Do you recall this from a few years ago?
“Thou Shalt Not!” Can you hear God’s voice echoing from those epic Biblical films? Is it the vocabulary of the 10 Commandments that makes them so daunting? Would they be less foreboding if we heard them in simpler terms? For example, how might they have sounded in the Old West, in a simpler time, in a time very much in need of law and order?
More specifically, how might God have given the 10 Commandments to a bunch of cowboys? Maybe something like this?
1) Just ONE sheriff in town: the Lord your God.
2) When ya use my name, ya better mean it.
3) Lay off the trail on the 7th day. Stop by, pay me a visit.
4) Do what your Ma and Pa tell ya.
5) No killin’ folks.
6) Dance with the one ya came with.
7) No thievin’ & no cheatin’.
8) No lyin’.
9) Keep your eyes and your hands off the one next door.
10) And don’t go hankering after what ain’t yours.
Funny, but also really pretty simple – and sensible.
The 10 Commandments aren’t meant to take all the fun out of life. The pursuit of happiness isn’t forbidden by God’s laws. In fact, there’s a certain moral and social logic at work here, such that keeping the commandments makes more sense than breaking them; and following the commandments will more likely lead us to happiness than ignoring them. (A tip of the hat to Fr. Austin Fleming)
