: 'What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.' (Micah 6:8)DDN: Yes, I'm aware of that one. The following verse states this requirement even more clearly:
1 Kings 2:3
and observe what the LORD your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go,
Both of these verses are definitely talking about "DOING" things to win favor with god, a big no-no in the salvation through Jesus paradigm. Christians (or wanna-be christians)generally respond to this by referencing New Testament verses that say God sent Jesus to NULLIFY and REPLACE the Law of Moses because humans just weren't capable of adequately fullfilling those laws. I have two major problems with this explanation however:
1) God states in the old testament that the laws laid down in the Old Testament (Law of Moses primarily) were a "PERMANENT" covenant (or "EVERLASTING" covenant, depending on which version of the bible you have). Apparently God was either mistaken, drunk, or lying when he said this because, according to the New Testament, this covenant was nullified and replaced with salvaltion through Jesus by God Almighty Himself!!
2) If the god of the Bible is the all-knowing master of creation he claims to be, why couldn't he foresee the inevitable failure of human beings to follow his laws? More specifically, why does the god of the bible act so shocked and angry when he sees people of his own making (and that were "made in his image") committing wrongful acts? People lie, people cheat, and people steal. Heck, even I know that!
None.
