Christians, should the Ten Comandments be made into laws?

Question

1: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'

2: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.'

3: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'

4: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'

5: 'Honor your father and your mother.'

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.'

Should it be illegal to commit adultery? Or to work on the Sabbath? Or to desire other people's property?

Ok, to specify -- laws of the United States of America.

rukidding: I only count 3.

Answer 1

It is already illegal if you follow GODs Law. And GOD's Law is higher than man's

k1

Answer 2

The government cannot dictate your religion. This is why there should be a separation of church and state. Initially, when this country was founded, the pilgrims tried a
church-state. A Sunday Law was implemented. People were forced to go to church on Sunday and stores were closed.
A man called Roger Williams started complaining. He said people should believe in whatever they wanted. Well, Williams was persecuted for his beliefs and ended up hiding in Rhode Island.
If you look at the 10 Commandments, there are 2 stones. The laws in each stone are different. The first stone dictates our relationship with God and the second stone dictates our relationships with others. The government should NEVER get involved in how we worship God -(Meaning stone#1). Now, if the government does not get involved in how we treat each other(stone#2)we would have chaos, anarchy.
In The Bill of Rights - All men are created equal-to keep the state out of the church.Jefferson made sure the state could not make a national church.
But in the past few years, we are seeing Religion the topic of discussion in politics. We pray at the opening of Congress. The President prays on the Bible. Will there be a national church; a union between church and state? If it happens, who will you obey, the law of God or the law of men.

Answer 3

That's the danger with merging Church and State!
It's already illegal to steal and commit murder.
By needlessly expanding the brutal power of a State into a theocracy you leave it wide open for any interpretation of things like "bearing false witness" and "committing adultery" to be interpreted by a judge or a cop.
Keep in mind as things stand we already imprison more people than any other society ever.
The wisdom of having Church and State separate means people like Tim LaHaye and Pat Robertson only have power over their followers. Atheists, Buddhists, Hindus and others who are appalled by the Christian Jewish Islam God of Abraham have a right to be left alone.
This proposal is like the line from Milton about the Road to Hell being paved with Good Intentions!

Answer 4

No - we live in a multi-religious society. Belief in God requires free choice.

In terms of adultery - technically, it is breach of contract. Work on the Sabbath refers to servile work. And desiring other people's property - if it goes into envy and greed, well that's not a good thing! Witness kids being killed for sneakers (haven't heard of that lately though....)

From a Catholic Christian perspective, it is rare to look at something and be able to call it sinful. For example - if you are homeless and have children depending on you, is it not a good thing to have a little envy in order to make you work even harder to gain shelter? There is frequently goodness encapsulated in sin which is why it is so attractive.

On a side note, the Libertarian in me thinks it might be a better choice to take the 10 Commandments if we could chuck about 95% of our other federal and state laws.

Answer 5

Only if you want a Christian theocracy and not a modern democracy.

I want to live in a country with freedom of religion for ALL. That cannot happen if one religious sect is given sole preference in matters of public law.

If that were to happen America would cease to exist as the country with Liberty and Justice for all.

While certain common, universal ethics exist in ALL cultures around the world- no murder, stealing, lying etc. Other things are a matter of religious tradition, personal and family life.

I am not a SDA or Jew so why must I follow the Sabbath or worship the Judeo/Christian God/s? You are forcing me to abide by a religion that is not mine. That is NOT freedom.

Answer 6

Making the 10 commandments into laws would be a gross infringement on personal freedom, a blatant violation of the separation between church and state and a giant step forward to a tyrannical theocracy. If my country made these laws, I'd move to another country.

Answer 7

3 of them ARE laws. Don't steal and don't murder and don't bear false witness against your neighbor. I don't believe that worshiping god, making idols, coveting, keeping the sabbath should be laws. That would mean that we are making people adhere to gods commandments. God doesn't want people to have to worship him . He wants us to WANT to worship him. I think honor your father and mother and not commiting adultry SHOULD be laws, however, because that would make us a better society.

Answer 8

First of all, most "Christians" don't abide by the commandments anyway. I have met many "Christians" who do more terrible things and are way more judgemental than supposed"non-christians".
Lots of the commandments are already laws,(stealing, adultery, murder) .
A person can be a good person without being a Christian.

Answer 9

They BASICALLY are...

Besides the first, second, third..........

OK so 5, 6, 8, 9(perjury) are

not sure about 10 though...

Anyway. I think adultery SHOULD be illegal and people who get fined or put in jail for it...it ruins SO many families with almost nothing said to the adulterers....

Some people HAVE to work on Sundays...nurses, doctors, etc...and you can desire other's property...but as long as you don't try to take them...

Answer 10

some already are but certain commandments will never be cause of religious freedom and what The Bog Nug said. more importantly these are commandments that GOD gave us which are more important than governments law.

edit: excellent point Kaliko

Answer 11

well numbers 1-4 cannot become laws in the United States because there is freedom of religion.

the others i personally think should be, but it needs to be specified what they mean.