God. Real. Right.

A huge window sticker on a car on the highway reads, “Beast Mode.” What the owner actually intends, if anything, is unknowable. But the natural options of such a statement are only two. It either means “I am mindless” or “I am immoral”, although the owner might prefer the word “amoral” on the latter.
It is true that most of us are driven most of the time by the same things that motivate animals. Drivers move through traffic in packs like dogs, or pursue, preserve, and relinquish leads (usually completely unaware) just like horses in a race. Most of us emote and act almost blindly within large crowds exactly as the crowd acts. (It doesn’t take long, after all, for one clap to become thousands, and then again, for the thousands to die to silence.)
Most of the time neither the motivations nor behaviors matter one whit. We eat like animals (except with utensils–sometimes) and it does not matter. But one characteristic which sets us apart from animals is the ability to choose other than the expected biological, pack, or even self-interested behavior in favor of something with real value. Morality is uniquely human (and above, of course, if angels are included). The appreciation of beauty as beauty is uniquely human. Altruism is uniquely human (yes, despite some animal behaviors which make things appear otherwise).
The point is not that animals are bad and people are good. Quite the opposite. Jesus uses animals sometimes to say what we should be like (e.g., the birds of the air.) The point is not that we are like animals. The point is that human beings have a unique responsibility to act freely and responsibly rather than as cogs in a machine, plants in the ground, animals on a farm, or even minds in a behavioral maze. So we may act like cattle, or sheep, or rats, but we don’t have to; and just as importantly, we are commanded not to. Matthew 16:24.

or, more precisely, they can be changed.

While this commandment is hard to swallow, it is basic to understanding the good news of Christianity. And it is undeniable in terms of biblical teaching; particularly, Romans 3:10ff.
An essential element of a functional society is optimism or hope. There must be a belief that things can be maintained, succeed, or even that they can progress. In a secular culture that optimism is in human nature. “People are basically good.” “We all have goodness in us.”
But a Christian worldview is incompatible with that optimism, finding hope instead in the intervention of God to transform people from what they were to what He intends for them to be.
Optimism in human nature promotes foolhardy confidence in appeasement, in value-neutral education, and in government. Realism toward human nature promotes prudence (being wise as serpents) in dealing with those who would harm us, awareness that education is only as valuable as the subject being taught, and a healthy regard for the edict: “that government is best which governs least.”
It is untrue that there are no evil people. Quite the opposite. However, much contemporary cultural analysis is based on the view that every culture’s morality is right for them, and only wrong from the perspective of a different, myopic culture. So, they suggest, if some radical Muslims believe it is right to die as suicide bombers killing innocent people in order to prevent the stabilization of a free economy or the introduction of real democracy, who are we to question their ethics? But the reality is that while some evil is motivated by confusion with good, some is motivated simply by evil. And neither motivation justifies it.
But as grave as our original condition, so great is the desire and provision of God to change it. It is from that desire that both the revelation of our need and the provision of our rescue comes.
The long and short of it is that people are not good to begin with, do not seek God until He moves them to do it (which He does), and cannot get to Him even if they did want to. But God loves us while we are bad, seeks us when we ignore Him, and brings us together Him when we could not do so ourselves.
This commandment does not promote pessimism regarding people. On the contrary, it allows no observer to discount the hope that any person, no matter how bad for the moment, can be changed.

This commandment’s significance is impossible to cover in a brief post. So here is an introduction to the subject’s range.
The first “Matter” refers to the material world around us: atoms, rocks, birds, and and everything else that takes up space for a period of time. The second “Matter” refers to whatever is important.
The level of second “Matter” (value) we apply to the first “Matter” (stuff) is represented with money. Hence, materialism (the belief that only material objects exist) becomes materialism (an obsession with money and the things which can be purchased with it). There. Now the vocabulary is all clear!
The love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6) because it indicates both an obsession with the material world and a disregard for the spiritual.
A Christian outlook on life includes everything excluded by materialism: personal character and responsibility, volition, spirituality, eternal life, and God. Believe it or not, consistent thinkers “know” (ironically) that even consciousness itself is not compatible with materialism (the kind that says only matter exists) since a brain and a mind are not the same thing.
The extent to which science can speak accurately is entirely determined by the extent to which it limits itself to the material domain. Science speaks powerfully to the way material things operate, but it cannot speak at all to the value or meaning of anything. So it is particularly important for those with a Christian worldview, a worldview very much governed by value and meaning, not to be limited by the same myopic obsession with matter.

