The Ten Commandments, An Exploration

I have been giving thought to what makes us as individuals justified in our behaviours, good bad or otherwise.

The basis in my opinion can be explored by examining the Ten Commandments as handed down from God to Moses. Now, being raised Catholic, and having had the experience of confession and penanceand I can tell you, I used these commandments to determine exactly what I was going to confess. Of course, they are a great set of standards that we should all adhere to but alas, that doesn't happen and I think for the most part these have been long lost on society. Maybe a re-vamped "new and improved" set would be appropriate. Or maybe just sitting down and re-learning the original as handed down is all that's required.

1. I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me, you shall not make for yourself an idol.

This is interesting, when we have so many other religions and cultures who do not necessarily subscribe to the Christian God, yet who is correct? I think if the collective conscious is that there is one ultimate force who started all this then who cares what we call it. The pagans worshiped the sun as god were they wrong? Who are we to say. Your God, is yours. Believe with all your might and don't condemn someone if they don't subscribe to your beliefs it's not your "God given right" to judge others. That I learned in Catechism.

2. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of God.

OK well that's a given, but what about OMG, I guess depending on who you are it might mean Oh my gosh. I have tried time and time again to get my son to stop saying oh my god, (there I said it, not capitalised so we know who I'm not referring to) and the compromise has been that he says oh my dog. He asked why he can't say oh my god, and I tried to explain that it's taking the Lord's name in vain and that is a violation of one of the Ten Commandments. Now here's the kicker, both my ex and I were raised Catholic and when we had our kids we made the decision not to baptise, or christen our babies, we both feel that religion is a deeply personal thing and they should be given the opportunity to choose for themselves what they wish to believe.

Was this wrong? I'm not sure. If my son were raised in the church, would he have a better appreciation for God and all He stands for? I don't know. My ex-father in law who goes to church uses the term "Jesus Christ" on a very regular basis and in front of the grandkids so what is that teaching them? Why did we start using these terms in the first place? My son says it's like saying a little prayer (not that he knows what a prayer is) I understand that, and when we say "Oh my God" or "Oh my Lord" are we not calling on God for strength? I guess it depends on what context these sayings are being used in. If you are being derogatory or it is meant as an alternative to swearing then I would say that's wrong. Were did these phrases come from anyway? I'm guilty of using them I admit. I don't do it to be blasphemous I try to say "Oh my gosh" instead to try to set an example but sometimes it slips out. Will I go to hell for this? Well maybe, but I'm not too worried about that because I don't believe in hell.

3. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

This one is interesting what with Sunday shopping and all. So if your a christian and go to church faithfully what do you do afterwards? Do you go for breakfast at the local IHOP? It gets really busy there after church lets out. Or do you head to the mall or grocery store? Do you take advantage of the extra day for shopping and those poor souls who are scheduled to work on your Sabbath? I know, if you choose, you can use your religious beliefs to get out of having to work on Sunday, and there is nothing your boss can do about it, but don't you dare go out to eat or shopping you hypocrite. You can't use your beliefs as an excuse and then rely on others to provide you with services on your Sabbath. I know there are those of you out there that don't do these things, but I'll bet there are more people not keeping Sunday holy than those of you who do.

4. Honour your father and mother.

Absolutely! If it weren't for them you wouldn't exist, you should thank them, I'll wait...
I think this is so important. If you honour, cherish, respect your parents then they raised you right. It doesn't matter what you believe if you love them as much as they loved you to create you and raise you they did their job. If for what ever reason you do not have a loving relationship with your parents then you are according to commandment number 4, sinning right? Yah, but it's not one of the "big" ones so it's ok. Besides it's their fault for not agreeing with you in the first place. Who here truly doesn't like there parents? Show of hands. OK, who here has had a falling out with their parents and can remember why? Ya that's what I thought. Reach out to them, they love you, warts and all. No matter your opinion of them they will always be your parents, you can't change that.

5. You shall not kill

No kidding? There is really not much I can say about this. Why is there an need for this commandment if God still allows killing to occur? What about war? Are our solders going to hell because of this commandment? They are living a hell every day they are in combat so I think this one may need re-wording. How about the Buddhist rule of "cease to do harm to others" I like that one, because it also covers abuse as well as killing. If the 5th Commandment was "You shall not harm another human either physically or mentally" that would take care of allot of crap people endure. But then, because killing still occurs and abuse still occurs, who's listening to Commandment #5 anyway? Ok maybe we don't kill others, but what about abuse? We harm others so deeply that we are committing an even greater sin because we are causing others to live with the pain we inflict.

