How the Adventist Church and the State of Louisiana Get It Wrong
by Edward Reifsnyder | 6 August 2024 |
The State of Louisiana and the Seventh-day Adventist Church have something in common.
We both hype the Ten Commandments.
This June, Louisiana’s legislature passed, and the governor signed, a bill requiring all Louisiana public schools to display the Ten Commandments in all classrooms, from kindergarten to state-sponsored universities.
A few days later, Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction mandated that the Bible and the Ten Commandments be incorporated into curriculums across the state.
A Utah law went into effect July 1 of this year that the Ten Commandments must be studied in the curriculum.
The rationale for all these actions is that the Ten Commandments are an important historical document that has played a significant role in the nation’s history.
Louisiana’s governor defended the law against constitutional church-state questions by saying that concerned parents can just tell their kids not to look at them.
Us & them & Jesus
The Seventh-day Adventist Church has historically also hyped the Ten Commandments—although for entirely different reasons. Primarily, we have resisted any diminishment of the Ten Commandments because of the seventh-day Sabbath commandment.
In my early education in Adventist schools, I recall many lessons and discussions about the continuing validity and importance of the Ten Commandments. It was oft-cited that Jesus said not one jot or tittle (whatever those are) of the law would change until all would be fulfilled.
And, of course, “all fulfilled” was interpreted as—well, never.
But a funny thing: Jesus didn’t stop there. And in response to a question about the most important law in the Torah, he said that loving God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself was the most important thing, apparently more important than the Ten Commandments.
That notion of the importance of love to God and humanity is reinforced by the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus cited the Ten Commandments and then added, “But I say to you…” and then elevated everyone’s sights. It isn’t enough to refrain from killing, he said. You shouldn’t hate either. It isn’t enough to refrain from actual adultery. You shouldn’t lust either.
In other words: the literal Ten Commandments are insufficient as a guideline to righteous living. The Ten Commandments mostly ask you to refrain from bad deeds—but they don’t really get to the state of the heart, character, and attitudes.
The Ten Commandments are okay as far as they go, but they really don’t go that far. You can keep the Ten Commandments and still be a scoundrel. You can stay out of jail and still be a lousy human.
Not enough
But Jesus demands more. It is not enough to avoid the negative. He says we have to be and do something positive: love. And, apparently, love everyone!
Personally, I find it easier to avoid killing someone than to be nice to everyone. Avoiding killing someone is a stay-out-of-jail card.
So Jesus has raised the bar on the whole Ten Commandments/law thing. He set a higher standard that takes us from mere avoidance of bad behavior toward an ethos of love as the cornerstone guideline to living.
Paul confirms this shift in values in Romans 13:8-10.
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
It is possible technically to “keep” the Ten Commandments by avoiding proscribed behaviors—but unfortunately, that just won’t do the trick. The real deal is being a genuinely loving Christian who has the best interests of all humans in mind all the time. Now there’s a challenge!
So given that the lawmakers who push the Ten Commandment requirements are Christians, and that Seventh-day Adventists are Christians, why are we not putting forward Jesus’ greatest commandments with more vigor? Why do we keep focusing on the Ten?
Is the ladder leaning against the wrong wall?
Edward Reifsnyder is a healthcare consultant. He and his wife, Janelle, live in Fort Collins, Colorado.
