God’s Ten Commandments (Ex 20:2-17) are foundational in nation-building. They were given via Moses after the Israelites’ rescue from Egyptian slavery, as the start of the preparation to enter the covenanted land. These commandments have been the foundations of true liberty and human flourishing.
After King Alfred’s astonishing victory over the Danish Great Heathen Army at Edington in AD 878, he put the Ten Commandments at the heart of the newly written law code – which became the basis for the revival of a nation after the ravaging of its early Christian culture. The Ten Commandments also shape US law.
The commands are not simpy good moral laws, but are an expression of God Himself and thus of us, too, as we are made in His image. These laws are like the laws of physics – only more so. Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them” (Mt 5:17).
The first few are sometimes seen as referring to our responsibilities to God, and the remaining ones as referring to our neighbour, but, in essence, all are our responsibility before God, and all are for the benefit of our community.
... in essence, all commandments are our responsibility before God and all are for the benefit of our community.
Jesus’ summary of the whole of the law, and thus the Ten Commandments, is “The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. …[and]… You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Mk 12:29-31). For none of them bear fruit in us without belief in Him.
Breaking laws
“ …for the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” ( Rom 1:18).
Paul Washer argues that when these laws are broken, it is not the breaking that causes judgment but it is evidence of judgment as, even though all know what is right, we choose the opposite “Therefore God gave them over…” (Rom 1:21-24).
Where are we now?
There is plenty to say for how we can apply these on an individual basis, which you can find elsewhere. For this article, however, I am focussing on how our culture ‘structurally’ misaligns with them; or, to put it another way, to what extent our culture is ‘systemically’ against the laws of life. For, in essence, if you break the laws of life you break life; if the state does, it breaks national life.
1: No other gods
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ‘You shall have no other gods before[or besides] me.”
Our country’s first and biggest failure – the rejection of God. How can we hope for renewal until we change from this? Our leaders believe more in the atheism of the French Revolution and the divisiveness of Critical Theory than they do in God. Our institutions are mostly hostile to Christianity, with recent calls to stop prayers in parliament, though they don't mind the odd ceremonial.
... if you break the laws of life you break life; if the state does, it breaks national life.
So politicians, in the main, trust instead in Machiavellian real-politic, friends in the City, managing media (censorship), gold-plated pensions, jobs in Quangos and a hope for honours, influenced by disputable science and group-think.
2: No worship of images
“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…”
This sounds like something that only primitive people do; we’re past that – or are we? Affectionately embracing your football team's mascot is one thing, but we are expected to honour anything and everything from LGBT flags, personal pronouns, Black Lives Matter, diversity and inclusion, selected wars, climate decrees – just-stop-oil to just-stop-Israel.
Being coerced to bow down (literally with BLM) and worship (virtue-signal) these ideologies has been enlightening. It’s shown itself as a form of elite mob rule as terrifying as any ‘primitive’ tribal ritual. It’s not the objects themselves (and wasn’t in past times), but who they represent and what they lead us that is the issue.
The author Matthew Roberts identifies this as worshipping ourselves: “This moral inversion is precisely the function of idolatry... What has happened in the secular West is not a matter of abandoning religion, but of adopting an idolatrous new one... One with a god that looks strikingly like our self…” 1
Sadly, it’s also within national churches – where there can be unhelpful rituals and a surrender to culture. We mustn’t begin in the Spirit but end up in the flesh (cf Gal 3:3).
3: Don’t misuse his Name
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”
“Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’,” says Jesus (Mt 5:33-37), when discussing swearing oaths – ‘My word is my bond’. Britain’s economic strength was once based on integrity in business and personal life – business deals sealed with a handshake. This was serious; political and community leaders resigned if they seen to be dishonest or dishonourable. These days almost no one resigns because they have no shame before God. They issue ‘non-apology apologies’.
We must seek to honour God’s name, and be true to Him and His word.
This law thus reflects speaking the truth about yourself (whereas Law 9 is truth about other people).
We must seek to honour God’s name and be true to Him and His word. Yet, key church and civil leaders seem happy to take responsibility for second-guessing what God stands for in the modern world. His Word and Truth are misused by them.
There is also a sense of blasphemy here. We know who a nation’s ‘god’ is, by what cannot be disrespected or contradicted. Clearly that is not the Creator! Instead, it’s the unlikely alliance of Woke and Islam. Who enforces this? It’s enforced through lawfare, and by intimidation by well-organised groups – often career-threatening, sometimes life-threatening. It’s tolerated by the Government and police and is therefore systemic.
4: Keep Sunday special
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
So, we shattered this one despite a valiant effort by the 1985 ‘Keep Sunday Special’ campaign. However, important concessions were achieved, and the campaign continues to keep even those.
Keeping the commandments also reflect our trust in him, for if we do these, we trust him to answer our physical needs.
“The Lord blessed the Sabbath day”. As with all these laws, they are for our benefit, and harm comes to us in terms of stress, unrest, loss of creativity and blindness to God when we reject them. If unessential work is not proscribed we are literally breaking a commandment! Keeping the commandments also reflect our trust in Him, for if we do these, we trust Him to answer our physical needs.
