God’s Moral Standards are Revealed in the Ten Commandments: As recently as in the 1940’s and 1950’s these standards were well known and respected by almost everyone. But this is no longer true. In our society today people want to be free to do whatever they please. They avoid or reject absolute moral standards. Many do not know the difference between right and wrong because they have no authoritative and superior standard to reference as a guide. What is right for them is not what is said by parents, schools, churches, or even God. It is what they think is right, what seems right to them. People often do not feel guilt or shame when they should. Conscience has been gradually eroded by our educational system and through the entertainment media.

As a result, people make poor moral choices and experience disastrous outcomes in their lives without really understanding the relationship between moral behavior and the peace and happiness which comes when one follows God’s moral path. The Bible says: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 16:25, NKJV) When people do not even know what God says about morality, they will never enjoy the benefits of God’s wisdom, counsel, loving instruction and the benefits of obeying him. People tend to live their lives in a way that conforms to the way the people around them live. Consequently they unknowingly choose what God calls spiritual “death” and live their lives removed from the presence, counsel and love of God.

God has a solution for all of this. He offers his wisdom and guidance to make our lives better. Hedoes this throughout the entire Bible, however our focus here is on the Ten Commandments which summarize his moral standards and give us a profound and beneficial guide to live by.

The Ten Commandments: These are found in Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5, and in part in Leviticus 19. The passage in Exodus 20 reads as follows:

“And God spoke all these words, saying: ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make for yourself a carved image (idol) – any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, of that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers … to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, (nor your servants or guests) who are within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.'” (Exodus 20:1-17, NKJV)

The Ten Commandments Summarized: The first four commandments are about our relationship with God. They tell us to love God with all our soul, mind, heart, and strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5) The last six commandments are about our relationships with people. They teach us to “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18, NIV) Thus the Ten Commandments are summarized by the two greatest commandments, to love God with all our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthews 22:36-39)

The Ten Commandments Apply to us Today: Some have questioned if the Ten Commandments apply only to people in Old Testament times, but it is clear that they also apply to us today. All of the Ten Commandments are found in the New Testament with one exception. The day of worship is moved from Saturday (The Sabbath) to Sunday, the day Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus himself affirmed the Ten Commandments in Matthews 5:17-19. Verse 17 says, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfill.” (KJV)

What is God Saying in the Ten Commandment?: We need to be clear about the various messages God gives in the Ten Commandments in order to understand what God expects from us and how we are to respond to him. Let’s take a look.

The Messages:

1. God is Superior to us; He has authority over us; He has the right to establish moral standards and tell us how to live; He is superior to all other (artificial) gods; there is no one greater than him in the universe. We are to be in awe of him, reverence him, worship him and serve him above all others.
2. We should not have anything in our life which takes the place of God. This includes allowing material things, wealth, position, fame, success, political office, friends, family or anything else to be more important to us than God.
3. Honor God so much that even the way you use his name will be done with respect and not flippantly or as a swear word.
4. Take time one day a week to rest from work and to worship God with other believers.
5. Respect and honor your parents who gave you life and provided for you. Respect those who have authority over you, teachers, bosses, police, ministers, because these people represent the authority of God in your life. By respecting them you are respecting God who put them in your life to guide and provide for you. Disrespecting parents or authority figures means we are disrespecting God. Also, this commandment tells us that God rewards those who obey him.
6. No individual, on his own, has the right to deliberately and willfully take the life of another person (except in self-defense). God is the giver of life and he alone has the right to take it.
7. When married, be faithful to your spouse. Also, keep yourself true to the one you will marry by waiting till you marry to have sexual intimacy.
8. It is wrong to take things that belong to others.
9. Do not lie about another person or impugn their character or their behavior. Do not slander or incriminate an innocent person.
10. We are not to desire to deprive another person of what is his, or be envious or try to get what is his. This tells us that our thoughts and desires can be sins.

And to this, we may add:

11. It is desirable to develop a conscience that is in agreement with God’s moral standards. Also it is good to be morally aware and morally responsible. Morality is good because it is right as defined by God, because it has its own reward, and because God promises to reward those who keep his commandments.
12. It is a good thing to love God and to love others.

