Guidelines for Christian Behavior

We can divide the commandments in the Old Testament (OT) into three types:
Cultural and Civic -- for the OT Israelite culture, like commands on how to divide the land among the tribes.
Ceremonial -- concerning the Israelites' worship.
Moral -- for all cultures, at all times, like the commandment that husbands stay with their wives (Genesis 2:24, repeated by Jesus in Matthew 19:5). Moral commandments, stated first in the OT, are also found in the New Testament (NT).
We can't always tell which type of command was meant. The church generally does not hold that the first two types of commandments are binding on Christians. At the Jerusalem conference, when some Jews felt that gentile Christians must obey the ceremonial law, the leaders wrote: Acts 15:28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay no greater burden on you than these necessary things: 29a that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality At least one of these prohibitions is not usually taken as binding by most Christians anymore, (eating blood) and at least one wasn’t always followed in NT times: 1 Corinthians 8:8 But food will not commend us to God. For neither, if we don’t eat, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better. 9 But be careful that by no means does this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak. The Acts 15 statement was about the ceremonial law. It does not undo God's moral laws.

Some questions to ask ourselves before starting a new activity or relationship, or making a significant purchase:
1) Is it consistent with the Bible? Especially Mark 12:29b ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one: 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 The second is like this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
2) Would it put my spiritual health at risk? Physical health is also important.
3) How will it affect other people? Will this drive others away from Christ, or attract them to Him? (See Romans 14:1-15:8)
4) Why am I considering this? Be careful to do nothing because of pride.
5) Has God given me a personal conviction against this (or for it)? If so, I'd better abide by that conviction. (Convictions are personal – not everyone will agree.)
6) Have I promised not to do this (or to do it)? Promises, including church vows, and marriage vows, should be kept.
7) How much will it cost me? (In money, time, effort and emotionally)

The questions above were revised on July 1, 2015

Guidelines for this blog

personal guidelines for this blog

1) I hope to glorify God with this blog. After that, my main purpose is my own enjoyment. I enjoy finding and organizing information, and researching new things. I enjoy (usually) setting myself the goal of producing something halfway sensible every day, and meeting that goal. I enjoy thinking that someone else occasionally reads what I write. I enjoy interaction with other people on-line.

2) I will try not to let blogging, or reading feeds, interfere with my relationship with God, or with my family, or my job (so long as I have one).

3) I will not embarrass any living human by posting personal information about him or her.
(This doesn't apply to public figures, or to persons, such as other bloggers, who have already provided access to some of their information. It may not apply to people who give explicit permission for personal information, or their images, to be posted, or request that it be.)

4) I will not violate copyright*. Quotations will be brief, and will be attributed accurately. A link to a live web page will be included, if the source is the Internet. If I got it from printed material, I will try to give the publication details, including page number(s), accurately. Public domain material will be used, if possible. I will not quote from modern versions of the Bible, except for occasional brief excerpts, because modern versions are copyrighted. (Parenthesis added May 25, 2009 -- The English Standard Version does allow use in a blog, if properly attributed. I now use it a lot.) Photos and graphics will be my own, or public domain.

5) I will try to post only accurate information. I will welcome comments pointing out errors of fact, English usage errors, and significant omissions.

6) I will respect the views of others, even if we disagree. I will be grateful for any feedback, even if it seems negative or ignorant (Matthew 18), and encourage comments that criticize anything I have said, or show that I haven't made it clear enough. I will try to acknowledge the contributions of others, subject to guideline 3.

7) I will try not to post anything principally for the purpose of attracting attention.

8) I will try to remember that much of what is posted on this blog probably is of little interest to anyone. (I wouldn't have read some of it myself, if I hadn't written it!) However, if others find anything of value, they are welcome to use material posted, so long as they do not try to prevent others from also doing so. In other words, I don't want any one else copyrighting my material--other people should always be able to use it if they want to.

Normally, I won't expect others to ask permission to use my material, but do expect a link to the original, if the use is on-line. If it's in printed media, the URL would be expected. If the use is more than incidental, for example, an extended comment on something I have done, or reproduction of most or all of a post**, I expect a comment or other communication, informing me of this use.

I intend to follow this guideline myself, if using or commenting extensively on something someone else has posted. I will not assume what others have written is there for my use, without some sort of permission, such as that indicated for my material in this post, or explicit permission by e-mail or exchange of comments.

9) I will try to encourage other bloggers, by a positive comment and/or a link.

When there is an opportunity, and I actually know something useful, I will try to help others with technical questions.

Added November 18, 2006: Another person's take on guidelines for a blog, better put than mine (and by a more important blogger) is here.

The material above is licensed under a Creative Commons License. The purpose is stated in guideline 8, above.

*I may have violated guideline 4 in yesterday's post. I don't know if that was a copyrighted picture of my grandparents-in-law. I hope not.

**Compare my post with this one (which was done with my permission, and I appreciate having been asked).