Honoring The Nine Commandments

There used to be ten commandments, but nowadays there seem only to be nine.

I say that because there are only nine commandments that go uncontested. Oh, sure, in some sense we all break various commandments from time to time.

Maybe not murder per se, but we harbor rage, and Jesus had a few things to say about that.

Maybe not adultery per se, but we harbor lust, and Jesus had a few things to say about that.

As for coveting and envy, I hardly need point out how often we fall prey to that forbidden sin.

And so it goes on down the line.

We may wiggle and squirm ("It was a holy anger" or "It was just a tiny second peek, in appreciation of that person's God-given beauty") but we at least affirm the principal. We should not murder. We should not commit adultery. We should not engage in idolatry. We should not covet.

The wiggling and squirming I understand. I've done it myself often enough. But with no other commandment have I witnessed such zeal in redefining the terms. With this commandment, I regularly observe committed Christians resorting to the nuclear option. "That was the Old Testament. Jesus changed all that. We don't have to do that anymore."

Which commandment am I talking about?

Honoring the Sabbath.

It's only the fourth commandment, after all. Just after the ones about idolatry and worshipping other gods. It's probably just coincidental that it got listed ahead of murder, adultery, false testimony.

Just the Sabbath. The optional commandment.

What is it about Holy Rest that we are so averse to? Could it be we are enslaved to something that requires our time during the Sabbath? God calls us to rest on the Sabbath. Whose call are we obeying when we do not?

Perhaps, when we ignore the fourth commandment, we demonstrate that we are also in violation of one that precedes it. We serve an extra god. Perhaps two of them? Busy ones.

Not to worry, however! There is an easy solution to this problem.

Perhaps eight commandments will suffice?