Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
There's a beautiful and thoughtful meditation by David Hazony on CNN's Belief Blog about the role the ten commandments play in our culture today. According to Hazony, author of the book "The Ten Commandments: How Our Most Ancient Text Can Renew Modern Life," the commandments carry more symbolic meaning in our lives than actual meaning.
Most churches, synagogues, and many public buildings, for example, display some sort of representation of the commandments--tablets or friezes for instance--but rarely are the commandments actually listed on those tablets. See above. And only 40% of Americans can list more than four of the commandments.
That’s because in our world, it’s been a long time since the Ten Commandments, as a text, had any real meaning. We’ve put them into a black box, glorified that box and attached all sorts of sacred connotations to it, rendered it symbolically and, having commissioned our artists to depict it visually, have convinced ourselves that we no longer need to know what’s inside.
Resucitating the commandments, giving them life in our day to day lives, requires reading them with fresh and sympathetic eyes. Read them "as you would a treasure map." For instance, what if,
The call to honor our parents were also a call to a certain kind of moral wisdom that they alone give us—an instinctive, human wisdom very different from the kind promoted by the Greeks or the wise people of the Far East?
If the bans on murder, adultery, and theft were also gateways to stirring affirmations of life, love, and freedom?
If the ban on bearing false witness against our neighbor were really about the foundations of community, and the mutual trust on which it depends?
In other words, while we should value the commandments at face value, we should also search for the deeper wisdom that they can reveal.
If we did, maybe then our culture could rediscover the universal truths that the commandments still hold. Maybe then those commandments would become more meaningful, even to a society as secular as ours.
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Aug '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
"In other words, while we should value the commandments at face value, we should also search for the deeper wisdom that they can reveal."
To an extent, Christ did this in the Sermon on the Mount by showing there was more to Thou Shalt Not Murder than merely the act of killing. The purpose was to show man was incapable of saving himself. Mr. Hazony suggests doing to the Ten Commandments what liberal Protestants did 100 years ago: making them simply into moral aspirations.
He says:
"What if, in other words, we were to smash the tablets ourselves, forgetting what they look like for a minute and chasing down their deeper insights, finding in them a direction for modern life, something we can breathe and internalize and challenge and approach with our whole being rather than just our limited religiosity?"
What if? Frankly, if all they are is folk wisdom with deep insights to be internalized, I'm going to steal my employer's time, ignore my parents, cheat on my wife often, make shoddy and dangerous products and ultimately make myself the center of my universe. However, if they reflect the character of a Creator, they have my attention...
Jul '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
When the Ten Commandments cease to be relevant, we will cease to be a civilized society.
The Commandments were the foundation of a social contract that lifted their adherents out of the darkness of tribal raiding cultures, providing the basis for the advancement of civilization.
It might not be too much to say that the difference between the glories of Western Civilization and the squalor of the Islamic world is that we have the Ten Commandments and they have the Koran.
Edited on Dec 15, 2010 at 9:14amRe: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
Matthew Lawrence: "In other words, while we should value the commandments at face value, we should also search for the deeper wisdom that they can reveal."
To an extent, Christ did this in the Sermon on the Mount by showing there was more to Thou Shalt Not Murder than merely the act of killing. The purpose was to show man was incapable of saving himself. Mr. Hazony suggests doing to the Ten Commandments what liberal Protestants did 100 years ago: making them simply into moral aspirations. Dec 15 at 7:36am
Good point. Christ internalized the commandments. It wasn't enough that you didn't commit adultery, but you couldn't even look at a woman with lust in your heart. He made the commandments much more demanding to follow!
I think that Hazony wants us to see the commandments in both their literal sense, but also in a broader sense. It sounds like you think that that would lead to moral relativism. Do you?
Jun '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
The first three commandments are the means by which we acquire the love, and strength of character, to faithfully follow the last seven commandments. Having a genuine humility before God and keeping the Sabbath Day holy (devoted to spiritual renewal) is principally for our benefit--not His.
Dec '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
Wonderful and thoughtful post, Emily.
I'm not going to play the "I'm a pastor with a masters in theology" card...but I'm a pastor with a masters in theology. I think the Ten Commandments are ridiculously important in both the literal and figurative sense. People do ascribe to things like these divine decrees what they want them to be much more often than studying them for what they are, but that doesn't discount the importance of symbols and other such things people can rally around.