The Heart Matters: Jesus taught that in addition to behaviors that are offensive to God, there are also sins of the heart and mind. He said: “You have heard that it was said…’Do not murder,’…. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to the judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca’ (i.e., you good-for-nothing, empty-headed person) is answerable… but anyone who says ‘You fool’ (i.e., you moron, idiot) will be in danger of hellfire.” (Matthew 5:21,22 NIV) That is to say that anyone who verbally diminishes the worth of another person, who discounts them as being valueless has committed a grave sin.

Also he said: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Again, this is to say that the thought of lust held in the mind over time and rationalized, can result in the act of adultery and hurting people. (Matthew 5:27,28 NIV) Jesus then tells us to purge these sins from our heart to avoid the punishment of God.

God is not looking for mere outward conformity to his moral standards; he is looking for heartfelt agreement with him about what is moral and what is immoral. Once a person’s heart is in moral agreement with God, moral behavior will follow in his or her life. God knows the difference between pretense and a genuine desire to please him. He knows every thought we’re thinking. We can’t deceive him. “Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart” (I Samuel 16:7 KJV) The problem with allowing sins to dwell in the heart is that they can lead to something worse. Envy and jealousy can lead to hate. Hate can lead to disrespect, slander, character assassination or murder. Lust can lead to adultery. And these sins are the enemies of love for God and for our fellow man. They can spoil our lives and our most treasured personal relationships as well as our relationship with God.

From these teachings we can see that our hearts must be right with regard to all of the 10 Commandments. We should therefore love God above all and respect and worship him joyfully. We should lovingly respect and care for our parents; we should never want to take what someone else has or hurt them in any way. As Jesus taught, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Matthew 7:12 KJV)

Absolute Moral Standards: The message of the Bible is that there are clear and absolute moral standards given to us by God which stand outside of ourselves and our opinions and our cultural norms. Because he has authority over us, we are obligated to obey him. He is our Creator, so we owe him for our very existence. As our Redeemer we owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude for his mercy and kindness. We love him because he first loved us, and because we love him, we obey him. We trust that he knows best and has our best interest at heart.

Why Did God Give Us the Ten Commandments?: Well, the first and most obvious reason is that he wants to give us a moral code to live by. We should not be surprised that God actually expects us to live by these commandments. And we should understand that how we respond to these instructions affects how he responds to us. If we disobey him he is disappointed, even angered, and may penalize us. When we obey him, he blesses and rewards us. God’s desire for us to obey him is rooted in his love; he simply wants the best for us. Also we need to know that God is fully aware of our every thought and action throughout our entire lives. And there is a reckoning to come where we will stand before him in the final judgment. In view of these things, it behooves us to live a moral life. To do so is to bless God, bless others and to bless ourselves.

Another reason God gave the Ten Commandments is to reveal our sins. When we compare our thoughts and behaviors with God’s holy standards, we become aware of our moral shortcomings. How many of us have broken the Ten Commandments? All of us! Have we always and in every circumstance honored God above everything else? Have we respected our parents as we should? Have we never had thoughts of hate, lust, theft, deceit or covetousness? Of course not! As the Bible says: “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23 KJV)

A third reason the Ten Commandments were given is to help us realize our need for God’s forgiveness. The Commandments reveal to us that we have sins and guilt before God and are under moral condemnation. “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23 KJV) By this knowledge we then come to understand that we need forgiveness.

A fourth reason for the Ten Commandments is to lead us to God and Jesus Christ who forgives and removes sins. Galatians 3:24 says: “Therefore the law was our tutor (teacher) to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (NKJV) Thus the Ten Commandments teach us that we have sin, guilt and condemnation; that we need to be saved from the penalty of sin; and that we need God’s forgiveness which is found in Jesus Christ.

Herein lies a paradox. We’re supposed to keep the Ten Commandments to earn God’s favor but when we try, we discover we can’t keep them perfectly and so we incur his disfavor. That is to say, trying to keep the Ten Commandments won’t get us to heaven. God’s requirement for heaven is moral perfection and we can’t achieve it. But God has made a way. When we repent of our sins and receive God’s free gift of salvation, by asking Christ to come into our life and cleanse us of our sins, he forgives us and removes our sins from us as far as the east is from the west.

God Confronts Us In the Ten Commandments: By virtue of their very presence, the Ten Commandments force us to make a vitally important decision. In the second commandment, God speaks of those who “hate Me” and do not keep my commandments and of those who “love Me” and who do keep my commandments. Will we be among those who hate God or among those who love God? I believe how we respond to the Ten Commandments defines which group we are in. Those who love God are going to want to keep his commandments and will want to accept Christ as their Savior. Those in rebellion against God will not want to keep his commandments and will not want his salvation. They do not want God in their life.

