Trust and Fear: 10 Orders to Recognize at Our Own Peril or Boon

Trust and Fear: 10 Orders to Recognize at Our Own Peril or Boon

They have been around since the time of Moses, about 3 and half thousand years ago.

They number 10.

Most of Western societies, and a great deal of Eastern societies have gone by them as their cultural imperatives and ethics, a reckoning of century after century. Judaism, Christianity, Islam: it comprises the fundamentals of order and morals, rules and mores. Each community and person has their own interpretations of them.

Today there are many who think of them as contrived or optional suggestions, to be thought of as mere ideas, like the theories of political science or some other humanly constructed system of prerogatives.

I ask you to consider their import, and to contemplate your own standing within them. If they are pertinent still, give great heed. If they no longer matter, or never did, and the God of their supposed authorship is a ruse and a fantasy, then dismiss them at your leisure, like the Greek myths or Chinese zodiac or the hundreds of developed lore and tales of thousands of tribal peoples from every corner of the earth and its seas.

However, if they have a modicum of sense and truth, pay heed indeed.

Perhaps they are truly what they purport to be: a mandate from heaven, and the father and mother and creators of all that we are.

 ONE  --  I

1And God spake all these words, saying,

2I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Where do you put your main trust and fear in? Trust and fear are similar. You may trust that a government is one way, or let us reduce it to the great beast, the bear. You trust that a bear is not an animal to be let behave around you and your little ones as any tame, harmless creature. This trust in its nature is also known as fear. The fear and trust work as one, virtually.

Do you trust God? Do you fear him? Do you trust and fear your father on earth? Your mother? The local police? A local judge of the law?

We should trust in and respectfully fear all these people. What about your boss at work? Trust and fear, they are healthy feelings to have when it comes to those in power and authority.

 TWO -- II

4Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

6And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

It can be very hard not to have other priorities other than God, to put Him first, for He is nebulous and unknown to a large degree, a mysterious figure that is hard to understand. Other things and objects and people and causes, more tangible, seem easier to latch on to.

How to love a being that may not even be there, but be a human invention or fabrication, and worse yet, with the underlying purpose to be manipulated by humans in order to control and even abuse the masses by those who invoke His name, and to do evil to others for His alleged purposes, to manipulate them as Karl Marx might or a million other atheists might claim?

This is a heavy thing to ponder.

THREE -- III

 7Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

It can be hard to realize what weight or effect our words that we employ have. Do they offend, do they insult, do they marginalize, do they condemn others and ourselves?

Does taking the name of a being that may or not exist, but is revered and worshiped by millions, have any effect?

Can invoking the name of deity offend?

I find it interesting that in a secular office in 2020 in the United States many people take God's or Jesus Christ's names as epithets, curses, expletives, and exclamations with no thought or recourse, but the same office may frown on a coworker who uses that name to offer a prayer over the food, say on a special lunch or holiday occasion.

Irony? Or worse? 

FOUR -- IV

9Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

10But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

11For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Is this a real thing, to rest and dedicate ourselves to other causes, bigger than our own individual family wants and needs?

To a God unknown, but perhaps more importantly to His people, his children?

FIVE -- V 12Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

 This can be hard, assuredly. But there is a specific promised blessing accompanying the command. Will it work? How do honor our parents, especially if we believe that they are in err?

SIX -- VI

13Thou shalt not kill.

There are circumstances that justify this, no?

 SEVEN -- VII

14Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Having sexual relations with only your legally and lawfully wedded spouse. None other. Adultery and fornication are parts of the same misdeed, also known as sin. It is action against God and those that we have committed to in matrimony. It begins long before marriage, this dedication and devotion.

EIGHT -- VIII

15Thou shalt not steal.

Borrowing might be okay, but are we honest with our money and dealings?

NINE -- IX

16Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

It can be very hard not to lie a little, or a lot. Let's be honest. Really? Really.

TEN -- X

17Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Can't we all just get along and share, and have and not be jealous of other's stuff? 

Hard to do, not want what others have.

PROMISES AND WARNINGS

18And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

19And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

20And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

21And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

22And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.

23Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.

24An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

25And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.

26Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.

These ten warnings and blessings are real, if we trust and fear that their portents are real.

Blessings and curses are brought upon humanity by their adherence or lack thereof.

As societies, communities, families, and individuals.