That said, every single one of the Big Ten has real-life, real-world relevance today and makes for better people and better societies. Theology is practical, as well as spiritual.
An example: "Don't steal or covet" are not only sound moral teachings that you don't have to go to church or synagogue to benefit from adhering to, they also reveal a mandate from heaven regarding the validity of property rights. (The free market conservative in me, it turns out, is actually the well-informed Christian in me.)
Anyway, much more to say about this, but I'll step aside for others' comments. Thanks again for posting this!
Edited on Dec 15, 2010 at 8:52amRe: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
Kenneth:
It might not be too much to say that the difference between the glories of Western Civilization and the squalor of the Islamic world is that we have the Ten Commandments and they have the Koran. · Dec 15 at 8:43am
Yeah, not so sure about that Kenneth. I think it's more complicated than that. Besides, if you want to cite a Biblical explanation for the glories of Western Civ, I think you'd have to look in the New Testament too.
Edited on Dec 15, 2010 at 8:54amRe: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
Hey, that's a great card to play! ... as demonstrated by your insightful post. The mandate from heaven about property rights is a very interesting point.
Jul '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
Emily Esfahani Smith, Ed.
Kenneth:
It might not be too much to say that the difference between the glories of Western Civilization and the squalor of the Islamic world is that we have the Ten Commandments and they have the Koran. · Dec 15 at 8:43am
Yeah, not so sure about that Kenneth. I think it's more complicated than that. Besides, if you want to cite a Biblical explanation for the glories of Western Civ, I think you'd have to look in the New Testament. · Dec 15 at 8:48am
Well, I'm no theologian. But you have to admit that the difference between "Thou shalt not kill" and "...when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and lie in wait for them in every ambush..." is a bright line between civilization and chaos.
And the Jews seem to have advanced very nicely without the New Testament.
May '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
Good insights. There are certainly endless layers.
The Commandments are like the rules parents teach young children before they become teenagers. One doesn't begin teaching kids deep philosophy. You start with simple rules that lay the foundation for future understanding. They're rudimentary, but never become obsolete.
The Decalogue is also a symbol of God's covenant with humanity. It's a symbol of hope and love, reminding us that the Good Shepherd is looking after us. In God we trust.
It reminds us that law is meant to be the shape of love. What is love? How does one embrace it and live it? Laws should guide us on these questions and produce harmony. Obviously, human laws inevitably fail to do this perfectly. But that's Christianity: striving for perfection while accepting need of redemption.
"Honor thy father and mother" means many things, but it is conservative in that it calls us to honor received wisdom. As Edmund Burke said, we live in contract with past and future generations to honor them in all that we do. Only a fool tries to understand life with only one's own intellect and experience.
Edited on Dec 15, 2010 at 9:22amMay '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
Let me swoop in here as everyone's favorite curmudgeon.
If you are referring to the contemporary Islamic world, I would have to disagree. The primary, capital difference between Western Civilization and the Islamic world as it is today and as it has been for centuries is the acceptance of Greek epistemology. Aristotle's work on logic as found within the Organon and the work of the Stoics on conditional logic taught the West (and the Islamic world eventually as well) how to formally engage in deductive reasoning and how to identify errors in reasoning or fallacies. Notice that every legitimate field of study is merely the use of reason (deductive and inductive) to the investigation of specific aspects of the natural world. The magnificence of Hellenism was first and foremost its commitment to Greek reasoning and the dialectic. The 10 Commandments did not reveal any of these truths about the inference and you can hardly have a rational society without such understanding.
May '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
The Islamic world I'm sure is replete with, among other things, laws against murder, theft, and perjury. One can scarcely find a society without such laws. The chief problem with the Islamic world is ignorance. Take the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Its something of a rite of passage for men to sexually assault women there. Other forms of serious religiosity are effectively prohibited. And, unlike the Christian and Jewish worlds, Islamic nations tend to take their laws against adultery very seriously. Women in Islamic Nigeria who are victims of rape are charged with the crime of adultery and executed. This is as flagrant as it gets with regard to ignorance. The dialectic as discovered by the Greeks would compel Islam's practitioners to question the legitimacy of barbaric conduct. What premises underlie this form of "justice?" Are they true? Is the reasoning valid?