The Erosion of Moral Standards: In the movies and on TV today, superhero characters are often compromised. They are no longer 100% good and unwilling to compromise their moral standards. When I grew up in the 40’s and 50’s all the movie and TV heroes used to exemplify moral excellence and were looked up to by kids as moral examples.

While it may be difficult to find good moral examples today, Christians have a “superhero” who is morally perfect. He never sinned, even when tempted by the devil who is cunning and persuasive. He stands apart from all other men by demonstrating that it is possible to live a moral life. In public, he asked the crowds “Who convicts me of sin?” No one could. His own family, his closest friends, the public who knew him over a 3 year period, and even his enemies could find no moral fault in him. His name is Jesus Christ.

Also there are people in our society who live moral lives. They are found in many places, and certainly are found in the Church. Unfortunately there are not as many as we would like to see. But they are there. These people demonstrate that there is hope for human beings to live a moral life, and they prove that all the excuses, rationalizations and justifications for sin are bogus.

We all know that one person’s evil can do tremendous damage in other people’s lives. But the opposite is true as well, one moral man or woman can make a profound difference in influencing others for good. I want to be that moral man. I hope you want the same thing for yourself.

What we are saying in this series is that true, unchanging and absolute moral standards come from God, not from man. Further God has communicated these clearly and we are held responsible before Him to respond appropriately. When we do, our lives are greatly blessed.

What Do They Intend?

A number of individuals and organizations have opposed the idea of displaying the Ten Commandments in schools and in courtrooms over the years. But if they are against the Ten Commandments then what are they for? Their position implies that they are in favor of behaviors which actually destroy people’s lives.

Their Implied Positions

The Commandments are taken in order followed by what those opposed to the Ten Commandments are logically either FOR or AGAINST:

“You shall have no other gods before me.”

FOR: Forgetting God, removing God from conscious thought, and getting God out of people’s lives.

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image (idol).”

FOR: Esteeming and honoring material things, people, and philosophies of the world above God.

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain…”

FOR: Disrespecting God in speech (and thought).

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

AGAINST: Worship of God, church meetings, public displays of faith in God.

” Honor your father and your mother.”

FOR: Disrespect for parents and all other authority figures who represent God’s authority.

“You shall not murder.”

FOR: Murder, assault, hate, malice and violence.

“You shall not commit adultery.”

FOR: Adultery, casual sex, loveless sex, rape, sex before marriage, indifference and selfishness toward a sexual partner.

AGAINST: Trust, faithfulness, and a lifetime commitment in marriage, unselfishness and sacrifice for the one you love.

“You shall not steal.”

FOR: Theft, robbery, burglary, embezzlement, cheating, graft, bribery, and fraud.

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

FOR: Lying to hurt others, slander, character assassination, perjury and deceit.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, wife, servant, ox, donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

FOR: Lustfully and greedily desiring what others have. (Scripture from Exodus 20:1-17, NKJV)

To this we add, those opposed to the 10 Commandments are:

AGAINST: The idea of conscience, moral awareness, and moral responsibility.

AGAINST: Love for God and love for one’s neighbor.

Let’s Summarize

What attitude does the Opposition take toward God?Their position implies:

They want to prevent children and adults from learning about, knowing about or thinking about God;

They espouse a man-centered philosophy of life (humanism) which minimizes or excludes God;

They will not likely show respect for God or worship him.

What attitude does the Opposition take toward their fellow man? Their position implies:

It is okay to disrespect authority figures including police, teachers, principals, coaches, employers, ministers, and even parents.

Malicious dislike of those with whom you disagree and even violence can be justified.

Satisfying sexual lust with whomever one chooses is a primary consideration, and commitment and faithfulness to another in marriage is either less or not at all important.

Cheating on tests, taking small items on the job, falsifying information for gain is just the way things are done.

Deceit and dishonesty are ways to get ahead. Making someone look bad is my way of getting promoted. Trashing someone is my way of getting back. Nobody tells the truth in court.

People with money don’t deserve it. Government should do more for me. I can never be satisfied with what I have.

What attitude does the Opposition take toward morality. Their position implies:

Morals are relative. What is right for me may not be right for you.

Morals change. This is today.

The development of conscience is not important.

I only have to be true to and responsible to myself.

