Have you ever wondered what the world would be like without the Ten Commandments? We don’t really have to wonder; archaeology gives us a pretty good idea.It is widely accepted that the Ten Commandments, and our attempts to adhere to them, are foundational for our society and have led to such progress as human rights, parliamentary democracy, the ending of slavery, equality of the races and the sexes. Now these commandments would never work unless they came directly from God. Without God they are reduced to a set of opinions and/or beliefs. Without the authority of our God to back them up would they have lasted three thousand years as a foundational document in all human society? Which one would you break first if God wasn’t watching?
If we separate states and societies into civilised and non-civilised; or as a historian would term them state and non-state, then the evidence is pretty clear. Archaeological evidence of prehistoric societies shows the incidence of violent deaths to average 20% with the highest reaching 60% (the Crow/Creek indian nation of South Dakota circa 1325 AD).The average of violent deaths in Western Europe through the 20th century was 3%! Yes that’s right the most violent century in the history of Western Europe and only 3%; the violent deaths of the 17th century, in Western Europe, was second at 2%. If we only look at the last forty years of the 20th century it falls to 1% and all these figures include war deaths.
In a recent study of DNA of the general population a particular prion was found to be present in 96% of us all. This prion can only get into our DNA if one of our ancestors ate somebody else and, once it gets in, it is passed down forever through our genes. Sobering thought? God gave us the ten commandments; not Moses; not some king; not some priest; God. God cares so much for us that he rescued His chosen people out of bondage to be a living seed in the body of humanity out of which He could lead us into rightful behavior and onto the path towards the Kingdom of Heaven. If you want to know where we would be without God then look at mankind’s history before and after His intervention. God gave us a moral compass to steer by. His second greatest gift.