"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep." (Genesis 1:1-2)
Lutheran Christians usually start teaching the faith by presenting the Ten Commandments. And that's because Martin Luther and his fellow reformers started The Small Catechism with the Ten Commandments. But that's because they lived in a world that (for the most part) assumed God existed and that He created everything. They lived in a world of monarchs and church power-mongers who were god-like in their ability to enforce their will. You didn't oppose them; you couldn't oppose them! If you colored outside the boxes they put you in, you suffered. If you toed the line, they would protect you as best they could. They were (for all intents and purposes) "god-like" and everyone understood what that meant: They made the rules.
So the Reformers could teach God's Ten Commandments as God's rules without much preamble. And nobody blinked! People might not like the rules, but what did that matter? They might not like the rules of the Duke or Prince who ruled their province, but that didn't really matter, did it?
Well, that's not the way we see the world anymore. Especially not here in America with a representative democracy that arguably elevates the rights and liberties of its citizens over the authority of its governors and other people in power.
So we need to start by resetting our world view: God created everything! And that means He gets to say how everything was meant to work. And He gets to say how everything and everyone was supposed to work together, too!
Sounds pretty tyrannical to you and me, right? Well, that's the nature of a true god; He is the undisputed, unseatable King of Creation. His Word is final.
Most people I've met think they "get" this. But that only lasts until you tell them that God said something they disagree with. Then all they want to do is argue about whether God could have possibly said something like that. (No god they are willing to worship would say such a thing! No way!) And in the end, they elevate themselves and their opinions about right and wrong over God, rather than recognizing that the very nature of God is to define right and wrong. God is the one whose Word is final! What God decrees is right and wrong. As the old Lutheran hymn says: "What God ordains is always good!" That's the nature of being God. His rules (i.e., the Ten Commandments) are good because He made them, not because we agree they are good.
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