Eliyahu N. Kassorla
Human Nature and the Social
Order II
Dr. Orme
Rational Basis for
Morality
”וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים, אֵת
כָּל-הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה לֵאמֹר“…
“And God spoke all these words, saying…”[1]
That is how we all remember reading about how the Ten Commandments were given.
The divine revelation, with all of the Israelites circled around Mount Sinai,
and the basis for Judeo-Christian morality, spoken by God himself as a rule of
law, an idealistic vision of how we should behave. Then the Israelites made a
golden calf to worship, and smiting ensued. The central question is whether our
morality comes from divine law or whether humans do these anyways.
“Thou shalt not commit
homicide,” reads the sixth commandment. It is a very specific statement against
intentional, premeditated, cold-blooded, savage killing. Is it the reason that
we do not kill and murder? Frankly, early civilizations with complex religious
structures had similar judicial codes forbidding the same practices that many
of the Ten Commandments also prohibit. So the Judeo-Christian view that
morality comes from the revelation is untenable. Further, considering that the
Old Testament contains a total of six hundred and thirteen laws, and people are
not overly concerned with Jubilee years or the prohibition against harvesting
the corners of their fields, the fact that a law comes from on high is
coincidental at best.