The love I show is a choice I make based on personal self-interest.

Tragic Consequences

It is astonishing to see how many destructive ideas come from opposition to the Ten Commandments. Those who object to the Ten Commandments are rejecting God, abusing their fellow man, and trashing the idea of morality. This, of course, is a formula for personal self-destruction and societal suicide. There is nothing commendable about such a position.

And the converse view should be understood, that when the Ten commandments are accepted, communicated, displayed, taught, followed and celebrated it will be good for everyone.

 

 

Wait a Minute, You Say!

In the previous section, we discussed the moral implications of rejecting the Ten Commandments and how untenable the results of such a stance are both to the individual and to society. But some may object to this conclusion. I can imagine someone who opposes the display of the Ten Commandments, saying: Look, I am not in favor of irreverence, disrespect for parents, murder, adultery, robbery, deceit, or greed. And I am not against religion or respect for parents or doing good deeds. Then I have to ask you: How can you claim to support such moral behavior, when you oppose the best moral guide in the history of mankind which teaches these morals? Perhaps you say, it’s because we have to respect the “separation of church and state” in the First Amendment. And, because we don’t want Christians dictating to us how to live our lives. Let’s take a look at these objections.

First Objection

The Separation of Church and State: To begin with, thephrase “separation of church and state” is not in the First Amendment. In the book, “Separation of Church and State, What the Founders Meant,” David Barton traces the history of the First Amendment. He tells us that in the first meeting of Congress the Founders said repeatedly over a period of several months, that in writing the First Amendment “they were seeking to prevent what they had experienced under Great Britain: the legal establishment by the government of a single religious (Christian) denomination (church) in exclusion of all others.” (p 6), The first clause in the First Amendment, called the Establishment Clause, says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” This clearly means that the federal government shall not establish a state church. The second clause, called the Free Exercise Clause reads, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This clause forbids “the federal government from interfering with the people’s public religious expressions.” (p 7) “Both clauses restricted the actions of the federal government; neither restricted the actions of citizens.” (p 7) Clearly the founding fathers did not want the government to sponsor a state church, but “did expect basic Biblical principles and values to be present throughout public life and society.” (p 7), that is for the people to have “free exercise” of their religion. And as David Barton points out, for the first 150 years after the First Amendment was written this was the only meaning held by the courts and the public. (p 7)

This understanding changed in a 1947 Supreme Court decision, in Everson v. The Board of Education. In the majority opinion “Justice Hugo Black quoted (from) an 1802 letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists, wherein Jefferson described “a wall of separation between church and state.”” (What if Jesus Had Never Been Born? by Dr. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe, p 74) In his book, David Barton points out that this was a complete “reversal” of the meaning of the First Amendment (p 13), and for the first time the Supreme court interpreted the concept of the separation of the government from the church to mean that the federal government should deny people the right to public religious expression. (p 13)

This interpretation was completely unfounded. David Barton explains: In October 1801, “the Danbury Baptist Association…sent a letter to President Thomas Jefferson expressing their concern that protection for religion had been written into the laws and constitutions.” (p 12) In January 1802, “Jefferson responded…. He assured them that because of the wall of separation, they need not fear government interference with religious expressions.” (p 12) “In his letter , Jefferson made it clear that the wall of separation was erected not to limit public religious expressions but rather to provide security against government interference with these expressions, whether private or public.” (pp 12,13)

“On numerous other occasions, Jefferson repeatedly affirmed that the sole purpose of the First Amendment was to ensure that the federal government could not interfere with public religious expressions.” (p 13) Thus to reach their conclusion the Court had to snatch a phrase from Jefferson’s letter, remove it from context and “apply it in a manner exactly opposite to Jefferson’s clearly articulated intent.” (p 14) What makes this ruling even more egregious is that in previous rulings, the Supreme Court had used Jefferson’s entire letter to preserve religious expression. This Court did not quote Jefferson’s complete letter, they used only 8 words from it and changed the meaning of what he said. (p 14)

David Barton continues by telling us that the 1947 ruling was followed by “one absurd ruling after another.” (p 14) These rulings have denied citizens the right to have prayer (1962), Bible teaching (1963), the Ten Commandments (1980) and graduation prayers (1992) in the public schools, thus depriving our children of these positive influences and a moral education. The result? With the absence of the Bible and prayer in the schools, the incidence of violent crime and of immoral behavior has increased about 700% in the teenage population. (pp 15,17)

Teaching the Bible, the Ten Commandments and morals does make a difference. The founders knew this and warned us. We will do well to heed their counsel.