This commandment is based on Jesus’ statement in Matthew 7:12, the golden rule. As it turns out, it is extensionally equivalent (sorry for the obfuscation here) to Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative. Many people seem to think the golden rule is about making sure we’re nice to other people so they’ll be nice to us. Hardly.
The point is that if we are going to claim anything is right for us, we must also acknowledge that it is right for everyone else. And if we are going to claim something is wrong for someone else, we must acknowledge that it is wrong for us. As it turns out, this rule is more than coincidentally powerful. It is rationally impossible to believe morality is real and not hold this view. Further, when all is taken into account, it appears that this one rule manages to encompass every moral imperative about living with people.
In traffic, it means one person cannot ethically take the shoulder since the benefit of doing so hinges on everyone else following a rule he has not applied to himself.
In economics, it means there must be a level playing field. That is, there must be a free market, with governmental intrusion only where there is fraud.
Respect for authority, for life, for marriage, for personal property, and for truth itself are all products of this one commandment.

This commandment simply recognizes that saying something is “right” means something real, and something more than saying that it “works”. It is the contrast between what is called “moral realism” and either “moral nihilism” or utilitarianism. Two Proverbs make the point that people choose to do things because they are right, even though the result of those things makes it obvious they were not. “There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end of it is the way of death.” Moral judgments become basically meaningless when the definition of what is right becomes malleable. (For those paying close attention, I should point out that “the way of death” is not the same as “death” itself, and so these Proverbs are not utilitarian. For everyone else this parenthetical note probably should have been skipped. :O)
Paul also expressed this point to Timothy: “if a man is trying to achieve something, he will not receive his prize unless he strives for it according to what is right.” (2 Timothy 2:5)
When Christians make moral judgments based on what will work BEFORE they have discovered whether the act itself is right or whether a character capable of doing such an act is virtuous, then they are not following Jesus. It is crystal clear (from the crucifixion itself, to the command that to follow Jesus means to deny self and take up the cross) that the result is not the responsibility of a follower; obedience is.
At its base, this commandment is inescapable for those wishing to have a Christian worldview. There is an absolute and universal truth in Christ which includes what is right and what is wrong. The expression of right and wrong may take a different form in every culture. But it will still be either right or wrong, and the difference between the two will not change. To hug an old friend may be right in America and wrong in India. But it is right in both places to care about others and be respectful of them as persons.
Acknowledging different expressions (called the context sensitivity thesis) does not compromise moral reality. Determining that something is right (like helping someone in need) and then choosing which act to do based on what will work best (like pushing rather than pulling their car) does not compromise moral reality. But determining that something is right just because it brings about desired results absolutely does compromise any commitment to moral reality. So don’t do that!

Believe it or not, this commandment is derived from the tenth real commandment, not to covet. Consider the four steps of disparity between the expectations almost inherent in our culture and the attitude described in Psalm 103:9-10.
Our presumption: Even when things are good, I deserve better.
A step closer to the right attitude: When things are bad, I deserve better.
A step even closer: When things are good, I have enough (so I am grateful).
The appropriate attitude for followers (as in Psalm 103.9-10): When things are bad, I deserve worse, and therefore I am grateful.
Although that self-deprecating attitude is almost universally renounced in a culture which defines psychological health as self-approval, it is the starting point for the kind of attitude which is capable of receiving God’s goodness as grace.
This commandment relates to why it is possible “in every thing to give thanks” and to learn “in whatever state we are to be content.” Demanding self-aggrandizement is not Christian. Self-denying contentment, whether accompanied by wealth or poverty, is.

