Obey God's Standards

"On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and to my country and to obey the Scout Law; To Help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight."

Sometimes those days and times seem so far distant now both in time and space and particularly in societal change and standards. God and country just meant more then than now, and in that priorital order of God first. Human charity and care for others, one's neighbors and community was particularly strong and not so self serving. And one's moral character and pride in self and being good with set standards was important and well laid out. Abusing one's body and mind with drugs was a great evil to be socially condemned. And it was most prophetically proper to be 'morally straight', which meant then exactly that, and even though in today's twisted vernacular it is still understood the same, though little care is taken by society today to maintain it. Marriage and family were the understood backbone of society with husband, wife and children being the societal ideal.

Today's world has wrongly strayed from that Moral Standard of living. God to so many is dead and quite ignored in daily living. Self proclaimed 'rights' is placed ahead of the well being of others and society as a whole. And the moral standards of the years have been turned upside down. And today the greatest need of society and America is a return to that God in whom we so state our trust. As the world's history moves steadily toward that day of the Second Coming of the Lord, there is a great need to return to the fundamentals of striving to live by God's Standard.

God's standard has been the basic foundation to societal positive development in all ages. And that standard begins with the most basic commandments of God, the Ten Commandments. And though our nation and society has been built upon such a standard, today there are groups in protest to the public display of God's and humanity's basic laws for man's well being. Wrongly skewed in the human rights movements and arguments, these commandments have been barred from public display upon our nation's institutional lands. And today as much of our world is 'going to hell in a basket', that which could readily save them is being removed by the forces of evil from our national conscienciousness.

My own strong advice to my sons and daughters, to my grandchildren, is to so live by God's Standards, for only in them can they be in that state of the Boy Scout motto: "Be Prepared". Yes, be prepared for that coming day of the Lord, and be NOT found wanting. And to that direction here are God's basic Ten Commandments:

The greatest loss today has been man's lost understanding of his relationship to God. Either man has forgotten, ignored or even has set his mind to that position that there is no God. Yet what it really seems to boil down to is that man has created his own God to be the form, item or design of self determination of just what each man would have his God to be. Be it money, power, self grandizement and so on, man had replaced God with what man himself has determined of himself and of his own mind to be that which is more and even most important to him in the stead of God. In other words they are not really without God, they have just positioned and created their own God to be something else rather than that one true God. They certainly have disobeyed God's first and leading commandments.

Man is to place his relationship with God in that number one position. But what has man replaced God with? What has become number one in a man's life that is held greater than man's relationship to God? To many it is self gratification in all of its many forms of surcombing to the desires of the natural man. To others it is self pride, thinking that one self is better that all others, including God. This includes those who image that they know more and better than another, and particularly that the do know more and can judged of their ownselves just what is and what is not. Things to them are what they think they are because they so think it. There is no humility in them. It is all vanity, the vanity of self being greater than God. Such things as sports, drugs and even technology and science becomes their God. Or any such thing which satisfies their own super ego of knowing of themselves and doing of themselves. Any such thing that replaces God, even that religion which denies God is that which can so replace God in their lives or even removes God to the 'bottom of one's list' as opposed to recognizing God being above and before on that eternal list of priorities.

In olden times people would make of the workmanship of their own hands such 'gods' of gold, silver, wood and stone. They would worship the workmanship of their own hands as being their god. This is not that much diferent today. Such things as cars and boats, planes and trains, and in more particular today the ipod, the tablet, the digital camera, the computer, the television and so on and so forth. Certainly today was are no better off or less guilty of making of the workmanship of our own hands 'graven images' which we do worship foremost above and beyond our worship of God. This list of such things is endless, women with their fads of clothes and fashion, men with their games and entertainment attractions. In such an ever growing list of such 'things of the world', God is oh so easily removed way down the list into the obsurity of being completely out of mind and thought.

