For THIS thread, I will again note, that Deuteronomy 4:2 specifically says (Moses speaking in the first person, for the whole Book) that no man is to "add to" or "subtract from:"
“You shall not add to the Word [ha-debar]
which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments [mitzvot]
of YHVH Elohekah which I command you."
By way of background (this is "Common Law 101, or Physics 101 before PC, or Civics 101," etc) 'natural law' (as referenced by the Founders) are things we can discover about the way He made the universe. They are, if you will, "ingrained in the fabric of space-time." We use the scientific method, repeatable tests, to try to uncover and understand them:
Gravity (Gm1m2/r**2) - Thermodynamics - fluid dynamics - F=ma and conservation of mass-energy - etc
Even God's "Iron Law" that we "reap what we sow." Some (before it went PC) elements about human nature, and economics, and market dynamics. All the way to Maxwell's equations.
In Physics, and every "REAL Science" a "law" is defined as something that NEVER changes! Every time we test it - every time - it works. Consistently. Repeatedly.
(Otherwise, it's merely a "theory," and it must be modified. Think "theory of Relativity." "Theory of Evolution," obviously, is an outlier. It has been repeatedly proven false, but remains unchanged anyway. Perhaps a "law" of human nature at work there...
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"Statutes, judgments, and commandments," in His Word
(chuqqim, mishpatim, mitzvot) are instruction about and from His "laws" - the way He made things - and what He tells us to do as a result. They are, He says (Deuteronomy 28-30, and many others) for our blessing. So we may live, and have life (John 10:10)
"more abundantly."
And here's the hard part. Some "instruction" may even be "age-appropriate." As Paul noted, there are some folks just can't handle meat...
The example I have long used is non-Scriptural, but easy nonetheless:
You tell a 3 year-old todder, "don't EVER go into the street!"
When he starts to try to learn to ride a bike, it's "look both ways."
And when he wants to learn to drive a car - there are a whole lot more instructions.
But the point was never to say "don't EVER go into the street." After all, don't mommy and daddy put me in the car and go right there? What gives?
The "Law" that the youngster doesn't have the level of understanding to comprehend has to do with Newton's Laws of Motion, conservation of kinetic energy and momentum, and what happens to a soft, compressible object when it's hit by 3000 lbs of steel-in-motion.
A question for the reader: How much did Adam, or Abraham, or Moses understand about genetics? (Hint: That may be a trick question. Perhaps more than we imagine.) But whatever they knew, the DNA of mankind, and his environment, began to change after 'the Fall,' and more after 'the Flood,.' Eventually, NOBODY lived much more than 120 years.
He didn't change His natural and well-designed 'law' about physical chemistry, bio-organic compounds, DNA, or even "seed propagating after its kind," but He did change US.
As He warned.
And THAT corruption is undeniable, perhaps unquantifiable. But it's water under the bridge, too.
Doesn't surprise me that His instruction about some things would necessarily be "age-appropriate." It's just a smokescreen for the Real Issue.
Because
IT'S NO EXCUSE FOR IGNORING His commandment in Deuteronomy 4:2, and again in Deuteronomy 12:31. (And, arguably, it's the "last one in the Book," too.
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