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The Ten Commandments: An honest look

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In the news every night the words “Religious Right” and what it stands for comes from the TV.  With the state of the world and America these days, I wondered if we were as a nation operating as the “Religious Right” believes.  Being that the basis for Christian religion is the Ten Commandments, I thought I would examine, commandment by commandment, to see if America is on track.

 

The First Commandment:  Thou shalt  have no other Gods before me.   Let’s see, money, self, possessions just to start.  That does not even take into account the people who think that they are Gods.  As I look around I would have to say that we have put everything on this earth before God.  The funny part is that in a lot of cases, we do what we do in his name but against this commandment.  On this commandment, America fails, completely.  Grade F.

 

The Second Commandment: Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.   I think speaking as a nation that on this commandment we have not violated this commandment except for the possibility of money as money has in God we trust printed on it.  Overall, I will give America a passing grade on this commandment.  Grade A minus.

 

The Third Commandment: Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.  On this commandment I am guilty, maybe several times a day, of violating this commandment.  But the question is about America’s keeping the commandments.  Looking from that point of view, America has “ruled” from the courts that God’s name is not allowed in any part of our public society. (By the way, if the courts are going to write and enforce the law, then why do we need Senators and Congressmen?  Could we not save billions of taxpayer dollars by just letting the courts decide what we want and need?  They do it everyday anyhow.)  If that is not taking God’s name in vein, then I do not know what is.  The courts have made God’s name a bad word based on the rights of all, but is not the freedom that America cherishes inclusive of being able to worship openly and freely.  And the truth be told, while I am a Christian, I have celebrated other religious holidays with friends without a court order.  On this commandment, America totally fails with an F minus grade. 

 

The Fourth Commandment:  Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.  While I hope that God is a football fan, I think the commercialism of Sunday is not what he had in mind when he handed down this commandment.  Assuming that the Sabbath is Sunday and not Friday, the day should be spent reflecting the past week and spending time with family and friends.  The Sabbath is a day to do charity work and other things of that nature.  While we are all guilty of bending this commandment, America tries.  For that I give America a C plus grade.

 

The Fifth Commandment:  Honor thy Father and thy Mother that the days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.  Where do I even start on this one?  For America, this commandment should be amended to Honor thy Abuser and thy Victim or maybe Honor thy Biological Male contributor and thy Birth Mother.  No matter how you slice it, the family is dead in America.  With a divorce rate of 85%, (Not the 50% that gives you hope that you will stay married and keep the multi billion dollar industry alive) parental rights obliterated, and a system that is designed to split families apart and keep them fighting so that lawyers can make money, is it no wonder Honor thy Father and Thy Mother is a joke in America.  What I find interesting about this commandment is that it answers one of this nation’s most vocal issue, the pro-life, pro-choice issue.  The truth be told, if this nation had a wholesome family life, the need for the levels of abortions would be cut significantly.  Maybe the Religious Right should fight against the destruction of families and the unborn issue will take care of itself, in my opinion.  America fails this commandment and continues to support the genocide on the family on many fronts.  Grade F minus-minus. 

 

The Sixth Commandment:  Thou shalt not kill.  While kill is the literal translation, the intent of the day when the commandments were handed down to Moses was murder.  Taking murder into context, prior to this administration I would have passed America.  While I am sure this country has assassinated individuals for various reasons, good and bad, it was something done outside of the day to day operations of America.  With the recent revelations that America has tortured prisoners and whisked them away to be tortured, we have joined the list of distinguished countries of World War II Japan and Germany, Iraq and many others.  In my eyes what made America great was an overriding sense of right and wrong which no longer exists.  Therefore the soul of America has died, and we as a nation have become hypocrites’ of all we have sacrificed our loved ones for over the past 200 plus years.  What I truly find appalling is that this administration and a small percentage of Americans feels that torture is okay as long as you have a good publicist to spin it. Grade F minus-minus-minus.

