Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. How much nicer our lives would be if we were just happy with what we have. Isn’t it ironic that we have [...]
This is a pretty easy one, to see how the world would be better without lying, cheating, slander, gossip, and all of those negative forms of communication. Just think of elementary school alone. How much better would everyone’s self esteem be, if there were no put downs, no name calling, no teasing. I can think [...]
This commandment is again about our relationship to others. This commandment shows importance of personal belongings, respecting others, acknowledging the existence and rights of others (sometimes over our own rights), and manners. From childhood we are taught the importance of not stealing. When a child takes a toy from another child, the parents instruct the [...]
The seventh commandment is another one dealing with the relationship between humans. A few weeks ago, my brother-in-law was married. The sealer who performed the marriage made a comment about this commandment. He said that if this one single commandment were kept, there would not be so much evil and wrong in the world. He [...]
Exodus 20: 12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. This is the first commandment with a promise or consequence for following it (previous ones had consequences for NOT following). If you honor your parents you will live a long [...]
A couple of thoughtful questions first. Why? What do we learn or lose by following or breaking this commandment? It’s not that the Lord will get his feelings hurt or anything like that. I think it has more to do with us taking control of ourselves. James 1:26 and all of chapter 3 are great [...]
In the Topical guide, I see two messages regarding “graven images”. Image worship was the religion of the people who were not God’s chosen, the Israelites, in the time of the Old Testament. So we must be wary to not practice the religion of the “others” in the sense that it is not the religion [...]
The first commandment given in the Ten Commandments is “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20: 3) So, how will having no other gods before God solve problems? First of all, keep in mind the second and fourth requirements. This commandment is for everybody, whether Jew, Gentile, Muslim, Christian, atheist, Buddhist, or [...]
I think this might be the final point or qualifier before I actually delve into the Commandments themselves. The final point to keep in mind when applying the Ten Commandments to all of the problems in the world, is that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament. 4. Jesus is the God of the [...]
Elder Dieter Uchtdorf spoke about the way of a disciple of Jesus Christ in the Sunday Morning Session of General Conference a week ago. The first part of his message fits nicely with my thoughts on how the Ten Commandments can solve all world problems. 3. Participation and patients is required. In order for the [...]