You can read the reworded 10 Commandments below.
Notice the priest adds to the thou shalt not kill commandment making it,  “Thou shalt not kill any one for any reason”. Very firm, no wiggle room. No exceptions in “for any reason”. So, soldiers fighting in war, police taking out a sniper or school shooter, a woman shooting a man who is kidnapping/raping her (or her child), is breaking that commandment.
But yet look how for the priest made the adultery commandment way more lenient. “Don’t fool around with anyone you’re not married to.” How about making that commandment, the only sex commandment, more firm with less wiggle room also? Why not word it as “Don’t have sex with anyone you’re not married to, nor anyone that is underage”. What is this vague “fool around with” language? Kids say that all the time when answering this question, “What are you doing?”  “Nothin. Just foolin’ around, Ma.”  Fooling around is such a weak term for the only commandment about sex.
I think he’s making a subtle political statement about war when he says “for any reason” regarding killing. He seems to view inappropriate sexual urges and wrongful sexual acts, something that not only breaks up families and causes children to lose a parent (as in the case of adultery), but also can get women and children (and sometimes men) raped and killed just to satisfy that inappropriate sexual urge — the priest demotes that commandment to mere concern over “fooling around.” Weird.
Maybe he shouldn’t be putting words in God’s mouth in the first place.
But then again that’s what the “official” Church has been doing for centuries. It’s how they set their agenda and con us into buying it. <sigh>
In this case he does it so skillfully, so convincingly as though God is talking to us in our day. It’s an attractive “translation” here that Father John Behnke made — and I usually like his work. This is too politically correct, however, in my (humble!) opinion.
How could we re-word some of these 10 commandments below to make them a little more politically INcorrect?
+Katia
PRIEST OFFERS UPDATED VERSION OF THE COMMANDMENTS
By Bob Zyskowski
The Catholic Spirit
March 2, 2010
Ever think about the Ten Commandments in modern conversational English?
Paulist Father John Behnke, former chaplain at St. Lawrence Church and Newman Center, offers a re-write of the biblical language in a new book whose target audience is younger people.
In “Lent and Easter for the Younger Crowd” (Paulist Press), he offers this take on Exodus 20:1-7, better known as the Ten Commandments:
“One day God said to his people, ‘Here are some rules I want you to always follow:
1. Pray only to me because I’m the one who made you and saved you.
2. I don’t want to hear any of you swearing.
3. I want one day out of the week to be a special day for you. Don’t do too much work that day so you can relax and spend some time praying to me.
4. I want you to listen to your parents (even when you grow up) because they have lived longer and know more about life than you.
5. Don’t kill anyone for any reason.
6. Don’t fool around with someone you’re not married to.
7. Don’t take anything that isn’t yours.
8. Don’t lie about anybody.
9. Don’t always be wanting things that belong to other people.
All I’m really asking is that you ‘love me and keep my rules.’
There is nothing more difficult than language. Every other study of science has factual evidence and application of the scientific method to reinforce discovery. Language, in all of its forms, is colored by trends, interpretations, use of slang, etc, throughout generations. We only have to go back a few years to find advertisements stating, “go on, have a fag”, which would be an eye opener today. However, in Britain a few years ago this was a common cigarette commercial.
Imagine then, if such changes are evident in only a few years, what thousands of years may do to a translation or interpretation of a phrase. Even today we have scholars debating the ancient Greek and Latin texts and coming up with different, or modified, meanings than those found in the King James, and other, translations.
My point is simply this: The commandments are simple statements and have simple, yet straight-forward, meanings. For example, “Thou shalt not kill”. If we want to get picky about the translation, “You should not kill” would be a better phrase. The bottom line – this is not a finite statement totally devoid of other circumstances or meanings! Can we be trusted, or expected, to protect and defend our families? I think so. Can we defend our country? I think so. Should we kill for pleasure or personal gain? This is made clear – no!.
The Creator and God of the Universe, in whatever form He chose to reveal himself (herself), never said “and Thou shalt have no common sense”. This is not an instruction book, but a guide to believing, caring and living in such a way that the most good is made available to all. If I had my input made available to the most holy, I would translate number 2 as: “Do not make any idols (TV celebrities, models, money mongers, false prophets, etc) and place them above me in importance in your lives”. But, that’s just my interpretation.
Thanks,
Rev. Eddie
Hi Katia and All,
Well, this is certainly a personal interpretation of the Commandments. When I read the “All I want you to do is love me,” commandment, all I could think of was that the writer is a bit love-starved! I think that most of us realize that love can’t be ‘commanded,’ it’s a gift.
When we open our hearts to Divine Love, then we get the gift, we get filled up with love. It isn’t about someone commanding that we love Our Source, it’s that we desire to become close to that which created us, and then our desire gives us the immediate feedback, the experience, the intimacy of Sacred Love.
Love, Jen
“The Holy Book of Mary Magdalene”
Good article.
I disagree about the interpretation (or at least the intent) of mentioning “fooling around” instead of sex. I think the preists are attempting to make the language MORE strict. As in, “you can’t have sex AND you cant do these other things”. Perhaps that does not come across.
When it comes to inter preting the Hebrew Scriptures, you need to look and see what is said in the original language, and I beleive that the Fifth Commandment of God teaches that a person should only take a life for the reasons approved of by the levitical laws in the Book of Leviticus Chapter 20. I beleive that this is justified in that God (Yehweh/Jehovah) command it, it is not revengeful murder, as would be a killing out of rage or anger would be.
But you have to remember that Jesus, (Son of God) says, “… to forgive and ye shall be forgiven…” in, Luke 6:37 KJV. So in today’s society I like to see people reformed in the “reformatory aka jail or prison,” and taught how to interact in the world. God wants to see his/her creations living peacefully here on Earth, as earth is the training ground for entrance into the Eternal Kingdom of Peace.
Prospective priesthood student Carol