The following is an article I wrote concerning all the recent controversies about posting the Ten Commandments in public institutions. Since the article is rather lengthy, I will post it in 3 parts; hopefully, that will make it easier for you to read and consider.
Thanks for your patronage and comments. Here's the article:
HANGING TWO INSTEAD OF TEN
An Argument Against Arbitrarily Posting The Ten Commandments
By Mark E. McLeroy
With all the activity surrounding recent decisions to return the ten commandments to classrooms and various public enclaves, have you wondered what the Word of God has to say about this seemingly noble endeavor, if anything? Since the devil thrives on conflict and confusion, whenever I notice a fracas developing between “Us” (Christians) and “Them” (other Christians and all others), I try to get alone with God and my Bible for a while to see what He has to say about the situation before formulating my own opinions and arguments with which to weigh in on the matter under dispute. I’ve found out once too often that there are not too many things worse than jumping into a dispute on the apparent “sounds good” or “feels good” side of things and having to eat my often foul smelling and fowl tasting foot for my efforts, only because I didn’t check with God about the issue first. After all, James 1:5 does say, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all with out finding fault, and it will be given to him.”(NIV)
The purpose of this article is to present a few biblical arguments against the idea of arbitrarily hanging the Ten Commandments on schoolhouse and courtroom walls, or putting them on monuments in courthouse rotundas. I know that this idea may sound sacriligeous to most practicing Christians, but it seems that God has a lot to say on this issue, both directly and indirectly, and I would like to take a few minutes to share with you what I think the Holy Spirit has shown me in the scriptures concerning this matter. My desire is to know the truth, because the Lord Jesus says that “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”(John 8:32, NIV)
Would you please do me a favor? Before you continue reading this article would you please take a pen, a piece of paper and a moment to sit down and list the Ten Commandments. In order, if possible. If you don’t remember them all, then just put down the ones you do know. Go ahead and take as much time as you like, but don’t (ahem)...cheat and look them up, at least until I tell you to. Come on back to me when you get through: I’ll be waiting.
There, now, how did you do? Most of the people I have asked to do this exercise haven’t done too well, including myself (even though I was raised in private, religeous schools). It’s kind of like the national anthem; everyone loves their country and loves the song, but very few people know all the words to the first stanza, much less the other two. But let’s assume that you beat the odds, and have a list of ten “You (Thou) shall nots”. Does it read like this: 1) You shall have no other gods before me. 2) You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain. 3) Keep holy the sabbath day. 4) Honor your father and mother. 5) You shall not murder. 6) You shall not commit adultery. 7) You shall not steal. 8) You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 9) You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. 10) You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or possessions? If it does, I’m sorry, but you, too, are wrong. “How could that be” you ask? Well, take a look for yourself. You can find the ten commandments, along with the rest of the law, in two places in the Bible: Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21, both books of the old testament. (There is another list of them in Leviticus, chapter 19, but you won’t like that list because it has quite a few other “Do nots” mixed in with the ten, and they are in a different order.) You will have to look them up yourself, due to space constraints here.
Again, take a few moments to read through the list; notice that both the Exodus and the Deuteronomy lists read almost exactly the same, except for the addition of the phrase “as the Lord your God has commanded you” to the fourth commandment in the Deuteronomy list.
Do you see the difference in the list I gave above, (which, by the way, is very similar to every posted list of the ten commandments I have ever seen) and the ones listed in the Bible? Look at commandments 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10. Don’t you think that if God had wanted to truncate those commandments down to one-liners like numbers 1, 6, 7, 8 and 9, that he could have done that when He gave them to Moses? If He felt that it was important enough to expound upon half of the commandments when He could have shortened them like the other half, then wouldn’t you think that we should honor His intentions by doing the same thing when we post the lists that everyone is supposed to obey? Seems to me that Jesus had something to say about that when He talked about “every jot and tittle”(KJV) over there in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 18. In fact He seems downright emphatic about it when He says, “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter (jot), not the least stroke of the pen (tittle), will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Doesn’t the “Law” that He was speaking of include the Ten Commandments?
On the other hand, are the Ten Commandments the only thing included in the Law? Go back to Exodus and Deuteronomy and take a look at the chapters following the Ten Commandments; what about all those other commandments and laws God gave to Moses to give to the people? Can we just ignore those, or, since God gave them to Moses at the same time, shouldn’t we be posting them also, along with the initial ten? In fact, let me ask you a question. Can you name even two of those other commands God gave to the people through Moses? “Why is that important?”, you ask.
Remember when Jesus was asked by one of the Pharisees, an expert in the law, which is the greatest commandment in the Law (Matt 22:34-40)? Which of the Ten Commandments did Jesus give in his answer? That’s right, none of them! His answer, which I’ll return to later, were two commands from that other group of commandments which God gave to Moses: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’”(Matt 22:37, Deut 6:5) and, “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”(Matt 22:39, Lev 9:18). Don’t you think it significant to those of us who profess to be Christian that the two commandments Jesus considered to be the most important are not even among the list that we insist be hung on our school walls? Do you think that maybe Jesus, who is God, had a different idea about what Commandments should be posted in our public institutions and churches?
It would seem to me that if we are going to post any Commandments in our schools, it would be the two that our Lord said were the most important out of all the laws He provided. Although they are two commands, Jesus treated them as though they were one, saying that loving God is the most important, but that loving our neighbor is just as important. That was as if to say, you can’t have one without the other! Look at the scripture in the the gospel according to Mark, chapter 12, verses 29-31 and you’ll see what I mean: “One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, ‘Of all the comandments, which is the most important?’ ‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord our God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.’” Notice, the teacher of the law asked Jesus for one commandment (“...which is the most important?”); Jesus responded with two. Wouldn’t you agree that the Ten Commandments, and all of the rest of the Book of the Law, could be classified under one or the other of these two commands, and therefore would be fulfilled by obeying them.
To be continued...
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