Category: ten commandments

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 scads of TV shows where people get their perfectly usable kitchens, homes, bedrooms, bathrooms, whatever, remodeled, and yet there are so many in the world who don’t even have a home, let alone a perfectly good usable one. Our society is so stuck on needing bigger and better instead of just being happy with what they have. I grew up in a home with three bedrooms and one bathroom. We had nine (9) people in the family. We learned to get along really well. There were four boys in one small room, just big enough for two bunk beds, four dressers, and a space to sit down on the floor. All of us are great friends. We learned to live with what we had, and learned to be happy with it. Sure we would have loved a second or third bathroom. Believe me, we would have loved it.

My mother and wife are great examples of people who do not coveting the things of others. They often want things, but are always quick to check themselves and be happy for things that they already have.

There would be so much less greed, dishonesty, corruption and ill feelings if people would just be happy with what they have.

A great talk on this commandment is here:

Gordon B. Hinckley, “‘Thou Shalt Not Covet’,” Ensign, Mar 1990, 2

A great quote comes from a seminal talk on the Ten Commandments by President Ezra Taft Benson (Ezra Taft Benson, “America at the Crossroads,” New Era, Jul 1978, 36).

“10. Last, “Thou shalt not covet.” (Ex. 20:17.) Covetousness is one of the besetting sins of this generation, and our covetousness reaches every item forbidden in the commandments—our neighbor’s house, his wife, his help, his worldly goods, and everything that is our neighbor’s. Covetousness, plus love of idleness, lie at the root of our violation of the law of work, with all the ills that has brought. Covetousness has invaded our homes, our communities, the nations of the world. It has brought with it greed, and avarice, and ambition, and love of power. Men scheme, plan, overreach, cheat, and lie to get their neighbor’s heritage. Covetousness threatens the peace of the world today more than any other one element. But God said, “Thou shalt not covet.””

And in closing out this study of the Ten Commandments are some closing thoughts by Ezra Taft Benson from this same talk.

“These are the foundation principles upon which all civilized government and our present civilization is built. To disregard them will lead to inevitable personal character loss and ruin. To disregard them as a nation will inevitably lead that nation to destruction.”

“I remember a number of years ago when Cecil B. DeMille, the great producer of the film The Ten Commandments, was invited to accept an honorary degree from Brigham Young University. In his address to the student body, Mr. DeMille made this interesting observation. He said that men and nations cannot really break the Ten Commandments; they can only break themselves against them. How true that is!”

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 of several unfortunate episodes right off the bat that would no longer harrow my memory.

The commandment is to not bear false witness against thy neighbor. One questions, put to rest right here, is ‘Who is my neighbor’? Obviously, according to the parable of the good Samaritan, our neighbor is everyone else. To bear false witness, is to give wrong testimony, to lie.

A lie is a deliberately false statement. We could get into technicalities of what would constitute a lie in this or that situation, but let’s be real, here. A lie is when we don’t tell the truth. These commandments are trying to get us to act like God. (As was commanded us, see Matthew 5: 48 and 3 Nephi 12: 48) God does not lie. The manner of speaking for the Godhead (Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit) is that of truth (see Jacob 4: 13). There would be no deception, our courts would be much emptier, things would cost less for lack of law suits against doctors and business, we could trust strangers. A movie came out recently in which people only speak the truth, and apparently have to say what they are thinking, even if it is blunt and cruel. Well, the main character discovers the lie, something unthinkable. The movie is about how he uses, misuses, and abuses the lie. I didn’t see the movie, but I doubt that it ends well (rated PG-13, which means inapropriate  jokes about sex, probably some nudity, and more than likely a defunct moral outcome. All good reasons to avoid it.)

Some other thoughts and scriptures on being honest and not lying:

Proverbs 19: 22 – The poor man is better than a liar. I’m poor (relatively speaking), so I find comfort in this scripture. I try hard to be honest, so even if I’m poor, at least I’m better than a liar.

Acts 5: 4 – When you lie, it is against God.

2 Nephi 2: 18 – Lying is the language of Satan. Who wants to be like him?

2 Nephi 9: 34 – And my favorite, it’s always fun to say this scripture. A liar’s place is hell, not pushed, not shoved, not kicked, but thrust.

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 said most of the problems with society can be traced back to the lack of people keeping this commandment.

Jesus, in speaking to the Nephites, takes this commandment to a higher level. He says that if you even look at another to lust after them, you have committed adultery in your heart. Not only should we not act, but we should stay away from letting those thoughts into our heart.

