Ten Commandments Redux
by Joe Imagine how the world would have been different if God had had the
foresight to include slavery in the Ten Commandments. Sometime in
history---for example, during the Babylonian Captivity, control of the
intellectual Greeks by the conquering Romans, centuries of
inter-tribal slavery on several continents, or the shameful episode of
slavery in America, the land of the free---God must have realized the
omission, slapped his forehead, and said, "What was I thinking?"
Now, I don't mean to tell God how to run his business, never having
been in that line of work myself, but if you're going to take the time
(especially if you have a limitless supply of it) to tell people how
to act, why not use that opportunity to protect the most vulnerable?
If I may speak for the human race (and with all due respect), you may
work in mysterious ways, but we're the ones getting our asses kicked
down here.
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney recently said that to run a country,
a legislature only needs the Ten Commandments as a guide. But are
they so all-inclusive? You can have slaves while honoring your
parents; they might have had their own slaves. You can have slaves
without killing them, stealing from them, or even lying to them. In
fact, though I don't know of any such instances, I have to believe the
Bible was used by people like Vice-President, later Senator, John C.
Calhoun in the 19th century to support their idea that slavery was not
a necessary evil, but a "positive good."
Maybe there was something important about the number ten that
precluded adding any more ideas---maximum marketing impact? Making
allowance for ADD?
In that case, he could have combined a couple: "Thou shalt not steal
thy neighbors goods or even think about it." (Keep in mind that his
phrasing has always been better than mine.) If there was not
something important about the number ten, how about also adding one
about rape?
Maybe our hope is that a prophet will come forward with an update.
