How do US laws compare with the Ten Commandments?

Answer 1

A:

The Ten Commandments is a fairly short code that is substantially about worship, with the first three of the ten commandments requiring believers to worship God only and the fourth requiring observance of the Sabbath. The fifth commandment tells us to honour our parents, which is a commandment more about family relations than law. The next four commandments are concerned with prohibiting murder, adultery, theft and false witness, but only as general statements. The tenth commandment can be defined as dealing with protecting property rights because it tells us not to covet the property of our neighbour, but it does not tell us how to sue a person for thinking these things. Having been written, the Ten Commandments are unchanging and unchangeable. Elsewhere in The Bible are additional commandments that expand on these ten, so that for example, a child who strikes his father and thereby does not honour his parents must be put to death.

The United States constitution requires separation of state and religion, so it would be unthinkable for laws to lay down rules about worship. It would also be unthinkable for Congress to pass a law requiring a mandatory death sentence for a child who strikes his father. United States law is based on the principles of British common law, law of tort and legislation passed by Congress and at all times subject to change by the Congress. There is no historical connection between US law and the Ten Commandments.

Answer 2

In simple terms, the ten commandments were handed down by God while other codes of law are mere rules set by men in authority to regulate the conduct of fellow men in the society to forstall certain behaviours which are percieved to be unacceptable or destructive to the stability and progress of the society...

The truth is, codes of law are expansions on the ten commandment which specifies specific redress for specific actions that can be enforced under specific jurisdictions and situations.

Answer 3

The ten commandments set forth the principles upon which the body of about 600 other laws were based. The approximately 600 other laws merely enlarge upon, make clear and explain in more detail the application of the ten commandments. Additionally , when referring to the law, Jesus made no distinction between the law and the ten commandments. When asked the greatest commandment of the law, Jesus taught "You must love your God with you whole heart and whole mind and whole soul, this is the greatest and first commandment the second like it is this, You must love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments, the whole law hangs and the prophets.

Answer 4

The Ten Commandments found in the Bible represent a moral law some of which are not represented in the laws of the state or nation. Honoring your mother and father and not coveting are examples of a moral law. Coveting is a sin of the heart and mind and requires no physical act to take place.

Some of the Ten Commandments are nevertheless part of the law of the land in most countries.

The commandments "Thou shalt not kill (or murder)" and "Thou shalt not steal" are common laws in the books of every civilized country around the world.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor" is considered perjury and likewise punishable by monetary penalties and possibly jail time.

Blue laws in the United States also known as Sunday laws-are laws designed to restrict or ban some or all Sunday activities for religious standards particularly the observance of a day of worship or rest. This is based on the commandment to keep the sabbath day holy.

Answer 5

The Greek and Roman (and other) law-codes were assembled by human beings, while the Torah which includes the Ten Commandments (Exodus ch.20) was, according to tradition, given by God (Exodus 24:12). The various law codes were subject to occasional revision, reversal, and eventual abandonment, while the Torah's commands were not. Many law codes limit themselves to legal matters, whereas the Torah intersperses its laws with moral exhortations and subjects of belief, behavior and attitudes.One of the reasons that the Greeks and Romans hated the Jews was the stark difference of the Jewish practices (and not just the beliefs), as compared to those of the Greeks and Romans. The Jews, by and large, adhered to the practices of the Torah, which calls for kindness, charity, scholarliness, the value of human life, and the abhorrence of promiscuity.
Just a very few examples:
1) Aristotle, who was among the greatest of the Greeks, and Seneca, the famous Roman, both write that killing one's unwanted young babies is perfectly acceptable.
2) In Europe, the Druids practiced human sacrifice throughout Roman Gaul and the British isles. Virgins were sacrificed by casting them into wells.
3) In the Roman cities, the Bacchanalian feasts became so wild that a royal decree was promulgated that they be held outside city limits.
4) Prostitution was a fixed part of temple worship.
5) Children had no rights. In Carthage, babies were sacrificed in fire. Roman law (Patrias Potestas) permitted a man to kill his male descendants of any age and for any reason. Professor and former President of the American Historical Association, William L. Langer (in The History of Childhood), writes: "Children, being physically unable to resist aggression, were the victims of forces over which they had no control, and they were abused in almost unimaginable ways."
6) Under Israelite law, "an eye for an eye" has always meant the monetary value placed upon it by the court (Talmud, Bava Kama 83b). Roman law, however, included literal retaliation (Twelve Tables of Roman Law, 7:9).
7) Romans were killed for the crime of slander (Twelve Tables, 7:8).
8) A Roman could be killed for assembling a noisy crowd at night and disturbing the town (Twelve Tables, 9:6).

See also:

The influence of the Ten Commandments

Are non-Jews expected to keep any parts of the Torah?

Answer 6

Luke 10:25-28 (NIV):
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher,"Â he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"What is written in the Law?" he replied.
"How do you read it?" ÂHe answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself."
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. Do this and you will live.

ÂThis "new" commandment by Jesus isn't really new. It summarizes all that the ten commandments represent.

Answer 7

The ten commandments is not a code of law.

Answer 8

The 10 Commandments came directly from God, not from mankind.