Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

PASTOR'S PENS 2008

Grace Church of Burlington July 27, 2008 “The Ten Commandments were not a suggestion.”    Pat Riley Today we’re in the second week of our new series, Kingdom Principles in a Political World and talking about the origin of government. In coming weeks we’ll be working through Biblical principles related to the socio-political issues we’re facing today. Of all of the passages in Scripture, the one that attracts the most heat are the Ten Commandments. Have you ever wondered why? Why does a public display of ten laws that are the basis of all laws for nearly every civilization attract so many attacks? A closer look at the specifics of the Decalogue demonstrates that it makes good sense for those who want to be free of moral restraints hate The Big Ten. Each one of the commandments contradicts a different pillar of trendy liberal thinking.             #1 – “You shall have no other gods before Me.” For the PC crowd it’s rude and insensitive to proclaim God’s existence in public, and especially not in public schools! For them, faith is to remain a private matter, an individual habit or quiet commitment, leaving plenty of room for doubt and uncertainty. Secularists resent the notion of an open, out-of-the-closet Deity. For those who worry about too much religion in the “public square,” it doesn’t get much more public than this opening proclamation.             #2 – “You shall not make for yourself an idol.” For a liberal this is the epitome of intolerance and judgmentalism! This commandment denies the very essence of freedom of choice, multiculturalism, pluralism and diversity.              #3 – “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.”In their minds this command highlights the right wing’s obsession with proper language and dirty words. It sounds like the anachronistic FCC with its seven words you’re never allowed to say on the air. Cutting edge artists and entertainers love using God’s name in shocking and disrespectful ways.             #4 – “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.”While the Sabbath stuff is no big deal, they squirm over that part of this directive that says, “Six days shall you work….” What kind of exploitative boss would dare demand a six day work week from today’s unionized laborers? This commandment reeks of the old-fashioned, restrictive Protestant work ethic.             #5 – “Honor your father and your mother.” The expectation of honoring elders burdens youthful free spirits with the dead, oppressive influence of tradition and the past. Progressive thinkers understand that in defining proper standards of dress, grooming, music, entertainment and sexual mores, it’s  adolescents, not parents, who really know best.             #6 – “You shall not murder.” The reminder of abortion, infanticide and euthanasia not being legitimate choices sends a culture of death into a frenzy. While they love slogans  declaring  execution is murder, war is murder, meat is murder but the God of the Decalogue who emphatically bans murder also specifically authorizes execution, war and meat.                                     #7 – “You shall not commit adultery.” To which a post-modern world quickly adds, “unless you really love her/him.” When people take their vows, pledging to remain committed “as long as our love lasts,” the 7th commandment starts looking out of date. It also bans any sexual relationship outside of a monogamous, heterosexual marriage.             # 8 – “You shall not steal.” For a big government worldview this smacks of the conservative’s selfish emphasis on private property. Radicals have always devised comfortable euphemisms to describe the act of theft: liberating, collectivizing or nationalizing private property, or simply taxing the rich. If you believe it’s virtuous for government to seize by force the majority of an individual’s earnings, you’re uncomfortable with an absolute ban on stealing.             #9 – “You shall not bear false witness.” Post-modernity holds that truth is out there...maybe. That it’s subjective, irrelevant and simply doesn't exist. Those without truth have leapt beyond the common sense observation that people's descriptions of reality differ to the conclusion that there is no independent reality and thus no basis for making judgments about truth-or falsity.              #10 – “You shall not covet...” Among other problems, this commandment outrages PETA with its unacceptable suggestions like animal companions such as oxen and donkeys can ever belong to their human friends. And this ban on coveting involves a restriction on a feeling, a desire, and it’s politically incorrect to suppress, deny or stifle authentic emotions. Blaming yourself for coveting can only undermine self-esteem, and the emergence and liberation of your precious inner child.             Reviewing the Ten Commandments one by one exposes their irreconcilable conflict with a postmodern world’s demented and dysfunctional philosophy. But in contrast to most aspects of 21st century liberalism, the relentless hostility to God’s Big Ten actually ends up making perfect sense.