|
An analysis of the Ten Commandments
As the Foundation for Civilized Law
Click here to read the
actual text
The ten commandments form the foundation for civilized law because they are based on respect for the constitutional nature of man. The ten commandments present man as having ten basic gifts or faculties which define his existence. The first five commandments are based on man's five fold spiritual nature while the last five are based on his five fold material nature. Everything stated in this essay applies equally well to both men and women so we will use the term ‘man' in its generic, gender neutral sense in order to improve the flow and readability of the essay. There is an interesting structure to the ten commandments. The first half of the ten commandments deal with the nature of man as it relates to God, the second half deal with man's nature as it relates to man. The first two of the commandments dealing with man's physical nature (the second half of the ten commandments) deal with his intrinsic physical nature, life and sexuality, which define who man is in himself. The next two commandments deal with his extrinsic nature, property and reputation, the external extensions of his inner nature. So too, the first two commandments deal with man in relation to God's intrinsic nature, His uniqueness and spirituality, while the next two deal with God's extrinsic nature, the symbols used to worship God, which are His name and his day. We will examine how these ten commandments lay the foundation for the laws which serve as the pillars of a free society.
The First Commandment - "Thou shalt have no other God's before me." - Limited government.
Mankind yearns for an external source of order and control. If he does not find this in an omnipotent God, he will turn to a human godlike figure in the form of a dictator. Humanism teaches that mankind is the highest authority on Earth and that truth is anything which the majority believes. This is contrary to the teachings of the Bible. The first of the ten commandments teaches that God is the highest authority on Earth. The term God means supreme ruler and this commandment teaches that there is only one such supreme ruler. The existence of such a supreme ruler sets the foundation for a government with limited powers. Rulers are themselves accountable to a higher authority. This higher authority has granted mankind certain gifts or rights enumerated in the last five commandments, which no subordinate ruler is authorized to take away unless an individual has used his rights to violate another person's rights.
God, as the supreme King of the nations, has revealed His will for mankind in the form of a Book. The ten commandments are a synopsis of this revelation. If the majority of humans disagree with what God says it simply means that the majority of humans are wrong. The Bible teaches that all laws have been put in place by God. People do not make laws, they discover laws. We try to discover the laws of nature, which is science, and we try to discover the laws of social organization, which could be called political science.
It is said that some time ago the legislature of Tennessee decided that it was simply too confusing to people for the geometric constant ‘pi' to be defined as having the value 3.14159265. . . ; therefore, it ruled that from then on the value for ‘pi' would be 3.0 and that was that. That is just as ridiculous as a majority establishing a law that goes against the revealed will of God. People can pass any laws which they want, but if they pass the wrong laws their society will cease to function properly, just as a wheel designed using 3.0 for the value of ‘pi' is going to be very wobbly and be unusable. 3.1415927. . . is more complex than 3.0, but it is the truth established by God. In order for Martian society to excel, the ten commandments should serve as the foundation for Martian law and they should be displayed prominently at all governmental buildings.
The Second Commandment - "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." - Final justice.
Mankind needs a God that transcends time and space. Man needs to be convinced that he cannot escape justice simply by dying. God is the creator of the Universe, and as such, He exists outside of it. This makes it impossible for a person to escape final justice. He may try to beat the system and might be able to escape having to pay for his wicked actions in this life, but justice will be executed in the after life. The death penalty is not the ultimate payment for heinous crimes, it simply sends the criminal off to receive his just punishment.
The transcendence of God must be honored by government by not allowing material representations of God to be placed on public property. Furthermore, the transcendent God should be acknowledge through a prayer which opens every session of congress, every council meeting, and every court proceeding. This prayer should address God as the omnipotent creator and the supreme lawgiver.
The Third Commandment - "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" - Civility and Respect for the Holy.
Society cannot function without the oil of mutual respect and civility. If respect for the sublime ceases to exist then people will not respect baser things, such as each other. The symbols associated with God must be respected. Secularists believe that government should not promote religion. However, they have no problem with government support for attacks on religion. The United States government has given monetary grants to artists whose works attack religion. One so-called artist photographed a crucifix immersed in a cup full of urine. Another so-called artist painted a nude female nailed to a cross and then smeared dung on the picture. These blasphemous depictions were then displayed at museums which receive public moneys. Government should not be allowed to fund activity which openly attacks any form of monotheism. It is one thing to engage in a scholarly or even heated debate about the claims of Jesus, Mohammad or Moses, it is quite another thing to make lewd and vulgar statements about religious figures or religious symbols. Freedom of speech must be protected, but not all speech is worthy of government funding.
The Fourth Commandment - "Six days shalt thou labor, and do all
thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath [rest] of the LORD thy God." - Right to work and the seven day week.
The Martian calendar must be based on a seven day week. Along with the day night cycle, the seven day week sets up a basic cycle of time which is essential for the proper operation of society. This cycle is punctuated by a day which is laid aside for rest and which provides opportunity for those who wish to worship to do so. In western societies which have a Christian majority and a Jewish minority a five day work week has developed which accommodates the first day worship of the majority and the seventh day worship of the minority. One of these days off is often used by citizens for work involving the upkeep of their homes and the other day is used for rest or worship. It is important that laws be passed which establish this seven day weekly cycle but which provide exceptions for essential services.
The other aspect of this command is the injunction to work. Minimum wage laws, and laws mandating union membership as a condition of employment limit the ability of individuals to offer their labors in a competitive market. It is important that the government create a competitive marketplace which balances the needs of both employers and employees by allowing employers to shop around for the best work at the best possible price yet also allowing employees to shop around for the best wages and working environment.
The Fifth Commandment - "Honor thy father and thy mother." - Respect for parental authority.
