God’s Commandments for Modern America

I actually don’t like always or never statements. They cause a huge problem when talking logically. When I say “this is always how it is” or “this never happens”, it creates a huge weak spot in an argument. Because if someone can prove a single time where this isn’t the case, then the argument fails. So I’m not trying to say this is an always or never. And I am surely not trying to say I know exactly what God’s commands are for modern America.

However, I think I have a good case here. Not because of any specific literal interpretation, but because of the arc of the Christian tradition. We share the Jewish Scriptures, and in America, we have a fascination with the Ten Commandments. I’ve talked about how American laws should be more Christian, but maybe not in the way you think. If we want to lift up the Decalogue, we need to understand how it would work today.

The First Four

The general consensus is that the first four laws focus on how the people ought to relate to God. Let’s start there:

“Then God spoke all these words. He said,‘I am The LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you lived as slaves.
‘You shall have no other gods to rival me.
‘You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth.
‘You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, The LORD your God, am a jealous God and I punish a parent’s fault in the children, the grandchildren, and the great-grandchildren among those who hate me; but I act with faithful love towards thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
‘You shall not misuse the name of The LORD your God, for The LORD will not leave unpunished anyone who misuses his name.
‘Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath for The LORD your God. You shall do no work that day, neither you nor your son nor your daughter nor your servants, men or women, nor your animals nor the alien living with you.For in six days The LORD made the heavens, earth and sea and all that these contain, but on the seventh day he rested; that is why The LORD has blessed the Sabbath day and made it sacred.”
The New Jerusalem Bible (New York: Doubleday, 1985), Ex 20:1–11.

Conservative Christianity in America have taken these verses to mean that we should create a theocracy – a government where the religious leaders rule under authority from their god. Christian Nationalists want to create a government that holds the Ten Commandments as the ultimate authority. While they say they want this, I think Americans would have a hard time with what these verses call us to do and be.

God and American Money

All good Christians know the stories and teachings of Jesus in the Gospels. On the other hand, we often choose which parts we choose to highlight. We all do it because we all have elements of the Jesus story that are more important to us. In America, the idea of money and Jesus have been blurred, downplayed, or completely ignored. This is troubling, but this is the point – this is why we need to think about what the Ten Commandments are saying, not just regurgitate them.

Jesus tells his followers in the Matthew account that one cannot serve both God and money (Matt. 6:24). This command is nestled in a long monologue about what the Kingdom of God is like and how we are to find it. In chapter 6, we’re told to give money in secret (1-4), not be concerned with earthly savings (19-21), and trust in God for our physical needs (25-34).

How can we justify the Ten Commandments and American Capitalism? How can the Church be complicit with the greediness that fuels America?

By bowing to the Bull and the Bear at the temple on Wall St, we break the first four commandments that we claim are so important. Our God is the dollar, crafted from metal and paper, and we create elaborate systems of ‘secular’ and ‘Christian’ markets to horde more and more. We force our neighbors to work more, extracting from the poor to funnel to the top, and we ignore the Sabbath. The choices America has made are now rippling through the generations beyond the covenant creators. The bill has come due.

What Now?

If we want to be a Christian nation, it’s time we act like Christians. We need to live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly. We need to love our God and our neighbor as ourselves. We need to tear down the idols in the temple and return to the Jesus we find in the Gospels.

Brad is a seminary student at Northwind Theological Seminary studying theology and the changing religious landscape in America. His master’s thesis looks at the role of the 20th century American Church in labor and social reforms. He works as a research assistant at the University of Rhode Island’s College of Pharmacy providing education and support for rural New Englanders impacted by the opioid epidemic. Brad spends nights and weekends playing in regional bands as a bassist, guitarist, and vocalist. When not at a computer, he loves to spend time with his wife and chasing his toddler around the house. You can go to his website to get updates on his writing, podcasting, and other events.