The Ten Commandments

When I was first asked to teach Sunday school to the 12 and 13-year-olds last year I felt extremely unqualified since I don't have any experience teaching. But I said that I would do it and would do my best to teach the kids in my class. I've been teaching for a year now, and it's been going pretty well. The lessons go better some weeks than others and sometimes it's difficult to know what approach to take to keep the kids engaged. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm really loving it! I know I'm not the best teacher, but I DO try really hard.

Each month the lessons focus on a different topic. September's topic is Commandments, and we've been  talking about what commandments are, how we can explain them to others, how we can inspire others to keep the commandments, blessings we receive from keeping the commandments, etc. I read something as I was preparing one of my lessons that I thought was really interesting.

L. Tom Perry: One way to measure ourselves and compare us to previous generations is by one of the oldest standards known to man—the Ten Commandments. For much of the civilized world, particularly the Judeo-Christian world, the Ten Commandments have been the most accepted and enduring delineation between good and evil.

In my judgment, four of the Ten Commandments are taken as seriously today as ever. As a culture, we disdain and condemn murder, stealing, and lying and we still believe in the responsibility of children to their parents.

But as a larger society, we routinely dismiss the other six commandments: 

• If worldly priorities are any indication, we certainly have “other gods” we put before the true God.
• We make idols of celebrities, of lifestyles, of wealth, and yes, sometimes of graven images or objects.
• We use the name of God in all kinds of profane ways, including our exclamations and our swearing.
• We use the Sabbath day for our biggest games, our most serious recreation, our heaviest shopping, and virtually everything else but worship.
• We treat sexual relations outside marriage as recreation and entertainment.
• And coveting has become a far too common way of life.

I hadn't really ever thought about things in this way before, but it's really true; many people view six of the 10 commandments as optional rather than mandatory. I think in today's society people give God less and less thought. I know that not everyone looks at God and His commandments this way, but I think a large faction of today's society looks at the commandments as being outdated, old-fashioned or a thing of the past. Even though times are constantly changing/evolving, God still has certain expectations for His children. In my Sunday school lesson last week I used a quote and part of it said, "God does not want us to look to the world and follow its ever-changing trends. He wants us to look to Him and follow His unchanging guidance."

This is another picture I found that I thought perfectly applied to this post.