The First Three Commandments

In my book, Musings from the Christian Left, I address the topics ofChristian Humanism and liberation morality. My thesis is that human morality exists not for God, but for man, just as the Sabbath exists for man, not man for the Sabbath.

When I took Ethics class at Loras College, we discussed the obligatory nature of right action - that it is something we ought to do, not only because it fulfills us but because God deserves our good behavior. I never quite agreed with this last point, but it does raise the question of the first part of the Great Commandment, that You shall love the Lord, your God with all of your heart, all of your mind and all of your strength. The question again arises, why must you? Does God benefit from these things, or are they solely for our benefit?

We avoid idol worship because the idols are not real, although the Priests behind these cults are both real and greedy. We do not break the second commandment so that we do not take the pressence of God lightly. We rest and worship on the Sabbath so that we might have something to do in life other than work as human beings, not human doings. Jesus gave us a clue when he said the Sabbath was for man. God does not need our worship. If he did, he would not be worthy of worship. God freely choses to accept our worship, he does not require it.

It is good that God does not need our worship, for God would be in bad shape if He did. Our worship is but refrigerator art when compared with the worship of the angels, who do not say their prayers as much as sing them. I am a cradle Catholic, so I have heard the quality of human singing in Church. Angelic prayers are total expressions of who they are. This is why Satan could not fathom why Jesus would become man instead of one of his own angels. His real sin was to think that his prayer was essential to God. God freely choses to accept angelic prayer, which is simply a higher form of refrigerator art when compared with the perfect harmony of the Blessed Trinity. Let us not make the same mistake as Satan.