Let Us Reason

Some people, actually most people, believe that the 10 Commandments were given to keep people from sinning.  Some people, actually most people, are wrong.  That group includes me by the way. This line of thought implies that God is foolish enough to establish a series of statues intended to keep people from sinning while, at the same time, knowing people would not follow them.  God is God.  He is no fool, and frankly people are people.  God had millenia of dealings with them, and if time had proven anything, it was that people would not follow rules.

So what was the purpose of the 10 Commandments?  Why did God put in place something that would so obviously not prevent people from sinning?  In other words, why did God act the fool in establishing a standard of conduct for people?  I postulate the reason for the 10 commandments, and for that matter any of the standards of morality that are present in our society, were put in place to keep humans from destroying themselves. 

Of course they are established as individual requirements that must be followed individually.  But if you follow these commandments individually, and enough individuals follow the same commands, you establish a society built on the standard being followed.  If enough of us follow them, our society will be characterized by those standards.  They will influence the way we do business, the way we treat our neighbors, the way we conduct our day to day lives.

Do you think it is an accident that over 400M people live in the USA with a fractional level of crime?  Is it an accident that the most dangerous city in our country (St Louis) has only 11 murders per 100,000 people? Or that our safest city (Virginia Beach), a city of almost 500,000 people, has less than 5 murders annually?  Do you think this is an accident?  Do you think it is because people are nice and good?  Do you think people are wise and know that at peace is the best way to live?  Do you think it is because of a strong police force or anything that the government does?  Or do you think people live by a moral code of conduct?

Societies are based on standards. Ours is based on the 10 commandments delivered from God.

If the latter is your answer, you are correct and that moral code is called the 10 Commandments.  Hold on! Before you go off on other societies that obviously would not have the 10 Commandments as their standard, I know it.  But all societies that are societies today have at their foundation a standard which determines some level of proper conduct in life.  Every society that exists has some form of inhibition on human's natural tendency toward destruction.  If you doubt this statement, I will refer to the Muslim code - as absolutely flawed as it is - for the muslim states.  How about the communist code for those unfortunately living under China's hard hand?  And, yes, the Judeo-Christian standard raised for those free, democratic societies in existence today.  There are others but the point is that every human being lives under some statues. 

Imagine doing business with someone who you cannot trust will pay you.  Imagine the level of red tape and regulation that would be required to do any form of trade together.  What if you could not trust your neighbor?  Imagine the expense in securing your belongings if you understood that the people around you would do anything they wanted to do with your stuff.  Whether you want to admit it or not, it is God's 10 Commandments that allows you to live in relative security from perpetual fear of loss and even death.  It is not the government, the police or even your own wits that you rely on, and, as sure as hell exists, it isn't the kindness of others.  It’s the adherence of millions of people, whether due to fear of God or man, to a series of instructions provided thousands of years ago that establishes your freedom to live securely today. 

Our society's standards are established on God's instructions.  They have been that way since the foundation of this country.  In an effort to demean and eventually remove these standards, people have begun slandering them and referring to them as "patriarchal" dictates intended to keep minorities of every vein oppressed.  They are right about those statutes being patriarchal but they need to capitalize the "P", because they are based on the love of a Heavenly Father whose sole intention is to help us live longer, more peaceful and freer lives.  The fact that the statutes are conducted by fallible patriarchs (and matriarchs) is not the Father's fault.  He was, and still is today, simply working with the best He had available. 

Now, the author’s point - societies are based on standards.  This occurs when people who reside in these societies live according to the standards.  The way this happens is that the families who raise the people who live in the society teach and instruct the people on how to live according to the standards.  The reason the families do this is that the parents of the families understand that this is the best course of action for the people they are raising.  Those who have ill intent for our society call this process archaic, outdated, oppressive and worthy of the trash heap of history.  They are wrong, and you don't have to just take my word for it.  You can look around you.

Is the problem of teen suicide the fault of God's statutes?  Is the fact that people are mutilating their bodies due to a failure of our patriarchs?  Can the civil unrest, debauchery and collapsing of ethical societal mores be blamed on the 10 Commandments?  I don't think so.  In fact, all these things and many others are directly connected to families' unwitting neglect and, in some instances, absolute refusal to instruct their people to follow the statues of God.  Make no mistake, our society is eroding before us.  This is certainly not a new development.  It has been happening since our society was formed.  As stated, general societal decay was the very reason the 10 Commandments were established.  This erosion has been happening since humans decided to reject God's statutes.  Ours is just the latest calving in the glacial action of creation’s rebellion against its Creator. 

The question for us is - will we go along with the course of the glacier or will we resist it?  Will we live individually according to statutes established by a loving God desiring the best for us or will we raise our collective middle finger to that same loving God? Will we have the strength and fortitude to raise our children and conduct our families according to the statues given to us from the Ancient of days, no matter how much ridicule the world may throw at us and at the Ancient One?  How will we choose to live?  What side will we choose?  Know this, your choice will have repercussions on your life, the lives of those you love and on the nation in which you are a citizen.