Deceptive Decalogues

This week we will observe Ash Wednesday, the official beginning of the Lenten Season. Many Traditionalist priests preach on the Ten Commandments and their observance, to the edification of the laity. In addition, many Lenten meditations (from good pre-Vatican II devotional books) also have inspirational  messages concerning the Ten Commandments and how they are to be obeyed. Holy Mother Church realizes the importance of Her children knowing that they must "do good and avoid evil" to escape Hell and achieve Heaven.When you understand what you must do, and why you must do it, the keeping of the Commandments becomes easier, bringing us closer to God.

In the days before the Great Apostasy, brought about at the Robber Council Vatican II, catechisms stressed the Ten Commandments. In order to receive First Holy Communion, priests and nuns would make sure the children understood the basics of the Commandments (the knowledge and practice of which was reinforced at home by the good Catholic parents). For the Sacrament of Confirmation, a more in-depth understanding of the Decalogue was required to make young ladies and gentlemen "soldiers of Christ."  With the advent of Modernism creating the Vatican II sect (and infecting the Protestant sects as well) most people in our society are woefully ignorant of the Ten Commandments.

As a result, we have a society that is clueless regarding our duties to God and our neighbor. In 2007, a professional survey was conducted regarding the Ten Commandments which produced frightening results:

How many of The Ten Commandments can you name? Put to the test, Americans recalled the seven ingredients of a McDonald’s Big Mac hamburger and members of TV’s "The Brady Bunch" more easily than the Bible’s Ten Commandments.

A survey by Kelton Research found 80 percent of 1,000 respondents could name the burger’s primary ingredient — two all-beef patties — but less than six in 10 knew the commandment "thou shalt not kill."

Less than half of respondents — 45 percent — could recall the commandment "honor thy father and mother" but 62 percent knew the Big Mac has pickle.

Bobby and Peter, the least recalled-names from the fictional Brady Bunch family, were remembered by 43 percent of respondents — topping the 34 percent who knew "remember the Sabbath" and 29 percent recalling "do not make false idols." (See https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bible-commandments/americans-know-big-macs-better-than-ten-commandments-idUSN1223894020071012). Since sin is "negative theology," and is no longer taught in the Vatican II sect, why bother knowing the Ten Commandments when you can watch reruns of The Brady Bunch and examine your hamburger?

In 2014, two atheists decided to have a contest to come up with "Ten Non-Commandments" which people feel they should do in the absence of God. Here are the winning "Secular Imperatives," as I call them:

1. Be open-minded and be willing to alter your beliefs with new evidence.

2. Strive to understand what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true.

3. The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world.

4. Every person has the right to control of (sic) their body.

5. God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life.

6. Be mindful of the consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them.

7. Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated. Think about their perspective.

8. We have the responsibility to consider others, including future generations.

9. There is no one right way to live.

10. Leave the world a better place than you found it.
(See https://www.cnn.com/2014/12/19/living/atheist-10-commandments/index.html).

I could go on and on about the absurdity of this bastardized Decalogue, but I'll just point out two glaring problems. First, they are called "non-Commandments" yet they carry a moral "ought." Namely, you ought to believe that every person has a "right to control" their body (read: "murder by abortion and euthanasia").  If you don't believe this "non-Commandment," then you are wrong. Second, how does #9 square with the others? How can we be told to leave the world a better place and think of others if there really is "no one right way to live"? Which one is it: Do as we say, or Do as you please? It can't be both.

This post will focus on false substitutes for the Commandments and the teaching of the Church regarding the basic truths and importance of the authentic Ten Commandments.

New Age--New Commandments

Besides the secular humanist "non-Commandments," there exists the "Georgia Guidestones" put together by what I can only imagine are New Agers. The story is as fascinating and bizarre as it is disturbing. The Guidestones are comprised of four upright slabs, one center stone resembling a squared pillar (called the Gnomen stone), a flat capstone, and five base pieces. Each of the four upright stones weighs 42,437 lbs., and the combined weight of all the stones is approximately 119 tons. Inscribed within the stone are ten new "commandments" for humanity—a vision of earth servitude and New Age philosophy. Chiseled within the edges of the upper capstone is a message in four languages—Sanskrit, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Babylonian Cuneiform, and Classical Greek— which reads, "Let these be Guidestones to an Age of Reason." Upon the eight sides of the four monolithic upright stones, eight languages—English, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, Spanish, and Swahili—are etched within the granite. Each upright contains the same message in a different language.

No one knows who paid for their construction. As the story goes, an elegant, well-spoken, well-dressed, and grey-haired man who identified himself only as "R. C. Christian" appeared at a granite company in nearby Elberton, GA one day requesting a quote on the project. Figuring he was some "nut," the granite specialist purposely claimed a ridiculous price, figuring Mr. "Christian" would balk. Instead, Mr. Christian agreed to the price. The project’s builders’ had to sign a legal agreement never to reveal the identity of the financiers. They also swore to destroy all legal papers regarding the Guidestones’ construction once the project was finished. It was completed in 1980, and still stands. (See https://thoughtcatalog.com/jeremy-london/2018/08/27-bizarre-facts-about-the-georgia-guidestones/). 

