The Book of Ten Sayings 9

Number 9 in the Book of Ten Sayings reminds us that developing, building, and caring for human relationships are our primary responsibilities here on this planet. Several sayings stimulate our memories or touch around the margins, but the one that singularly hits home is,

Always forgive, including yourself.

We have landed in such a bizarre landscape that we don't know how to react to others, especially when the insults and criticism by which they have wronged us seem so arbitrary, ill informed, and exaggerated. The Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," sometimes requires some translating from the 17th Century English of the King James Version; but a plain text translation nearly always puts the postmodern and the simple into an understanding, if not agreeing, frame of mind. But this Saying 9 goes further. 

The true and deep reminder implied in this Saying is that we should spend our lives in service to others, enhancing the lives of others and leaving all of them just a little better than we found them. These acts of charity can be small and brief, (pick up a piece of litter and toss it into a trash can, smile warmly and say  hello to a stranger,  give a cup of cold water to someone who thirsts ("And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward" Matthew 10:42), but though small, they will be significant acts as indicators of character. 

How many times have you watched a young person make a face at the prospect of cleaning up a dirty kitchen and protest, "I'm not going to clean up someone else's mess. I didn't leave that dirt pile so I'm not going to clean it up." 

Then, just as you are getting ready to take an extra dose of your analgesic medicine so you can bend over enough to pick up the trash without too many shooting pains down your back, shoulders, and legs, another young person grabs a broom and and says, quite energetically, "Hey, let's go for it!"

When Jesus was asked which Commandments he thought were the most important, he said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." Then he added, "The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:30-31). Jesus then clarifies to just whom the word neighbor applies. It's YOU.

In the Book of Ten Sayings, The Ninth Saying, 

Always forgive, including yourself.

reveals its critical importance in the philosophy of human happiness. 

+If you don't forgive others who wrong you, it is unlikely that you will ever be happy in any free and open sense. You will always have a few grudges to feed. You will be a slave to resentment. Taking the high road often leads to a cliff, and if your self-righteousness puts your nose too high in the air, you might just become airborne with a hard landing.

+If you don't forgive others, Jesus says that God won't forgive you for your sins. Note that this warning is made in the the process of teaching the Lord's Prayer, which the Lord gave to the Disciples (and hence, all the world) as a model prayer. In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus says,

Our Father, who is in heaven,
May your name be kept holy.
May your kingdom come
May  your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors.
Lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil,
For yours is the kingdom,
And the power and the glory
For ever. Amen..

Jesus clarifies one of the points in the prayer. Commenting on forgiveness, Jesus says, "For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions." 

+Forgiving yourself is an important concept. Too many people who nurture hostile feelings against others, based on long ago affronts or slights eventually come to think of themselves as guilty--only in part, of course--and much of their peace and quiet is steadily eroded. After all. if  it's worth nursing a lifelong grudge against the kid who wrecked your bike, what kind of guilt is deserved for  someone who stole an expensive camera years ago?

There is a saying among the thoughtful and circumspect, that regarding the offenses people take from and give to each other, the best advice for healing wounds, solving anger, and regaining peace is, "To know all is to forgive all." In other words, we are often incapable of understanding who is the victim and who is the perpetrator, or how much responsibility for the breach of peace belongs to each  person. "If you really knew what went on," these experienced observers say, "you would forgive everyone. For all are guilty."

 

The Book of Ten Sayings 8

Some readers will find this next saying ridiculous. They will say, "Why constrain yourself to an old-fashioned concept such as truth? Limiting you options up front by declaring that you will avoid all non-truths is just not workable in our current era. But we stand by the truth, believing that it provides the optimal choice.

 Always prefer Truth. 

Truth is a shockingly powerful and uniquely dangerous concept, not just in itself and for what it can do, but as a tool of manipulation. As you strengthen your resolve to be a friend of truth and an advocate for her cause, ponder deeply these cautions and ask yourself if you can be sufficiently brave.

A. The truth will set you free, but many are interested in neither truth nor freedom. Truth is too painful and freedom too fearful to accept. 

B. When Jesus says that "the truth will will make you free" (see John 8:31-38) he means that the truth will set us free from slavery to sin. He does not mean that we will be free of all restraints and moral rules. We will be free to obey his commandments and to live a moral, spiritual life serving God.

C. Few people believe something that they want to be false.

D. Among the living, fame and reputation rise from  publicity rather than from excellence.

E. The law may say, "Yes," when righteousness says, "No," for the law is in the hands of men and righteousness belongs to God.  

F. What seems and what is differ often. If you are content to live a life of appearances, why do you care about truth?

In classical art, Truth is often depicted as a naked woman, who bares her beautiful body because she has nothing to hide. Nothing needs to be covered or patched up or hidden. If she dealt in cliches, she would quote, "What you see is what you get." Disguise and painting over flaws are simply not necessary or even desired. Falsehood, on the other hand, is represented with a plenitude of disguises, including enough makeup to cover a bridge, enough clothing to open a discount warehouse, and enough phony airs to fill the curriculum of a school for con artists.

The advice for those who want to build truth into the foundation and walls of their lives is

+ Test the truth claims. In a postmodernist world culture such as ours, many people are  happy to spin their own "narratives," which replace an accurate and objective account of things (formerly known as "truth").

+If you weaken and give up on truth, what you'll have left is a set of absurd ideas forced upon a culture adrift morally, economically, politically, and spiritually.

The Book of Ten Sayings 1

 Introduction This "book" was intended to be an entire book when first conceived, consisting on an elaboration of the ten most important sayings of all time. But life circumstances have held it back into a very incomplete form. In spite of that, perhaps there is a kernel of wisdom somewhere here that will resonate with you and help you to grow into a better person and friend. 

 The First Saying 

 1. Put God First .

Some have accused God of being self-centered and even egotistical for wanting to be worshipped and at the center of humans' attention. But the truth is, the fallen creature known as man has been so corrupted by Satan (who IS the egotist) that the only way to get man from being self-centered is to shift his focus onto something more powerfully attractive. Focus on God, knowing him, serving him, loving him, and you will find a better opportunity for happiness than through any other activity. Putting ourselves first results in unhappiness, to ourselves and others. 

Take a look at those who can theoretically buy anything, including happiness. Often they embark on a trajectory that traces the meteoric path across the sky, running on alcohol, sex, drugs, and wild behavior. But even ordinary teenagers can find misery--or death--by putting themselves ahead of everyone and everything else.

 I probably sound preachy, so I will just close with an anecdote. One year my friend Phil and I were driving on the way home from a computer conference in Las Vegas. Suddenly a small red sedan raced up behind us, swerved onto the median to avoid hitting us, and raced out of sight. Perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes later, we drove into a traffic jam. It soon cleared up. It was caused by the little red car, which was lying upside down in the ditch that separated the two sets of lanes. We read later that the car contained four teens. They died either by having their skulls crushed when the the top of the car collapsed on them, or else they drowned in the shallow--but deep enough--ditch water in the median. 

 The most serious and damaging of the "Seven Deadly Sins" is Pride because it not only does harm by its own misguided and misleading attitude, but it also stimulates some of the other of the sins, such as greed (or avarice) and anger (aka wrath). Finally, Pride affects and damages both the prideful person and everyone he comes into contact with. Some of the Seven Deadly Sins can be limited, generally speaking, to their owner. Sloth, for example, harms only the slothful one directly, although the damage done by shirking duty and by a attempting to skate by with shortcuts has negative effects on others, also.