We cannot understand the commandments, the Decalogue (“Ten Words”), apart from the worship of the true God. Those who do not worship that God will catch a glimpse of that God when they, for example, tell the truth. But the obeying of an isolated commandment is not to know the commandments “perfectly.” The Ten Commandments are meant for those who are known by the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the God of Jesus Christ. The commandments are the way we learn to worship the true God truthfully, not the way we make American democratic pluralism work.
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The commandments are not guidelines for humanity in general. They are a countercultural way of life for those who know who they are and whose they are. Their function is not to keep American culture running smoothly, but rather to produce a people who are, in our daily lives, a sign, signal, a witness that God has not left the world to its own devices.
Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon, The Truth About God, pages 14, 18
Excerpt #38: America and the Ten Commandments
Published
Justin DaMetz 