The Ten Commandments.

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain."

The explanation in the Evangelium is: "God's name and all things dedicated to him should not be misused or treated lightly."

The Biblical example are the money changers in the temple (Mk 11:15-17)

The modern interpretation is and I quote: " Misusing holy names as swear words, breaking oaths, disrespect for holy places, objects or persons."

Not taking the Lord's name in vain is about respect. Respect is always a good thing to have and being humble knowing that there are things that cannot be understood, like "God".

I'm not sure about who dedicated what to "God". I am sure there are items and places to remind us of God, but dedication goes well together with worship, and I do not believe God would want that.

I shall have to look up the money changers in the temple and see how they relate to taking the name of the Lord in vain. Maybe they just swore a lot!

There is a link you could look at at the end of my blog about the golden calf! I haven't read it all and I dont want to comment about its content in this blog or I'll be here all day!

As for the modern example, it is partly about respecting something we do not understand.

But is breaking oaths (promises, pledges, or blasphemy, curses, profanities, strong language) a mortal sin?

Being one of the ten commandments, I presume it is a mortal sin, which I cannot quite believe!

According to the Evangelium, "a mortal sin kills the divine life of the soul and deprives the sinner of heaven"

The only thing I can say is, we've got no chance then!

The majority of people to the last percent, will be hanging around outside heaven waiting to confess. Only because they didn't go to confession on earth!

Disrespecting any place, whether it is a holy place or not, is not a good thing.

But who made it a holy place in the first place. God most certainly didn't.

Maybe man did, to keep control of the masses, or maybe it was the church?

Anyway, as long as people are allowed to come to their own conclusions about God, life and the Universe and not condemned for thinking outside of the box, then we can all live happily together.

http://wordincarnate.wordpress.com/2007/04/29/on-faith-and-golden-calves/

God and worship!

Ps. From my last blog about 'God'.
Reading back over my writing I am not sure about the word 'worship'. Would God really want to be worshipped?

For me, God just is! An all pervading energy that fills the whole universe and I feel that 'God' wouldn't want to be worshipped or seen as something to be worshipped and made unattainable!

There's another discussion here for another day about how we view 'God'? I'll be adding my views to that question another day!

I actually don't believe anybody or anything should be worshipped! Barriers and boundaries are created and concerning 'God', there should be no hurdles to cross.

Closeness with 'God' should be available to everyone unconditionally.

Evangelium

It's a long time since I last wrote anything in this 'God' blog. But recently I have started going to a group in the Catholic Church I attend.

It's all about the Evangelium, a discussion group about the meaning of life and what part 'God' plays in it all.

The next group is scheduled for three weeks time and I have been given the job of summarising the session before the group. It's all about the 10 commandments so it should be an interesting session.

Infact I think I might blog it before the session. More later!