Broad meadows

In the last writing I discussed what makes a law useful to people in that they are determined by specific harms that are unacceptable. Harms to body, property and falsely to reputation. All of these point to the necessity of bodily autonomy of each individual without impinging on the basic right of others as in the case of abortion. When actions based upon these common sense admonitions are taken within a community of any size, peaceful relations ensue. This is why self governance must comport with peaceful relations. There is no right to harm others in such ways.

This brings me to the matter of the importance of the first 5 commandments. I’ll start at the fifth and work my way upwards in countdown fashion. “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

The family unit is the very basis for all civilization and is the first authority structure in a person’s life. It is a structure that is based on love and mutual benefit. It is the parent’s duty to care for, nurture, protect and educate the children in the way they should go. The children are to respect their parents and learn what they can from those more experienced . This doesn’t mean ideas parents present can’t be challenged, only that it’s done with respect. Remember, they are the ones caring for you, not the other way around. And parents need to think about how they treat their children as our aging will at some point require their assistance. Done well, the product will be a useful and loving member of the community.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

It’s funny that all attempts through history to erase this marker in time have always failed. It has no celestial correlation the ways days, months and years have. Yet it seems immutable. But what I think is important about this commandment relates to its reason. That is, the universe did not create itself, that it has a creator. This is why Paul writes in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

Materialist philosophy has been an enormous problem for mankind and often ends up expressing itself in violent ways. Its presuppositions blinds the eyes of those in empirical research without them even knowing it. That’s why they are constantly surprised in their findings. Many go into this field thinking that relieves them of facing God, but the very principles that are relied upon require a living God.

“You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”

This command doesn’t just apply as to using His name as a curse, but also that you shouldn’t invoke His name to do evil. This is a terrible fruit from Islam. Under Koranic orders, there is an encouragement to kill. This clearly violates the commandment not to kill. A sure red flag. That’s why Jesus says,“By their fruit you will know them.”

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

To even the most foolish among us, it should be clear that nothing you have now is yours to keep. All that’s left is what you did with your time on earth and what effects they had on humanity. Anything that’s put above God is an idol. Money, power, sex. All of these things and the coveting of them cause people to do all kinds of evil. This problem becomes more acute when there is no fear of God before their eyes.

“You shall have no other gods before me.”

The failure to recognize the God of the Bible as God has led to untold misery. Do you really think Hitler, Stalin and Mao would have murdered countless millions had they thought they would be held accountable? Their lack of fear left them accountable to no one. This remains a problem of Communist practice because there is no fear of accountability. This always leads to bad decisions and ultimately violence upon the populace. And intentionally so. It’s why they hate Christianity or anything else that might challenge their authority. It’s a spiritual sickness.