about the Law of Moses! HECK, one guy even came up to Jesus and proudly exclaimed, "All these (laws) I have kept!" Yet he walked away from Jesus, our Lord and Savior, SAD!!! Doesn't that tell us something about law-keeping???

Seriously, if I'm gonna be judged for not keeping the Law, including the Sabbath law, then why am I wasting my time going to church and doing all these things I've been doing? If Sabbath-keeping is a LAW and my acceptance with God is based on my doing this, then everything else I've done is worthless!!! But then I realize, Jesus himself didn't even keep the Sabbath! At least not man's ideas of what the Sabbath was! (Right, oh smarter people than me?) -see Luke 6:1-11, Luke 13:10-17, John 5:8-10, etc.

Dear ones, I am sorry if this blog unnerved anyone. You might think of this in terms of "reverse psychology". Rather than argue against law-keeping, accept it for what it is and take it to its logical conclusion. Satire fits too. Or...Rush Limbaugh used to "demonstrate absurdity by being absurd," so I guess you could say I went a little absurd!

I will admit, when I wrote this Friday on the bus home from work, I was frustrated and feelings poured out. I love the folks on this site, and HATE seeing them (YOU) told that you need to keep laws. Hate it! There's NO RELATIONSHIP in law-keeping!!! Ugh! And I'm not mad at those who advocate law-keeping either. Truth is, I pity them. (Ok, maybe that's my messed up perception there, but that's how I feel.) Our struggle isn't against flesh and blood, but against...spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 

God bless, and sorry to go so long on this comment!

Wait... You're doing the whole thing about the keeping of the law and there are no references to Romans?  What's this world coming to?

I've been praying for a friend who keeps talking about looking into "performing" some of the Jewish traditions.  And while I'm not sure that I'd be willing to make the argument that doing something as a rememberance is wrong... well I'm not sure that's why he is looking into doing it.

Works for the sake of works has a very subtle way of working itself into even those things it shouldn't.

Yes at times I do notice that Gary.

Iris, sorry that you experienced that, truly I am. 

Gordon, that post touched me deeply. Wish there was some way I could adequately show my appreciation brother. Thank you! :)

Stevie, thanks for hangin in there bro. Sidetracked...more like broadened. Sabbath-keeping is just one of the laws which Paul referred to as part of the dispensation of death, carved in letters on stone. I can see why he called it that.

Terrific blog!  Made us all think, right?   :-)

You mean you're not supposed to be a communion server with shorts and a t-shirt (and Crocs)?  (No I didn't wear make-up either)

 With that said, I think we need to be careful with traditions.  There's a good chance that the tradition itself isn't bad.  Moreso that we don't understand why it was done.  There are many traditions that we find "silly" today that were put in place to help us "remember" something God did.

I mean stones aren't always stones, right?

Ok, so I haven't given up! We went to church yesterday, Sunday, as usual. In fact, we visited a different church than we normally attend. Interestingly, we encountered the same Spirit, Lord, Faith, Hope, Body, and Father of all there (Eph 4:4-6), even though the folks worshiped in a much different manner (style) than we are accustomed to, and even though the day of worship differed from that which our Lord worshiped. (We also didn't worship in a synagogue, as our Lord did!)

As we worshiped (in spirit and in truth), we basked in the relationship we enjoy with our Savior God. And it seems, once again, he gave me exactly what I needed to hear, as the scriptures were read at the beginning of the service:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matt 11:28-30)

Laws condemn me. The Lord nurtures me! Written codes enslave me. The Lord Jesus frees me! Praise the Lord I'm his!

Thanks Donna...you are a blessing! :-)

Responding to Barb:  Made us all think, right? :-)  ....YES!!!!! (I dearly hope so!!)

What to say, what to say? Oh I know,
LOVE THIS!! Oh the freedom we now have in Christ Jesus!!
GBU Mike. Keep on enduring to the end.
Much love....

Thanks Sis Cece, I am sure that I will!!

Crystal, SO thankful you read on! Wet towel? I can think of 1 or 2 that might benefit from that, lol!

Kathleen, yep, feel like I've been there too. Ah, the wisdom of dads!