“With No Malice”©2012
A General Interest Opinion Column by an opinionated person.
Vic Topmiller Jr
08/02/12
Government, part 18
Words are things, and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions think. Lord Byron.
Is It Really About Jobs? (or the economy?)
Much Deeper Than That.
“The Ten”
Let's face it, if we want to fix the country, we have to start by fixing the family.
How many times I've heard - “Well, divorce is better than raising a kid in a hostile family environment.” Okay – could be, but wouldn't it be nice if mom and dad, or mother and father, or paternal parent and maternal parent, or sperm deliverer and sperm receptor agreed to devote their lives and their emotions to the betterment of the family.
Yes, I know, in our world that is utopian and out of the question, and it seems that every generation has comes forward with less regard for the family or its offspring.
So, let's forget it. I've been in this debate before and it's a No Winner.
Did you remember that we started this discussion in Exodus 20;2-3.
Let's go back to Exodus 20;3 - “Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.”
When Moses delivered the “Tablets of Ten” to the Israelites do you suppose that they thought that “look, he said 'no other gods', does he mean that there are other gods to worship?” Judging by their history I suppose that must have been the way they interpreted the commandment. But you know what, I think that is what they did, and I think that is exactly what we do also. And “how so” you say. Here goes; how many ways do you and I exercise the freedom to put interests of our own choosing ahead of the things that are lasting, moral and important? Not only that but in how many ways have we become self-serving and pleasure seekers and power seekers and greedy and live in the world of First Person (me) first? We do it everyday, every moment, in every action and every thought. We just are not capable of living within the “No Other God” commandment. We've become gods to ourselves, and we want no other god before us.
Yes – No? Be honest.
I could list volumes of examples of how this is but I think each of us live our own life of priorities and each of us must evaluate our own list of gods and determine which are gods that we worship, and which are gods that come between us and the “One True God.” And still, there are a lot of people in this world that believe that there is no God and they need not worship or honor anything. I wish them luck. About all I have to offer – LUCK.
I used to not spend much time thinking about the “Ten” except to know that they were there and in force. But not being enforced. But now I see them in a different light and point of view. Think about this, we all need a guide and guidelines to live by. We need to see the “Ten” as those guidelines by which we can live in a society congested with people and so we don’t kill each other, yes, and even help each other survive. By which we can even acknowledge that there is a superior person who created, controls and owns the world. Who does not need us to tell him what is right and what is wrong or when I want him to meet my needs. You see, isn't that just like us. Tell now, when is the last time you got on your knees in your quiet place and said “God, please I need help. I'll be good from now on.” and knew it was a lie, as soon as you got up. Now, how many of us have gotten down on our knees in our quiet place and said, “God, how I can I serve you today.?” It's okay to admit it, I'm guilty too, along with about everyone else. You know what? One day in a moment of epiphany, I realized that if god is a real God, I should be more tuned in to his will for me and less about what I beg out of him. So you see, if we would search the “Ten” for instruction and guidance, we would please God and certainly live a valuable, productive and compassionate life. But we don't and we won't. And that's the puzzler. Wouldn't it be nice to leave the house with the doors unlocked and not be in fear of the consequence when we returned because first you live by the “Ten” and everyone else does also?
It's not complicated. I see the “Ten” as the guidelines for a homogenous world as I see the Constitution as the guidelines for a homogenous nation.
Now, pay attention -
“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” James Madison. U.S. President.
“That’s My Opinion”
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“Family; the miniature commonwealth upon whose integrity the safety of the larger commonwealth depends.” Felix
