Back To the First

Now, you might be wondering why I skipped the first two commandments and elaborated on commandments three through ten. I did not skip them by mistake or because I didn't think them important. On the contrary, I belief them to be the most important, which is why I saved them for the last. 

That reason is that the first two commandments can be hoped for as ideals, but not kept unless the eight commandments that follow are first obeyed. The first commandment is to have no other gods and the second is to not make any graven image. Does it matter one bit if these first two commandments are either kept or broken if the eight afterwards are not understood and followed?  No it does not. Man can pretend to worship God, but if he lies, cheats, steals, covets, kills, or commits adultery then how much does he honor that god?  If a man commits such sins and is a follower of a god, then he is following a lesser god than the one our Bible teaches of.  

The true God has a character composed of the noble and honorable traits and attributes. And the true God wants us to emulate his character. He has laid down these ten commandments as a minimum standard to begin that path. But if we don't keep the last eight which pertain to how we behave and treat our fellow beings, how can we have a good relationship with God?  How can we honor and obey Him and treat Him with dignity and respect if we cannot obey His commandments on how to treat others?  In honoring and obeying the other commandments, we can fulfill the first two most perfectly. 

Seek Not Your Own

Covetousness and envy can be greatly demonstrated by comparison with the opposite. God has commanded us to love one another, to seek to build each other up, and to not seek after our own welfare, but the welfare of others. 

"Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth.  Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake:  For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof." 1st Corinthians 10:24-26

This passage brings out some great concepts.  There in the opening line Paul admonishes us to not seek after our own interests, but rather to seek after the interests of others. Then he states that the earth is God's. So can we really feel justified in enriching ourselves while our fellow man is struggling?  Can we really feel that we are acting rightly when we know that the earth is not ours but God's?  

God has instructed us to be stewards of the earth He has placed us on. He asks that we take care of His creation. He has asked that we learn to care for others. How can we do that if we are too consumed in caring for our own interests? The commandment not to covet is a commandment to be unselfish. In order to take part in God's glory we must become like Him. 

My Respect for The Amish

I think my views on this matter can beautifully shown by the way the Amish and the Mennonites choose to live.  Now to be clear, there are some views and practices of the Amish that I don't agree with, but I'm not going into that. And also bear in mind I know that I am stereotyping them here. I am aware that the Amish do vary from one community to another, some permit different practices. But most have this element in common. 

My main focus is on the part of their beliefs where they reject the world and its luxuries and comforts.  In their view, loving the world prevents them from getting closer to God, and that they should be happy and content trying to live within their own means. I respect this attitude greatly. The world criticizes them for this but I think we do need to take a good lesson from them. 

Basically the Amish have taken the last commandment very seriously. Instead of desiring to have what everyone else has, they have chosen to be content with hard work and sacrifice. Now I don't think it's good to do that out of tradition. I do think that it is good to show God that we love him more than we love convenience. 

I think that we can certainly give up much of what we have or want. I think it's fine to have cars, but not to use them as measuring sticks. I think it's alright to have a comfortable home. I think it's fine to have nice clothes. But I don't think it's fine to use them to show our status in our society.

The Amish can show us that they don't need most of the stuff we think we need. And if we could let go of our pride and selfishness, we could give up most of this stuff which actually enslaves us. Yes. Think of it that way. The commandments of God don't exist to control and limit us. Rather they free us from having to bear the natural consequences of breaking them. When God tells us not to covet, he wants us to be free from the chains of covetousness. The Amish in many ways are much freer than most of us. And I believe the Amish as a people are closer to God than most. 

Wants and Needs

The remaining part of this command carries similar themes to the last two, so I'm going to lay out this commandment again in its full form. 

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s." Exodus 20:17

Now where I'm going with this article is this. Much of what people think they need is not a necessity. They only 'need' it because they are trying to keep up with the current trends. Think about it. In the world of fashion, few needs are met, it really boils down to keeping in style. 

