Doctrine of Life #58
58. In the second tablet, the one for man, we are not told that a person must do this or that good. Instead we are told that he must not do this or that evil. So we are commanded, “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet.” That is because no person can do any good of himself. But when he does not do evil, he then does good, not of himself, but from the Lord.
A person can, by the Lord’s power, refrain from evils as though of himself, if he implores that power, as we shall later see.
Exodus 20:2-14
2
"I am Yahweh 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 yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5
you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,
6
and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7
"You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
8
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9
You shall labor six days, and do all your work,
10
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates;
11
for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.
12
"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
13
"You shall not murder.
