It occurred to me over the past week - based on conversations with friends and coworkers and a flood of spam from one political committee or the other - that there is a severe disconnect between what people think the Ten Commandments say, and what they actually are.
In fact, despite the fact that they can work themselves into a foaming rage on either side of the issue, many have no clue at all about the Tem Commandments. I would challenge Christians to educate themselves on this subject, before rolling out into a political battle. The quick answer of many is that the reason we should display the Ten Commandments in public places, such as courthouses, is that the commandments are the basis of our legal system. Who, after all, can argue against something like "Thou shalt not kill"? (or "murder," which is a more accurate sense) .
I'm not sure if this is ignorance or obfuscation.
The fact is that little of the Ten Commandments is part of our law . . . or ever has been. And if your defense of public displays is based on the notion that the Commandments are somehow secular in nature, you'd better check your ammo. They are inherently religious. A quick primer:
The Ten Commandments are as follows (note that this is the SHORT version, what you would commonly see on a plaque. Read the full version in a number of translations. )
I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
III. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
IV. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
V. Honour thy father and thy mother
VI. Thou shalt not kill
VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery
VIII. Thou shalt not steal
IX. Thou shalt not bear false withess against thy neighbor
X. Thou shalt not covet.
The Ten Commandments are the "executive summary," if you will, of a large body of Jewish laws contained in the Torah. They are broken down into two parts: Our relationship with God, and our relationship with other people.
The first of these parts - the first four Commandments - are clearly religious in nature . . . don't worship other gods, don't make idols, keep the name of the Lord holy, and reserve a day a week specifically for worshipping God. Not much way to make these Commandments anything other than religious - specificially Judeo-Christian - in nature.
The second of these parts - Commandments 6-10 - are the ones that have conceivable secular translations. Don't murder, don't steal, don't commit perjury . . . these are all still in law. Don't commit adultery . . . historically this has been law, but no longer. Don't covet . . . well, our entire economy is based on coveting, in the sense of advertising-driven materialism. Some would say it's not just "wanting," but "lusting" after things we don't have that is at the root of this Commandment. A spiritual issue, not worldly.
Makes sense, because Jesus made ALL the commandments spiritual. He said that if you even lusted after a woman, you had already committed adultery with her in your heart.
Jesus has the most concise summary of the Ten Commandments, and their inherent spirituality. When asked (by people trying to trip him up) what was the Greatest Commandment, Jesus said this:
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
As Christians, we can and should buy into the Ten Commandments, as a summary of the ideal relationship with God and fellow humans. But we should be honest about what they are . . . to degrade them to being simply "good social rules" is either ignorant or disingenuous.
Interestingly, Christianity itself disagrees on the meaning of the Commandments, or looks for loopholes or exceptions. A bit more on the individual commandments, and our true ambivalence about them:
I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
This one's pretty clear, given that it was delivered at a time where every country had multiple gods. The Lord Jehovah (I Am that I Am), commanded that his people worship him alone. In today's parlance, this is also translated to mean ANYTHING that a person "worships," or gives the highest priority to in life. Career, money, sex, possessions . . . anything that is treated with more importance than God.
II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
This is a tough one. Understood from Sunday School days to mean "no idols," by strict translation, it covers any method of creating an image of a person or living thing. This might include all statuary, paintings, printing (engraving), photography or digital images. Some sects take this very seriously. No images of any kind. But historically, with the icons of the Orthodox Church, the statuary and paintings of the Romans and the Wal-Mart prints of the Last Supper in Protestant churches across the Bible Belt, we've gone for a looser translation.
III. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
In an era without written contracts, business partners often swore that they would keep a deal in the name of God. A person who broke this vow was said to have used the Lord's name in vain. As any Sunday School student has probably been taught, uttering such phrases as "goddam" or even "Geez" is also taking the Lord's name in vain. (Note that obscenity itself isn't covered here.) Personally, I think I'll stick with the "keep the Lord's name holy" version. Just out of respect.
IV. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Well, this is a REALLY tough one for most modern churches, who switched to celebrating the Lord's Day on Sunday, in honor of his Resurrection, eons ago. But "sabbath" has a specific meaning, and we're violating the letter of this law when we don't celebrate on Saturday. Most modern churches explain this as a "things have changed" matter, and say that the important thing is to set aside a special day of the week to worship God.
V. Honour thy father and thy mother
. . . that thy days be long upon the Earth. The first Commandment with a promise, as it's described elsewhere. This comes in context of a day in which a child who cursed their parents could be stoned. However, most Christians accept it as a modern principle. What about bad parents? Depends on what "honour" means. In the Army, I was told that I was to respect the rank, not the person. So Lt. Gumbo could be an incompetent slob, but I had to salute the gold bar.
VI. Thou shalt not kill
Even the Children of Israel - stone tablets in hand - were told to go kill opposing armies and cities. And killing for food was assumed. So obviously this isn't a blanket ruling against the taking of life in all circumstances. Most translate this as more of our modern term of "murder" or "manslaughter" . . . the unjustifiable killing of another human being. Some groups take it very seriously, though.
VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery
This specifically refers to sex between two people who are married (but not to one another), or between two people in which one party is married. I don't know of any mainline denominations that have ever condoned this, although I've seen it politely ignored. More to the point of secular law, this is a case in which there formerly were laws prohibiting and punishing adultery . . . in some places catching your spouse in flagrante was cause for "justifiable" homicide. That is not now the law. Adultery is now a non-PC term for consensual sex between to people who are about to become divorce statistics.
VIII. Thou shalt not steal
Plain and simple. Except in New Orleans courtrooms, where it's referred to as "following the American Dream" by some local ministers. (see notes on coveting)
IX. Thou shalt not bear false withess against thy neighbor
Very serious in Jewish Biblical times, where due process and evidence boiled down to a small number of witnesses agreeing on your guilt. Less serious today, when cross-examination, DNA and even casting doubt on the veracity of witnesses evens the playing field. But we still have firm laws against perjury. So this one gets to stay in the "secular" column.
X. Thou shalt not covet
This is a Marxist's dream commandment. After all, the modern Capitalist system - be it Wall Street or Beijing and points between - operates on a principle of stirring desire for material products. From a Biblical perspective, it's a little more nuanced than that, of course. "Covet" isn't a secular, but a religious . . . or at least a moralist . . . word. It means not only to "want" something, but to nurture the "want" into something more like an obsession. This is best illustrated by Jesus, in his declaration that lusting after a woman was the same thing spiritually as committing adultery with her. And such coveting - not being satisfied with one's own car or wife or job . . . and targeting someone else's - often leads to real-world action. Our poster child here is King David, who spotted Bathsheba in her Birthday Suit, coveted her to the point of drooling, and had the power to do something about it. Not only seduced her (or perhaps just ordered her . . . he was king, after all), got her preggers, then had her husband, David's faithful general, killed in a suicide mission as a coverup.
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Posted by: kahsk | 2011.11.12 at 02:10