Thou Shalt Not Shalt

 If you're like me, and if you aren't by now, keep reading, the first question you asked yourself upon hearing that Louisiana was going to insist that every public classroom in their state displays the Ten Commandments was this: Does the state of Louisiana have the death penalty? 

The answer for all of us like minded but still individuals is "yes." 

This puts a damper on the state's insistence that we prescribe to these Old Testament Rules when the state seems to have a very specific problem keeping up with at least one of them. The "thou shalt not kill" one. Of course this is quickly ameliorated with the Old Testament refrain of "an eye for an eye," but since the Ten Commandments are primarily found in Exodus, leaving us with still another sixty-four books left in The Good Book to try and sort the whole thing out. 

Maybe it's the Charlton Heston angle. He played Moses in a motion picture that continues to be trotted out around Easter/Passover each year. After he finishes hosting a series of plagues on Egypt, he negotiates a release of "his people." By killing a whole bunch of Egyptians. Which is probably why he and "his people" get chased across the Red Sea which was conveniently parted by the God who will eventually lay down the law for Moses and his tribe, but only after a whole bunch more Egyptians are killed when the Red Sea stops being conveniently parted. 

So, from here on out, says God, "Thou shalt not kill." Which is a little bit hypocritical, since we're just a couple books into the Old Testament, and there's still a whole lot of killing left to be done. The circumstances are really key. Especially if you break any of those first few commandments about not worshiping the right way. 

It's not until we find ourselves in the New Testament that we start forgiving our trespasses an those who trespass against us. This New Wave God, who usually goes by the name Jesus is more about bringing back life. Resurrection, if you will. No one is asking for the Lord's Prayer to be stapled to bulletin boards inside every school in Louisiana. That comes a distinctly different section of the Bible, like thirty-eight books later. Some might suggest that there was a change in doctrine somewhere along the line. That's what I think. I've read the Bible. Front to back. A few times. There's a lot of amazing ideas in there. I have also read Slaughterhouse Five a few times. But even though I find the ideas in that book as compelling as some of those in the Bible, I am not asking for the state, any state, to command that they be posted as reference inside every public school. 

That said, I can also speak from a good long service as a public school teacher. One of the things that has been made clear to me over the years is that teaching children lessons about what NOT to do is never as effective as teaching them what TO do. "Thou shalt not" is a tough way to teach anyone what you really want them to do. Instead, why not tell them how you'd like them to behave: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 

I know. It doesn't sound nearly as cool coming from a burning bush, but since when do you remember kids listening to flaming shrubbery?