Rules, commandments, and laws are nothing new. For instance, everyone knows Murphy's Law: "If there is a possibility that something will go wrong, it will." Or how about the Law of Gardening:

"You get the most of what you need the least." Jones' Rule of the Road is: "The easiest way to fold a map is differently." I like Erma Bombeck's Rule of Medicine: "Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died." One of my favorites is Agnes Allen's Law: "Almost anything is easier to get into than out of."

But no one has ever thought up any rules more timeless, workable, or all-encompassing than the Rules of God. We call them the Ten Commandments, and they came out of the Exodus from Egypt about three thousand years ago. The Jews had made their escape from Ramses, and now God invited his servant…