What Constitutes Peace

This topic is something that is somewhat controversial when first looked at, but I promise you by the end you will be asking why. Why is this such a big deal to me and to others? Why did I allow this to go so far? It is okay to ask those questions, as long as you remember the answer in your next conversations, actions, and thoughts.

All religions have different laws. Those of us who are religious allow these laws to dictate and judge who we are and what we do. The most controversial set, for the United States, is the Ten Commandments or also known as Decalogue. We watched last year as different court houses and state house yards were fighting to keep monuments up with these Ten Commandments listed.

Now I want to make one thing very clear, we live in a country of religious freedom. With that said, contrary to popular belief not all religious follow the "Ten Commandments". The ones that do are Jewish, Orthodox, Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, and most other Christians. There area a lot of other religions in the U.S. who don't follow all ten of these.

I want to give a quick refresher on them based off the Jewish (Talmudic) source

1. I am the Lord your God
2. You shall have no other gods before me, you shall not make for yourself an idol
3. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God
4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
5. Honor your father and mother
6. You shall not murder
7. You shall not commit adultery
8. You shall not steal
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Now depending on your religious beliefs, from the one's stated above, these will be in a different numbering order. Again, another fine example of how we as religions must find a way to vary from one another. Heaven forbid if we even agree on the exact numbers of what we all believe in! Though I digress.

You would think that following these 10 simple laws would be easy to do. If you think that you are wrong. Years later, we have the New Testament which states that Christ says all of the laws of old are gone with him. Now I find it a bit funny that we have "Christ" saying no more old laws, and yet so many want to continue to cling to these ten. Most other religions were willing to throw out the dietary laws instantly, but not these ten. Why is that?

Here is your answer. Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence." This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it. "Love others as well as you love yourself." "These two commands are pegs, everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."

Now, I want to summarize that into the easiest terms you ever heard. Love your God and treat others as you want to be treated. These are the 2 laws/commands/Decalogue that we are to follow. If you follow them, all of the previous laws will follow in naturally. Think of it! If you love your God you won't use his name wrongly and you won't want to worship another. You will also remember to keep the Sabbath holy by honoring your God.

With treating others like how you want to be treated is even easy. You wouldn't kill someone else. You won't steal from them or take from them what they have earned. You won't lie about them. You won't have an affair with someone else if you are in a relationship.

I didn't touch one of the ten commandments for a reason, "Honor your father and mother". I saved it for last because I believe that this law is not fully explained or understood. If you were to divide the Ten Commandments by Heaven and Earth value you have 4/6 ratio. That means 4 commandments for God and 6 for Earth actions. I believe that is not suppose to be the case. I find that the fifth commandment is actually a blending line. It is designed to actually stand for both Heaven and Earth.

"Honor your father and mother" means both your Earthly parents who gave physical birth to you and your Heavenly parents who gave Spiritual birth to you. God the Father and Queen of Heaven/Holy Spirit/Goddess or any other name that you wish to use to describe the mother.

Now where I'm going with this is simple. If we take the time, no matter what religious views you have, to honor the basic foundation of the two commandments given to us our world would be better. "Do what thou wilt as long as it harms none". This is the Golden rule. Also, what all religious people tend to forget is the first commandment states "I am the Lord your God". This means whoever you interpret God to be to you personally, not who another religious leader says he is.

When we finally take the time to realize that we must each follow "Honor your God" and "Love others as you would yourself" we would stop violence on all levels. We would know the real meaning of peace. This is what ministers should be preaching, not hell, damnation, and sin (which I will cover sin another day).

In Faith,
†Isaac