The Ten Commandments, A Common Man's Opinion This opinion was written as a straight up analysis of one of the most important documents ever given to, and recorded by, Man. The Ten Commandments is not only key to all of western civilization, but is also key to each individual life. It is about the relationship of God to Mankind and the relationship of man to man. It is about the relationship of God to each of us. "To each of us" is the key. The ten commandments were given to Moses after Moses and his people had left Egypt, a country that had been ruled by kings and tyrants for several thousand years. All countries were ruled by kings and tyrants at this time. The individual was not important except to serve at the kings disposal during this time frame. God is addressing the individual with the Ten Commandments. This was the first time in recorded history the people and the individual were directly addressed. This book was purposely written from a simple perspective, a common sense perspective that we all can understand, to help show that what God wants from us, and for us, is not exclusive to the privileged. I did not preconceive or plan to write about such an important reality, an event, a communication between God and Man, I am just compelled to do so - for better or worse. The writing itself was a discovery mission. There have been other opinions written in the past, and today, by scholars and intellectuals and clergy. This opinion is written by a layman who likes to think and contemplate realities that have come into our lives. I think that, in the Commandments, God is speaking directly to us, the individual. Each of us. I feel God wants our direct communication and our direct love. No one is our representative. This is between God and each of us. And so, God gave us the Ten Commandments to contemplate and act on. Men have named - these words of God - Commandments. While working on this Opinion, I began to feel that these are not commandments as we would normally think that a commandment is, but wishes that God has for us. Each statement is a wish, a want, that God has for each of us. God could stomp it into our heads ...but He doesn't. There is a reason for that. The fact that He could but doesn't is really part of the understanding that we must come to. I know this, the message is simple and straight forward so that all people, each of us, can achieve an understanding, a relationship, a revelation in and with God, our Creator. He talks to us in a way that He knows we can understand. He asks us to live and act in ways that He knows we can do. I find in the words - of the Commandments - that God gave us a certain revelation of HIM. A reflection of His reality. Each word can be contemplated - to find its own truth. Each word-relation to each other, can be contemplated to find a certain revelation. All of the words written, are about understanding, and relationship and revelation, that are dependent on the words and beyond the words. I feel that there are revelations about God and revelations about what God hopes for us in the Commandments. The Commandments, it seems to me, are a crack in the hard wired evolutionary circular paths that make changes constantly, but still remain the same, as they progress through time. The Commandments are the first step in the ascendancy of Man to more than just animal. Love beyond the meager understanding of Man is confronting us in the Commandments. Even so, as a unit, it is telling us that we can understand. God is challenging us to answer the call. If only we will hear. I hope that you enjoy reading this and thinking about the Ten Commandments as much as I enjoyed writing and discovering ideas in it. P.L. Reynolds, A Common Man
About the Author: P. L. Reynolds is a writer, an amateur jazz musician, an architect, a builder, an oil man and most importantly an explorer. He has studied many books about religion relative to the Old Testament and the New Testament, philosophy, ancient history and more from his personal library.