Schools? Essay, Research Paper
Should the Ten Commandments be Posted in Schools?
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Notes: All scripture quotes, unless otherwise indicated, are from the New King James Version of the Bible. The views expressed below are not necessarily those of the author, but rather are intended to make people think. Feel free to distribute this essay anywhere you want, including web pages, newsgroups, forums, and e-mail.
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Not only should public schools be allowed to post the 10 Commandments, they should be REQUIRED to post them in each and every classroom. The lack of God?s word in everyday life is clearly the reason for immorality so common among today?s youth. If we force the Bible into every kid?s daily life, all of their troubles will be solved. The Ten Commandments are only a start.
If the killers at Columbine or any other school had seen “thou shall not murder” every day, there is no question it would have stopped them from gunning down their classmates. Same with any other would-be shooter. It doesn?t matter if they?re being bullied and picked on. There have always been bullies, and kids have picked on each other forever. It also doesn?t matter if the parents were negligent in allowing their child access to a weapon, or whether a gun dealer irresponsibly sold a firearm to a minor. There will always be slip-ups. The bottom line is, none of the school shootings would have happened if the Holy Bible had been present in those buildings.
Kids also need to see “Thou shall not steal”. Kids today shoplift, and even commit auto theft. Obviously, these youngsters have no idea that stealing is wrong. We must allow God to tell them Himself, by posting His command not to steal where they see it every day.
The complete text of Exodus 20:1-17, where the Ten Commandments are delivered to Moses, must be posted and made clearly visible in every classroom of every school. That way, God?s Word will speak for itself to our children, and they will absorb the full meaning. Take, for instance, the first two commandments:
Exodus 20:2-6
2″I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3″You shall have no other gods before Me.
4″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; 5you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
The meaning here is unmistakable. You had better believe in and worship the Judeo-Christian God, and only Him. We must put down everyone who rejects our God, whether atheist or pagan, by having this posted. The message here is that the one true God is extremely jealous, and will not tolerate any other gods being worshipped, so much so that if you commit the horrible sin of rejecting Him, your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will suffer. Atheists and pagans must be constantly humiliated and brought to shame by seeing this message. It is their only hope of realizing the truth.
It is so important to God that you worship only Him that he orders the death penalty for those who do otherwise.
Deuteronomy 13:6-10
6″If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, 7of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, 8you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; 9but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Immediately after that, God orders the genocide of cities which do not worship Him.
Deuteronomy 13:12-16
12″If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to dwell in, saying, 13″Corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods”‘–which you have not known– 14then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination was committed among you, 15you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock–with the edge of the sword. 16And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and completely burn with fire the city and all its plunder, for the LORD your God. It shall be a heap forever; it shall not be built again.
Are you getting the picture? God places exceedingly high importance on worshipping Him and only Him. Absolutely no ignoring Him or turning to other gods is tolerated. We must not allow anyone who does not worship our God to forget for one day what grievous sin they are living in.
Foul language is on the tongues of our youth today. Some even use God?s name as a swear word. Clearly, these kids don?t know the third commandment.
Exodus 20:7
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
Could God be any clearer than that? He apparently holds this commandment above “thou shall not murder”, since this is #3, while the latter doesn?t come until #6. What is the penalty for cursing God?s name?
Leviticus 24:13-16
13And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 14″Take outside the camp him who has cursed; then let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.
15″Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: “Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. 16And whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the LORD, he shall be put to death.
Leviticus 24:23
Then Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and they took outside the camp him who had cursed, and stoned him with stones. So the children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses.
Clearly, God will not tolerate being blasphemed. We MUST make our young people aware of this. Let?s find out how God dealt with a group of children who blasphemed Him by mocking his prophet, Elisha.
2 Kings 2:23-24 (KJV)
23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
In this case, God used bears to deal with the kids who blasphemed Him. The point is, He does not tolerate any sort of disrespect toward Himself. It is our job to warn people to show Him reverence.
Violation of the next commandment is commonplace today.