Second Objection

Christians want to Dictate Morality to Others: Christians don’t want to force anyone to live by their own values, they simply want to have the freedom to offer God’s moral standards for people to read if they choose. Christians believe God has revealed these Commandments for our good, that these are God’s values and that sharing them is doing a good thing for others . When the courts block Christians from doing this, they and the people who oppose the displays are imposing their values onto Christians. Christians believe in a voluntary acceptance of Biblical values; the Opposition mandates a forced conformity to theirs.

Christians are not trying to force people to obey the Commandments against their will; but they do wish to make them known so people can have a chance to think about them and benefit from them. Individuals who see and read the Ten Commandments are not under compulsion; the problem may come for those in opposition when the Commandments affect their God-given conscience and they start feeling guilty and don’t like it. It may become easier for them to push aside or abolish the Ten Commandments from public view than to allow themselves to think about their obligation to a Divine Creator and become morally responsible to him.

The Ten Commandments Posted

On November 17, 1980 the U S Supreme Court issued a ruling that prohibited the posting of the Ten Commandments on the wall of each public classrooms in Kentucky. A note concerning the secular purpose of the display placed under the Ten Commandments stated: “The secular application of the Ten Commandments is clearly seen in its adoption as the fundamental legal code of Western Civilization and the Common Law of the United States.”

In a 5 to 4 decision, The U S Supreme court concluded that the Kentucky statute authorizing these posters violated the Establishment and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment of the U S Constitution. This Clause reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The Supreme Court reasoned that the State statute had “no secular legislative purpose” and claimed it was “plainly religious in nature,” despite the fact that the clear intent of the State of Kentucky was to make the posting of the Ten Commandments serve a secular purpose.

To add insult to injury, the court stated: “If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce the school children to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey, the Commandments. However desirable this might be as a matter of private devotion, it is not a permissible state objective under the Establishment Clause.”

In his dissenting opinion, Justice Rehnquist stated that the court’s majority’s claims that the Kentucky statute had “no secular legislative purpose” and was “plainly religious in nature” were ipse dixit, that is, were unsupported by the Constitution and rested solely on personal statements. He also said: “nearly everything in our culture worth transmitting, everything which gives meaning to life, is saturated with religious influences, derived from … Judaism, Christianity….” He concluded with: “I therefore dissent from what I cannot refrain from describing as a cavalier reversal, without benefit of oral argument or briefs on the merits, of the highest court of Kentucky.”

What happened here? Why did a majority of the justices rule this way? It looks like they had an ulterior motive. According to Justice Rehnquist there was no basis in law to make this ruling. Why was there an apparent hostility toward teaching solid moral principles to schoolchildren? Why did these justices not want children to read, think about, respect, and obey the best moral guide in the history of mankind? They should be ashamed.

The Ten Commandments Monuments

The courts have been busy for years ruling against displays of the Ten Commandments. An article on the MSNBC web site entitled “8 times that a 10 Commandments monument had its day in court” by Erica Getto and Kavish Harjai on 7-8-15 lists some of these rulings. Here are a few of the ones listed.

In 2003, a U S district judge ruled that a Ten Commandments monument placed in the Alabama State building violated the principle of the separation of church and state. The monument was eventually removed.

In 2005, “the U S Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote that a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol was constitutional, … because it had historical, not simply religious, value.” (MSNBC article) This time the Court got it right.

In 2009, the ACLU on behalf of a local citizen, in Haskell County, OK, sued to have a Ten Commandments monument removed from a local courthouse lawn. They did so on the basis that it violated the principle of the separation of church and state. The Tenth Circuit U S Court of Appeals ruled to remove the monument. It was moved a few feet away to the lawn of the American Legion.

In 2014, the ACLU aided two followers of a modern pagan group by suing to have a Ten Commandments monument removed from the lawn of the City Hall of Bloomfield, NM.

“The judge ruled for the removal of the monument on the grounds that it violated the First Amendment.” (MSNBC article).

The Ten Commandments Controversy

In a December 2003 article in Imprimis entitled, “The Ten Commandments Controversy,” Michael Novak argues in favor of “religious liberty” and for the public moral expression that religious liberty allows under the U S Constitution, and against the tortuous misinterpretation of the First Amendment by the U S courts which inhibits or denies such expression.