Let us use smartphones as an example. Lots of people upgrade to larger, newer, faster models because they think the need a new one. In my experience, if I take care of what I have, it lasts longer, and it suits my needs just fine. Same with cars, computers, homes, clothes, etc. 

So we need to learn how to separate what we want (and why we want it) from our real needs. I'm not saying you can't have luxuries or nice things. But back to pride, do we need it because we need it, or do we need it because our ego needs it?  

Are we really that starved for attention?  Do we really need to impress others in order to be satisfied?  If that worked, then we would be satisfied. But it's not working is it?  The more we seek the indulgence, the less satisfying it becomes. Some of the least happy people are those that have the most earthly goods. And yet why are they always seeking more?  

They want more because it success in the eyes of their peers they are seeking. They want to impress their friends and families. Yes they want the conveniences too and as far as that goes it is fine. But they are looking for happiness in the wrong places. 

There is a path that leads to happiness and it can be walked regardless of these wants and needs. Often our wants are driven by fear that if we don't obtain it that somehow we will lose out on something. This fear leads to regret, an unhappiness over what might have been. That is really sad to regret something that was never even very important, something that was never a necessity.

Jealousy

The next part of the commandment continues on stating :

"...thou shalt not covet thy neighbors wife..." Exodus 20:17

Now again, this is similar to my last article, except now you are replacing possessions with a person. I thought this is an important point to make. On one level, it is the exact same sin as any other covetousness, the primary difference is that now you are additionally committing the sin of devaluing a human being as if they are a thing to have or obtain, that who someone's spouse is makes them lesser or greater. 

This is not uniquely a male trait either. Their are women who envy the husbands of other women. Furthermore their are those that envy the children of others too. They envy the apparent affection they see in others lives, or the means that they have, or their circumstances, or any number of other things. 

Your happiness or unhappiness is not determined by the circumstances of others, and having what others possess is not going to make you happier. We should not be displeased that others have good things. We should learn to be happy that they are happy. We need to learn how to be satisfied with what we have and to be pleased that other have what they are blessed with.  

Jealousy is a fear that you will loose something to someone else.   But the truth is if we fear to loose something, we have lost already. Fear is the opposite of faith, and faith leads to joy and happiness. So if we want to be happy, we have to let go of our jealousies. 

Keeping Up With the Jones'

The last of the Ten Commandments has to do with coveting.  Over the next few articles I want to explore and share what this really means. Some of the aspects of this are covered as parts of the other sins, but all of them have other elements in common. I will start with the first one listed in the scriptures which is:

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors house. ..." Exodus 20:17

This passage basically refers to looking at what your fellow men possesses and yourself desiring it. Now just to make my point clear, and this is one of the elements I referred to earlier, the common thread of coveting. You would not desire what your neighbor had unless you were comparing yourself with others through wealth and possessions. Coveting would not be possible unless we are attempting to measure our value by what we own. 

So this element is a pride thing. We measure our own worth by the things we own. We try to make a good impression by how nice and fancy our stuff is. We want to have the latest and greatest especially if those around us do. It is pride that drives us to try to outdo others. We need to learn to get rid of this pride, and stop seeing our worth in such terms. It does not make us any less if others do well. Nor does an outward show of earthly success make us any greater. 

Theft and Dishonesty

I have been thinking a lot about this and how I'm going to finish covering these topics of stealing and lies, and the two are intertwined. So in this article, I'm going to lay out a few more of my views on the matter. 

Many people who claim to be following Christ's teachings are dishonest. I know of many men who outwardly are good members of their church.  One in particular that speaks of how greatful he is that he is a member of Christ's true church. Yet this man lies and steals. He lost one business because his reputation got bad enough that he finally had to sell to a friend of his. He made promises he had no intentions of keeping, he wouldn't honor his warranty policy, he cheated his employees, and he cheated his customers. By doing these things he is also cheating himself. 

In the short term his reputation began to hurt his business. But the real damage is what it is costing his salvation. How can even his closest friends trust him?  How can he trust himself?    And of course God can't trust him. He has become a slave. And all the while he comforts himself by claiming to be a member of a certain church.  In the end, that won't help him in the least. He has chosen to live the lie. 

