There is a reasonable argument to be made that the 10 Commandments from the Bible are the foundation of America.
The Decalogue is the law God gave Moses on Mount Sinai.
Assuming that the 10 Commandments are the basis for the rule of law in this country, how are we doing in keeping them?
The first one goes like this: “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
There are “progressives” in this country who want to replace God with government. The government gives. The government takes away. Blessed be the bureaucracy.
This is the underlying theme of the ongoing cultural war in America.
The second commandment says “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.”
That Image it talks about could easily have foretold of a technology that we all depend on — our cell phones. We are looking at images on them all the time — at work, at the dinner table, while driving — even while we are watching television or a movie. If we want answers, people today turn to Goggle, not the Bible. When He gave us this one, God knew what he was talking about long before we did.
The third commandment says: “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”
Within the last few years, both broadcast and cable television networks have begun allowing the Lord’s name to be used with “damn it” occasionally on the air.
This is desensitizing us to this misuse of God name.
The fourth commandment says: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”
There was a time when people refused to shop on Sunday. My grandmother refused to write a check – even her tithe check — dated on a Sunday because of this commandment.
Today, how many of us good Christians stop at Walmart or Target on the way home from church on Sunday?
The fifth commandment says: “Honor your father and your mother.”
Disrespectful children are in the majority today. Somehow we have made it seem like a child with a sassy mouth is a virtue.
The sixth commandment says :”You shall not murder.”
Murder happens in big cities every day and too frequently in smaller ones. Most forms of murder are still illegal.
There is another kind — abortion. We have sanitized that issue so that the debate is not whether it should be used as a form of birth control, but should the government pay for it.
The seventh commandment says: “You shall not commit adultery.”
About half of all marriages end in divorce. Adultery is the number one cause of divorce. Anybody being able to have sex with anyone or anything at any time is the way we roll. America has gone from failure to epic failure on this one.
The eighth commandment says: “You shall not steal.”
All kinds of theft from shoplifting to tax evasion are an every day event. There is an argument that theft is a non-violent crime and perhaps we should not waste precious prison beds on people who commit non-violent offenses.
The ninth commandment says: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”
The same facts reported by Fox News and CNN differ greatly. We live in a time when “truth” depends on your point of view.
The tenth commandment says: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
We as a society have gone beyond “keeping up with the Joneses” to actually having to surpass our neighbors to consider ourselves successful.
Obtaining wealth, power, pleasure, revenge, fame, vanity and status are our society’s goals these days. These are the most important things to people who perceive no power or purpose beyond themselves.
If the 10 Commandments are the basis of our society, we are failing miserably in keeping them.
The above article appeared first in the Saline Courier.