The Ten Commandments

Growing up, I was taught certain things by my parents and by my Sunday School teachers. Things that we've all heard before... don't hit, don't steal, don't lie, etc. There wasn't really a reason given except that it was just something you weren't supposed to do. So I grew up learning to not do these things and the major reason I learned not to do them was so I wouldn't get in trouble.

Of course as I got older and I had to deal with people doing these things to me... lying, cheating, stealing, hitting, etc, I began to have a different appreciation for why not to do those things. But even then - I was still mostly scared of getting caught. I wouldn't always have the same apprehension if I thought I could get away with it. I think that's the way most people view things. It's all about risk vs reward.

And let's face it... people are selfish. We all look out for number one on some level - even to the point of lying or cheating or stealing, etc. Everyone does it to some extent. Like how many honest, church-going people decide it's ok to cheat on their taxes every year?

So you combine people - who are pretty selfish beings when you boil things down - with temptation based on some potential reward and you have lies, cheating, stealing, even killing.

The problem with all this is that all these things cause pain to someone - at least one someone. Think about it. It's easy to consider that things like cheating on someone or killing someone would cause pain to one or more individuals. But consider that any of these things can cause pain to someone - or someones.

Let's shift gears for a moment. Think about the stuff that's in the Bible. Specifically think about the Ten Commandments. People often view the Ten Commandments as hindrances to things that are "fun" in life or rules for people who are religious or rules that would be nice to live by but are simply too much to ask to be completely obeyed. But think about the God of the Christian and Judaic world. A singular God whose common theme is love. The last six commandments are designed, if we obey them, to keep us from hurting others. Think about what an awesome place this would be if we simply obeyed the last six commandments. How much less pain would there be? How much less would you have hurt in your life if people simply obeyed those last six commandments? How much less would you have hurt in your life if you didn't have the guilt of knowing that you hurt someone because you broke one or more of those commandments?

Hurting sucks. Hurting others sucks. We all know this. And we all know the difference between right and wrong. But selfishness tends to overrule right from wrong unfortunately. And until we teach ourselves to keep our selfishness in check, we will continue to do things that hurt other people and they will continue to hurt us.

Jesus sums it up nicely when he said for us to "Love your neighbor as yourself." People who honestly live by these words are wise indeed.