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And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. Deuteronomy 19:20-21 I recently read about a distant country where the government routinely hangs drug…
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The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. Deuteronomy 19:18 I’ve noticed something odd recently. Actually, it’s been going on a while, but it’s just been more obvious over…
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You shall not move your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in the inheritance that you will hold in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. Deuteronomy 19:14 I’ve justified many of my toxic behaviors over the years by telling myself that if my wife didn’t know…
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But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. Deuteronomy18:20 God wants me to be happy. This illicit, adulterous sexual relationship will make me happy. Therefore, God wants me to…
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There shall not be found among you anyone . . .  who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. Deuteronomy 18:10-11 Many of you…
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And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes . . .  Deuteronomy 17:19 I was never explicitly taught this, but growing up in church,…
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So you shall purge the evil from your midst. Deuteronomy 17:7 The first thing I do every day when my alarm goes off is my morning prayer, which takes about a half hour as I pray for me, my family, and those around me. Often though, while praying, some intrusive thought – whether it involves…
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You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Deuteronomy 16:19 Twenty-five years ago, back in residency, drug company sales representatives were a regular fixture in our clinic. They provided lunch,…
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You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. Deuteronomy 15:10 When I see someone who needs my time, effort, or financial assistance, it’s not natural…
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You may eat all clean birds. But these are the ones that you shall not eat: the eagle, the bearded vulture . . . the hoopoe and the bat. Deuteronomy 14:11-18 In reading through the Old Testament, one encounters many rules that we don’t follow today. This is illustrated in today’s passage, in which Moses…
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