My point in wrapping up these two topics is we need to be honest. If we want to be called members of God's church, we need to behave like it, and we can't be admitted if we are not honest. 

Hypocrisy

The term hypocrisy is defined as: The practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform.

The term is especially used to refer to those in religious positions. In any case there are often people who preach of an ideal which they do not conform to. 
A man who preaches morality, chastity, and other virtues, but is not living them is preaching a negative message.  He teaches with his lips things that are good, but by his actions teaches that these things are simply ideals that are not attainable. He teaches that men are too imperfect to actually live godly lives. So by his actions he undos any good his message might have done. 
However, I am not advocating that we need to be perfect in order to teach people.  I am not saying that someone who has weaknesses can't preach.  None of us is perfect in that way. But what I am saying is that we need to be striving to improve ourselves. If we are working towards salvation, and continue to progress, that is a powerful example to others. If we teach with both our words and actions we will be far more effective than if we teach words alone. And the greatest person we hurt if we are guilty of hypocrisy is ourselves. 

Omitting The Truth

Sometimes people deceive others by what they don't tell them. They will omit important information in the hopes that others will be fooled or overlook something that they don't want people to notice. 

Now I'm not talking about withholding information when it's appropriate. There are times when not sharing information is the right thing to do. But when there is relevant information and it is left out in order to lead others with a false conclusion, that is called lying and deception. 

People do this quite often, and tell themselves that it's not lying because they didn't say anything that isn't true. They rationalize that since the other person came to an incorrect conclusion that it's their own fault they were misled. But that was the intention all along, was it not?  Attempting to deceive someone, whether you do it straight out, or do it by strategy is still dishonest and the act is still a lie. 

The intention is really quite telling. Most cases where people do this, it is for one of two reasons. Either the person presenting the story hopes to gain something by presenting the truth in a misleading way, or they are attempting to avoid consequences. Either way, the motivation is dishonest. 

Children's Fantasies

Another area where people often lie but justify it by calling it harmless is the fictional figures. By these I mean things like: Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, Cupid, the Tooth Fairy, storks that deliver babies, and other such things that have infiltrated our culture. 

People seem to have this idea that it is just harmless fun, and that these children should be taught about these things and be allowed to believe in them while they are young. Some people will even go to great lengths to ensure this delusion is preserved for as long as possible. 

The real problem with these beliefs is that it is a lie. We are trying to raise our children to believe in God. We are trying to teach them the stories in the scriptures. And we are trying to teach them the commandments that the prophets have given to us. Now pray tell, how are we supposed to teach our children to have faith in God, and teach them about God, while at the same time teaching them this false stuff too?  How can we expect our children to have confidence in us that we are trying to teach them the truth of God, when we also teach them things that are not true?  

The White Lie

A common misconception is that at times it is ok to lie so long as it's a small lie for a good cause. Our culture calls these 'white lies'. 

A good example is a woman who asks her spouse how she looks in a dress. For one reason or another the truth is that the dress is not attractive, but for the sake of keeping the peace, her spouse tells her she looks nice. In this case he has lied in order to avoid an awkward situation. He lied in order to support her self esteem. 

Another reason why people sometimes do this is to 'protect' someone. A parent might tell a small lie to their children in order to 'preserve their innocence' or 'preserve their childhood'. 

Now here is my major point with this article. At the end of the day, the size of the lie does not matter. When you lie to people, you lie to yourself, you weaken people's confidence in you, and you sell your character cheaply. Telling small lies is not one bit different from telling large lies. In fact, if you can't tell the truth and be honest about little matters, what makes you thing you will be honest in more serious matters?  Large lies almost always start with small lies. 

Now I'm not saying be blunt and rude. I'm saying be honest. If your spouse wears an unattractive article of clothing, tell them they would look better in something else. It does not matter the circumstance. We must strive to always be honest. They will appreciate your telling the truth, as opposed to finding out later on that you lie, so they can't have confidence when they ask such questions.