6. You shall not commit adultery.

Ok that's a bad one, but not as bad as #5 for sure. I have a theory about people who commit adultery, (and emotional adultery counts here too) if your marriage or relationship is so bad that you feel the need to seek out a lover, then why are you still in your marriage or relationship? There is no commandment that says "You shall not divorce or change partners" I checked. I understand the feeling of being stuck in a bad marriage, hey I was there. I'm not saying this one can be justified I just understand were this might be the most frequently abused commandment there is, second only to the frequent use of OMG! We live in a time were adultery is almost a sought after pastime. Why is that? Has the media made it mainstream? Acceptable? Unfortunately I think it has, and I think we do not put as much a stigma on it as our grandparents generation did. Besides, were was #6 when they invented "swingers clubs"?

7. You shall not steal.

Unless you're a cute puppy and it's my heart that is. This one goes without saying, really it's more about morals than criminal offence. We teach our children it's wrong to take something that doesn't belong to them without asking, we also teach them that if you steal you might go to jail, if your caught that is. But what about compulsive shoplifters or people who steal as a cry for help? No they shouldn't steal, but sometimes there are such strong underlying issues that as a society we need to examine the "why" and not just condemn for the crime. Stealing is of course fundamentally wrong, I agree. Stealing that loaf of bread or block of cheese because you are starving, or worse your children are starving, well, I'm sorry, I think that's justified. That would be the only reason I would turn a blind eye. I cannot imagine my kids with empty tummies and not a scrap of food in the house and no means to provide for them. What if they local food cupboard is empty too? This is a sin of our society. Those of us who can help should.

8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

So I read this one, and try to decipher it. Is it about defamation of character? Maybe about lying? There isn't a commandment that says "You shall not lie" at least not in so many words. Maybe that should be added to this one because I think that's basically what they were trying to convey. Little white lies are ok, if you're trying to put someone off who is badgering you for information about their birthday and you know full well someone is planning a surprise for them, you will likely come up with a lie to put them off the sent. This is acceptable, absolutely because it's not done maliciously to hurt someone else. Lying to save your butt, well that's a grey area, what did you do that you need to spin a tale? You need to consider all consequence to your actions and lies and determine exactly how much it will hurt you or those you love. Lying to get what you want is wrong. Lying to hurt someone else is even worse. It's up there with "You shall not kill". So basically, don't lie.

9. You shall not covet your neightbour's wife.

Um ok, but what about your neighbours husband? Is that ok? Oh wait, I think we covered this one in #6 didn't we? I guess this was a problem way back when Moses received these because this one and the next were covered, but these are a little more specific. So do not covet someone who is married, is what I get from this. That makes sense because to covet means to long to posses, or to lust after. Do I hear sexual harassment? Hmmm maybe God was onto something with this one. Of course, we all see the green grass on the other side of the fence. This could be were that saying came from. We are all guilty of wanting what others may have. We live in a very materialistic society were we all want the best of the best, and most of us can attain what our hearts desire. Here's the thing tho, what if the neighbours wife wants to be coveted? What if she dresses provocatively and flits endlessly with the neighbourhood husbands? Who's at fault then? Just asking.

10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbour.

Especially his wife apparently. This one is the "keeping up with the Jone's" commandment. Be happy with all you have, because it's yours. You worked hard to get it, and just because the neighbour drives a new car and your still in the very first car your dad bought doesn't make the neighbour better than you, in fact, maybe they are drowning in debt because of the huge car payment and higher insurance rate, and you don't owe a thing and it faithfully starts every morning, God forbid your neighbours car ever breaks down, if it's out of warranty, CHA-CHING! Be happy with your life as you've made it. Don't think you are any less a person because you don't have all that your neighbour has, maybe they are looking at you and wanting what you have?

So that's my take on the Ten Commandments. I think on the whole they are a great set of standards to live by, and I feel for the most part we all strive to adhere to them, we may slip here and there on the less serious offenses, but at the end of they day we are all good people and we all deserve a chance to prove that. My kids may never learn to appreciate all that these commandments teach us, unless I teach them and I may just do that.

With much, love light and a good set of rules to live by,
Tammy.