Cecil B. DeMille made a lavish production out of the Ten Commandments, naming it just so. You may have seen it. It remains a huge and visually staggering film, chock-full of indelible imagery from biblical accounts.
By contrast, no production of any sort is planned here -- no theatrics, no rehearsed scripts. This is a simple piece. In its deepest heart, it asks followers of religions -- Christianity most especially -- for a truce, one long enough to exchange information among believers and those who do not.
One specific question is on our minds, one with an answer between only you and God -- but, we do have a few others, if you'd care to entertain them with us and help us find their answers. We ask these out of a sense of deep concern for our country and leaders, something we believe you will find equally important, and good reason enough for this short journey here.
As you know, ten people can look at a situation or a set of facts and walk away with ten different versions of it all. Here, we hope the questions are plain enough that they speak for themselves, very clearly so, and that no parsing or explanations will be needed along the line. It is hoped the questions are all untainted and unthreatening -- as this is precisely how they are meant.
The first question is honestly put and persists, begging your answer. Its answer need go nowhere save for you to yourself in conjunction with God. Here is the question:
* Why do you support political candidates who very openly and flagrantly show, in word and in deed, time after time, with their own actions and speech, how Godless they are, how demonstrably without God each one of them perpetually is -- candidates who continue to offend and violate God's instructions to them as individual people, year in and year out?
It is not a question for answering in this space. It is earnestly suggested that believers in God take a moment to try to answer this one, simple question -- on your own, in your heart, in that most private and holy and sacred space, in the communion between you and God alone.
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It is possible some may say that forgiveness enters into this equation. We agree forgiveness is a good and powerful tool in all our lives. But, we would then want to ask you, most sincerely, what God has to say about any person who insists on constant and routine forgiveness, minute- to-minute, for every second of every day, year in and year out. Is there not some God-given guidance that speaks to those who repeatedly ask for forgiveness while continuing to do evil -- asking forgiveness while routinely and eagerly continuing the offending acts and speech?
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It is possible some may say that these questions -- which appear harmless as dandelions to us -- are tricks of the devil, meant to somehow confuse or taunt or tease you. There is no way for us to give guidance on this issue. All we might be able to suggest is this: In your belief system, is it not possible this one question is yet worth your honest attention, still worth your honest attempt to answer, with just you and God in the room guiding that decision -- just you and God deciding if the question has been earnestly asked, and if it is a question worthy of answering?
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If you are brave and motivated by curiosity and honesty before God, there are three more pointed and prickly questions ahead. The answers here are only for you and God to consider and decide.
* If you believe in God, do your own actions mirror the Ten Commandments -- those instructions set down for you by God, directed specifically and intentionally for you, personally, for your own continuing and obedient action, day in and day out, forever, without any exception?
* If you believe in God, do your political candidates' actions and words also mirror these specific lists of instructions, these Commandments sent direct from God, and do these candidates keep them in the same way you understand them, and in the same way you understand how they are always to be kept?
* If you believe in God, why do you simply accept far less in the good behavior of your political leaders, candidates, and office holders -- far less than you would readily or easily accept or expect from any member of your congregation, from children in your care, from family members, even from friends?
Please: Do not answer for us. This is between you and God only, no one else on this planet, no one else in this life, no one else in this world.
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We ask because we are interested and because we are so confused in the observations we make, going through life. Without going into each specific pain we see in each current candidate, we say only a broad thing instead:
We see such marvelous ideals and such strong and shining beliefs discussed and espoused -- then, we see what appears to us as frank and startling contradictions in the actual words and deeds, over and over.
We think we would like you a lot more if your words and actions matched your beliefs a lot more closely, if your beliefs could be used all the time in creating your words and your actions.
Were this regularly so, we would find strong meeting ground for the same things. We could get more done, working together. You might find more of us joining you, hoping to pitch in, hoping to be more like the new people we see -- people who believe in kindness, and who act and speak in kindness, too.
Were this true, we could find more places where we are both the same, not so different, that we all want the same things: love, home, family, friends, respect, laughter, and caring.
We're not sure, but we think that was in your Book, too.
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P.S. If you got angry reading this, we are sorry to hear that, It was not our intention to make you angry or upset. But, if you did, your anger probably told you it was not because we dared to ask a few things, but that life itself dared to not fit the belief about it that you'd had in your mind. This is a difficult truth to face; the only cure for it is change. That change means you must choose to make life match your beliefs.
In practical terms, you will have to either change the Commandments you choose to follow, a la carte, one by one, changing the meanings of any of them to suit your needs as you go...
... or, you will need to follow all Ten Commandments, as God has given you to do, which means carrying them into your daily life and routine, every single day, from now on, so help you God.