The article indicates that calling attention to God or his laws or to the moral teaching in the Bible is not the same as “establishing” a national religion and it shouldn’t be considered so. Further, historically and currently such expressions have been and are with us in many forms, including “inaugural speeches of presidents, the swearing-in of judges, Thanksgiving Day, Independence Day, Memorial Day,” (p 3), congressional prayers, our national motto, “In God We Trust,” and the words “under God” in The Pledge of Allegiance.

The author cites “George Washington’s Proclamation of General Thanksgiving” (October 3, 1789):

“It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore protection and favor….” (p 4)

He also cites Abraham Lincoln’s Decree (August 12, 1861) which followed a resolution of both houses of Congress:

“…it is fit and becoming to all people, at all times, to acknowledge and revere the Supreme Government of God.” (p 4)

Then the author asks: “If all this was not an establishment of religion in 1861 (and in 1789), why does doing far less barely a century and a half later constitute an attempt to establish a religion?” (p 4)

The article recognizes that the problem lies in what has happened in the U S Supreme Court. In 1947, the Supreme Court distorted the meaning of “the establishment of religion” clause using tortuous logic to reach conclusions that went “against the whole of its own prior tradition and against the tradition of American public life.” (p 4) “The Court shifted its focus from the” concept of “religious liberty” to the non-constitutional slogan “separation of church and state.” In so doing, they “developed an extreme, non-historical version of what constitutes (the) “establishment of religion,” (p 2) which has turned out to be hostile to religion in general and hostile to Judaism and Christianity in particular. (Quoted sections reprinted by permission from Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College.)

The Establishment Clause

In a Southern Evangelical Seminary 2005 DVD presentation entitled “The Ten Commandments,” Dr. Norman Geisler makes a number of important points about the Establishment Clause and the Ten Commandments. They are as follows: 1. The First Amendment does not forbid the establishment of a national morality; it forbids congress from establishing a national church. 2. The founders believed the Ten Commandments and morality are the basis of civil law and also of freedom. 3. In the early days in America there was no separation of God and his morals from public life. 4. The Ten Commandments have a good secular purpose – to maintain our government and the happiness of mankind. 5. The Ten Commandments are displayed in the Supreme Court both inside the chamber and on the doors to the court, but are not allowed in any other court of the land – to which I would add, is hypocrisy.

Evil Ideas, Flimsy Arguments and Judicial Overreach

In this article, we first discussed a number of the evil ideas which result from opposition to the good moral tenants of the Ten Commandments. Then we showed the weaknesses of the arguments for denying the display, reading, teaching, and communication of the Ten commandments, especially to school children. In the third section, we discussed the part the courts have played in the suppression of the influence of the Ten Commandments in our society. Here we conclude our thoughts.

In a nation founded on Christian principles, as our was, the underlying foundation for moral thought and behavior came from the Bible. When these Biblical principles were essentially removed from our society by banning Bible teaching and prayer in our schools, a moral vacuum was created. This has resulted in moral confusion and even the acceptance of immoral ideas now redefined as moral. The Bible speaks of times so evil that: good is called evil, and evil is called good. (Isaiah 5:20) These times are now.

We Need God’s Moral Standards

Without God’s moral standards in our society, civil law, obedience to the law, and personal freedom are all threatened. This is why it is so serious when factions in our society attack the Ten Commandments and morality in our culture. Even now there is a disintegration of our society from within. When these factions oppose the Ten Commandments, they are promoting evil and opposing good. We deserve better.

Our citizens, especially our children, deserve to know the difference between right and wrong and what a loving God has to say about living a moral life. They deserve to be exposed to the Ten Commandments and the other great moral teachings of the Bible. These teachings are not our enemies; they are our friends. They make all our lives better.

When people are a moral people, they can trust each other, and trust is essential in personal relationships, families, businesses, commerce, finance, and government. Without trust, relationships are damaged. With personal fidelity and trust, they thrive. And morality makes people safer; people respect each other more and treat each other better; they can count on one another; they protect each other and do not use each other. Also God’s moral standards help people understand their own value and the value of others.

Will You Reconsider?

I would invite each person reading this who has taken a stance against the 10 Commandments to ask yourself if you really want to oppose the moral values that the 10 Commandments provide? Is this the stance you really want to take? What kind of society do you think this produces? How will this affect your family? What kind of person do you really want to be?