31 March 2007

The Ten Commandments-- Two or One?

Comedian George Carlin in his recent book When Will Jesus Bring the Porkchops?, reduced the Ten Commandments to two, stating that having ten is outdated and unnecessary, and should be stated in a more positive voice ("Thou shalt" as opposed to "Thou shalt not"). What are the two commandments of Carlin? Drumroll, please (or a rimshot if you prefer)!

1) Thou shalt always be honest and faithful, especially to the provider of thy nookie.
2) Thou shalt try real hard not to kill anyone, unless, of course, they pray to a different invisible avenger than the one you pray to.

Did Carlin go too far this time? Actually, I don't think Carlin went far enough! He didn't go nearly as far as Jesus did, who reduced the Ten Commandments to one:

Love the Lord, your God, with all of your heart, soul, strength, and mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.

In rabbinic fashion, Jesus welded together two separate commandments and made them one, as if to say, "Love God, whom you cannot see, by loving your neighbor, whom you can see.

And, as if to take it one step farther, Jesus changed the second part of that command:

Love one another as I have loved you.

And there it is! The One Commandment!!

Could it be time to shelve the Ten in favor of the One? I hope the answer is "Yes!" The apostle John did:

We love because he first loved us.

Truth be told, I prefer Carlin's "Tips For Serial Killers" over his bit on the commandments. Hilarious!

2 comments:

Chris Ledgerwood said...

Love is really the bottom line isn't it?

Doug Hoag said...

Yep! It's the best bottom line in the world!