The Wisdom of Solomon
Bill McGurn ·
May 8, 2012 at 11:34pm
OK, I'm mixing my Old Testament leaders. But what to say about a federal judge whose solution to the litigious question of displaying the Ten Commandments in a public school is to reduce them down to six?
"If indeed this issue is not about God, why wouldn't it make sense for Giles County to say, 'Let's go back and just post the bottom six?'"
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Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
Oh my. So if we transform "10 commandments from God" into "6 fun sayings from a long time ago", it's all ok?
On the other hand, I've always wondered why we needed a distinction between the first and second commandments. God could have consolidated the list into 9 commandments if for the first, he would have said: "thou shalt have no other gods beside me."
Maybe 10 is a better number than 9. Or maybe my phrasing is too ambiguous, and people needed to explicitly know that an idol qualified as another "god."
Feb '12
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
This reminds me of the old joke about Moses coming down from the mountain---"I got him down to ten, but adultery's still on the list."
The Ten Commandments represent a beautiful, and profound, covenant between God and Israel. It's not a list that can be shaved to six because four are too obviously spiritual. They must be kept together, or not at all. James, after all, says if you break one law, you break them all.
Mar '11
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
Maybe the judge was a Mel Brooks fan.
Jun '10
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
Shane McGuire: This reminds me of the old joke about Moses coming down from the mountain---"I got him down to ten, but adultery's still on the list."
The Ten Commandments represent a beautiful, and profound, covenant between God and Israel. It's not a list that can be shaved to six because four are too obviously spiritual. They must be kept together, or not at all. James, after all, says if you break one law, you break them all. · 0 minutes ago
I agree. I've always been perplexed by the need of the anti-religionists to remove from every public place these foundational words of Judeo-Christian civilization. But if they're there, they all should be.
Perhaps calling them "Ten Strong Suggestions" would help. Probably not.
Dec '11
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
Diane Ellis, Ed.: Oh my. So if we transform "10 commandments from God" into "6 fun sayings from a long time ago", it's all ok?
On the other hand, I've always wondered why we needed a distinction between the first and second commandments. God could have consolidated the list into 9 commandments if for the first, he would have said: "thou shalt have no other godsbesideme."
Maybe 10 is a better number than 9. Or maybe my phrasing is too ambiguous, and people needed to explicitly know that an idol qualified as another "god." · 16 minutes ago
Issue with translation?
Mar '11
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
Can we cut David Letterman down to 6?
Dec '11
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
Even in the most anti-religionist world, the bible is still the most influential and culturally signifigant piece of literature in the western world.
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
Newt Gingrich made a similar point in his memo attempting to convince the Father of the virtues of employing Lean Six Sigma in heaven.
Diane Ellis, Ed.: ... I've always wondered why we needed a distinction between the first and second commandments. God could have consolidated the list into 9 commandments if for the first, he would have said: "thou shalt have no other godsbeside me."
· 24 minutes ago
Sep '10
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
They're now called The Ten Suggestions.
Mar '11
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
Terrific idea. Eliminating controversial Commandments would make room for more important items such as reducing your carbon footprint and recycling.
May '11
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
My understanding is that there were originally only the first 2 Commandments. When in answer to the question of "How much will they cost?" He answered "Free." the response was, "Well, then I'll take 10."
Feb '12
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
That's terrible ;)
May '10
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
I understand where the argument is coming from. His hypothetical question is intended to prove that those wanting to post the commandments do so out of a religious motivation.
However, removing the commandments that deal with God and focusing only on the commandments that deal with our fellow human beings ignores the fact that we typically won't even follow those commandments without a proper respect for the One who gave them to us. Oh yes, we can agree that they are fine principles for a society to live by, but when no one is looking, do we personally always obey such principles? Don't we often tend to think we're smarter and can avoid the consequences?
Edited on May 9, 2012 at 2:40amMay '10
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
Bill, what do you mean, your "mixing your Old Testament leaders?". Solomon was the one who wrote most of Proverbs, Wisdom Literature, and Solomon was the king widely esteemed for being wise. You got it right. But the judge who handed down that idea is a few fries short of a Happy Meal.
Jun '10
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
Could we at least call them The Ten Strong Suggestions?
Dec '10
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
Bill,
The wisdom of Solomon, I get what you mean.
How does one explain to the modern world that some things must be left just as they are.
Marriage is between a man and a woman to create children. It was so 100 years ago. It is so now. It will be so 100 years from now.
It would be nice to believe that understanding a priori concepts would be enough to convince people that certain basic truths can't be changed. When I am at my most optimistic philosophical self I can believe this briefly. However, I've lived long enough to know this isn't going to make the case.
To make the case stick you need those first 4 commandments.
Regards,
Jim
Aug '10
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
There are really just two commandments. We are inclined to interpret the simple version loosely. God gave us the fuller revelation of the law so we could understand that we are sinners in need of redemption.Matthew 22:37-40 - And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Apr '11
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
Those in favor of posting the Ten Commandments everywhere in public should be required to recite them all from memory to the election judge before being handed a ballot...at least (and present a valid photo ID, while they're at it).
Apr '11
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
Dianne, do you mean "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" and "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them" should be one commandment? If so, I have good news for you; according to Catholicism and Lutheranism, they are! It's my guess that most other Protestant denominations would be fine with your preferring this taxonomy, although I think that they (and we Orthodox) are correct in preferring the division that allows Deuteronomy and Exodus to agree. The bad news is that there's still ten; we don't know there are ten because we counted, but because God told us there were ten.
Do those who believe that neo-nazis should be able to read and publish the protocols of the elders of Zion have to be able to cite them chapter and verse, too? To demand that those in favor of greater freedom submit to greater regulation seems perverse.
Mar '11
Re: The Wisdom of Solomon
In the vestibule of the Dairy Queen in Lexington, KY all ten are posted.
I would prefer to see all ten, but if we can get six posted now - post them by all means. The salient question is "with which of these commandments do you have a problem?" Is it the killing, or the stealing, or the lying to which you object?
The progressives are incrementalists. Today, few question the constitutionality of the New Deal and Great Society programs. They've become part of our lives that are difficult to modify - even to save them from insolvency; see P. Ryan and wheelchair bound grandma over cliff.
The progressives instituted a government mandated Ponzi scheme with no opt-out clause. So let's play by their rules - post six today and go for more in the future. If we can get one more per decade, in forty years we'll be back to the original list handed down centuries ago.