Exodus 20: 1-6

Exodus 20 1God spoke all these words, to respond:

2"I am the Lord, your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3You shall not have the gods of others in My presence.

4You shall not make for yourself a graven image or any likeness which is in the heavens above, which is on the earth below, or which is in the water beneath the earth.

5You shall neither prostrate yourself before them nor worship them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a zealous God, Who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me,

6and [I] perform loving kindness to thousands [of generations], to those who love Me and to those who keep My commandments. This first section of the Ten Commandments is very important to understand.  What this is saying is that you are not to worship anything other that the G-d of Israel.

Forgiveness

How does one achieve forgiveness?  Here is what the Bible has to say on the subject.

Ezekiel 18: 20-23

20 The soul that sins, it shall die; a son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and a father shall not bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
21 And if the wicked man repent of all his sins that he has committed and keeps all My laws and executes justice and righteousness, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
22 All his transgressions that he has committed shall not be remembered regarding him: through his righteousness that he has done he shall live.
23 Do I desire the death of the wicked? says the Lord God. Is it not rather in his repenting of his ways that he may live?


If you think you need to believe in Jesus to be forgiven, this passage refutes that claim.  All that is needed for forgiveness is repentance.

Bible Verses Psalms One

Psalms 1 1The praises of a man are that he did not follow the counsel of the wicked, neither did he stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the company of scorners.

2But his desire is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.

3He shall be as a tree planted beside rivulets of water, which brings forth its fruit in its season, and its leaves do not wilt; and whatever he does prosper.

4Not so the wicked, but [they are] like chaff that the wind drives away.

5Therefore, the wicked shall not stand up in judgment, nor shall the sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.