 

The Seventh Commandment:  Thou shalt not commit adultery.  America quite literally has a past President who has blown this commandment off the map.  People magazine placed a woman on the cover as a hero when during her marriage she conceived 2 of her 3 children with her lovers.  Over 25,000 men are in jail (at $150.00 per day of taxpayer dollars or $1,368,750,000 taxpayer dollars per year) for child support for children that are not even theirs.  Maury Povich every day has the “Who’s your Daddy Show” where 16 year old girls DNA test 24 men to see who is their child’s daddy.  Even within my own family there is a person who has found out that two of his three children were not his.  Adultery is not only fashionable, but has become a multi-billion dollar industry for the family court system and the people who exploit it.  The only winners in this situation are the men who actually fathered the children who get out of any responsibility.  Needless to say, F minus-minus.

 

The Eighth Commandment:  Thou shalt not steal.  While I am sure that we all have eaten the cashews in the grocery store or something similar, the question is about America as a whole.  Have we as a nation stolen?  This is a tough one.  Is a good business deal for natural resources stealing or just good business?  In the case of national preparedness and FEMA’s response to hurricane Katrina, were the billions spent prior to this disaster wasted or stolen.  The only way to truly know if America has violated this commandment is to audit the expenditures since September 11th (911) and see where the money went.  My guess would be a combination of wasted and stolen because it is obvious that no money was spent on our nation’s preparedness.  Grade Incomplete, awaiting further information.

 

The Ninth Commandment:  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.  WMD, Alkida connection to Iraq, detainment and torture of non-combatants without due process, should I go on?  We are a Nation of liars who bear false witness each and everyday thanks to our legal system.  It is always someone else’s fault that you did something wrong.  What is ironic is that while Americans have no reservations about lying, they hate to be lied too.  Well on this commandment I give the Nation a grade of D as it is not all our fault.

 

The Tenth Commandment:  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house.  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant nor his maidservant nor his cattle nor anything that is thy neighbors.  America covets EVERYTHING!  It is called merchandising and business.  If the neighbor has a new lawn mower, I must have one.  If my best friend’s diamond is 1 carat, I must have 2 carats.  Even the kids of today use the word need instead of want or desire.  But as a nation we have coveted oil and natural resources to make the beads and trinkets that we trade for our Manhattan.  While I do not necessarily see this as a bad thing or in violation of this commandment, it does lead to many things that do go against this commandment.  I give this nation a grade of C for this commandment.

 

While it is obvious that America fails as guardians of the Ten Commandments, it does not mean that we are lost as a nation.  One of the great things about America is that when the truth is exposed and America gets to chew on it as opposed to being spoon feed, Americans usually make the right decision.  But in order for this country to get on the right track, America must make some fundamental changes. 

 

First and foremost the court system must be changed to enforce the will of the people as opposed to the law being written by and for the benefit of the courts.  Next, the same court system, especially the family court system must be investigated as it presently operates in secret and with no oversight.  The family court system is responsible for most of the nations “societal” problems by permeating an atmosphere of corruption and genocide for profit without this oversight.  This flaw in our legal system must be corrected by putting oversight in place that is not comprised of lawyers, but people who actually grasp the concept of right and wrong. 

 

Next, our law makers must actually represent the people they pretend to represent.  With today’s communication abilities, each representative should have a web site and phone system that gets his/her constituents votes on each subject under discussion.  This would put “WE THE PEOPLE” back in control of our government. 

 

Next, this country needs a law that holds our elected representatives and public officials accountable for every expenditure of public money.  The penalty for violating the public trust should be life with no parole and the liquidation of all personal assets to the public treasury.  This would be a start.

 

If America does not change the course that we are on, I will see all of you on judgment day as I don’t believe that God considers what was written in stone by his hand, suggestions.

 

 

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Michael C. Morris has been involved in racing since the age of twelve (12) when he took a summer job working at Terry's Speed Shop located in Phoenixville PA. With the help of his brother John Morris, they teamed up and joined Razzberry Racing. (more...)
 
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