The Ten Commandments - What Should #11 Be?
By Jason Del Guido
As many of you know, the Ten Commandments are a set of moral
guidelines that were believed to be written by God, and given to
Moses in the form of two stone tablets. Many Christian and
Jewish believers alike have since revered these historic
commandments as a compass towards eternal life. Much has changed
in the world since these criteria were established, and many new
acts of deviance and evil have risen. There are new habits and
addictions that could not have even been imagined in Biblical
times. This begs the question, what should the 11th Commandment
be?
To recap for those of you who may
have missed Church last Sunday:
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any
graven image.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God
in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy
neighbor.
10. Thou shalt not covet.
So here we are, with our Ten Commandments. From where I’m
seated, it seems like there may be quite a bit missing from the
list. With a list like this, I’d be pardoned for even my
College years. So once again the question is before us, what
should the 11th commandment be?
Drug Use
Speaking of the college years, our first option is the use of
drugs. We’re not talking about sipping the sacred wine, or even
puffing on the holy herb here and there. We are talking about
drug abuse, the type that is often a precursor to many of the
other sins already set by the original Ten
Commandments. Let’s focus on the actual drug use, and not the
events which may follow. Drug abuse is defined by the Treatment
Solution Network as “Habitual use of drugs to alter one's mood,
emotion, or state of consciousness”. One could argue that an
altered perception of earth would not be the way God intends men
to live. Others may say that the Lord would not want men to
destroy themselves with such fruits of temptation. Still others
may argue that drug abuse only affects the person involved, and
does not pertain to religion any way whatsoever. Should the
compulsive use of drugs to alter ones perception be deemed a sin
in the eyes of the Church?
Pornography
This has been a hot topic recently, particularly due to the rise of the
internet in modern culture. The Ten Commandments read “thou
shall not commit adultery”. This certainly leaves a lot of room
for interpretation, and much room for debate. It seems that
looking at pornography was never mentioned, obviously because
there was no Playboy or Penthouse at the time. Some will argue that this
was
already addressed with “thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s
wife”. Thy neighbor’s wife however represents a real person,
and not a digital or photographic image as is the case with
pornography. Should admiring a nude photo be seen as the
next biggest sin in the eyes of the Church?
Masturbation
Not far from Pornography, you’re bound to find a
handful of this one. We will treat this separately however, as
it does represent a different action. Even the most holy of men
must have been tempted on those lonely hot nights in Bethlehem.
Many of the churches today will preach that masturbation is
wrong, and the modern day equivalent of Adam and Eve tempted by
the apple. If it was not intended for by God, how come it was
not in the original 10 Commandments? Should having sex with
oneself merit the 11th evil on the big list of sins?
Pedophilia
It
may have been stated “thou shall
not covet thy neighbor’s wife”, but nowhere does it state
that one should not lust after children. It seems like it’s only
been the recent past that children can no longer Trick-Or-Treat
by themselves on Halloween, or play in the yard without being
watched by a parent. The internet combined with the media has
brought more attention to the evil that lurks behind even the
most trustworthy looking individuals. Those predators that lust
after children are looked down upon as the dredges of society,
and even at the bottom of the food chain in places such as
prison. They are the lowest of the low, the real life boogie
men of a modern age. Should this be deemed the 11th
Commandment in the eyes of the Church? My personal opinion is
that we should change the sixth commandment to “Thou shall not
kill, unless they touched a child”.
We know there are many more sins that could have been added to this list,
but wanted to offer up the blatantly obvious. We felt these
would top the list, but look forward to your comments. It will
be interesting to see what many of you think would make a good
11th commandment. Email your suggestions to
jdelgiudice@sacredmint.com.
