Jennie Yabroff reported in Newsweek that “After A. J. Jacobs spent a year reading the Entire Encyclopedia Britannica for his book “The Know-It-All,” he figured he had the yearlong experiment thing down. How much harder could it be to follow every rule in the Bible? Much, much harder, he soon discovered, as he found himself growing his beard, struggling not to curse, and asking strangers for permission to stone them for adultery.”
What I found most interesting about the article is some of the comments Jacobs makes in the interview. When asked how his life is now that he can sin again, he says, “I miss my sin-free life, but I guess I was never sin free. I was able to cut down on my coveting maybe 40 percent, but I was still a coveter.” Jacobs sounds a lot like the Apostle Paul, when he wrote, “But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of coveting” (Rom 7:9). Jacobs, like Paul, realized that nobody can perfectly obey the entire law, and trying only makes you recognize your sin more.
When asked if there were any rules he was still following, Jacobs focuses on the Sabbath. He says, “I love the Sabbath. There’s something I really like about a forced day of rest.”
Interesting, isn’t it, that this is what Jesus tells us: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). God knows that we need to rest from our work, and life is better when we take time to rest.
The entire law, really, is to help us live life better with God and with each other. The great deception of sin is that we think it helps us live life to the full, but in reality, sin only gets in the way of truly living life.
Naturally, Jacobs found many of the laws and rules impossible to obey. For example, there’s a funny story in the interview about when he stones a man for committing adultery, but he doesn’t really stone him to death as commanded in Scripture. Of course, if he did, in our culture, he would be a murderer, which would be breaking other Biblical commands. This leads Jacobs to admit that “One of the lessons…[is that] there is some picking and choosing in following the Bible, and I think that’s OK.”
In other words, since God’s standard of righteousness is too high for us to realistically follow, we can lower the standard by picking which commands and rules to obey. How much better would it be to say, “We can’t come close to obeying all these laws, and since God demands perfect righteousness, I need to get it from somewhere else. Jesus lived in perfect righteousness, and tells us that if we believe in Him, He gives that righteousness to us” (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47; 2 Cor 5:21).
I pray that Jacobs comes to this conclusion. It is evident that the Spirit is working on him, for now that he is without the law, he admits that he feels “unmoored, overwhelmed by choice.” Paul did tell us that the law is a tutor, to bring us to Christ (Gal 3:24-25). Jacobs lived under the tutor for a year, and we can pray it will lead him to believe in Jesus for everlasting life.
If you want to read more about this, you can get his book: The Year of Living Biblically.
I just watched a video he was in regarding his experiment very interesting. I give him credit for trying although i wonder if he really did obey the law to love the Lord you God with all your heart, had he done that he might have had a different conclusion that the one he professes.
Joe,
What was that video? I would like to watch it. Also, part of me wonders if he just did this as a “stunt” to write a book. If so, it certainly worked, but also, his heart would not truly be in it.
Wouldn’t this be obeying the Old Testament and not the Bible? I mean, wasn’t all the law fulfilled in the New Testament with Jesus Christ being the ultimate sacrifice for all? Once and for all? I think Mr. Jacobs tackles the idea of how impossible (or at least very difficult) it is to obey all the OT law, but he misses the point entirely on the NT.
John,
You are absolutely right. But he did it more as a publicity stunt than anything else. And look, it got him a book deal. If you look him up on Amazon, this is how he writes his books. It works for him…
I read the book a few years ago. He spends about 7 months (I know it’s a little over half the year) obeying the Old Testament and the rest of the year obeying the New Testament.
The law was never done away with. This is a lie used to keep us from GOD. The law of sacrifice was done away with, but every example of the law still remains. The stoneing part was replaced with forgiveness. Who are we to judge, was the point of “who among you is without sin” Don’t be fooled by this lie of law being done away with. It will hurt you in the end. Yeshua did come to take the sins of the world, but he did say to “keep his commandments” and no this does not stop with the 10. And just for the record, the Torah is not the “law” it is the instructions.
Cliff,
Huge topic here. Torah, of course, is the Jewish way of referring to the Pentateuch, which in much Jewish literature is also called the Law. The Hebrew Bible has three divisions, the law, the prophets, and the writings. The law refers to the books of Moses, the Pentateuch, also called the Torah. That is the way I was using the term.
Regarding the other elements, I believe the commandments Jesus was referring to were the laws of Christ, which is the royal Law of liberty.
I believe that in Jesus, God has done away with all the laws, rules, regulations, and book keeping. In Jesus, all sin accounting is over. The guilt shop is closed. There is 100% complete forgiveness for every person no matter what.
Yes, Yeshua himself said “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (or complete)” (Matthew 5:18)
The Law is for our benefit, it is both a curse and a blessing, a blessing because if we keep the Law we will be perfect, a curse because if we stumble in even one point we are just as guilty as if we have broken all of the laws (James 2:10)
Therein is based our faith on Jesus Christ, in that we CANNOT (in our sinful nature) obey the whole law of God (or even the first law, imho) without Him, and with Him even when we stumble, he will set us back on the path, because he has defeated sin and death and has won for us a victory.
The entire law is summed up by loving God and loving each other, right?
Amen, but entire libraries of books could be written on this subject, what it is to love God and what it means to love one another… or for that matter, just what is meant by “love”?
True. I think the Bible helps inform us what love look like and what love does. But one of the best ways we can learn to love is by getting out there to love people!
I believe we will still be judged, I believe the bible expressly states that “we shall all stand before the judgement seat.” but I believe the difference is, our sentence will be/is/was (yes all at the same time, go figure 😉 ) expunged. I also believe the sins we do commit, while under the blood of the Lord, will cause us much grief, even when we are forgiven, we will realize how much pain we put on Him…
Did he put into practice the biblical means of acquiring a wife through rape?
No. Of course, that was not a means of acquiring a wife, but a means of protecting a woman who had been horribly raped. By today’s morals, it looks horrific, and we can rightly condemn it, but back then, it was a step in the right direction. Back then, they disowned raped girls to be either stoned, starved, or become full-time prostitutes.
And did he take slaves from neighbouring tribes? And how did he deal with the authorities when he killed his non-believing neighbours?
No, again, I doubt he did any of this. But good questions! Ha!
Mathew 5:18 – 19. The “law” was absolutely
not fulfilled. Your non-existent character “christ” is alleged to have muttered he hadn’t “come” to change the law and that not an iota of it would be altered until he “returned.” So yeah. That mixed fabric shirt you’re wearing? Sin. That bed you sleep in with your wife when she’s menstruating? Sin. Those still-living, unruly kids you have? Sin…
The year of living dangerously.