The state is basically a distant extension of the family. In small tribes where most people are closely related the government consists of the older members of the extended family. Even in many industrialized societies a large proportion of the population of towns and villages are biologically interrelated and form a large extended family. As the geographic area becomes larger the common ancestors become more distant in time but much of the population can still be considered to be a sort of extended family. Because the nuclear family, consisting of two adult parents and one or more minor children, is the basic unit of an extended family, a state cannot be healthy if the nuclear family is not strong.
The right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children must be strongly protected. Government funded schools must not undermine the values which parents are trying to teach their children. This means that government must not take away the right of parents to choose their children's education by taxing them to support schools which they might not use. School choice is probably the most important social issue facing western civilization. If parents had the right to choose their children's school without having to also finance the government schools, the issue of prayer in school, the issue ‘God' in the pledge, the issue of evolution vs. creationism and the issue of sex education would all be moot points.
The Sixth Commandment - "Thou shalt not kill." - The right to life.
This commandment is based on the most basic of man's intrinsic properties. Man is a living creature in the fullest sense of the term. This means that he is alive in a way which is different from all other earthly life forms. It is important that this life be respected. Many monotheistic religions teach that man's conscious life is a representation of the nature of God because man has been made in the image of God. Therefore, destroying that image through murder shows disrespect for God just like spiting on or throwing darts at someone's photograph shows disrespect to the person portrayed in the photograph. The foundation of criminal law is the protection of life and the punishment of those who take and threaten life. The principle of equivalence demands that punishment fit the crime, so capital punishment for murder is the foundation of criminal law. No government can survive without employing the threat of deadly force, because there are those who are willing to organize bands of thugs who are, indeed, willing to use deadly force. The only way to stop some people from harming others is to kill them first. That is just a fact of human nature and history bears this out.
The Seventh Commandment - "Thou shalt not commit adultery." - The right to be secure in one's marriage.
The second most important element of man's nature is his sexuality. Man comes in two forms, male and female. The basic unit of society is the stable union created when one member of each of these two forms comes together for the purpose of intimate fellowship and procreation. Several monotheistic religions believe that the relationship between a man and a woman has a spiritual dimension because it pictures the relationship between God and His people. It is important for society to protect the institution of marriage. Easy divorce and same sex marriages weaken the institution of marriage which is one of the pillars of society. This weakens society as a whole. Indecency, prostitution, and pornography also weaken the institution of marriage. Government has the right to restrict or prohibit these activities in order to protect the institution of marriage. Nevertheless, balance is also necessary, Islamic dress is not the only definition of decency, and sometimes sexually explicit material, such as certain passages of the Bible, is the only way to communicate certain types of important information.
The Eighth Commandment - "Thou shalt not steal." - The right to accumulate private property.
Man as a sentient creature is able to use his labor and creative powers to turn raw materials into useful products. This creativity flows out from his innermost nature. When a person executes a creative work, that creativity comes out of his very soul and represents his innermost being. The products of a person's labor and creativity are an extension of his creative being. A person's right to do as he desires with the products of his creativity should be maximized by society. The foundation for a successful economy is the protection of the right of an individual to control this extension of his being. It is the responsibility of government to make sure that individuals are able to use and exchange the products of their labor as freely as possible. This is done by means of laws protecting property rights (including intellectual property), laws creating a free market (antitrust laws), the creation of a stable means of exchange (that is, sound monetary policy), and low taxes (high taxation is simply legalized theft).
The Ninth Commandment - "Thou shalt not bear false witness." - The right to an honest reputation.
A person's ability to participate in society is based on his reputation. A person's reputation is an extension of his social being. This reputation has a positive and negative aspect. The fact that this reputation is extremely important is supported by the amount of money that is spent on advertisement and promotion. Society must establish laws which protect a person's reputation and which guarantee a degree of truthfulness in advertising. This truthfulness includes licensing laws and laws requiring product descriptions (such as for foods and drugs). If a person claims to be the member of a given profession, say, a physician, a lawyer or an architect, for example, that should mean that he has met certain requirements which allow him to perform his profession in a competent way. It is possible to acquire a negative reputation, and laws need to exist which protect an individual from false accusations. This would include laws defining slander and perjury. The importance of protecting individuals from false accusations is seen in the fact that such an accusation could cause a person to be wrongly convicted for murder and put to death.
The Tenth Commandment - "Thou shalt not covet." - The right to liberty.
Greed is the root of all evil. Another part of the Bible restates it in these words "the love of money is the root of all evils." Class envy corrupts the voter, and kickbacks corrupt the politician. Even though it is difficult to legislate against class envy, laws must exists prohibiting bribes and kickbacks. The right to pursue the desires of one's heart and to enjoy the fruits of one's labor and the fruits of one's decisions without the fear of having these rewards taken away is the essence of freedom. Solomon said "there is nothing better than for a man eat, drink and enjoy the fruits of his labor for this is his portion under the sun." The only limitations which should be placed on this freedom are those designed to prevent the infringement of the freedoms of others.
TOP of page
The Text of the Ten Commandment of Exodus 20 (KJV) -- The foundation of Martian law under
the Martian Federation.
Millenia BC
(1) And God spake all these words, saying, (2) I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (3) Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (4) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any
thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is
in the water under the earth. (5) Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD
thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; (6) And
showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my
commandments. (7) Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD
will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in
vain. (8) Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. (9) Six days shalt thou labor, and do all
thy work: (10) But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou
shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy
manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is
within thy gates: (11) For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that
in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the
sabbath day, and hallowed it. (12) Honor thy father
and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD
thy God giveth thee. (13) Thou shalt not kill. (14) Thou shalt not
commit adultery. (15) Thou shalt not
steal. (16) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. (17)
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy
neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor
his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.
Verse numbers in parethesis.
TOP of page
|
|
|
|
|
