Decalogue Desecration
By WB. Tichenor
[W.B. (Bart) Tichenor is an attorney and ordained Baptist minister from Columbia, Missouri.]
The desecration did not occur in an act of anger. The act was not intended as a damning of the decalogue. It was not by the enemies and critics of the decalogue that the act was perpetrated. There was no hostility toward the decalogue on the part of those committing the sacrilege. Those who brought about this act would claim that they love and cherish the concepts contained in the Ten Commandments.
The taking away of the sacredness of the decalogue was accomplished in a simple act of adding an amendment to a piece of legislation in the House of Representatives. The profaning of God`s Holy Word was performed with arguably good intentions by those who voted for the amendment. By this legislative act, states are to be permitted to post a copy of the decalogue in public buildings. The intent is to have a copy of the decalogue posted in every public school classroom in America. By this legislative act, the decalogue was relegated to the same position as the weekly bulletin and lunch menu of meat loaf and mashed potatoes in school class rooms. The decalogue can take its revered place on the wall of classrooms along with the "Just Say No To Drugs" posters and weekly announcements about the Senior Class play and the Junior-Senior dance.
How many of the members of the House of Representatives who voted in favor of this amendment are sufficiently conversant with the decalogue to be able to quote it from memory from either Exodus 20.1-17 or Deuteronomy 5:6-21? I would guess that many, if not a majority, of these elected officials would have great difficulty in simply stating each of the commandments. Common sense and basic
integrity would seem to dictate that before a Congressman is going to act in such a trifling and trivial manner with verses of God`s Holy Word they would want to be thoroughly versed in these verses. I have serious doubts as to how many of the supporters of this act of sacrilege are sufficiently conversant with the decalogue to lead a serious Bible study class on the subject.
The decalogue amendment was added to a piece of legislation supposedly to address the matter of school violence in our nation. Attempting to reduce crime, violence, and hatred are worthy goals, which would be endorsed by all people of faith. However, the implication appears to be that by posting the decalogue in school classrooms this will in some miraculous manner prevent or lessen the chances of other acts of violence in school. The decalogue is thereby transformed from a profound and righteous pronouncement of the Lord God who brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, the house of bondage, into a simple talisman. Instead of being Holy Scripture, the decalogue takes on the trappings of an amulet, a mere charm, a neat rabbit`s foot.
If there is any validity to the concept that attaching a copy of Exodus 20:2-1 7 to classroom walls will prevent a person from taking a gun and killing fellow students and teachers, then many of the major problems of society must be subject to solution by use of this magic document. For example, there would no longer be any need for teachers to monitor students during tests to prevent cheating. If the decalogue on the wall is going to prevent violence, it would surely prevent cheating. No longer would there be any need to address matters of school children using drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, because the decalogue on the wall would stop our children from corrupting their bodies. The problems of teen sex and abortions among young people would disappear, because the decalogue on the wall would cause all of our young people to be morally pure.
With such a powerful tool at our command, we would want to go beyond the school classroom to enjoy all the benefits and blessings that could be obtained by posting the decalogue. A copy of the decalogue could be displayed outside of banks, quick shops, liquor stores, and other businesses to insure that no robberies would occur. A posting of the decalogue along highways and streets with speed limit signs would eliminate accidents and road rage. A requirement that the decalogue be placed on all tobacco and alcohol products would eliminate the social and health problems related to the use and abuse of these substances. Placing the decalogue in each cell of every prison would magically rehabilitate criminals.
The only problem with this scenario is that it is not rational. It is obviously silly. It -does not make any logical sense to conclude that posting of any document will make people act in a certain manner. If that were the case, there would be no need to have traffic police or highway patrolmen. The speed limit is posted. There is no question as to how fast one should go. However, millions of speeding tickets are issued throughout our nation year after year. Any thinking, reasonably intelligent person can conclude that posting of the decalogue in any public building will make no significant impact on human behavior. The only way in which such a posting could be effective would be if the decalogue were to be strictly enforced.
Such enforcement of the decalogue was commanded in Scripture. For example, the punishment for worshiping any god, other than the Lord God who brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, was ordered to be death. The making of an engraved image was punishable by death. Bowing down to a statute was punishable by death. Violation of the Sabbath was punishable by death. Failing to honor one`s father and mother was punishable by death. Murder was punishable by death. And adultery was punishable by death.
It is highly unlikely the same officials who voted to permit states to post the decalogue will now enact federal legislation which will require the death penalty for violation of the commandment "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Strict enforcement of the decalogue would require the wholesale slaughter of all non-Jews, non-Christians and non-Muslims. To keep the decalogue, would require that all persons who do not observe the Sabbath, as set forth in scripture, be put to death. Enforcement of the decalogue would mandate all Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox Christians, who bow down before statutes and icons, be killed. Every murderer, adulterer, and adulteress would die. Rational minds will quickly conclude that no such enforcement will ever take place in this nation. It never did in Israel, either. Therefore, the posting of the decalogue in public buildings and school classrooms becomes a meaningless, empty act of profanity.
Government endorsement of the decalogue brings neither the decalogue, nor the government any honor. Government endorsement does not elevate the decalogue; it only lessens its import. The decalogue has the stamp of approval of the Lord God who gave it. It scarcely needs the puny hand of government to tack it to a wall as some symbol of pretended piety. The decalogue has stood through the ages because of the power and spirit of God, not because of the authority of government.
The decalogue stands not because it was written upon government walls, but because it was written in the hearts and minds and lives of people of faith as they were freely lead and directed by their God-given conscience to follow it, observe it, and obey it. Io the extent that any politician or preacher, no matter how well meaning, supports and endorses the imprimatur of government, at whatever level, in the posting on government buildings of the decalogue, they have defiled and degraded the Ten Commandments.
From a Christian perspective, it is interesting and important to note that when Christ was asked by the lawyer which was the great commandment in the law, his response was not to quote the decalogue. The first and great commandment, He said is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind; and the second is like the first: it is to love our neighbor as ourself. On these two commandments, Christ proclaimed, hang all of the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:35-40; Deuteronomy 6~4-5; Leviticus 19:18. More importantly, for the Christian believer, we live not under the decalogue. By personal repentance and personal faith we have a relationship with God our Savior based on grace. We are to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has set us free. Accordingly, as a matter of conscience, as a matter of soul freedom, a Christian believer should not be entangled with the yoke of government-mandated bondage to the decalogue, but should oppose it because of our higher loyalty to Jesus Christ as Lord.
