phil's dreams

Welcome to Phil’s dreams. I use the word dreams as I think of a moral utopia sort of like Jesus did. I notice that his teaching is not centered around the ten commandments. Rather, around phrases “love your neighbor”, “let your light shine”, “poor in spirit”, “suffering”.”least of my children’.

Is it a dream to make this part of the scripture dominant in our world today? It is a combination of social and psychological courage that demands more than fulfilling the ten commandments developed six thousand years ago by a primitive civilization. It worked for them. The commandments regulated the behavior of the people of that age and have worked well.

The greatest fear of our ancestors in almost any place in the world was the fear of the unknown, the spirits, angels, devils, gods and God, and of course death.

Now we are in a time where the notion of God, using his name in vain, keeping holy the sabbath, are virtually irrelevant. The all-powerful God of the Old Testament around whom our ancestors gathered has diminished in the face of war, hunger, climate change and other mass tragedies. The question ” Where is God?” remains unanswered. The question “Who is my neighbor ?” has great relevance.

Of the ten commandments, the last seven highlight relationships with neighbors and are very specific: honor your father and mother; thou shalt not kill; thou shalt no commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor; thou shalt not covet thy neighbors wife or goods. The ten commandments were given to the Jewish people while they were wandering in the desert for forty years . As the story goes, Moses, their leader, promulgated them as he descended from Mt. Sinai after a talk with Yahweh in the clouds. The story, the commandments, the time in the desert eventually molded the tribes of wanderers into a nation.

The laws assured respect and safety for all tribes people. Neighbor was someone nearby and known because the twelve tribes all descendants of Abraham hung together. The commandments oriented the tribes to God in the first three commandments and set boundaries on behavior within the group of families with the final seven when government was minimal. The fear of God motivated compliance and eventually man made punishments like stoning a woman for adultery came about.

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We are in a different era that should look to o