Hypocrites!
“AN UNJUST LAW
IS NO LAW AT ALL.”
St. Augustine
He was (probably never to his face) called a “pit bull” and “Rottweiler.”
Nonetheless, “the Rottweiler” would certainly have words for legislators in Texas, Louisiana, Florida and a handful of other states who are knocking themselves out (and exhausting many of us) demanding the placement of posters of the King James Bible version of the Ten Commandments in classrooms across the nation.
We can easily imagine the Rottweiler opening any comments about the legislators’ efforts by referencing:
“The Lord says:
‘These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.’”
Isaiah 29:13
“‘You have disregarded the authority of God’s word.
You hypocrites!
How well did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said,
‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me is empty,
because they teach human rules as doctrines.’
Then calling out to the crowd, Jesus addressed them,
‘Listen and understand!
It is not what goes into the mouth
that makes a person unclean.
It is what comes out of the mouth that makes a person unclean…
…the things that come out of the mouth
come from the heart,
and it is those things that make a person unclean.
It is out of the heart that evil thoughts come,
as well as murder, adultery, sexual immorality,
stealing, false testimony, and slander.
These are the things that make a person unclean….’”
Matthew 15:7-11
“Jesus told them,
‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied
about you hypocrites.’
As it is written,
‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.’”
Mark 7:6
Germany’s Joseph Ratzinger was “a hard….” (You’re free to finish the phrase.)
His April 18, 2005 sermon seemed designed for American Commandment-pushers.
Addressing the Misa Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice (“Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff”), “the Vatican’s pit bull” or “God’s Rottweiler” was not a fan of Relativism. Respectfully, were he alive today, he’d need fistfuls of psychotropic medications to cope with the Relativism of American christian national politics. He famously told the cardinals gathered to elect the successor of Pope John Paul II:
“[R]elativism, that is, letting oneself be ‘tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine,’ seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times.
“We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires.”
Two days later, “the pit bull” emerged on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica as Pope Benedict XVI.
Presuming to echo the man who had the courage to retire from his pontificate when he felt he no longer had the strength the office demanded, we offer excerpts from the Relativist (KJV) Ten Commandments for posting in all American public schools.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me but all humankind shall bend their knees before him and stand and applaud him who puts his name wherever he can (in gold as much as possible).
Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Well, except a new one-dollar coin with his graven image, and his name on an Institute of Peace, a class of battleships, “tax-advantaged savings accounts available for every American child,” National Park passes, one of the world’s finest concert and performing arts centers, and those million-dollar (gold) and $5 million (platinum) special visas that allow the super-rich to obtain green cards. Of course, the self-determined Special One shall require that other’s bow down before (or behind) him and pay him blind obedience, even when it requireth that they lie for him and proclaim that his mathematics – personally reducing the costs of things by 1,000 or 1,500 or 1,700 percent – is real because he declareth it so. And he who is self-proclaimed to be like the Divine shalt never show mercy – well, except to those whom he shall pardon because they say nice things about him or spend mucho dinero at his beach club or golf courses.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. He who declareth himself the master of the deal shall sue or threaten to sue any man, woman or child who speaks ill of him in print, on television, or in a blog; he shall order that they who bend the knee before him and shout Hosanna to his name and honor his words – be they truth or a falsehood – and enrich him and his sycophants and enablers – shall be named to positions of power and responsibility for which – too often – they are unqualified.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Thou shalt keep the sabbath by travelling to an eponymous pitch-and-putt and all who wish to curry favor with him shall do the same to his on-going self-enrichment projects.
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. And thou shalt enrich thy children’s lives by bequeathing upon each and all the knowledge that thou didst commit adultery or infidelity against their mothers – and indirectly against thy children and the sanctity of their families. Thy children shall live into old age knowing of thy adultery.
