Do you believe.....Religion

Occasionally I am asked: Do you believe in God? What do you think of Jesus Christ? The 10 Commandments, How do you live your life. Church....what or which church do you belong to? Are you active in any of the major Religions, Christianity, other?

This really should not be too hard to answer, should it? After all as I recall we really got religion hammered into us as kids. First we were separated...Boys and Girls. Then again, age, then once more for either being Lutheran/ Evangelic they called it, and-or Catholic.

Home room teacher covered just about every subject, including religion, from grade 1 right up to grade 9. I had the misfortune to be instructed by a particularly brutal beast of a man from grades 5 to 9 until this madness ended.

As a 14 year old brought up as Lutheran there is a coming of age thing they call Confirmation, one qualifies for this by participation for a few months of catechism study or something like that. And that is more or less about it.  I  admire to a degree this fellow, monk, reformer Martin( Luder), Luther, who probably changed the world as much as did Napoleon Bonaparte did in obviously other ways.

As above so below. There was Heaven, above the ground....and there was Hell, supposedly below the ground. After life you could end up in one place or the other. Eternal peace above or hellfire below.

Now, today, we talk about the black hole. We are told that the universe started from absolutely nothing and expanded to all the galaxies, stars in the galaxies( suns) with all the appropriate planets and moons around the planets, one such planet being what we call the earth with all of the 7 billion inhabitants known as humans and everything else, animals, land and oceans, birds, fish bugs microbes, you name it. And, it is said this Universe started somewhere 12 to 15 billion years ago, they call it the big bang theory.
If you believe that you really must believe in a higher being or just thinking about it will drive you mad.

The 10 Commandments are found in the Bible's Old Testament. They were given directly by God to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai after He had delivered them from slavery : God spoke all these words, saying: 'I am the LORD your God…

ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'

TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.'

THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'

FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'

FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'

SIX: 'You shall not murder.'

SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'

EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'

NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'

TEN: '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.'


In today's context:  In somewhat more modern language, one such interpretation ...

1) God is the only God.

2) Don't worship idols, statues, and other human being.

3)Don't use God's name inappropriately. In other words saying "Oh my God"

   is considered a sin.

4) Go to church every Sunday or Saturday.

5) Respect your parents.

6) Don't kill.

7) Don't cheat on your husband or wife. Some Christians even include girlfriends and boyfriends.

8) No stealing.

9) The essence of this commandment is honesty. Just don't lie.

10) Be happy with what you have and don't envy other people's belongings.