Exodus 24:12-14

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.’“ vs. 12

The strength of Judaism was not the multitude of precepts and regulations devised by its legal experts through the centuries, but its basic simplicity. Everything rested on just Ten Words or Commandments that had  been etched on tablets of stone by the finger of God. These were not suggestions or continuing resolutions, subject to change or conjecture by legal scholars, Israel’s founding principles had in fact been carved in stone by the hand of God. One of the issues of our time is that we’ve lost that sense of a guiding imperative with divine origins. Instead we act as though our moral compass is something very personal, something that we make up in response to the vagaries of life. Some people have even decided that there are no universal truths and that everything is up for grabs. They operate with no moral boundaries save those they have devised for themselves. Often even religious folks live this way. Believing that nothing is carved in stone, they pick and choose standards for themselves that fit the whim of the moment, even when they undermine the Ten Words of the Hebrews. How much better it is when our conduct is based on ancient and universal truths, and not the instability of the latest cultural trend.

Thought for the Day: Can I say the Ten Commandments in order?