Neumatikos

One of the requirements for my Christian education class this semester was that we memorize the 10 commandments. It might sound a little silly, but try this little test: can you recite all 10 of them? Ask a couple of friends if they know all 10 of them. I’ve already said that content is the essential part of catechesis, and I’m pretty sure my professor agrees with me. And what did you think that essential content was supposed to look like? Few things are more basic than the 10 commandments, and hardly anybody knows them.

But here’s the odd thing: reading through the commandments, I find that here are a set of rules so basic that almost everybody can agree to them: don’t lie; don’t steal; don’t murder; honor your parents. Some of them, obviously, you have to be a montheist to get behind: no other gods before me; no graven images to worship. But there’s only one that I ,and most people I know, break regularly and with vigour. Number 4: Do no work on the Sabbath. (more…)