Exodus 20:8-11
8″Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Could God be any clearer than this? No work on the Sabbath. Again, this appears to be more important to God than “thou shall not murder”, since the latter does not come until #6, while this is #4. Why do we see stores open on the Sabbath day? That is a clear violation of God?s word. This must be stressed to young teens looking for part-time employment or planning for careers. You must not take a job which, even occasionally, forces you to work on the Sabbath. It doesn?t matter if you can?t get a good job and can?t pay your expenses. God knows best, and He says no work on the Sabbath.
What is the Biblical penalty for infraction of the Sabbath? You can probably guess, if you don?t already know.
Exodus 31:14-15
14You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
Numbers 15:32-36
32 Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. 33And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. 34They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him.
35Then the LORD said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” 36So, as the LORD commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died.
No violating God?s Sabbath law, and this includes picking up a few sticks. If you do, you will pay the price. The next commandment is also routinely broken by today?s youth.
Exodus 20:12
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
You must honor your parents and obey their voice, no matter what their rules are. If this hurts you, or makes you an outcast, too bad. What is the penalty for disobedience? You guessed it.
Exodus 21:17
“And he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
Deuteronomy 21:18-21
18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, 19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. 20And they shall say to the elders of his city, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.
Later, Jesus reiterated this commandment, condemning the Pharisees for failing to execute offenders.
Matthew 15:3-4
3He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4For God commanded, saying, “Honor your father and your mother’; and, “He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’
We all know about #6, which forbids murder. #7 forbids adultery. #8 forbids stealing. #9 forbids lying. The tenth and final commandment:
Exodus 20:17
“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.”
In addition to forbidding one to desire someone else?s belongings, this commandment also teaches us two forgotten but important truths. 1: A woman is her husband?s property. Your neighbor?s wife is categorized with his house, slaves, and livestock. 2: God has given us the right to own slaves, since He mentions them here with no hint of disapproval.
Let?s examine a few other scriptures which demonstrate that a wife is the property of her husband.
Genesis 3:16
To the woman He said:
“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”
Right after the Fall, God mandated that man rule over woman. We see in the following verses how a man can purchase a wife.
Deuteronomy 22:28-29
28″If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are found out, 29then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife because he has humbled her; he shall not be permitted to divorce her all his days.
Further proof that woman belongs to man is found in Numbers 31, when God commands the genocide of the Midianites.
Numbers 31:17-18
17Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man intimately. 18But keep alive for yourselves all the young girls who have not known a man intimately.
The key words being “keep alive for yourselves” in reference to virgin girls.
Ephesians 5:22-24
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
Since Christ is God, a wife must treat her husband like a god, submitting to his every command and desire.
As for slavery, God makes clear that a slave is his master?s property, with which the master may do what he pleases.
Exodus 21:20-21
20″And if a man beats his male or female servant with a rod, so that he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished. 21Notwithstanding, if he remains alive a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his property.
Leviticus 25:44-46
44And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have–from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. 45Moreover you may buy the children of the strangers who dwell among you, and their families who are with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your property. 46And you may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession; they shall be your permanent slaves. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor.
Slaves are commanded to treat their masters as if they were God, even if the masters are cruel.
Ephesians 6:5
Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ;
1 Peter 2:18
Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.
If the heretic Abraham Lincoln had read these verses, maybe he wouldn?t have torn America apart over slavery in the 19th century. And we wouldn?t have the unBiblical 13th Amendment in our Constitution, which, in defiance of God?s Word, forbids slavery.
God takes sin so seriously that He demands that animals be ritualistically slaughtered before he will forgive the transgressions of men.
Leviticus 5:5-10
5″And it shall be, when he is guilty in any of these matters, that he shall confess that he has sinned in that thing; 6and he shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD for his sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin.
7″If he is not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring to the LORD, for his trespass which he has committed, two turtledoves or two young pigeons: one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. 8And he shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer that which is for the sin offering first, and wring off its head from its neck, but shall not divide it completely. 9Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, and the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. 10And he shall offer the second as a burnt offering according to the prescribed manner. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin which he has committed, and it shall be forgiven him.
Having the Bible in our schools will teach children a great respect for God and for life, as evidenced in the above scripture quotes. We must not wait to bring back God?s word. Who knows what could happen if our country continues to turn its back on God?