Are the 10 Commandments Still Relevant?
Love reigns, not rules.
Jesus: “Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Jesus: “A new commandment I give to you: love one another as I have loved you.”
Jesus fulfilled all 613 commands from the Old Testament — including the Big 10. Subsequently, Jesus left us with only one commandment: love one another.
Sin Paradigm
Rules reign supreme today in many conservative Christian denominations. Seemingly, the most important rules are the 10 Commandments.
When we Christians focus on rules, it inevitably produces a life of sin management.
Denominations, local churches, and pastors who proudly display the 10 Commandments (sometimes with stone tablets) are missing the mark.
Rules produce more descriptive rules — which create even more exacting rules. You don’t believe me? Just look at the culture of the Pharisees of Jesus’s day.
One of the 10 Commandments involves resting from work on the Sabbath. Pharisees created an even more restrictive law to fulfill that commandment: one cannot carry his matt on Sabbath. Jesus had nothing to do with such additional rules. Instead, He healed a man on the Sabbath. And how did the Pharisees react to such a lawbreaker? They wanted to kill Jesus.
Such a pattern exists today.
Rule keepers prioritize commands. Accordingly, they institute manufactured rules even more extreme than the original rules.
A most vivid example of this ever-increasing rule-making is how modern Christian society handles sexuality.
For example, the only one of the 10 Commandments that addresses sexuality (in some form) is, “You shall not commit adultery.” Jesus then expanded that commandment by saying that if a person covets another person’s spouse, he is guilty of adultery.
Rule-imposing Christians, however, added various even wider restrictions on adult human sexuality. Do not touch that body part. Do not kiss in that manner. Do not experience an arousal toward another person. For goodness’ sake, these restrictions make humans afraid of normal human attraction, touch, and sexuality!
The “sin paradigm” demands punishment for those who break the rules. Normally, the most extreme penalty is expulsion from the tribe. Examples of such removal include those who have divorced and those possessing same-sex attraction.
The self-righteous rule-keepers who exclude people from the tribe believe they are doing God a favor. After all, they are “holding the sinners accountable.” Surely, God must smile upon them for maintaining such a holy tribe. Not.
Instead, Jesus “gets us.” He, too, was proclaimed by the Pharisees to be a rule breaker. And the Pharisees became enraged whenever Jesus strayed outside of their boundaries. So, they horrifically brutalized and executed Him.
Today, rule-keepers codify their beliefs into dogma. A “dogma” is a specific belief or rule uniquely belonging to a particular tribe. For example, how one is baptized (e.g., dunked versus sprinkled) is a dogma. Tribes are formed over a dogma — and those who do not agree are not welcomed.
Another example of dogma and exclusion involves LGBTQ. Conservative Christians (e.g., some Evangelical Protestants) maintain that being gay is a sin. Therefore, any person who even calls himself “gay” is considered deviant, a lawbreaker. The gay man is required to stop calling himself by that sexual identity — or be excommunicated. Sheesh.
One of the most famous early evangelists — Jonathan Edwards — gave a blistering sermon entitled, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Edwards’s dogma is still alive today: those who break the religious laws are sinners — and God is really, really pissed at them!
Rule-makers create laws. Laws produce dogma. Dogma requires “sinners” to be expelled from the tribe.
For example, one dogma is that humans are “inherently bad.” Thus, they must perpetually repent of their sins (even the minuscule infractions). “Lament over your sins!” Such Christians' highest goal is “holiness.” There even exists “holiness denominations.” Leaders of the holiness tribes have theoretically matured beyond being able to sin. Thus, perfect holiness becomes the criterion for one of their leadership positions. “Lesser matured” Christians are left with continual lamenting and confessing of all of their dogma infractions. Talk about a recipe for neuroticism and shame!
There is, however, an alternative to the sin paradigm.
Love Paradigm
Jesus is love. His entire being is “love-centric.” Rather than being an angry God who punishes the sinner, Jesus welcomes the sinner into His tribe. You see this pattern throughout the four Gospels: “Come, follow me.”
Jesus has fulfilled every commandment and every law.
In turn, Jesus only provides us Christ-Followers with one global command: “Love others in the way that Jesus loves us.”
So, what does Jesus’s love look like?
Primarily, Jesus’s love is inclusive. All are welcome to be with Him. And “all” means “all.”
And Jesus wants justice for all. Thus, in Jesus’s economy, we Followers would treat our neighbor like we would like to be treated — with fairness. And our “neighbors” even include our enemies.
Jesus: “But to those who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him on the other also. And if someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic as well. Give to everyone who asks you; if anyone takes what is yours, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
Jesus had ultimate power. And yet His love was gentle. Many “Christian Nationalists” today want to describe Jesus as a bad-ass, kick-ass avenger. They imagine Jesus as being buff and steely-eyed. Furthermore, they want their Jesus to lead a colossal, triumphant bloodbath — wherein all bad guys are slain.
Does such a leader connotate love — or vengeance (i.e., “in the hands of an angry God”)?
Instead, we find Jesus viewing suffering fellow humans with compassion. And not only did Jesus feel compassion (“Aww, those poor things”), but He graciously provided some merciful aid. Thousands of hungry humans are given an abundance of food. Disabled people are healed. Those prisoners (of demonic oppression or personal addiction) are set free. Such love was extraordinarily attractive to Jesus’s Followers. And it still is.
Another aspect of Jesus’s love was that He “spoke truth to power.” The Pharisees of Jesus’s day were the rule-keepers and boundary-makers. And Jesus had nothing to do with their smug “holiness.” Rather, Jesus publicly railed at them (e.g., “You wicked sons-of-snakes!”). Jesus knew that such misguided leaders were thwarting love rather than extending it to all.
And, again, “all” means “all.”
In today’s world, Jesus still extends love, inclusion, compassion, mercy, justice, and protection to all of those who are marginalized. Love to women. Love to Blacks. Love to LGBTQ. Love to foreigners. Love to non-Christian. And yes, even love to those who mock Him.
Conclusion
The choice, of course, is yours.
You may prioritize a paradigm of sin management.
Or, you may follow a new way to conceive of sin.
In the end, I believe love is love. And love conquers all.
Dr. Mike Rosebush (Ph.D., Counseling Psychology; he, him, his;) is the creator and editor of GAYoda, plus a writer for Backyard Church. A short synopsis of Dr. Rosebush’s life can be found at I Lived the Most Unusual Gay Christian Life Ever. He may be contacted at mikerosebush75@gmail.com.
