The First Commandment

In Exodus 20, the Ten Commandments are listed- how well do you know them? To be honest, I had a vague understanding of them, but had never really read them and thought about them before. One that really got me thinking was the First Commandment:

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

In my view, this commandment is fairly easy to understand- believe in God, believe in his power, and worship him and no other gods. Not only that, one should also refuse to 'worship' other things- money, sex, success, beauty, status, etc. Also, this commandment further prohibits one from holding false beliefs about God- in other words, don't believe in a false or incorrect God.

As a conservative teacher, I am surprised at how far our schools and our society has strayed from this simple commandment. Most public schools teach students to worship reason and logic, and they teach students to not worship God. Schools are increasingly becoming anti-God, and are finding new ways to prevent students and staff from worshipping him in order to follow some perverted interpretation of the 1st Amendment.

Schools and society increasingly promotes worship of a new God- Mother Earth. The increasingly worship of this God, increasingly at odds with the God of the Bible and Christians, is a shocking breach of the 1st Commandment. Ask yourself- would you rather work on the Sabbath or envy your neighbors goods, or recycle and buy a hybrid? Which commandments do you follow more closely- which God do you believe in more- the God of the Bible or Mother Earth? What God to you believe in more, which God's rules do you stick the most closely too, which God to you sacrifice the most to, which God do you look to for the future, and which God's learning's do you learn about- Mother Earth or the God of the Bible?

Schools and the larger society are increasingly breaking this commandment, and that bothers me, because if you don't believe in God, and if you don't worship him and follow his rules, what is next? Worshipping false gods (politicians, athletes, celebrities)? Murder (abortion)? Adultery (skyrocketing divorce rates)? Theft (raising tax rates)? False witness (perjury, lying, half-truths)? Coveting neighbors property (redistribution of property)? The failure to follow the first commandment is a sign that our society is not going to follow the other commandments.

A moral society is a just one, and we are losing our morality- we are attacking our morality, and it all begins with worshipping of other gods.