“Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a
question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in
the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself. On these
two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew
22:35-40; King James Bible Version (KJV). The
Ten Commandments were given to the ancients precisely to show humanity, then
and now, what NOT to do. During the
Christian era, Christ Jesus restated the ten original ‘thou shalt nots’ and replaced them with two, more positive
directives: Love God, and love all others as ourselves. These two, newer commandments highlight universal love to be God’s only real
law. That is why Jesus’ teachings tell
us that by expressing universal love, we are fulfilling “all the law and the prophets.” (See quotation above.) The
first ten directives, however, are not to be thrown out. They still show us how NOT to live. Yet, obedience to universal love actually fulfills the older, ten commandments
handed down by Moses from the Mount.
For, by showing loving kindness to God and all people, the result
automatically eliminates any hating, lying, stealing, envy, hostility,
cheating, killing, adultary, bearing false witness, slandering, worshiping false
gods, (like money) and forgetting to take a day to honor God—all the things
that the original ten directives tell us to avoid. The
concept of universal love on the other hand simply tells us, more clearly, what
TO do. It approaches the subject of
right behavior and obedience to the divine Will, as the principle to
follow. Having a loving spirit toward
all shows us that by living and expressing this loving spirit, we are freeing
ourselves, and others, from any restrictions that we often bring upon
ourselves, for no good reason. There
really is no eleventh commandment. No other divine directive exists. Just love God and all others as we love
ourselves, and our commitment to God is met; therefore, we are free to live our
lives and go our own, individual way, as long as we obey the commandment to love universally. So,
loving fulfils all the original commandments because the spirit of loving will automatically keep us from being
destructive, in any way, shape, or form. Now,
we all know that human nature sometimes tries to add one’s own ‘commandments’ to
the list, as if issued by God. But human
commandments exist only in one’s imagination.
We may think that we can create our own divine laws, but that can be
fuzzy thinking. God says, “I will overturn, overturn,
overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.” (Ezekiel 21:27; NKJV). In the
spiritual creation of God, divine Spirit is the only real Lawmaker. Harmony exists because God, the Source and
Origin of Its own creation, is smarter than we are. The Infinite Mind always ‘knows,’ while humankind
is always guessing. That
is why divine power is so important to comprehend. God has no discord to correct. Divine Spirit’s creation never needs
adjusting. It is always in perfect harmony,
balance, and universal love. It is only in the material dimension (the
collective, false, material-sense of reality, called the carnal or mortal
‘mind’) where discords seem to be real.
However, when appealed to,
the divine Laws take over and corrections are manifested in the human
scene. These corrections harmonize what
was out of divine order before, be it health, supply, peace, joy…all the other
good and useful things that reside in God’s divine, spiritual creation. This
spiritual creation is invisibly present at all times; we just don’t perceive it
with the five, physical senses. It takes
our spiritual sense to realize and remember its presence. And when we express a loving spirit, there
are no burdensome restrictions to follow.
If enemies seem to come out of nowhere, or for no reason, we have only to
remember the invisible presence of God’s harmonious creation and God’s power to
reverse whatever wrong has been directed toward us. People may believe themselves to be right on
some subject, but it is the divine Intelligence (Mind) that is the authority on what is Right; and God’s
harmonious realm is always invisibly present to correct human conflicts. Thus, the divine Mind is always the ultimate
Authority, on any subject. Infinite
Spirit governs Its own creation. We
are here in this human experience to learn that we create our own heaven
(harmony) and our own hell (punishment) upon ourselves. The bad consequences of
wrong-doing show us not to do these bad, unloving things again. Yet, when we’ve done no wrong, it’s paramount
to remember that the divine Mind protects us in ways we can trust. For there is still only One Authority over
us, and that One is God. We need only
stand in the trust of the divine Presence, always at hand to deliver us from
unjust accusations or hostile human personalities. No one can pluck us out of the Creator’s
hand, when we mentally set ourselves firmly in it. For
example: Once I had worked very hard on a business project that was going to be
of great benefit to our city and involved a certain sale of land. I would earn a large commission on such a
sale. I worked, alone, without telling
anyone what I was planning. Finally, the
project was finished, accepted and made public.
