The 10 Commandments-Just an Emergency Brake
I think Jesus gave us the absolute moral truth and law when he said that all the law and prophets are fulfilled by his expanded version of a command that Jews called the Shema (Moses: Hear O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord they God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and stength. Jesus: Do that and also love your neighbor as yourself). Moses tells Israel to meditate on that command constantly, and that is what is really needed in order to follow it because loving God and your neighbor is so much more than following the "thou shalt nots" of the 10 commandments. It requires a change of mind and heart that comes only from surrender to God.

I think equating the 10 Commandments with "absolute" moral truth or law and making big deal about displaying them in public areas does not have the desired effect. I see the 10 Cs as defining the outer reaches of morality. If you have not been repeating, teaching, meditating on, and trying to live the simpler commandment of love that Jesus gave, you will find yourself at the boundary that separates the life with God you want to lead from the wasteland of lawlessness-kind of like finally buying a roadmap when you realize you are at the last gas station before the desert.

In other words, I haven't loved a particular neighbor. I let anger at him consume me. I enjoy seeing his flaws because they make me feel more righteous (worshipping self instead of God). Although with my mouth, I say that I love him, I exclude him from my circle of friends. When someone repeats some gossip about him, I believe it. When someone points out his good points, I downplay it. I prove him wrong in an argument and revel in that victory for days. And all this is barely visible to others! My bad feelings have built and built to the point where I see only flaws when I look at the guy instead of seeing a child of God.

And now comes a more stark moral dilemma: I heard some vicious gossip about him. I don't know if it's true but it sounds pretty believable to me. His name comes up in a conversation. Someone says, "What do you know about so-and-so?"
Since I have strayed so far from loving him, from reminding myself that God loves him, from remembering that I may have had something to do with his faults, the 10 commandments are my only recourse. Since my understanding that "Thou shalt not steal" includes not only people's goods but also their good names, I have one last emergency brake after my love fails, one last thing to keep me from repeating the gossip. And without love, that emergency brake is hard to activate so I feel like SUCH a good person if I succeed. And if I fail, well, hey, that was just one little sin and everyone slips once in awhile and isn't it great that God forgives me. No need to deal with the pride, anger, wrath, and malice that remain in my heartI'll just try not to gossip again.

Fighting for the right to display the 10 commandments is like teaching people to ride the emergency brake. Christ calls us to drive the Starship! Why do we stand guard at the line between good and evil instead of doing what Christ diddrawing people into the kingdom of God through love?

Learn more about this author, Jo March.
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