Commandments Window

A minor word to the wise: Think twice before praising your own internet service provider. Friday evening, the last thing I did at the computer was post a comment on someone else's blog, to her post about recent bad luck with her internet provider. I glibly mentioned that my provider is very dependable! Well.......I paid for that boast the next day!! For all of Saturday, we were unable to connect to the internet!! For what reason, I have no idea; there had been no storms during the night. I called my neighbor across the road and he said his connection was working fine. I tried to call the phone company, but they don't have office hours on Saturday. Now today, the connection is working normally again!!

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Here's the stained-glass window from my church for today.......The Ten Commandmants........major Words to the wise:

As you can see, the left tablet contains the first three Commandments, while the remaining seven are on the other tablet. Do you wonder why? I did, and the answer may lie in the way Martin Luther divided the Commandments up in his Catechism.

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The first three Commandments deal with man's relationship to God:

1. You shall have no other gods.

2. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.

3. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

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The other seven Commandments are concerned with peoples' relationships with each other:

4. Honor you father and your mother.

5. You shall not murder.

6. You shall not commit adultery.

7. You shall not steal.

8. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

9. You shall not covet your neighbor's house.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his man-servant or maid-servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

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When I joined the Lutheran church, I was a bit taken aback by the changes Martin Luther made in the Ten Commandments. Who gave him the authority to do such a thing? He gave it to himself, evidently.

He seems to leave out the Commandment against making graven images, although Lutherans would say it is part of the first Commandment. Luther was a Catholic, and they use lots of images.

As for "Thou shall not covet", Luther gave the concept of 'coveting thy neighbor's house' its own single Commandment........I'm a bit stumped by that. Why split up the coveting Commandment? Maybe it was so he could regain the command he lost when he dropped the graven image one.