The Ten Commandments

I do believe that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, i.e. other men and women, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

How else does a man believe he can justify his actions, as Jeffrey Epstein did, by saying he was “not a sexual predator, I’m an ‘offender’”?  Do we try to justify our behavior by substituting a slightly less offensive word to gain sympathy or credibility for ourselves?  By his argument, we can agree that, yes, at some time in history, 14-year-old girls were getting married, but (a) not now, and (b) you had no intention of marriage.  Jeffrey, you were both a liar and a predator.  There is a reason that ‘self-control’ is listed as a part of the fruit of the spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23).

The law of ‘Crimes against Humanity’, first prosecuted at the Nuremberg trials, hints that a globally recognized standard of behavior exists.  Search ‘Crimes against Humanity’ in Wikipedia and you’ll quickly fall down a rabbit hole looking up Customary International Law
 the International Court of Justice
 International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia
 International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
 the United Nations, etc. but then search Google Maps for Kaechon Concentration Camp in Pyongang, North Korea, and you have to ask yourself, “What’s up with that?”

We have satellite images of this horrific and present reality. Really❓ If you google Pyongyang concentration camps, you can be directed to a Wikipedia page that explains that there are around 15 to 20 ‘reeducation’ camps in North Korea. Hm, try reading Escape from Camp 14, and tell me your heart doesn’t hurt.  Look at the recent imprisonment of people in China into their ‘reeducation’ camps. The word-spin is not clever, its grievous. 💔

From a Forbes article in September 2019, the author writes: “Forget the politics. Forget that it is a one-party state that censors its population and now has religious minorities in so-called “reeducation camps” in far Western China.

Honestly, does any of that matter to a transnational corporation? Unless they run afoul of the Communist leaders or are doing business with the parties deemed responsible for a human rights violation, then it arguably matters little to them. Where is the company that has stopped doing business with China because of human rights matters?

The rest of the article is just as sad. Have we really fallen so far from any moral standard?

In Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus responds with the greatest commandment in the Law with such incredible simplicity.  Love God and Love Your Neighbor – all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.   Earlier in Matthew 5:17-18, Jesus teaches, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

I think it is time for me to review The Law.  The ten commandments were given to the Israelites as God’s chosen people to define a way of life that was different from the people around them.  It was a framework and a set of boundaries that would set them apart as ‘Holy’ – enabling them to be in God’s presence and preparing them to represent God to others. (Yes, there are hundreds of more detailed laws since a generic framework always leaves a loophole for man to start spinning lies to justify his desires.  (Romans 1:30 – they invent ways of doing evil)

Christians are called to do the same thing – in The Great Commission. We are called to go out into the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that Jesus has commanded us. (Matthew: 28:18-20)

Notice the Ten Commandments are grouped into two sets: the first four show your love for God and the last six show your love for your neighbor. 💖  This seems like the right place to review the framework of what Jesus spoke about in Loving God and Loving Your Neighbor.

  1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
  2. You shall not make for yourself an idol of any kind or any image of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.
  3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.
  4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. (i.e. set-apart)
  5. Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
  6. You shall not murder.
  7. You shall not commit adultery.
  8. You shall not steal.
  9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
  10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.