Satan wants to destroy our ability to progress. He wants to distort and pervert the things we have that he does not. Two things Satan can not have, due to his rebellion, are a family and a body. Looking at American society now, we can see that the body and the family are under attack. People are trying hard to re-define what a family is, couching it in terms of social and personal justice and choice. Some equate the fight against the traditional definition of family with the civil rights movements of the African-Americans. Perhaps a better comparison is to equate it with the fight against Prohibition in the 1920’s. I digress… In today’s society, the family is less about mother, father and children as a unit of progression and love, it seems. People emphasize the individual and have a hard time thinking about others. A central purpose of families is to make you think about others and not yourself. Perhaps the main reason people commit adultery is because of selfishness. They think only of their own desires, wants and needs. Instead of putting forth the hard effort of working out issues with a spouse, they seek the quick and easy way out. But that only leads to more trouble.

Satan also can never have a physical body. Because of this, he does everything he can to make people misuse their bodies. Our society is so infatuated with sensual things. Just look at what our society focuses on. In the movies and T.V. there seems to always be a reference to sex, if not full out portrayal of it. Magazines and music, books and just about every form of entertainment seems to incorporate the carnal side of sex. This is just what Satan wants. If he can get people so focused on sex, if he can make it so mainstream and common place, then people will have no problem abusing it.

So what happens when this commandment is obeyed. First of all, the family remains intact. Fathers and mothers love each other and are faithful. There are numerous studies that show that children without a stable family life don’t do as well as those with a stable family. I’m sure you can pick any number of people you know and find how that is true. How many fights, wars, and deaths have been the result of breaking this commandment? Those would all be done away with. There would be no prostituting of bodies in order to make money, or in the name of “art” or entertainment. Our Hollywood stars seem more like porn stars than actors and actresses. Anyhow, a lot of good would come from keeping this commandment.

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 life. Since it seems just about every person who has lived on the earth didn’t want to die, that’s a great blessing. Well, what does it mean to honor your parents? The footnote to honor in the LDS scriptures suggests that we must respect and value our parents. Deuteronomy 5: 12 adds that it will go well with us as well as living long.

Honoring our parents puts us in a similar frame of reference as our relationship with God. Our parents gave us our lives. Your mother gave birth to you; that took a lot of time, energy, money, and personal sacrifice. You would not exist if it weren’t for your parents. That deserves respect. Similarly, we would not exist if it weren’t for God allowing our spiritual births and providing for our physical existence through the Plan of Happiness.

If everyone were to honor their parents, there would be greater respect for others generally as well. There would be less rejection of good traditions, less teenage rebellion and rejection of good morals, more honesty, and stronger families.

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 reminders that what we say has important consequences.

“If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.”

“If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.”

“Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.”

Speaking is an action, it is doing. It can’t be undone. And with Mormon 7:7 and 3 Nephi 27:19 in mind (only the guiltless and unclean are to dwell with God eternally and receive salvation), we see that if we can not control our language, or more specifically, if we talk bad or misuse the name of the very person who is giving us eternal life, then we do not deserve to receive the gift of Atonement from him.

If everybody were to practice control over their language, beginning with not taking the Lord’s name in vain, then there would be less harsh words, less vulgarity, less mocking of things sacred. More importantly, we would have to acknowledge our dependence and relationship with God. We would show proper respect to our God and creator by not misusing his name. Our relationship with God and with others would be better if we practiced self-control of our language. Our communication would be clearer and more accurate, there would be less misunderstanding between people, and more respect for others.

In the Topical guide, I see two messages regarding “graven images”.

1. 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 of Jesus Christ. Everyone that does not worship Jesus and Heavenly Father provide opposition, an alternative choice, to test and prove. We must decide not to worship idols.
2. The New Testament marks a transition in the Topical Guide where “image” goes from referring to idol worship to referring to the mold or ideal that we were modeled after and should be striving to achieve. Romans 8:29 starts it off… “conform to the image of his Son”. D&C 1:16 reminds us that everybody walks after the image of their god. That means that they seek to emulate, they strive to become like, look like, talk like, think like, act like the person, place or thing that they hold up to be ideal. Everyone does it. We pick an ideal and seek to emulate it. We do this consciously and subconsciously.

Continue reading TTC #2 – No graven images

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 what have you. One of the fundamental principles of this commandment is the need to focus on one great goal, and if everybody is working towards that same goal, there is a greater chance for harmony and peace. I might even suggest that we take the world as it is now. There are many different religions, we each believe in a God, yet in perhaps different terms. Following this commandment, as it applies to each individuals religion (as set forth by that individuals standard and set forth religious beliefs), will help those individuals focus on that which is most important. I’m no scholar on any religion but my own, but I think it’s safe to say, if everybody put their God first, as He and their religions truly suggest, then there would be less bickering, less immorality, less deceit, less selfishness.

Continue reading TTC #1 – No Other Gods Before Me

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 Ten Commandments to solve all of the problems in the world, they must be actively applied by all individuals, each and every day. This also requires an understanding that solutions will not come instantly, but will require time. Dieter Uchtdorf explains these principles while talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ generally, but they also apply to the Ten Commandments.

Continue reading The Ten Commandments – Part 3