Teaching 10 Commandments

Teaching the Ten Commandments

Ten Commandments, Political E-mails & Ads

from the Rev. Bruce Gillette
[10-6-08]

Have you, like me, been receiving a lot of email notes about political candidates? Some of these emails, like the political ads on TV, are not true. Before you forward an e-mail to others about anyone, political candidate or any other human being, please remember the Ten Commandments: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (Ex. 20:16; Deut. 5:20). Our church’s Heidelberg Catechism explains it: “Q. 112. What is required in the ninth commandment? A. That I do not bear false witness against anyone, twist anyone’s words, be a gossip or a slanderer, or condemn anyone lightly without a hearing. Rather I am required to avoid, under penalty of God’s wrath, all lying and deceit as the works of the devil himself. In judicial and all other matters I am to love the truth, and to speak and confess it honestly. Indeed, insofar as I am able, I am to defend and promote my neighbor’s good name.” Please keep this biblical teaching in mind when you get political email or see ads on TV.

Please encourage your online friends and all political candidates to keep this commandment. If you have questions about the truthfulness of any ad (and you should about any ad), check it out at the web site for the Annenberg Political Fact Check, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania which is “a nonpartisan, nonprofit, ‘consumer advocate’ for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.”

Pastor Bruce Gillette

Bruce Gillette and his wife Carolyn have been the co-pastors of Limestone Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware since 2004. They wrote the study and action guide for the 216th General Assembly (2004) report on Transforming Families and Active Parenting Now for the Faith Community: A Biblical and Theological Guide, a revision of Freda Gardner's original church guide to the very popular Active Parenting, for teaching parenting skills in churches.

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Along with his plea for a little truth-telling, Bruce Gillette sent this note (which we're posting a bit late for Oct. 5, its proper date for the lectionary!) about teaching the significance of the Commandments.

Family Ministries, Ten Commandments, Politics and Truth

Last week I taught two workshops on ministries with families for a presbytery-wide event. This coming Sunday (October 5th) the Old Testament lectionary is the Ten Commandments. I asked the workshop participants if they knew the "Big Three" by heart. Most people knew the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed, but many admitted they and their children did not the Ten Commandments. I shared with them the simple sermon for children of all ages titled "Ten Commandments and Ten Fingers" that is part of the PCUSA Peacemaking Program's World Communion Sunday packet in 2002 (“Ten Commandments and Ten Fingers” is still available online at the PCUSA web site and also as a single page handout).

Beyond knowing the words of the Ten Commandments, this political season gives Christians a clear opportunity to apply them to their daily living. The media is filled with news stories that the presidential campaigns will become increasingly negative in the final weeks before Election Day. In this troubling context, Christians need to remember especially the Ninth Commandment and live it out faithfully.

Pastor suggests positive ways of teaching the Ten Commandments in our churches

[5-30-01]

The Rev. Bruce Gillette of First Presbyterian Church, Pitman, NJ, sent this note following the announcement of the Supreme Court decision.

Dear Editor,

On May 29th the United States Supreme Court decided by a 6-3 vote to allowed the removal of a monument of the Ten Commandments from the front of an Indiana city hall. A lower court had ruled that the display unconstitutionally endorses religion.

And check out a comment from Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

This ruling will surely inspire more discussion about church-state issues, but there should be no debate among Presbyterians that we need to be teaching the Ten Commandments in our churches and homes to counter biblical illiteracy in our churches and society. The following is a collection of resources to help in efforts to teach these foundational beliefs and ethics:

An excellent resource on the Ten Commandments and their meaning for us today is our PCUSA's proposed Study Catechism (see Questions 89-119 ). We have published a set of these questions and answers from the catechism in serial form (a page at a time) in our monthly church newsletter.

The March 26, 2000 issue of Homiletics had a creative way shared by David Sauer to teach the commandments using ten fingers. We adapted his ideas for a children's sermon and a later pastors' column.

"Gifts of Love" is a hymn paraphrase of the Ten Commandments by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette that has been used in the PCUSA Covenant People curriculum and is also found in her book Gifts of Love: New Hymns for Today's Worship (Geneva Press, 2000).

Presbyterians Today magazine had a good one page Bible study on the Ten Commandments

The Lutheran magazine has a helpful guide for parents on teaching their children what the Ten Commandments mean to children.

Christianity Today has a helpful editorial against Ten Commandment political tokenism.

Here are four resources (three books and one video) that should be donated to every church (and public?) library:

A Christian Primer: The Prayer, the Creed, the Commandments by Albert Curry Winn

The Ten Commandments by William Barclay

The Truth About God : The Ten Commandments in Christian Life by Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon

A Short Course on the Christian Faith (includes two video lectures on the Ten Commandments) by Dale Bruner

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN VERSE

Above all else love God alone;
Bow down to neither wood nor stone.
God's name refuse to take in vain;
The Sabbath rest with care maintain.
Respect your parents all your days;
Hold sacred human life always.
Be loyal to your chosen mate;
Steal nothing, neither small nor great.
Report, with truth, your neighbor's deed;
And rid your mind of selfish greed.

Blessings on your ministry.

Grace and Peace, Bruce

Bruce & Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, Co-Pastors
First Presbyterian Church, Pitman NJ
Email: Bruce.Gillette@ecunet.org