5: Honour your parents
“Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
The family is under attack from many quarters. A TV contestant boasted that one of the benefits of not having children is that you can go to lots of pop concerts! I don’t blame her – it’s just evidence of our cultural indoctrination against family life. This comes from a nihilistic influence that can only end one way – there will be none of us living in the land. Without children, our communities disintegrate, with none left to support those who are old or can't work.
On top of this, there is now ‘No fault’ divorce. Some proponents of Critical Theory now say that having two parents makes a child 'privileged' and, as such, is therefore an oppressor!
Families are creation work – the best and most rewarding kind. When people become Christians, one of the first things God normally leads them to do is to reconcile with their families. That’s how important it is.
6: No murder
“You shall not murder.”
The death toll from abortion is staggering and, yet, it is illegal to protest it or even stand quietly outside a clinic praying in your head! There are even calls for abortion up to birth.
The long-fought for value put on human life is being eroded before our eyes.
The demand for euthanasia is growing, as has been evident in recent weeks, with celebrities calling for it. 50% of NHS doctors say they are in favour. During Covid, DNR notices were applied to patients without their knowledge. Apparently this was a ‘mistake’! The long-fought for value put on human life is being eroded before our eyes.
7: No sexual sin
“You shall not commit adultery.”
Casual ones outside marriage are now celebrated. Yet the evidence shows this leads to social isolation and poverty. One prominent feminist has since realised that the ‘sexual revolution’ of the Sixties was the worst thing that could have happened to women.
Cultural wrong-think applies tragically also to gender dysphoria and homosexual activity. The Bible proscribes these things as they are not God’s intention for us. How have we just come to accept this as normal – is our sense of outrage so neutered?
8: No theft
“You shall not steal.”
In the US, department shops are closing in ‘progressive’ States because the authorities will not prosecute theft under $1,000. In the UK it’s not too different, as domestic theft is rarely investigated. Why would the government do this?
The Bible proscribes these things as they are not God’s intention for us.
More broadly, the tax system takes your income away. There is a need for some taxation, but the rate goes up and up. We’re used to this, but why do we assume that the state knows how to spend (your) resources better than you? Smaller government (a government that taxes and spends less) pushes the responsibility back to us (where God puts it).
9: Don’t lie about people
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.”
Speaking truth in politics or cultural leadership is rare. The prevailing approach is to accuse others of exactly what you are doing – to distract from your own wrongdoing. We all too quickly accept these false testimonies, because to face up to the scale of lying and do something about it demands too much from us.
With lies generally, Solzhenitsyn’s ‘Live not by lies’2 recognised that truth-telling was the most subversive and powerful thing you could do in the face of a distorting culture. We need to recognise the same. ‘A man is a man…’ – how amazingly powerful is social pressure that we baulk even at that statement, ‘so as not to offend’, despite ruined lives and mutilated young bodies.
Tucker Carlson observed that “you don’t get cancelled for telling lies; only for telling the truth.”
10: Don’t be envious and jealous of others
“You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.”
We thought we’d conquered these ideologies after the Berlin Wall – but man’s evil reasserts itself in different forms.
Both Socialist and Fascist political ideologies say the state definitely should do these things! The state owns you, your children, your income, your property, your opinions, you are not entitled to anything. “You will have nothing and you will be happy”, the World Economic Forum declares. The WEF/UN elites are the ones in charge of the West, and they seem to be coming after everything. Orwell’s ‘1984’ is their handbook, ‘climate’ their excuse. We thought we’d conquered these ideologies after the Berlin Wall – but man’s evil reasserts itself in different forms.
We realise that covetousness, and its destruction of freedom, are held in check only by God’s grace. If we reject that we suffer the results
So...
God gave civil government for our good but, as Calvin stated, “since a wicked prince is the Lord’s scourge to punish the sins of the people, let us remember, that it happens through our fault that this excellent blessing of God is turned into a curse.” 3
Sadly, we’re not doing so well, and we can feel the consequences – a soft totalitarianism which we accept until we’re so disempowered that we can’t do anything about it.
As we have seen, strong systematic pressures exist to oppose every Law of Life – and I'll leave you to work out which ones don't relate to the Post Office tragedy!
We have to work to change this kingdom's heart and mind so each law of life is honoured and followed – and so that people flourish.
It has, however, been worse in the past – and God, through His grace, has raised us up. Our nation can be recovered – God is the great rescuer and almost against hope He moves to bring joy and reform. The state’s ruling elites are fallen people like us, but held by God to a high standard in public life. They need repentance and renewal.This is a spiritual battle not a political one.
As Ambassadors from a different kingdom, we had better ensure we are ‘on-message’ and speaking up clearly. We have to work to change this kingdom's heart and mind, so each law of life is honoured and followed – and so that people flourish.
Notes
1 Pride - Identity and the worship of self, by Matthew Roberts.
2 www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/live-not-by-lies
3 Calvin’s commentary on Rom 13:3-4.
Jon Sharp has worked as a software dev and latterly as a cultural apologist. He is founder of the website Knowing the Times
