I recently read The Majesty of God's Law b W. Cleon Skousen and would like to share some of my favorite parts of it with you. I highly recommend this book to everyone.
"The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom." -James Madison
We need law and government to help protect our rights. Without law there would only be chaos. The trick is limiting government to only those items that help preserve our freedom.
"When meetings are called for the choice of your rulers, do not carelessly neglect them or give your vote with indifference ... but act with serious deliberation and judgment." -Samuel Langdon
Every election I am frustrated by those that simply don't care of vote based on the letter that follows the candidates name. We wonder why year after year we end up with poor leaders but when it comes time to elect leaders how much time to we spend researching our options? This last election I personally met every candidate I voted for except one (and most of the people I voted against). Most the the people I voted for where not the popular choice and most of my candidates lost but I felt very good about voting for who I felt was the best person after spending much time getting to know candidates.
"Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh ... lest I make my brother to offend." 1 Corinthians 8:13
How much better would society be if we each could attempt not to offend our neighbors and associates. I know often times people offend on purpose just to make a point or to get a reaction. This is good advice we could all live by.
"Satan revels in a situation which he can foment into contention and hatred." -W. Cleon Skousen
As I read this passage I thought of the currently political party system we currently use in our nation. How many times do you see a good idea shot down just because one party thought of it and the other party must disagree just to disagree with the other party. Very rarely do we see the parties work together realizing they are on the same team. Instead they think they are on different teams and are out to win.
"land as a permanent inheritance of the whole family. As the family expanded, so did its holdings. Within two or three generations, the immediate family was sufficiently secure in this financial stability to take care of any who were sick, disabled, temporarily unemployed, or old enough to retire. Until a family group was capable of sustaining its group needs, the burden was shared by the immediate community." -Skousen
This is Skousen summarizing the Hebrew family and community structure. Just think of how much better society would be if would live this way. Our national deficit would be wiped out because there would be no need for Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. Beyond the great savings think of the blessing to be received from helping take care of family members. This also prevents welfare abuse because if someone is in the condition to work the family will know it.
The book also explains how the Hebrews were taxed. There was a 10% income tax on all individuals. There was not deductions or credits. Every person paid their fair share no matter how rich or poor. This tax rate could not be adjusted so the government had to live within it's means. There was no property tax, sales tax, or other taxes. You could not lose your property for failure to pay tax on it because there was no tax. Again think of how much savings there would be without all the government agencies required to enforce a complex tax system and one that is fair to every member of society.
"And there will not be different laws at Rome and Athens, or different laws now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable law will be valid for all nations and all times." -Cicero
What a grand concept. This is Cicero explaining true law or Natural Law. Natural law are those laws that are unchangeable because they come from God. The founders of our country studied and believed in Natural Law. They tried to make sure all of the Natural Laws were protected. Today we try and legislate against nature and it always has consequences. One extreme example is one state tried to legislate that pi (3.14) which is used in geometry would just equal 3 to make it easier.
More to come from this great book!
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