Commandments in the Gutter

As I began my neighborhood walk this morning, I noticed the slight cool breeze on a normally hot and humid August day. The sky was filled with thin clouds and revealed a beautiful blue sky, making intermittent showers of shade. After a week of rain it was good to be out on a walk again. As I glanced down, I noticed a postcard-sized white card in the gutter attached to a black string. It said, "Ten Commandments" at the top of the card following by the individual laws God gave Moses on Mt. Sinai. I have always been taught in my faith that God indeed does give absolute laws of right and wrong; however, many in the twenty-first century believe more in moral relativism. Is the Bible a living document (the same argument also applies to the American Constitution), or is it a word for all ages and all times? I tend to waiver on this issue.

On the one hand, it is comforting to think that God's laws are appropriate at all times. On the other hand, it would be even more comforting to think God is flexible enough to understand individual situations. For example, one of the commandments tells us that we should not kill. Yesterday in Little Rock a man who had recently lost his job came into the Democratic Headquarters downtown and shot the leader of the party randomly. He then went on to the Arkansas Baptist Convention headquarters, went up some stairs, pointed a gun at a worker there, and then inexplicably left the premises without another killing. Officers then pursued the fleeing shooter, returned fire, and killed the man. Does God give any leniency in His judgment to the perpetrator of this crime if it is shown by subsequent investigation that he was mentally ill? I believe He does.

I don't pretend to know the answer to these broad theological questions regarding right and wrong. I do believe we have to put ourselves in God's hand and trust in His word that He will be the judge. Until we stand before Him in eternity, we can just do our best to love Him and love each other but at the same time still keep the Ten Commandments in our sight as a guide. We certainly should never devalue them enough to throw them into the gutter.