It would do many Muslims in the 3rd world a great deal of good if they spent as much time with Carveth Read's Logic: Deductive and Inductive as they do with the Koran. The 10 Commandments won't reform them, if they are susceptible to reform. Only an Aristotelian/Thomist education will (minus the angelology).
Edited on Dec 15, 2010 at 9:54amJul '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
Adapted from P.J.O'Rourke
The Bible might seem to be a strange place to be doing economic research, but I have been thinking about the Tenth Commandment. Now the first nine commandments concern theological principles...then there's the Tenth Commandment: "Thou shall not covet they neighbor's wife. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's house, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor anything that is thy neighbor's." Here are God's basic rules for how we should live, a brief list of sacred obligations and solemn moral precepts, and right at the end of it is: "Don't envy your buddy his cow." Why would God, with just 10 things to tell Moses, choose jealousy about the stuff the guy next door has? Well, think about how important to the well-being of a community that commandment actually is. What that commandment says is that if you want a donkey, if you want a cleaning lady, etc. don't bitch about it, go get your own!
The Tenth Commandment sends a message to socialists, to people who believe that wealth is best obtained by redistribution, and that message is clear and concise: Go to hell!
Jul '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
Michael Labeit: The Islamic world I'm sure is replete with, among other things, laws against murder, theft, and perjury.
It would do many Muslims in the 3rd world a great deal of good if they spent as much time with Carveth Read's Logic: Deductive and Inductive as they do with the Koran. The 10 Commandments won't reform them, if they are susceptible to reform. Only an Aristotelian/Thomist education will (minus the angelology). · Dec 15 at 9:52am
Edited on Dec 15 at 09:54 am
The Islamic world is also replete with laws that allow honor killing and slaughter of apostates.
And I'm smiling at the thought of bearded young Islamists eagerly reading tomes about deductive reasoning.
Dec '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
In order to be motivated to find deep meaning in the Ten Commandments, you first have to believe that there is a Commander. Otherwise, what could motivate the search for deep meaning, other than a desire to push one or another current agenda?
May '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
Kenneth: The Islamic world is also replete with laws that allow honor killing and slaughter of apostates.
And I'm smiling at the thought of bearded young Islamists eagerly reading tomes about deductive reasoning.
I believe Judaism has a shameful history of honor killing as well, one that apparently did not contradict the commandment to refrain from murdering. It seems, the "murder" that the Jews were commanded not to commit had a dangerously narrow definition.
They had better, otherwise they'll stay ignorant and we'll remain on our guard from Islamic fascism.
Edited on Dec 15, 2010 at 10:15amJul '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
I would agree that the Ten Commandments derived their trenchancy from the belief of people at the time that they were literally handed down by a Deity.
But as a roadmap for moral behavior, one does not have to believe in a Deity in order to internalize the wisdom of the Commandments.
May '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
How far shall Christians go with the commandment not to steal? It prohibits socialism, of course, but taken literally it also implies that taxation per se is wrong. This conclusion does not bother me one bit but should Christians subscribe to it?
Jul '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
Michael Labeit
How far shall Christians go with the commandment not to steal? It prohibits socialism, of course, but taken literally it also implies that taxation per se is wrong. This conclusion does not bother me one bit but should Christians subscribe to it? · Dec 15 at 11:21am
Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's.
Taxation is not necessarily theft, just as capital punishment is not murder. Taxation is the price we pay for the protection of government against anarchy.
May '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
The usefulness of the only three commandments that have any business being actual laws - those against murder, theft, and perjury - can be proven without any appeal to a Deity. A society where murder, theft, and perjury were legal would not be conducive of a prosperous, civil state of affairs. Economics and ethics, fields of study and inquiry in their own right, both demonstrate the deleterious effects of murder, theft, and perjury, particularly theft, without an appeal to the existence of a god or gods.
May '10
Re: Are the Ten Commandments Still Relevant?
Kenneth,
Is taxation not theft? Though I definitely don't propose that we have anarchism, I would submit that taxation ultimately is a violation of private property rights. There tend to be more important issues at hand than the question of whether paying for police protection via taxation is theft, but fundamentally I think taxation is theft. If I produce wealth without having committed any violent crimes or other acts of coercion and an institution called the government forcible seizes a portion of my income, I think it constitutes theft, regardless I believe of whether we need government or not (I think we do, but there are alternative ways of financing it).
Edited on Dec 15, 2010 at 11:46am