Are The 10 Commandments the Basis For Our Laws? Part IV

The next commandment is number 8. Thou shalt not steal. That one's on the law books. This law is an oldie and is not a law peculiar to Christianity or Judaism.

Commandment number 9: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. That means don't make up lies about others. It's illegal to do that in certain circumstances and this is another commandment that is not peculiar to Christians or Jews. It's simply ethics. Lying about important things is against the law unless you are politically connected and conservative.

Were this next commandment a law, the entire economy of the United states would collapse: Number 10: 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 neighbors.

Christian religions shortened it to 'Thou shalt not cover thy neighbor's goods.' I wish they left in the manservant part when I was learning about it. And the ass part. I would imagine that we shouldn't covet our neighbor's husband or car either. Anyway, this commandment is anathema to American living. Scratch this one, baby.

We have been using the commandments straight out of Exodus 20. for your enjoyment.

It appears that about 4 of the 10 commandments appear in some form or another in American law but these types of laws were on the books in Ango-Saxon law before anyone even saw a bible. American law is based on Anglo- Saxon law.

In my next post about the 10 commandments, we'll discuss all the other commandments that Moses received from God. We'll talk about the next group of commandments in Exodus 23. These commandments regard helping the poor. It's funny how these commandments are so overlooked. Well at least we are overlooking a lot of them because I doubt humanity would still be here at the rate "God" ordered people be put to death. In Exodus 21 and 22 God gives details about more capital crimes what is the best way to off the sinner. I covered these chapters when we discussed "Thou shalt not kill"... unless God tells you to.