Bell bottom pants, desk top computers, brick cellphones, 8-track cassette tapes and VHS tapes all relevant in their day have become obsolete in today's technologically advanced society where most people are willing to shell out top dollar on skinny jeans, lap tops and tablets, Blackberry phones, compact discs and DVDs, but some religious leaders say one thing that should never be lost to the passage of time and technology is the relevance and timeliness of God's word-- especially those words He imparted in the Ten Commandments.
The 10 simple laws that God set out for all His believers to follow are the most famous laws given to mankind. They are:
o I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; do not have any other gods before Me.
o You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
o You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
o Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work; you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
o Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
o You shall not murder.
o You shall not commit adultery.
o You shall not steal.
o You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
o You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.
These 10 Commandments given to Moses by God to be followed by His people, were precious and revered centuries ago -- today, many people barely give them a second thought -- much less wonder what these laws really mean in the twenty-first century.
The first commandment found in Exodus 20: 2-3, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; do not have any other gods before me," is probably the simplest yet most neglected of the laws given to man, according to some ministers of the Word.
Bishop Ros Davis, senior pastor at Golden Gates World Outreach Ministries, says today's society is in much need of a refresher on this important commandment. As simple and straightforward as it is, he says many people still find themselves not fully understanding and straying from fully embracing this law.
"While not everyone in the world is Christian, those of us who are should fully understand this first essential Commandment. He is the Lord thy God and we shall have no other gods before Him He declares. This is a powerful yet simple law which says so much. God is powerful, omnipresent, omnipotent. He is the beginning and the end. He is the Creator. He is the savior and the merciful one. We should acknowledge Him and worship Him as He deserves. There very well may be other gods, but they are lesser and have not the power of our God. He should be worshipped. However, I believe that most Christians do follow this law but many of us tend to put other things before God especially in these times of easy prosperity and wealth."
Bishop Davis says idols do not just mean stone structures or temples built to a deity and that an idol could be a car that you clean religiously, or that television show that you put everything aside to watch, yet cannot make and effort to get up in the morning to pray, or go to church for that hour or two at least once a week.
"It may be things in our lives we want so much we do all in our power to get it. We pray for it and promise this and that for it, yet once we have it, we forget all we promised and worship it. We dote over it and act crazy if anything happens to it."
Bishop Davis says that this is a form of worship, especially if we see the material things as such a big part of your life that it becomes a real problem and violates the first commandment.
Pastor Jay Simms, senior pastor at Christian Life Church, says the first commandment is just as relevant today as the time it was given to us.
"Like all the other Commandments I feel that the first one is very relevant to what is going on today in the world. This particular Commandment being the first in the order of the Commandments is important. In some places it even adds God stating "I am a jealous God" which puts more emphasis on this. In fact, it is clear that this Commandment is an important one because in the New Testament, Jesus says to His disciples that the Commandments can be condensed and the greatest Commandment of all is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul. Of course, once again, God does not want us to be divided in our allegiance which is why He set this law. In the Old Testament His people, the children of Israel often times found themselves having other gods, so He said thou shall have no other gods before Me."
As this law relates to the Christians of today, Pastor Simms says there are people who break the first command by practicing idolatry and worshipping other gods. He says people break the first Commandment when they place personal desires, work, family and even friends before God.
Pastor Simms says although many people do not see it, God says that anything people put before Him becomes an idol and is a clear act of disobedience to the first Commandment.
Although many of us do not see it, He says that anything that we put before God becomes an idol and this is a clear act of disobedience to the First Commandment.
"It is important not to forget this Commandment and let everyday situations come before God. In Proverbs it shows what happens when you do-- the people's hearts become divided and are found faulty. I would tell people who are finding faults in their lives the same thing that Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, 'When you seek thee first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things shall be added unto you.' When the children of Israel after all their trials and troubles remembered to put God first, things went well and the same thing refers to us in the modern world. If we do not put God first, things will not go well with us either."
Bishop Arnold Josey, pastor at Commonwealth Mission Baptist Church, says the First Commandment although simple is probably one of the most powerful of all God's laws for them to follow after they left Egypt.
"As Christians who believe in the one God who came to us through His son Jesus Christ. These are also the Commandments that we should follow. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it," says the bishop. "Whatever you do, wherever you go, you must remember that the Lord your God is the only God. The first commandment, 'I am the Lord your God and you shall have no other gods before me' is a powerful one and a relevant one in that it was the very first one that the Israelites broke when Moses came down the mountain with the tablets the first time.
"They were worshiping an idol and were greatly punished for this. The very fact that this Commandment out of all the others was the first really says a lot. It is a really important one and although simple, should not be lost or forgotten among the others."
Over the next nine weeks, The Nassau Guardian will engage a number of ministers of religion on the topic of the 10 Commandments, as they dissect each one and talk about the relevance of the Commandments to the twenty-first century society.
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
