AMERICA'S CHRISTIAN HERITAGE HOMEPAGE
Week 2 - American Law: Biblical Foundations and Godly Beginnings
A. The term blue law was first used by Reverend Samuel Peters in his book General
History of Connecticut, which was first published in 1781, to refer to various laws first
enacted by Puritan colonies in the 17th century which prohibited the selling of certain
types of merchandise and retail or business activity of any kind on certain days of
the week (usually Sunday). A blue law, in the United States (and Canada), is a law
restricting activities or sales of goods on Sunday, to accommodate the Christian "sabbath."
B. In Texas, for example, blue laws prohibited selling housewares such as pots, pans, and
washing machines on Sunday until 1985; Texas car dealerships continue to operate under
blue-law prohibitions. Many southern states still prohibit selling alcohol on Sunday.
Many unusual features of American culture�such as the fact that one can buy groceries,
office supplies, and housewares from a drug store�are the result of blue laws, as drug
stores were allowed to remain open on Sunday to accommodate emergency medical needs
C. Contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence to support the assertion that the blue
laws were originally printed on blue paper. Rather, the word blue was commonly used
in the 18th century as a disparaging reference to rigid moral codes and those who
observed them (e.g., "bluenoses"). Moreover, although Reverend Peters claimed that the
term blue law was originally used by Puritan colonists, his work has since been found
to be unreliable, and it is more likely that he simply invented the term himself.
In any event, Peters never asserted that the blue laws were originally printed on blue paper.
Biblical Principle and Reference: Exodus 20:8-11 �"Remember the
Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but
the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work,
neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your
animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens
and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
11) American Law : Laws against incest
Biblical Principle and Reference: Leviticus 18: 6-18 - 'No one is to
approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD .
" 'Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your
mother; do not have relations with her.
" 'Do not have sexual relations with your father's wife; that would dishonor your father.
" 'Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father's daughter or your
mother's daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.
" 'Do not have sexual relations with your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter;
that would dishonor you.
" 'Do not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father's wife, born to your father;
she is your sister.
" 'Do not have sexual relations with your father's sister; she is your father's close relative.
" 'Do not have sexual relations with your mother's sister, because she is your mother's close
relative.
" 'Do not dishonor your father's brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations;
she is your aunt.
" 'Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son's wife; do not have
relations with her.
" 'Do not have sexual relations with your brother's wife; that would dishonor your brother.
" 'Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have sexual
relations with either her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter; they are her close relatives.
That is wickedness.
" 'Do not take your wife's sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your
wife is living.
1 Corinthians 6:9-20 � Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male
prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers
nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were.
But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Sexual Immorality "Everything is permissible for me"
- - but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered
by anything. "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"--but God will destroy them both.
The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know
that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and
unite them with a prostitute? Never!
Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is
said, "The two will become one flesh."But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in
spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who
sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were
bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.