Almost immediately after the sale was made public, an individual whom I
didn’t know, (and the company he represented) attempted to take it out of my
hands, proclaiming that the project had really been their idea. There wasn’t a bit of truth in that, but the
company was well-known in the city. For
several days, it appeared as if I was alone, with no help at hand, trying to
protect myself against this kind of dishonesty. So I prayed for deliverance from this
competition, which had involved an attempt at such theft and piracy. Suddenly,
I remembered something that Wendell Phillips was credited with saying: “One with God is a majority.” This brought me a sense of peace; and I knew
that the divine Mind was reminding me that my deliverance against wrong-doers was
already, and always, at hand. I also
remembered the biblical passage that said, “Set
yourself, stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord.” (2
Chronicles 20:17; KJV). I
felt at peace then. Sure enough, the
next day an individual who had known of the project from the beginning came
forward to say that there was no truth concerning anyone else working towards
this land sale. The wrongful attempt to
steal this project away from me was made public, and those who had tried to do
so were publically exposed. When
trusted, the divine Mind always has the last word, in any human conflict. Throughout our days in this material
experience, we must realize that evil, in
any form, is never a result of God’s power. It is only a manifestation of believing
in evil’s power over us and believing in a power opposed to God. God’s
ever-presence always comes with the divine Righteousness that saves the
innocent, despite all temporary appearances to the contrary. To
this end, we need to realize that both forms of the commandments are
important. These divine rules for living
were set up for early humanity and the ancient world, which was in an extremely
barbaric state, not unlike what the middle-east mirrors today. The early commandments were given to humanity
to calm down Earth’s inhabitants from the conflicts that raged all over the
globe. Some centuries-old conflicts live
on, even today. Turning
to the concept of loving our neighbors and all others brings more
harmony into our daily lives, than just using the ‘thou shalt nots’ alone; yet both
perspectives are important. Universally
loving others tell us exactly what to do,
and the original ten commandments tell us what not to do. Both perspectives
are important. Both attempt to move
humanity to peace on earth. But
there is more, here. There are moments
when we can see a fuller function of these commandments than to simply bring
peace and harmony to the human experience.
They also attempt to educate us and spiritually awaken us
to our higher Selves—our true, spiritual, rather than physical identity. They attempt to show humanity that all of
God’s children are equal to each other and of equal value to the Almighty. Despite all physical senses to the contrary,
we are not children of the flesh. We are
children of divine Spirit, God; and, ultimately, our temporary, physical sense
of self will awaken to our spiritual Selves…our own Christ identities. To
this end, all the commandments of the Creator are spiritual principles, not
restrictions. They were given to us as a
guide to a safer, human experience, as we go through a transition back to our
spiritual Selves. These directives guide
us and guard us, when we pay attention and obey them. Eventually, we will awaken to our immortal,
heavenly Home, as Christ Jesus did during his sojourn here and in his ascension
beyond materiality. So,
to war against, or ignore, the
commandments of divine Spirit is not a wise thing to do. It is never a benefit. It makes our time in this foreign land of
materiality an unhappy time. When
followed and heeded, these divine rules protect us and lengthen our days for a
more pleasant sojourn here, in the earthly experience. Therefore, the commandments are here to help
us, not hurt us. So,
stated as ‘thou-shalt-not’s, the commandments were, and still are, for
humanity’s own protection. They show us
what happens when we ignore them. When
we steal, for example, we lose our good reputation, go to jail, lose our job,
or some other punishment. Also, if we lie,
cheat, or kill others, we will suffer the consequences of these acts, once found
out. Natural consequences can be loss of
reputation, financial loss, divorce and families torn apart, jail time, just to
name a few. Discords
continue in this human experience because we like to do our own will in any and
all circumstances that appeal to us.
Refusing to weigh the value of divine Spirit’s call for loving God, and
trusting in the divine power, along with the call to love all other individuals
as we love ourselves, goes unheeded. We
often give these divine principles no value at all. Then we wonder why, in this modern world, is this human experience in such a mess? Why, why, why? But,
it’s a question to which we already know the answer. We suffer disharmony at our own hands. Our resistence to obey the divine law to
love, and our refusal to trust God to allow Its spiritual laws to come forward
into the material-seeming realm, has kept our harmony at bay. Our refusal to love all others as ourselves naturally results in every kind of
trouble. All along, these universal laws
of love have been the way that would lead us back to our spiritual Selves, and
our heavenly home. For, after all this
time, and all that is said and done, the divine Intelligence of the universe is
still smarter than we are. |
