Fifth Commandment

[messianicdruid]

Deut. 5:16 gives us the Fifth Commandment:

"Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you."

This commandment establishes the primacy of family relationships. To honor means to obey or to fulfill a promise or obligation. In law it means "to accept a bill of exchange, or to pay a note, check, or accepted bill, at maturity and according to its tenor" (Black's Law Dictionary, 4th ed.).

Hence, to honor one's father and mother is to recognize one's source of life that God established at creation. It also establishes order, responsibility, and godly authority that is not based purely upon force and strength.

The Darwinian world-view of evolution sees family origins in nature itself, rather than in God. Thus, they view animals in the wild and assume that man was originally part of a "primal horde," dominated by a "violent primal father" who drives out the sons and claims exclusive sexual rights over the mother and daughters.

To this, they add the Oedipus complex, telling us that the rebellious sons fight back by killing the father and eating him in order to possess the mother and sisters. Then their guilt caused them to establish three taboos: parricide, cannibalism, and incest. They tell us that religion was an outgrowth of those taboos.

Evolutionary thinking assumes that there was no Creator and that our first parents rose of out primal instincts as animals, rather than being a perfect creation which later fell through sin and then degenerated toward animal-like amorality. They look at nature and the rule of raw power in some of the animals and assume that this is how it began with us. Hence, many are also convinced that we must go "back to nature," not only by stripping off their clothing, but also in sexual "freedom" and in totalitarian forms of elitist government.

The psychology of evolutionary thinking prepares people to think in terms of power and force, rather than in responsibility and honor of authority under God. They see the father-animal as the original god of the family, and hence "god" is defined in terms of the power of self-interest and the pursuit of his personal pleasure. Their god seeks to steal more property to obtain more servants.

Their philosophers often make it their mission to destroy the family structure, believing that this is the only way that they can succeed in destroying "superstition" (i.e., belief in God). Thus, Frederick Engels (who promoted Karl Marx) believed that a monogamous family was the source of brutality toward women. He said it was founded on the the idea of wife-slavery, when, in fact, such slavery is an outgrowth of animal behavior in the evolutionary theory itself.

The Bible leads us from an Old Covenant marriage (bondwoman) into a New Covenant marriage (free woman), as Paul clearly tells us in Galatians 4. Biblical liberty is not the same as what the evolutionists call "freedom," for each view is based upon a different premise. What Marxism and the evolutionists offer is to "liberate" women from the family, primarily by transforming her into an industrial worker.

The Women's Liberation Movement seeks to free women from oppressive family situations. Their success depends largely on how many Old Covenant relationships are practiced in the home. Unfortunately, even many Christians do not understand this, for many men use power and fear as the glue of marriage. The evolutionists use such Old Covenant relationships in the Church as proof of their theories, and desperate women are tricked into joining a movement that only makes their bad situation more universal.

Honor has to do with personal responsibility under God to fulfill one's word. His yes is yes, and his no is no. A man's strength, power, or energy is used to bring honor, rather than personal pleasure or self-interest. Family relationships teach children the first principles of honoring authority. When the child grows to maturity, this habit should transfer to the community government and to the state or national government.

But if a child learns that fatherhood is only about being stronger than the sons, those sons will be ruled by evolutionary thought and will dishonor both parents and other governments. The more prevalent this becomes among the people, the more power that governments will seek, and liberty will be eroded and will be replaced in the end by totalitarianism.

In a perfect world of evolutionary, animalistic, self-interest behavior, only totalitarian rule by fear can hold a society together. True republics would not work at all. We would be reduced to democracies, whereby all peons are created equal, as they serve all elite power brokers. As Orwell said in chapter 10 of his classic, Animal Farm, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

The Fifth Commandment is, of course, built upon the second great commandment: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." All commandments are built upon the first great commandment: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart," which also restates the First Commandment, "You shall have no other gods before Me."

To honor parents thus establishes a God-centered form of government. Government was created by God in Gen. 1:28, when God said to "subdue" the earth. This is interpreted in Psalm 8:6,

"Thou dost make him to rule over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet."

The Apostle Paul quotes this in 1 Cor. 15:27, saying in verse 28 that the purpose of man's authority is "that God may be all in all."

In other words, man has authority, not sovereignty. He was not given authority to do as he pleased, but to subdue the whole earth and put it under the dominion of God Himself, who is the Creator and Owner of all things. This is the root of the biblical concept of honor. Man's original responsibility and purpose was to rule under God and by His laws.

Evolutionary thought makes man the master of the universe, giving the "elite" rulers the right to rule as sovereign gods over the earth. They license marriage in order for them to produce child-serfs as commercial entities. Children are given birth certificate numbers, and the paperwork is forwarded to the Department of Commerce and from there to the Depository Trust Company in New York. The DTC creates ten bonds for the child, each valued at the modern price of a serf: $3.5 billion. Money is then created on the value of these serfs, and the birth certificates become "negotiable instruments" that are traded world-wide by the large financial institutions run by the "elite" gods of this world.

