A CDC report compiled over a ten-year period (2011-2021) addressed “youth risk behavior” and mental health. “Overall, sexual violence, suicidal thoughts, suicidal behavior, and other mental health setbacks are affecting more and more teenagers.” A CDC director said that in 30 years of collecting similar data, “we’ve never seen this kind of devastating, consistent findings.”
As the mental health of young people continues to spiral out of control, those who attend a public school in Louisiana will now be able to benefit from the immutable wisdom of the Ten Commandments. Gov. Jeff Landry signed legislation last month requiring every public classroom in Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments. And public school teachers in Oklahoma will now refer to the Bible and the Ten Commandments due to their “substantial influence on our nation’s founders and the foundational principles of our Constitution.”
The Ten Commandments were specifically given by God to His people, the Israelites, some 3,500 years ago. With that historic reality in mind, can displaying the Ten Commandments at school improve mental health?
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Consider these ten biblical principles that flow from the Ten Commandments:
1. Ultimate authority resides outside yourself
Multitudes of young people today wrongly believe that ultimate authority resides within yourself. In other words, you get to choose your own rules for life. Sadly, once you reject the notion of absolute truth, you feel empowered to define right and wrong according to your personal whims and fancies. The Ten Commandments expose this false narrative. Displaying the commandments at school renews the time-honored tradition of acknowledging the true source of ultimate authority.
2. Taking the Lord’s name in vain poisons your tongue and your mind
This commandment teaches people to control their tongue and speak in wholesome ways. Public schools today are permeated with vulgar profanity, which creates a toxic environment in the home, the workplace and the classroom. The Bible teaches, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). When a young person has no fear of the Lord, God’s name gets flippantly used a curse word. (See my CP op-ed titled, “The Despicable Practice of Taking the Lord’s Name in Vain.”
3. Church attendance provides many powerful benefits
Ten years ago Pastor Peter Haas wrote a piece titled, “The Jaw Dropping Benefits of Church Attendance.” These benefits include a significantly lower risk of depression, better time and life management, better grades and higher education prospects, a significantly lower risk of death and a longer life expectancy.
4. Honoring your parents leads to happiness at home
This commandment promotes a peaceful and harmonious environment at home. Peace in the home requires love, boundaries and discipline from parents, as well as respect and good behavior from children. Dishonoring your parents hinders focus and productivity at school and tends to make home life miserable.
5. Saving sex for marriage strengthens you physically, mentally, and spiritually
The commandment against adultery provides crucial protection in the minds of young people, which is greatly needed today in our sex-saturated culture. The Lord created sex and established boundary lines in order to protect us from the physical, mental and spiritual consequences of sexual immorality. (See my CP op-ed titled, “Why Sex and Science Never Satisfy the Soul.”
6. Stealing sets you up to fail
A recent survey revealed that four in 10 Americans admit to boosting goods from stores. Without God’s wise commandment against stealing, many young people feel strangely entitled to take things that do not belong to them.
7. Telling lies about others always comes back to bite you
Bullying at school often involves lying about classmates, and this awful practice can lead to violence. Bearing false witness against someone is a grave offense that produces many painful consequences.
8. Coveting robs you of contentment
The obsessive materialism within our culture tends to create envy and jealousy. God’s commandment against coveting reminds us to be thankful for what God has given us. Jealously and envy at school create hostility and strife. (See my 2013 CP op-ed titled, “How to Have Peace Like a River.”
9. Choosing to love others protects your heart from hating people
The Ten Commandments instruct God’s people to love the Lord and love one another. Prejudice and hatred abound in the world today, and the classroom is no exception to this corrosive dynamic. Unless we choose to love and forgive one another, we become resentful and bitter. And resentful students tend to create big headaches for teachers. What good is an education if you choose to engage in prejudice and hatred rather than love and compassion?
10. Lawbreakers need forgiveness from God
In addition to providing a solid moral foundation, the Ten Commandments also provide a mirror. When you look into this mirror, you see a lawbreaker. But rather than being overcome with despair over your sinfulness, your Creator invites you to confess your sins to Him and be forgiven. You see, “The Law was put in charge to lead us to Christ” (Galatians 3:24). And while it is not the role of the government to preach the Gospel, public schools in America can certainly assist depressed and struggling youth by acknowledging and affirming the historical relevance of the Ten Commandments and the Bible.
With suicide being the second leading cause of death among young people in the United States, the Ten Commandments offer divine direction to those who feel overwhelmed with anxiety. God’s Law is rooted in the order and stability of the Almighty. And best of all, God’s Law leads some people to recognize their sin and their need to embrace the good news of the Gospel. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). (See my CP op-ed titled, “Why God Never Forces Anyone to Love Him.”)
Displaying the Ten Commandments at school can undoubtedly improve the mental health and well-being of students, especially given the enormous pressures and temptations facing young people today.
Dan Delzell is the pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Papillion, Nebraska.
