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The quote below got me thinking. If the possibility of saying No, or the freedom of making decisions for one’s own self is restricted by spouses, elders of the church, or other person(s) who assert themselves as authority figures over people, then this makes slaves of their subjects. And as slaves, they are deprived of the opportunity and possibility of personal growth and character development.

Individuality, the power to think and to do, and to decide for oneself is sacred. It is the right and duty of every human being to use. Let no man take it from you. Anyone who insists they can micromanage your life better than you is not safe. Flee.

“Though created innocent and holy, our first parents were not placed beyond the possibility of wrong-doing. God might have created them without the power to transgress His requirements, but in that case there could have been no development of character; their service would not have been voluntary, but forced. Therefore He gave them the power of choice—the power to yield or to withhold obedience.” Ed 23.1

It is the work of true education to develop this power [of individuality, the power to think and to act], to train the youth to be thinkers, and not mere reflectors of other men's thought. Ed 17.2

True education will not make robots, but will inspire investigation, growth, development, and advancement in all areas of science and service. Those who do this for love and to bless others will attain to much higher levels than those who do this for self glory.

“I can’t control a toxic person. I can’t change a toxic person. I can’t understand a toxic person. But I can guard my mission and maintain my character.”
“I have two aims: I want to do the right thing—keep seeking first God’s kingdom—and be the right person—nontoxic in return and acting out of love (whether that leads to confrontation or walking away depends on the situation).”—Gary Thomas page 91.

If I don’t either confront (Ephesians 5:11) or walk away (2 Corinthians 6:14-18), I may become like them (Proverbs 22:24-25) or I may suffer from mysterious illnesses (Proverbs 23:6-8).

If I excuse, minimize, or “forgive and forget” sins that they refuse to confess and repent of (Proverbs 28:13; Isaiah 30:1; 58:1; Ezekiel 3:17-21), I am disobeying God and blocking the efforts of the Holy Spirit to reach them (John 16:7-9).

Steps in a Word Study
As I go through a word study, here are some of the steps I use:

1. Choose a subject: Writing.
2. Choose the word(s) to look up: Write, writes, written, writing, writer, wrote.
3. Run the search in my Bible software program, copy it to a file, and number the verses for future reference.
4. Read each verse in its context and add any additional verses from the context, cross-references or by following additional quick word-studies if necessary to understand the verse in the original list and where it will fit in the subject.
5. Determine the topic that each verse or group of verses from Step #4 discuss.
6. Make a file or page for each topic and paste the groups of verses in so that everything relative to a topic is in one place.

In this study I will continue with steps 4-6 in posting and categorizing the verses from the list made in Steps 2 & 3. So far, we have several topics pages going with these verses in them:

A. Writing memorials: Exodus 17:14-16 (with GE 36:12; DT 25:17-19; 1S 15)
B. Old and New Covenants: Exodus 24:4-8; Hebrews 8:6-13
C. Ten Commandments: Exodus 24:12; 31:18; 32:15-19; 34:1-4, 28-29 (EC 3:14)
D. God’s Book of Names: Exodus 32:31-33
E. …

The 7th verse in our study tells us that God is writing names in a book. Moses was willing to give up his place in the book on behalf of the people. God declined his sacrificial offer.

“31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. 32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin — ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. 33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.” (Ex 32:31-33 AV)

#3-6, 8 & 10 Bible verses containing "writ* | wrote":
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.” (Ex 24:12 AV)

“And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” (Ex 31:18 AV)

“15 ¶ And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. 17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. 18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear. 19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.” (Ex 32:15-19)

The only thing on this planet which God Himself wrote with His own finger were "a law and commandments." The first set of tablets He cut out Himself, wrote on, and then gave to Moses. All the work on the first set was completed in heaven and the finished product delivered to Moses. After Moses "brake them beneath the mount," God asked Moses to cut out another set of stone tables and bring them back for God to write on.

“1 ¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. 2 And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. 3 And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. 4 And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. ... 28 ¶ And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. 29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.” (Ex 34:28-29)

God wrote the Ten Commandments in stone with His own finger twice. It must be important information.
Ec 3:14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

The remains of the first set of tablets will be found someday "beneath the mount" of Jabel Maqla in Arabia. Why there? See www.splitrockresearch.org.

The second use of "writ* | wrote" in Scripture:
“4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD. 6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. 8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.” (Ex 24:4-8 AV)

This is what we know as the old covenant. It was based on the promises of the people to do and obey all the words that Moses wrote. There was only one problem, the words were written in a book and not in their hearts and minds. It is impossible for unconverted people to perfectly do the word and obey the Book.

“6 ¶ But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” (Heb 8:6-13 AV)

"Finding fault with them" God offers a new covenant in which He writes the law into their mind and into their hearts based on HIS promises and HIS power to live out HIS life in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

Here I am Lord. Please write it in my mind and heart. Make me and my cherubs to Know You, love You, and live You today.

I love to do "Word Studies" in the Holy Bible King James Version. I use the free software from onlineBible.net to search for every verse in which a certain word occurs and learn all I can about the subject. Since writing is my primary occupation, I am interested in every way the Bible uses the words write, written, or wrote. Here is how I type in the search command for "writ* | wrote". (The * symbol is a wild card that can represent any letter. In this case it will bring up any word that begins with "writ". The | symbol represents the command OR.) Are you interested in the first verse? Take a deep breath and say a prayer before you read on.

“14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. 15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi: 16 For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” (Ex 17:14-16)

Understanding the context requires a further word study on Amalek. He was a grandson of Esau (Genesis 36:12). The Amalekites came and initiated an unprovoked battle with Israel at Rephidim by attacking the feeble, weak, and weary people at the back of the multitude of traveling Israelites. (Deuteronomy 25:17-19). After fighting them off, God said to write down this sin so that later there could be justice and retribution. In His mercy, God did not destroy the nation for about 400 years. (1 Samuel 15)

Have you ever been attacked by someone when you were weak, weary, or at your lowest point? Write it down and put it before the Lord. He will give you justice—in His time. Trust Him.

Learning the art of dumping my random thoughts on a subject and saving it in a file. Later, I go back and pull out anything useful and organize it for public consumption. This sure helps me to set a watch at the door of my lips since it is usually the hasty communications that get us in trouble. Another policy I am learning by trial and error is to wait 24 hours before hitting the "send" button on anything risky or sensitive.

“13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. 14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” (Ps 34:13-14)