The Bible gives even the greatest men mere delegated authority. They are commanded to honor their "Parent" by acting responsibly according to the divine mandate to subdue the earth and bring it into reconciliation (harmony) with the divine law, which is the mind, will, and character of God Himself as seen visibly in Jesus Christ.

The fall of Adam is not evidence that his condition is "natural" and therefore "good." All things were created "very good" (Gen. 1:31) and then degenerated after the fall. Evolution presumes that man's fallen condition was how his history began, so they have no vision of the divine plan for the earth. The fall of man did not alter his mandate to subdue the earth under God's headship. It only made it impossible to fulfill the mandate apart from a redemptive work of Christ on the cross and a regenerative work of the Holy Spirit.

[messianicdruid]

The Fifth Commandment, Paul says in Eph. 6:2, is the first one that comes with a promise. It promises long life, which can be applied in two ways. First, it has to do with providing a general atmosphere in the nation that lengthens the average life span. Secondly, the "long life" promised here can be applied to the age to come when we receive the promise of immortality.

The primary application of this Commandment, however, has to do with its application "on the land which the Lord your God gives you" (Deut. 5:16). Hence, it has to do with our earthly life in the Kingdom of God. Keeping the law of God in a Kingdom nation reduces the crime rate, disease, poverty, and the tyranny of man's governments that so often add stress to men's lives and thereby shorten their time on earth.

In Exodus 15:26 God said that if Israel kept this law, "I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have put on the Egyptians; for I the Lord am your healer." Our healing is based upon the fact that Jesus Christ became our Passover Lamb, for Isaiah 53:5, "by His scourging we are healed."

The Egyptians, who did not keep the Passover, lost their firstborn sons in the tenth plague. God also told the Israelites that if they violated His law, "the Lord will smite you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scab and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed" (Deut. 28:27). Ill health is the most common cause of shortened lives. America has the most expensive health care in the world while at the same time being among the unhealthiest countries. Most diseases are "managed" but never cured, and doctors treat symptoms with drugs but almost never address the root causes of those symptoms. In fact, it has become unlawful to cure disease, because cures would erode profits for the big pharmaceutical companies.

Meanwhile, chemical fertilizers drug the land itself, with side effects of infertility, deformities, and countless diseases that bring about shorter life spans.

All of this stems, in part, from the violation of the Fifth Commandment regarding respect for authority, because respect for parental authority is derived from the command to recognize the sovereignty of God over every nation and over all of Creation. When such respect is eroded, men create their own laws that run contrary to the law of God. They treat the earth as if there were no Creator and no divine ownership. Man's governments assume ownership over the land instead of maintaining the position of stewardship.

When man's governments were taken over by multi-national corporations, laws were changed to benefit big business and their profits, and this policy was sold to the unsuspecting public as a way to create "jobs." But Solomon said in Prov. 14:12, "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."

The laws of God promote life; man's laws promise life but promote death. Moses therefore instructs Israel in Deut. 30:19, "so choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants."

Obedience to the law, recognizing God's sovereignty and man's authority, will lengthen the average life span of the populace of any nation, simply because the laws of God were designed for our benefit and not premised upon any love of money on God's part. However, we recognize also that attaining immortality is only possible through Jesus Christ and the New Covenant. This does not dispose of the law, but the laws of sacrifice were changed from animal types and shadows to the one true Sacrifice that needs no repetition daily or yearly.

Modern humanist governments, which do not recognize the Creator above them, present life as the highest goal and therefore worship life itself, rather than the Giver of life. Biblical law recognizes life as a byproduct or result, rather than as a first cause. Life itself, therefore, remains subject to the law and is conditional upon obedience. For this reason, the death penalty for certain types of crime does not contradict the will or character of God.

The law generally demands restitution to be paid to the injured parties, and in cases where restitution is not possible, the crime calls for the death penalty. First and foremost, the death penalty is first designed to protect the innocent people from those who are violent. Secondly, because true justice is not done until all victims of injustice have been compensated, the death penalty recognizes the impossibility of paying restitution in the current world situation. Hence, the death penalty is really designed to put the offender into storage in a merciful, unconscious state until he is raised for judgment at the Great White Throne. Then and only then can his case be fully adjudicated in a way that earthly judges were incapable of doing.

For humanist governments, the death penalty is the end of a man's existence, and the horror of such a thought causes them to worship life, rather than to seek justice for the victims. Hence, abolishing the death penalty is the result of dethroning God and denying the existence of a resurrection, divine justice, and an afterlife. Men then become their own measure of all things, and this perspective causes them to dishonor their heavenly Father.

The death penalty is designed to prevent violent men from taking the life {or the innocence} of the innocent. Thus, the divine law extends the lives of the many innocent, even as it shortens the life of the evil ones. Longer and happier lives are the result of this, even if the main purpose of the death penalty is actually judicial in nature.