While the use of foul language, particularly such as the name of God is an offense to God and to the use of language, what is more particularly being spoken of here is the making of oaths and covenants with the Lord falsely, with 'vain' intents of keeping them. Certainly when we have covenanted to obey God's commandments, which includes to keep our thoughts and language clean and refined, then the use of foul language is a braking of one of God's commandments and of such covenants, oaths and promises we have made with God in both or either our current or former preexistent lives we have lived. Part of our being here in this Second Estate is a matter of having taken such oath, covenants and promises upon ourselves. And here in this mortality we again do so 'swear' to take upon ourselves such requirements of living God's commandments. And when we fail to properly keep those commitments between us and our Father in Heaven, we have sworn or so taken the name of God in vain. And this is more particularly that which this commandment is speaking of.

God knows that man had all the various needs of life and he does not expect man to be endlessly in a state of worshipping God. And though there is a proper order of priority, all things have their proper time and place. God expects man to work and take time in the pursuit of the things which are needful for a good life. Thus while God expects us to commune with him daily, he also expects us to be about our daily work of living. In fact we are told to take the greater portion of six days a week in such earthly pursuit of making a living and only one day in seven has God requested of us to rest from such earthly labors in order to more particularly remember Him and take more specifically care of our spiritual needs in the worship of our God. Remember the Sabbath Day and keep is Holy, that is in mind and spirit with the Lord.

Perhaps here we have an over lap. For we have our immediate earthly parents who we are to honor and obey and not to contend with and abuse. But also we have our Heavenly parents as well, who we are to remember, reverence and honor as well. And we ought to seek to develop our own personal relationships with the parents of our spirits as well.

In a perfect world this is no need to kill. Yet there is a vast diffence between murder, the wanton killing of another for such as self gratification and to get gain as was the case of Cain. And the Lord in his Sermon on the mount takes the spirit of this commandment even further.

The proper order of heaven and earth is the family order. Husband, wife and children. A man and a woman are to so join themselves one unto the other and be one in the Lord with such intent of so forming a family. God's prescribed order is just that and all such sexual relationships are to be confinded to that end. Extramarital affairs and relationships are clearly outside the intent and purpose of this commandment as also further set forth by Jesus Christ in his Sermon on the mount concerning this topic.

Both the right of and control of personal property is protected by this commandment. In ancient times under the extended Law of Moses, robbery was a capital offense, which could end in the taking of the life of the robber. When one steals another's property, they are often infringing of those persons' working to provide themselves with their own livelihoods and well being. And such 'stealing' is not merely to be limited to tangible physical things in nature. Often one can 'steal' another's good reputation and even cause to be stolen another's job and position in the community. Thus this commandment goes beyond just tangible property rights, but also moves over into the meaningful intent and purpose of 'stealing' even that which is intangible from another.

That tangled web of a lie is often ereversible in nature. Certainly honesty is not only the best policy, but it is one which protects both parties in any dispute. Only the truth truely sets one free, for a lie once made fosters further lies and deceptions so connected in an endless mind maintenance effort to maintain. The false witness is also damaging to the victim is so many ways depending upon the nature, intent and result effects of the false witness or lie.

Though it is not wrong to want to work to obtain like things as others also have, it is wrong to want to have the exact particular thing that 'thy neighbor has'. Cain desired to have Abel's flocks and weath. David desired to have Uriah's wife lead David into committing other sins of stealing, adultry, murder, lying and so forth. Thus though to covent is but the tenth commandment, it is one which oh so offten leads to the eventual breaking of all of God's commandments. We ought not to attempt to keep up with the Joneses of the world which often leads into financial ruin. We ought to think to live modestly and within our own means, having as our primary concern that we have suficent for our needs, leaving unrealistic desires for the luxuries and things of the world to themselves and not as the basis of our every desire.

While the Ten Commandments has set a time proven standard of moral conduct, there are other such lists of laws of behavior and conduct which are also well to attain to. There is the Scout Law which is in its short form is:

A Scout is:

Trustworthy,

Loyal,

Helpful,

Friendly,

Courteous,

Kind,

Obedient,

Cheerful,

Thrifty,

Brave,

Clean,

and Reverent.

In addition even the LDS Church has set out added timely guidlines for its youth in respect to such modern day circumstances and conditions.