1 00:00:00,599 --> 00:00:05,739 There is an old joke about The Seventh Commandment, "Do Not Commit Adultery." 2 00:00:05,740 --> 00:00:12,220 Moses comes down from Mount Sinai, and announces: "I have good news and bad news. 3 00:00:12,220 --> 00:00:19,920 The good news is that I got Him down to ten. The bad news is that adultery stays." 4 00:00:19,930 --> 00:00:25,760 The joke is telling. The prohibition on a married person having sexual relations with 5 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:31,619 anyone except his or her spouse may be, for many people, the most consistently difficult 6 00:00:31,619 --> 00:00:36,859 of the Ten Commandments to observe. The reasons shouldn't be hard to guess. 7 00:00:36,860 --> 00:00:42,000 One is the enormous power of the sex drive. It can be very hard to keep in check 8 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:48,079 for the entirety of one's marriage -- especially when an attractive outsider makes him or herself 9 00:00:48,079 --> 00:00:55,719 sexually or romantically available. Another reason is the human desire to love and be loved. 10 00:00:55,720 --> 00:01:00,899 For normal people, there is no more powerful emotion than love. If one falls in 11 00:01:00,899 --> 00:01:07,519 love with someone while married, it takes great effort not to commit adultery with that person. 12 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:13,840 And if we add in the unfortunate circumstance of a loveless marriage, adultery becomes even 13 00:01:13,850 --> 00:01:20,030 more difficult to resist. That's why the joke with which I began is funny -- 14 00:01:20,030 --> 00:01:23,410 because it reflects truth. 15 00:01:23,410 --> 00:01:30,079 Why is adultery prohibited in the Ten Commandments? Because, like the other nine, it is indispensable 16 00:01:30,079 --> 00:01:36,130 to forming and maintaining higher civilization. Adultery threatens the very building block 17 00:01:36,130 --> 00:01:41,970 of the civilization that the Ten Commandments seeks to create. That building block 18 00:01:41,970 --> 00:01:48,539 is the family -- a married father and mother and their children. Anything that threatens the 19 00:01:48,539 --> 00:01:55,149 family unit is prohibited in the Bible. Adultery is one example. Not honoring one's father 20 00:01:55,149 --> 00:02:01,460 and mother is another. And the prohibition on injecting any sexuality into the family unit 21 00:02:01,460 --> 00:02:04,900 -- incest -- is a third example. 22 00:02:04,900 --> 00:02:11,120 Why is the family so important? Because without it, social stability is impossible. 23 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:18,880 Because without it, the passing on of society's values from generation to generation is impossible. 24 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:24,160 Because commitment to a wife and children makes men more responsible and mature. 25 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:30,220 Because, more than anything else, family meets most women's deepest emotional and material needs. 26 00:02:30,220 --> 00:02:37,020 And nothing comes close to the family in giving children a secure and stable childhood. 27 00:02:37,030 --> 00:02:42,720 And why does adultery threaten the family? The most obvious reason is that sex with someone 28 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:48,840 other than one's spouse can all too easily lead to either or both spouses leaving the marriage. 29 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:54,500 Adultery should not automatically lead to divorce; but it often does. 30 00:02:54,500 --> 00:02:59,480 There is another reason adultery can destroy a family. It can lead to pregnancy 31 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:06,440 and then to the birth of a child. That child will in almost all cases start out life with no family 32 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:11,900 -- meaning no father and mother married to each other -- to call his or her own. 33 00:03:11,900 --> 00:03:18,510 And if adultery doesn't destroy a family, it almost always does terrible harm to a marriage. 34 00:03:18,510 --> 00:03:23,700 Aside from the sense of betrayal and loss of trust that it causes, it means that the 35 00:03:23,700 --> 00:03:28,730 adulterous partner lives a fraudulent life. When a husband or wife is having sex with 36 00:03:28,730 --> 00:03:34,570 someone other than their spouse, their thoughts are constantly about that other person 37 00:03:34,570 --> 00:03:41,480 and about how to deceive their spouse. The life of deception that an adulterous affair necessarily 38 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:49,680 entails inevitably damages a marriage even if the betrayed spouse is unaware of the affair. 39 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:54,940 Finally, the Commandment prohibiting adultery doesn't come with an asterisk 40 00:03:54,940 --> 00:04:01,780 saying that adultery is OK if both spouses agree to it. Spouses who have extramarital sex with the 41 00:04:01,790 --> 00:04:09,730 permission of their husband or wife may not spouse's feelings, but they are still harming 42 00:04:09,730 --> 00:04:17,200 the institution of marriage. And protecting the family, not protecting spouses from emotional pain, 43 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:19,760 is the reason for the commandment. 44 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:25,660 Many marriages, sadly, are troubled. And it is not for any of us to stand in judgment 45 00:04:25,660 --> 00:04:31,780 of others' behavior in this realm. No one knows what goes on in anyone else's marriage. 46 00:04:31,780 --> 00:04:39,780 And if we did, we might often well understand why one or the other sought love outside the marriage. 47 00:04:39,780 --> 00:04:46,580 But no higher civilization can be made or can endure that condones adultery. 48 00:04:46,580 --> 00:04:51,720 That is why it is prohibited in the Ten Commandments. 49 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:53,120 I'm Dennis Prager.