In China I found some locals would eat quail eggs, shells and all, but I never saw that in the USA. Housewives will chuckle over a young bachelor making his cake with the shells and eggs, but we applaud him for following the directions. The box did say to add two eggs to the mix, didn’t it?
We could certainly use the same attention to details for Christians. Built into the Bible in addition to promises, history, poetry and prophecy is Process. There are in most cases a right way to do something. The Bible has been called the Manufacturer’s Handbook which we pull out only after we have a crack up of some sort. Then we learn we did things backwards or ignored the correct process entirely.
Speaking to a group of Bible study women a few years ago I told them of a young man who was surprised to learn that now that he was saved he could not have sex with anyone except a legal wife. The ladies were in shock – but so was I, that they didn’t know this. It’s in the Bible and it is quite clear.
The moral law is in effect no matter who you are, or your age or background. If you are ignorant of the law, you are not spared its results. And wishy-washy ministers who say the Law is no more are quite wrong. In Romans 3 we read “The straight edge of the Law shows us how crooked we are.” (Phillips translation) God keeps the law around to remind us of how much we need Him to change our hearts.
Laws continue no matter. When the policeman stops you for running a stop sign and you say “I didn’t see it” do you get out of the ticket? Probably not. The law is applied regardless of your knowledge or ignorance. The $200 fine should impress on your mind the value of knowing the rules.
No one is saved by being baptized, and no one is not saved if they failed to be baptized. But more often than not, the process is ignored. This scripture says,