Thou shalt not kill unless thou be a governor who desperately desireth to prove himself “tough on crime” by signing as many death warrants as possible or declaring himself “pro-life” while allowing women’s lives to be put at risk through the delay of treatment for ectopic pregnancies or medical complications. Thou shalt refuse to recognize that “pro-life” demands respecting medical science regarding vaccinations and the best of medical science.
Thou shalt not commit adultery unless thy wife is home nursing thy newborn son or thou considereth thyself “a star” who can do anything to women, or thou art tired of thy first and second wives, or thou art a member of the ruler’s cabinet and then thou shalt be free to engage in public adultery.
Thou shalt not steal and, if thou doth geteth caught and be sentenceth to prison by a jury of thine peers thou mayeth ingratiate thyself to the ruler – the Divine useth not the phrase “pay bribes” – not with silver or gold but a $1 million membership fee and stand and applaud when the ruler doth emerge from his seaside bungalow.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor; thou mayeth speak untruth and call a VA ICU nurse an “agitator” and “insurrectionist,” hate mongers in Charlotte “good people” or murderous dictators like Putin “genius” and “savvy” and declareth that he will not fire on Kiev; thou shalt falsely accuse others of “eating the dogs… eating the cats.” Thou may accuse others of “seditious behavior at the highest level” or being “antifa.” Thou shalt repeatedly and falsely accuse others of cheating thee of votes; thou shalt falsely claim to have won an election that thou knoweth and hath known thou lost; thou shalt call another "agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist” or “terrorist” or “domestic terrorist” or “assassin”; thou shalt accuse innocent men and women of “wanting to commit acts of domestic terrorism” when it is a blatant lie and thou hast no evidence except thine own pettiness and desperation.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s. Thou mayest declare ad infinitum an election victory that was not thine but lost for all eternity and covet a Nobel Peace Prize thou dost deserve only in thy own mind.
Legislators and others attempting to mandate the “Ten Commandments” to the walls of every public classroom in the nation find it convenient to ignore history and the “commandments” themselves. While the “commandments” appear in varying forms and lengths in Exodus 20:1-17, Deuteronomy 5:5-21 and Exodus 34:11-26, the Biblical Hebrew refers to ʿĂśéreṯ had-Dəḇārîm – “The Ten Words.” Not “Commandments.” Additionally, the 165 verses of Chapter 6 (the “Chapter of the Cattle”) – Surah Al-An’am – of the Quran focus on monotheism, emphasizing God’s power, knowledge and sovereignty and the folly of idolatry, paralleling the “Ten Words” of Hebrew Scriptures.
Frederick William Donaldson certainly knew more about Sacred Scripture and moral theology than almost any American politician. Ordained a priest of the Church of England (Anglican) in 1885, he served at least six parishes before his 1924 appointment as a Canon of Westminster Abbey.
In addition to his role as one of the most important members of the hierarchy of the Church of England, he was famed for his passionate work for world peace and workers’ rights; he was a leader of a 1905 march of unemployed workers from Leicester to London; he was active in the movement for women’s suffrage in England; and he served on the London Council for the Prevention of War (1927) and as chairman of the League of Clergy for peace (1931-1940).
In an April 1925 address/sermon as Canon of Westminster Abbey, Donaldson listed “seven social evils.”
Politics without principle.
Wealth without work.
Pleasure without conscience.
Knowledge without character.
Commerce and industry without morality.
Science without humanity.
Worship without sacrifice.
The International News Service reported the list of the “famous preacher of Westminster Abbey” under the headline “Evils Of World Are Outlined By Famous Divine.” Donaldson’s list was sent to Mahatma Gandhi, who published a similar version in his Young India newspaper on October 22, 1925.
Respectfully, we suggest that – given the public adultery, dishonesty and repeated lies of politicians nationwide – the sixteenth century version of the fifth through fourth centuries BCE (Exodus 34) or seventh through the fifth centuries BCE (Deuteronomy) words be stripped from every classroom wall and, if some politicos truly want to promote civic values, Canon Donaldson’s “Seven Social Evils” might become a warning – for politicians of today and tomorrow’s tomorrows.