When a child proves himself to be incorrigibly rebellious, and no amount of correction is sufficient to turn him around, he dishonors his parents in direct violation of the Fifth Commandment. By extension, he also violates the First Commandment on which the Fifth is based. If the parent is finally forced to admit defeat, because the son is to old (and strong) to discipline further, the parent has the right to bring him to the court of law for judgment. The law prescribes the death penalty for such sons (Deut. 21:18-23).

Of course, the very fact that such a law is on the books ought to cause a rebellious son to see the seriousness of his actions, repent, and submit to proper authority. It is hard to imagine anyone being so hardened that he would still refuse to repent even in the face of certain death. Perhaps that is why we have no biblical example of any son actually being executed for such rebellion. We have only Israel's example of national rebellion, for God had called His "son" Israel out of Egypt (Hos. 11:1). In that case God executed the death penalty upon the nation, causing it to "cease" (Hos. 1:4). This did not mean that every individual died or ceased to exist, but that the government itself ceased to exist as an independent nation.

So we see that God executed His "son" named Israel according to the law after many appeals by the prophets for repentance.

However, the law did not give any parent or family member the right of life and death over the children. The rebellious son was to be executed by "the men of his city" (Deut. 21:21) when the full judicial process was complete. This lack of parental prerogative differed from Roman law in ancient times as well as Islamic law today. As in many non-biblical cultures, a Roman father had the right to abort his child, to leave his infant to the wild animals, or to kill them as youths. Such power was based on the belief that a child's life was given to him by his parents, rather than by God. Therefore, those cultures gave fathers the right of life and death over their children.

[Janadele]

Sharia Law which is being introduced to our courts through stealth, so called "political correctness", and by the actions of Muslim judges, threatens the whole basis of our Christian system of justice... as does the unchecked immigration of the adherents of Islam.
... This lack of parental prerogative differed from Roman law in ancient times as well as Islamic law today. As in many non-biblical cultures, a Roman father had the right to abort his child, to leave his infant to the wild animals, or to kill them as youths. Such power was based on the belief that a child's life was given to him by his parents, rather than by God. Therefore, those cultures gave fathers the right of life and death over their children.

[palani]

You are rewarded for being honorable and punished for being dishonorable. Note that a win at equity is considered dishonorable while a loss in equity is honorable?



To pray to another, for ayde of any kind, is to HONOUR; because
a signe we have an opinion he has power to help; and the more
difficult the ayde is, the more is the Honour.

To obey, is to Honour; because no man obeyes them, whom they think
have no power to help, or hurt them. And consequently to disobey,
is to Dishonour.

To give great gifts to a man, is to Honour him; because 'tis buying
of Protection, and acknowledging of Power. To give little gifts,
is to Dishonour; because it is but Almes, and signifies an opinion
of the need of small helps. To be sedulous in promoting anothers good;
also to flatter, is to Honour; as a signe we seek his protection or ayde.
To neglect, is to Dishonour.

To give way, or place to another, in any Commodity, is to Honour;
being a confession of greater power. To arrogate, is to Dishonour.

To shew any signe of love, or feare of another, is to Honour;
for both to love, and to feare, is to value. To contemne,
or lesse to love or feare then he expects, is to Dishonour;
for 'tis undervaluing.

To praise, magnifie, or call happy, is to Honour; because nothing
but goodnesse, power, and felicity is valued. To revile, mock,
or pitty, is to Dishonour.

To speak to another with consideration, to appear before him with
decency, and humility, is to Honour him; as signes of fear to offend.
To speak to him rashly, to do anything before him obscenely, slovenly,
impudently, is to Dishonour.

To believe, to trust, to rely on another, is to Honour him;
signe of opinion of his vertue and power. To distrust, or not believe,
is to Dishonour.

To hearken to a mans counsell, or discourse of what kind soever,
is to Honour; as a signe we think him wise, or eloquent, or witty.
To sleep, or go forth, or talk the while, is to Dishonour.

To do those things to another, which he takes for signes of Honour,
or which the Law or Custome makes so, is to Honour; because
in approving the Honour done by others, he acknowledgeth the power
which others acknowledge. To refuse to do them, is to Dishonour.

To agree with in opinion, is to Honour; as being a signe of approving
his judgement, and wisdome. To dissent, is Dishonour; and an upbraiding
of errour; and (if the dissent be in many things) of folly.

To imitate, is to Honour; for it is vehemently to approve.
To imitate ones Enemy, is to Dishonour.

To honour those another honours, is to Honour him; as a signe of
approbation of his judgement. To honour his Enemies, is to Dishonour him.

To employ in counsell, or in actions of difficulty, is to Honour;
as a signe of opinion of his wisdome, or other power. To deny employment
in the same cases, to those that seek it, is to Dishonour.

All these wayes of Honouring, are naturall; and as well within,
as without Common-wealths. But in Common-wealths, where he,
or they that have the supreme Authority, can make whatsoever
they please, to stand for signes of Honour, there be other Honours.

A Soveraigne doth Honour a Subject, with whatsoever Title, or Office,
or Employment, or Action, that he himselfe will have taken for a signe
of his will to Honour him.


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