Chapter 2

Keep the Commandments: But, What Are They?

“There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law on which it is predicated”

This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Jesus has said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”  I grew up in a religion that continually taught, keep the commandments.  In fact, we grew up singing a children’s song entitled, “Keep the Commandments”.  The song tells us that by keeping the commandments, there is safety.  We are taught that keeping the commandments brings guaranteed happiness, and the breaking of commandments brings guaranteed negative consequences, including unhappiness and misery.  There is even an association of keeping the commandments with material prosperity.  There are numerous stories, designed to promote faith, that tell of miraculous experiences as a result of paying tithes and offerings.  Stories of envelopes that come in the mail with the exact amount of money needed to pay the rent, after one has paid their tithing.  Wealthy and affluent Christians gladly attribute their good fortune to the payment of tithing and donations.  This automatically implies that those who are not so well off and who are struggling financially, must not have paid an adequate tithing or offering or something else is amiss in their life. 

As a youth, I had to memorize the scripture cited at the beginning of the chapter,

“There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law on which it is predicated”

As we would dutifully repeat the verbatim scripture, deep inside of me was a gnawing question, “What is the law on which these blessings are predicated?  It is ‘a’ law, something very definitive and unique, but what is this law on which every blessing is predicated?”  I don’t recall anybody ever having an answer.  It was assumed we would know.  I worried, “If I am not obtaining an expected blessing, it must be because I am not obeying some law.  But what is the law and what is the attached blessing?”  

As I grew up hearing the incessant reference to keeping the commandments, I began asking myself, “What in heaven’s name are the commandments?”  Rarely, if ever, have I heard any religious leader enumerate, specify or itemize the commandments.  It is assumed that we know what the commandments are and that we will keep them.   

Thou Shalt and Thou Shalt Not

The concept of commandments is different for different people.  There is no universal understanding of what the commandments are.  For some, it is the 10 commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai.  But even there, the interpretation of the 10 commandments is as varied as there are people reading them.  What does it mean to keep the Sabbath day holy?  What day is the Sabbath day?  Am I breaking the Sabbath day if I buy an emergency supply of diapers for the baby?  Am I breaking the Sabbath day if I take my family out to eat after a stressful week?  If I am breaking the commandment, am I breaking it 100%, 85%, 57.2%?

Just how many commandments are there?  Someone once counted all the “do’s” and “don’ts” and came up with around 1500.  There are sins of commission and sins of omission. It has been recommended that one write down all of the 1500 or so do’s and don’ts and thereby one will have a pretty good command of what keeping the commandments mean and if strictly observed, will bring great blessings.    It really would make any law of Moses aficionado quite proud.  The Sadducees and the Pharisees were quite proficient in the science and art of commandment keeping and commandment breaking.  In fact, is there not a very familiar connection with our world of man-made laws, rules and regulations?  I once heard that in the United States, all the local, regional, state and federal laws, regulations and rules that come with some kind of penalty are well in excess of three (3) million in number.  Lawyers and attorneys thrive on the proliferation of laws and anything that can be adjudicated.  Very few laws ever get repealed, they just get created and modified and keep on accumulating.  So, in addition to all of the millions of man-made laws and regulations with their ambiguous interpretations and attached penalties, we must also keep track of the religious commandments.

Is it any wonder that so many in the world turn away from religion and do not seek after spiritual things but expend their energy in things that they can understand: sports, movies, money, careers, food, sex, drugs, alcohol, etc.?  There is no clear definition of what the commandments are, how to interpret them and how to apply them.  As such, it is just easier to not worry about it.  Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.