Just as the third, this commandment, the fourth, is inspired by the spirit of the real commandments as a whole. Those real commandments make our failures painfully obvious. But their very expression is evidence that God still cares enough to communicate with us rather than simply throw us away. This idea is often expressed using the vocabulary of Ephesians 4:15, “speaking the truth in love.” It is not simply a plea to coat difficult or even hateful words in sugar. Rather, it is a reminder that the motivation and goal of every correction is correction, not destruction.
What James calls “the fruit of righteousness” (in James 3:18) is the thing every believer wants to encourage in others and see fulfilled in the world. It is the product or result which comes from doing right. That product will not come if we are not willing to be frank about where it is missing. Hence, “be brutally honest.” But it also will not come if our goal is simply to attack or humiliate those who do not have it. Hence, “be persistently kind.”
Understanding this commandment also maintains the distinction between legitimate tolerance and the ridiculous redefinition of “tolerance” to mean “approval.” It is possible to say “you are wrong” and be motivated to say so because of kindness, not fear or anger. It is possible to believe another person is completely wrong and still respect their worth as a person completely. And it is the follower’s responsibility to do so.
At its very base, this commandment is indispensable to the communication of the message of believers (the gospel). To say there is a Saver (yes, that’s how I meant to spell it) is to imply there is a need to be saved. But it should not just be implied. It ought to be expressed. Conversely, the only reason to communicate that “all have failed” or “all have sinned” is that the One they failed has chosen to do something about that failure and offer them both a new start and a different future through Jesus.

This commandment is inspired by the purpose of the real commandments, explained in Romans 3:20. They reveal our failure to live up to what is expected of us. But they accomplish that task by reminding us that what we have failed to live up to is expected of us.
It makes perfect sense that many normal people do not have hope that they can change, that the world can be different, and that there is something better not only to dream about but actually to achieve.
But that kind of “we-might-as-well-just-live-with-it” mentality is entirely inappropriate for Christians. Paul’s most direct statement of this reality for followers of Jesus is in Philippians 3:12-14. In that passage it is clear both that a believer will never be perfect and that he can never be satisfied with being less than perfect.
Interestingly, or sadly, this culture’s obsession with death is a natural product of the belief that things cannot be better in this life and that there is no other life to anticipate.
In contrast, followers do not stop in the middle of a journey and abandon the trip simply because they have not arrived at the destination yet. For followers the destination is real and worth every minute of the trip it takes to get there.

Obviously this commandment is inspired by the sixth commandment in Deuteronomy 5 and in Exodus 20. “Do not murder.” The clear basis of that commandment, all the way from Genesis 4 (Cain) and Genesis 9 (Noah) to the bloody judgment of Revelation 16:3-6, is that human life is created by God with a special significance related not just to function and personal enjoyment, but to the fact that every human being carries the image of God.
Saturday night’s debate was particularly revealing regarding this issue. In response to Rick Warren’s question regarding adoption, Senator Obama replied that we should address the number of orphans by providing better public health policy. Think about what “better public health policy” means. Senator McCain said we should make adoption easier.
The contrast between those answers is the same as the contrast between what makes “every child a wanted child” sound so appealing, and what makes it in reality so brutally calloused against the value of human life.
John 10 makes it inevitable that Christians hold life in such high regard. If life is not our highest value then whatever else is supposed to be our highest value will fail. It is not possible to hold freedom as a basic value without regarding the value of human life even more basic.

This commandment is another way of summarizing the first two of the Ten Commandments, in Deuteronomy 5 and Exodus 20. Those two commandments, “no other gods” and “no graven images” can also be summarized to mean, “there’s only one God, and you’re not Him.”
Psalm 103 also poses the contrast, with God ruling over everything forever, and men passing away so abruptly and completely that they leave no more permanent mark than a flower after it has withered away and the ground has filled over the very small hole it had made.
Brian Bates accidentally commented on this observation during KCBI’s morning show when he observed that if he had known that God was not fazed by some wrong motivations in his earlier life, it would have changed his understanding of how capable God was and is of changing him.
The everyday aspect of this commandment is that while everything about God is dead serious and profoundly important, the stuff about us as people is not so much.
Whether I succeed at something or not is not so important. Whether I look good is not so important.
Whether I live out God’s goodness and mercy is hugely important. But that importance is not about me, but about His goodness and mercy.
Examples of the second half of this commandment abound: Gorbachev dismantles the Soviet Union then disappears to a retreat on the Black Sea never to be heard from again, at least as a world leader. The mighty president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, today resigns as president to become predictably anonymous for the rest of his days. Even buildings make the point. Reunion arena, highly touted at its completion in 1980, is now scheduled to be torn down bit by bit over the next year until it is only a memory. To add insult to injury, consider this: city managers decided it would be cheaper to spend $6 million to tear down that $27 million structure than to allow it to continue to exist!
So in obedience to this commandment, I will worship God and laugh at myself!