Call it theRainbow_Covenant,
theNoahide_Covenant, the Universal_Covenant or the First Covenant, we all live connected to Ultimate Goodness and our heritage is a world of higher consciousness. Here is the highway to that wisdom, to the universal principles of the universe and to the pure moral principles of the Bible - the eternal moral laws that appeal to human reason regardless of one's religion. Some people call them "natural laws" and principles, others call them the Universal_Law, or the Seven_Laws_of_Noah.
These commandments constitute the foundation of all civilized life. They teach us what is good and bad. They help define what it is to be human.
This is humankind's first and foremost covenant. It is unconditional and eternal.
And God spoke unto Noah, and to Noah's children with him, saying:
'And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you.' — Genesis 9:8-9
As the Bible tells the story, you are Noah's descendant, as are we all. You need to keep this covenant - as do we all.
A covenant is a solemn, mutually binding pact or contract, confirmed and symbolized by pledges. The Creator Himself, according to the Bible, made a covenant with our legendary common ancestors - and with all their descendants, including you, your children and their children, forever.
God never reneges on His covenants
What does this covenant teach? That morality is not relative: true morality never changes. Goodness and decency will always be good; what constitutes evil or indecency will always be bad (even if wayward people call it good).
What does the Lord require of you? ( Deuteronomy 10:12)
Whatever your religion, or even if you have no religion,
you - we all - need to acquire this precious wisdom
Wherever you are in your spiritual journey, you will always be part of the covenant with which God blessed Noah and all his descendants, forever; you still need to live up to Noahide standards.
Keep My commandments, and live; and My Law as the apple of your eye. — Proverbs 7:2
As America's Senate and Congress declared (in an act signed into law by the president):
These ethical laws and principles have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization, when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws . . . without these ethical values and principles the edifice of civilization stands in serious peril of returning to chaos. . . . - Joint Resolution of the United States Congress, March 20, 1991 (Public Law 102-14)
Here are the laws, the logical principles and the reasonable values, that make up the core - the heart - of the Bible.This, in fact, is the Gospel - the Good News - of God.
We keep speaking of God,
because He is the Lawgiver. However, these principles aren't necessarily
faith-based. They are all logical, all supported by common sense.
One can, at least theoretically, discover all of them on one's
own.
Coming at the laws logically, logic begins with
a postulate, a principle, that most people are used to seeing expressed
in faith-based language:
God
created each of us in His image - "in the image of God made
He [God] man." (Genesis 4:27).
This means that every human being is a creature
of infinite worth. This means that no one's blood is redder
or sweeter than the blood of anyone else. This means that every
human being is one's fellow and that we are all involved with
humankind. Each of is entitled to human love. Leading to the
so-called Golden Rule.
Quoting the Bible:You shall love your neighbor as yourself(Leviticus
19:18). This is a basic, foundational principle of the
Torah (literally, the Teaching, especially referring to the Bible's
first five books, the Five Books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers and Deuteronomy).
Another basic Torah teaching:
You shall love [the stranger] as yourself (Leviticus
19:34).
All the rest of the Noahide laws follow logically
from these key truths - from the principle of the sanctity of
the individual human being.
You don't need to profess any particular religion
to accept that principle.
Start at that point,
then recognize that study is crucial.
A Noahide approached the great Hebrew sage Hillel
(who lived about 2,000 years ago) and demanded that Hillel teach
him the essence of Judaism in a few seconds - while he, the gentile,
literally stood on one foot. "What is hateful to you do not
to unto your fellow," Hillel responded. "The rest is
commentary. Now, go and study."
Neither wisdom nor success
comes from sudden revelation or bursts of genius, nor from mere
inheritance or instinct. Learning requires study - work and
thought and time.
One needs to learn
what is good. No one can keep the First Covenant completely
without studying it.
Further, practically speaking,
no one can study it successfully without learning about it from
someone else.
Even though the laws are completely logical,
even the world's greatest genius couldn't infer all the laws
of the First Covenant from logic alone. The laws are too great
- from one who has been studying them for something like twenty
years, they are brilliant, terrific, and often counter-intuitive
- for one to learn it entirely by oneself.
One needs to learn what
is godly. One needs to learn how the world works, how God's law
works, how to come closer to God. Learning makes one more godly.
Learning makes man more godlike.
Take hold of the keys to unlock your
inner greatness - to become all that you can be. Make God's
will your will, to be all that He wants you to be.
That Your Way may be known upon earth, Your Salvation among all nations.- Psalm 67:3
He calls us all
to His service.
This
is the world's most powerful human potential movement.Here
are the great redeeming secrets of the Bible.
This is
a true world-civilizing project. Join it today.
We continually add new material to this website.
Please explore it. However, if you have not got it already - and,
one hopes, turned it into a beloved daily reference - please consider
getting what readers call by far the best book
on this subject. Click here: The
Rainbow Covenant: Torah and the Seven Universal Laws.
The First Covenant Foundation is a United States
501(C)(3) public charitable foundation dedicated to the study
and teaching of the First Covenant. We are completely independent
- we go only where the truth, as we see it, takes us. For more
about the First Covenant Foundation, go to About
Us.
See
our newsletters, Covenant Connection,
which go out under the heading:
Michael Dallen / First Covenant Foundation
See First Covenant Foundation Covenant Connectionfor April.
Last month's Covenant Connection
for March 2006! The May issue is now out too. June's is coming
soon.
[Go
to this link - Shalom
- to
find out about
our Shalom Project.]