“If we and our posterity shall be true to the Christian religion, if we and they shall live always in the fear of God and shall respect His Commandments . . . we may have the highest hopes of the future fortunes of our country . . . but if we and our posterity neglect religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity.” — Daniel Webster, early American educator and Secretary of State1
Listening to a FOXNews interview, conservatives are jumping to Landry’s defense. They are being quick to say, “Why would anyone be opposed to the Ten Commandments. They are the basic rules of law that govern how we treat people. Don’t steal. Don’t covet. Don’t kill. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t bear false witness. Why would we be opposed to posting the Ten Commandments where the kids can see them and be reminded of how they should behave in society?”
I wonder if the commentator is naïve or just trying to spin the story in a way that the liberals can’t argue? And, if the commentator is so dense to think that the liberals couldn’t clearly see their angle, should they really be doing this kind of work?
The vast majority of humanity isn’t going to have any problem with the Five Commandments. If that’s all there were and it was strictly about man’s treatment of his fellow man, there wouldn’t be any contention. However, the FOX News analyst surreptitiously avoided the first five commandments.
Exodus 20:1-12 says, “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 shewing 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 labour, 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) Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.”
These are the commandments that revolve around our obedience to Almighty God. They acknowledge Him as Creator, Sustainer, Deliverer, the One worthy of worship, and the One who can extend or shorten our days. Obedience to the first five commandments require humanity to be humble and submissive to this God.
The commandments were not given as a means to salvation. Obedience to the commands will not nudge an individual even a millimeter towards Heaven. Instead, they were given to convict us of our sin nature. Romans 3:20 says, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 7:7-11 makes this even more obvious. “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. (8) But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. (9) For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. (10) And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. (11) For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. ”
Everyone fails to obey God’s commands, especially the first. Failure in one is failure in all. James 2:10 says, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” There’s the rub. This is why posting the Ten Commandments brings such terror to the sinner. It announces their guilt as if a giant, blinking arrow was pulsing above their heads. SINNER! SINNER!
The only redemption is JESUS and He wants to “seek and save the lost.” But John’s Gospel tells us that men love their evil and wicked deeds and run from the glorious light of the Gospel. The Ten point us to the One. And this One is the only One who can remove the curse of sin. In light of the last two days’ devotionals, let Romans 8:1-2 take on an even deeper meaning in your heart.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
1https://www2.cbn.com/article/government/judge-moore-founding-fathers-and-ten-commandments
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