Punishment & The Ten Commandments & Numbers 4/28/2010

 Yes, I finished Exodus and started on Numbers. (I skipped over Leviticus, as I think Christ dealt with the Mosaic Law - but more on that later.) I remain convinced that the Ten Commandments have no place on secular government buildings, and those that who continue advocating for this are idiots or worse.

Let everyone admit that the Commandments begin with rules towards God and that the remainder would overturn the majority of our laws and economic order. What becomes of us if we enforced the covetousness commandments n the advertising industry or Wall Street?

I do not understand the Christian commitment to Commandments, which Christ condensed to two. Why not agitate for posting these on courthouse, statehouse, city hall walls?  They might serve as a reminder that we Christians must treat all human beings as we wish to be treated. This applies to gays, criminals, women, men, Protestants, Catholics, Moslems, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, Sikhs, the tall, the short, the fat, the fair, the dark, those with white skins, those without white skins, or whatever other pigeonhole we can put ourselves or others. That does ask a lot of ourselves in this day of political invective and calumny,

But for those who think of the Ten Commandments form the basis for our legal system, give Numbers 5, 5 -10 a read. No prison, but restitution. Or Leviticus 7, 1 - 10. But we do get some death sentences with Exodus 21, 12- 30, but then take into consideration Matthew 5, 38- 42. Certainly, give some thought to Matthew 5, 21 - 26.

Two points need to be clear: 1) using religion for political purpose only detracts from religion; and 2) religion might lead to a different result from the intended politically. Be careful who exhorts your faith.

sch