The script is a familiar one. The ACLU brings a lawsuit. A Court declares the display of the Ten Commandments violates the Estblishment Clause, which prevents Congress from establishing a state religion. And then the workmen come in the dead of night and spirit the offending article away.

The next day, a void prevails. Witness the triumph of our modern enlightenment.

Isaiah 29:15-16 comes to mind.

15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

Yes, we have turned our world upside down.

(Link to news report)
(The purpose of the Establishment Clause was to prevent America from following England’s model of establishing a Church of England. The Commandments are at the foundation of our American heritage, but, as any sane person understands, they in no way represent a specific church or sect.)

If I were a lawmaker, I would replace the Commandments with a pile of rubble. Who could object to a pile of rubble?

Moses Breaks Tablets
Oh, yeah, there was that incident in Exodus 32, in which the backsliding Hebrews made the Golden Calf, and when Moses came down from Sinai with the Tablets…

19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.

I suppose even a pile of rubble is offensive. Does it ever end?

Consider the Liberty Bell, and its problematic inscription.

Liberty Bell inscription

“Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”

Tsk, tsk, that’s a reference to Leviticus 25:10.

10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

And suddenly it all makes sense, in a terrible sort of way. Because the very concept of Liberty, being of Biblical origin, has been declared un-American.

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4 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. midget says:

    Some people think that obeying the laws of God is slavery. But real freedom has to do with a constant control of our passions. Unhappiness stems from running amok, any addict will tell you that. One can see that in today’s culture as well.

    In June 1962, prayers & Biblical teachings were removed from schools.
    Now in its place are metal detectors & armed guards because of murders.
    Why? Because some have not been taught “Thou shalt not kill.”
    God sees the actions in the dead of night and “He who sits in the heavens,laughs” at the folly of mankind.

    • Maynard says:

      One of the most fundamental lessons of the Bible is that all actions have consequences. Without God, life is what we can get away with. That’s not to say that there was no evil in earlier times. But there was a fundamental common framework to push back against that evil from within each individual. As we remove God from the national horizon, we must replace that internal framework with external coercion. It’s a dehumanizing process.

      Yes, self-control is the key. This was once understood; note the now-unknown lyrics of the second stanza of “America the Beautiful”.

      O beautiful for pilgrim feet
      Whose stern impassioned stress
      A thoroughfare of freedom beat
      Across the wilderness!
      America! America!
      God mend thine every flaw,
      Confirm thy soul in self-control,
      Thy liberty in law!

      Liberty and self-control go hand in hand. As we destroy our basis for self-control, external controls must fill the gap and liberty is lost in the transition. The more we fail, the more power the outsiders take over us. And now Obama heads to Oregon to make his pitch for more gun control.

  2. Piquerish says:

    Among the FEW problems I actually have with the Ten Commandments is dealing with the editorial sleight of hand that changed the original verbiage of the Sixth Commandment from Thou Shalt Not MURDER to Thou Shalt Not Kill. If one is to adhere to the second iteration, then even eating a carrot violates the letter of the law. The Hebrews said “murder” and I’m pretty sure that was what was inscribed on the Tablets, unless, of course, they, too, were subject to modern-day PC constraints. But I digress. The ham-hand of the government often prefers the thief in the night approach to trampling down the people with whom the commissars have issues. This is the stage of tyranny that tries to be stealthy until they think they are power-aggrandized enough for more overt stuff, like, say, a new American rendition of Kristallnacht‎ .

    !!! Auchtung !!! Auchtung !!!
    !!! Comply !!! Comply !!!

  3. ancientwrrior says:

    All that was good is being uprooted and the soil sowed with grapes of wrath. We are now being confronted with the bitter fruit that springs forth. Woe unto them who calls evil good, and darkness light. The offspring of the lord of darkness now walk the halls of power in our world. 🙁

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