Thinking:10 Commandments or 10,000?

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17 NKJV)
1 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
6 “You shall not murder.
7 “You shall not commit adultery.
8 “You shall not steal.
9 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

For most people these are the standards to which we are called to live and conduct ourselves. For some, these constitute a set of rules that must be obeyed in order to earn the right to enter heaven. Others have found ways to make them “socially relevant”.

What do you think of this one?

GOD TEXTS THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

BY Jamie Quatro

1. no1 b4 me. srsly.
2. dnt wrshp pix/idols
3. no omg’s
4. no wrk on w/end (sat 4 now; sun l8r)
5. pos ok – ur m&d r cool
6. dnt kill ppl
7. :-X only w/ m8
8. dnt steal
9. dnt lie re: bf
10. dnt ogle ur bf’s m8. or ox. or dnkey. myob.

M, pls rite on tabs & giv 2 ppl.
ttyl, JHWH.
ps. wwjd?

And then we have:

The Ten Commandments Southern Style
1. Just one God
2. Put nothin’ before God
3. Watch yer mouth
4. Git yourself to Sunday meetin’
5. Honor yer Ma & Pa
6. No killin’
7. No foolin’ around with another fellow’s
For more click here

40 Days in the Gospels

Every year people create “resolutions” for themselves. Whether it is losing weight or exercising more or eating better or making time for family, each of these resolutions is thought to help us become healthier. One of the more common resolutions is to read through the entire Bible in the year. It sounds like a daunting pledge, but it’s one of the most gratifying things you can do to deepen your appreciation of the Word of God. It’s also easier than you might think!

If you want to get started in smaller bites, why not try reading through the Four Gospels during Lent? Simply go to the right column of my blog and click on the "subscribe" button. By subscribing you will receive email with each days Bible scripture reading broken down into short, manageable daily readings, taking you through the entire text of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John in the 40 days plus Sundays. You can also find these posted here on the blog each day.

Not on Sunday? How about Saturday school!

What do you think? Would this idea work in your community? If not, why?

Sarah Falter knew she had to make a change when her pastor mentioned Moses, and her young son had no idea who he was.

“I was feeling really disappointed in myself because my children didn’t know all the Bible stories I was brought up with and I knew at their age,” she said.

What her children needed, Falter decided, was Sunday school. However, her tiny country church in central Missouri did not have space for a children’s class on Sunday mornings.

Her pastor, the Rev. Karen Alden, offered a solution: Move it up a day.

Now, under Falter’s leadership, Rader United Methodist Church holds “Saturday School” from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. once a month, usually in the sanctuary. The school attracts eight or nine youngsters, ranging in age from 4 to the young teens.

Saturday School is the kind of innovation more United Methodist congregations should consider, said retired Bishop Richard B. Wilke, the creator of the Disciple Bible Study program.

“The way you reach people today — children, youth and adults — is in intimate relationships studying the Scriptures,” Wilke said. “Sunday is no longer a holy day. Study life has to take place where people are.”

And that can be any place on any day of the week.
Declining biblical literacy

One thing is certain: Biblical instruction needs to be more widespread, Wilke said.

In recent years, talk show host Jay Leno has made sport of Americans who can name the four Beatles but not the four Gospels, and comic Stephen Colbert has teased members of Congress who want publicly to display the Ten Commandments but cannot name them.

Wilke started the Disciple Bible Study more than 20 years ago because he saw a thirst for more Christian education, especially among adults. The program now has more than 2 million graduates in 10,000 congregations in 30 denominations.

He said most successful groups usually consist of eight to 10 people, and like the early Christians, the groups often meet in people’s homes.

“People thought it would be a fad,” said Wilke, now the bishop-in-residence at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kan. “What people are finding is that the Bible doesn’t have a fade-out time and the small-group format doesn’t have a fade-out time.”
Multi-generational learning

Alden, pastor of Rader United Methodist Church, said Saturday School has been a hit with all ages in her congregation.

The church, with a weekly attendance of about 35, has started attracting young families in recent years. One reason Alden wanted to move religious instruction to Saturday was so she would not disturb the fellowship of older members who gather in the church an hour before worship at 9 a.m. each Sunday morning.

“I think it’s a really important part of their week to have that social time because many live alone,” Alden said.

Now many of those older members volunteer each month to provide lunch after the Bible lessons. The church does not have a kitchen so members bring meals in slow cookers from home.

Ordith Skouby, a retired teacher and one of the volunteers, said she was eager to help.

“The kids seem to enjoy it, and they’re the lifeblood of the church — the church’s future,” she said.

The church held its first Saturday class in December with lessons and activities based around Jesus’ nativity. In March, Falter taught the youngsters how to tell the story of Easter with “resurrection eggs” — plastic eggs containing symbols of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection such as toothpicks for the crown of thorns and a pebble for the rock that was rolled away from the tomb.

Since April, Falter has decided to cover the Bible from the beginning, starting with the story of creation, and moving on to Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel.

Falter said her 6-year-old son, Isaac, and her 8-year-old daughter, Faith, now tell their grandmas about the Bible lessons they have learned. Faith also has been inviting her friends to join the class.

“They haven’t been able to make it yet, but she’s gung ho that her cousin needs to come and her friend down the street needs to come because it’s a lot of fun,” Falter said. “She’s pretty pumped.”

And so is the church.

The most important part about studying Scripture is that it leads people to Christ, Wilke said.

“We study the whole Bible to find the Savior,” he said.