Overview continued

God created man with the intrinsic attribute of free will. Nothing else in God's Creation was imbued with this characteristic. Man has the free will to choose to keep God's commandments. Some choose to keep His commandments, and others choose not to keep His commandments. The choice of some to not observe the Seven Noahide Laws does not negate the Laws' existence. Man is ultimately responsible for observing God's commandments, and will receive merit for observing them, or will receive punishment for willfully failing to keep his duty. The key is to keep the commandments because God commanded them; therein lies our reward.

For example, one can choose not to commit homicide because he feels it is ethically the right thing to do. This does not give him merit - he enthrones himself as the supreme judge, judging on his own whim whether a certain act is ethically right or wrong. This type of person is denying God, replacing Him, God forbid, with his own idol - himself. This, of course, is forbidden by God. We must choose to do what God wants. There is a teaching: Greater is the one who is commanded and does something, than the one who is not commanded and does it.4 Doing what God commands is the only thing that matters.

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