These ten New Age commandments (with my comments next to each) read:

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature. (Massive reduction in the human population through birth control, abortion, euthanasia and infanticide).

2. Guide reproduction wisely—improving fitness and diversity. (Social Darwinistic claptrap regarding "survival of the fittest Master Race").

3. Unite humanity with a living new language. (Not Latin, a dead language that cannot be twisted, but an Orwellian "Newspeak").

4. Rule Passion—Faith—Tradition—and all things with tempered reason. ("Tolerance" over truth).

5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts. (International Law of a One World Government).

6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.(Sovereignty no longer exists; all must submit to a New World Order).

7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials. (You must do whatever the powers that be tell you is law and obey only their servants).

8. Balance personal rights with social duties. (Humanity will be subject to the group concept of social responsibility--whatever that may be).

9. Prize truth—beauty—love—seeking harmony with the infinite. (We are to see God alive in all things—plants, rocks, animals, space, water, fire, air, and people. The idea is simple: God is in all because God is all. Pantheistic conception of the universe; in a real sense each person "becomes god").

10. Be not a cancer on the earth—Leave room for nature—Leave room for nature. (Nature, embodied as a "god," comes first; even over the "god" that is humanity).

We've heard from atheists and pagans, now let's turn to the real God, His Decalogue, and the teaching of His One True Church.

Ten Truths Regarding the Ten Commandments

1. The Ten Commandments encompass the Natural Law. The Natural Law is so-called for the following reasons: (a) it is received by people, not through special promulgation, but along with his rational nature. Hence, St. Paul says that the Gentiles, who had not received the laws specially promulgated, were a law unto themselves, that is, through their rational nature (Romans 2:14); (b) it includes only such precepts as can be known or deduced from the very nature of Man, and thus some pagans fulfilled the Law of Moses naturally, i.e., as regards its natural precepts (Romans 2:14); (c) it can be known from the natural light of reason without instruction, being a law written on the heart of every human (Romans 2:15).

2. The Decalogue expresses the duty of humanity: (a) towards God by loyalty (First Commandment), reverence (Second Commandment), and service (Third Commandment). These are called the Laws of the First Table; (b) towards our fellow human beings we must honor parents and authority (Fourth), ensure that no injustice be done to anyone by sins of deed (Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh), by sins of mouth (Eighth), and by sins of the heart (Ninth and Tenth). These are Laws of the Second Table. 

3. The further moral precepts that were given after the Ten Commandments may all be reduced to one or the other of them. Examples: Fortune telling is prohibited by the First; perjury is prohibited by the Second; prohibition against detraction to the Eighth.

4. Unlike the moral laws which had existed before Moses as the Natural Law, and which continue in perpetuity, ceremonial laws were temporary. After the coming of Christ, distinctions of food, new moons, and other Mosaic laws were abrogated and are not enjoined by the Ten Commandments.

5. The judicial laws which were observed under Moses and prior to Christ regulated the civil life of the Jews and ceased to have binding force after the establishment of the Church by Christ.

6. Christ did not abolish the moral precepts of the Ten Commandments. Rather He promulgated them anew and perfected them. (St. Matthew 5:17). The Ten Commandments are not good because God decreed them, but He decreed them because they are good, even as He is the Highest Good.

7. In the New Law of Christ there are no new moral precepts except such as follow from the truths of faith which Our Lord made known to us, and from the institution of the Sacraments.

8. If Christ called His precept of love "new," He did not mean that the Great Commandment did not bind under the Old Law, but only that He (a) urged it anew, (b) gave us new motives to practice it, (c) and gave it special emphasis by His Divine example and express command.

9. The evangelical counsels (poverty, chastity, and obedience) were proposed by Christ as a means of perfection in the life of Christians, but He did not command all to follow under pain of sin.

10. The Ten Commandments, as perfected under the Law of Christ and His One True Church, are not meant for a particular nation, race, or group of people--it is for all human beings to embrace and follow until the end of time.

This section was composed from theologian Slater, A Manual of Moral Theology, [1925], pgs. 74-75; and theologians McHugh and Callan, Moral Theology, [1929], 1:95-117.

Conclusion

It has been said that humans are incurably God-centered. The First Commandment does not say, "Thou shalt not be an atheist." Rather, "Thou shalt not have false gods before Me." Whatever comes first in our life is our "god." Having divorced themselves from objective moral values, that can only exist by virtue of God, atheists seek to fashion their own "non-Commandments" for guidance. All they got was a mass of contradictory statements that amount to no more than empty feelings of what is "right." New Age pagans want the earth decimated so that "Mother Earth" can take the place of  the head "god" in a kind of pantheistic universe where we are all "gods" to one degree or another. These are the "Deceptive Decalogues" of the world.

The real Ten Commandments of Our Lord God must be studied and meditated upon this Lent. Get to know, love, and keep the Laws of God. As Christ Himself told us, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." (St. John 14:15).