Let not thy worship of the lord overshadow thy responsibility to thy fellow man.
A rather simple idea that would have saved the world uncountable numbers of lives by effectively putting an end some of the bloodier battles in mankind’s history if it had been included as a note under the Ten Commandments.
Simply put..
Follow the above commandments unless following them will have a negative impact upon your fellow man. Evaluate each possible task on an individual basis.
Benefits: The benefits of this new Commandment should be fairly obvious, but here are a few.
Bloodshed - The above commandment would remove the appeal behind one nation, one culture setting out to systematically destroy or convert-by-force another culture due to the fact that the other culture has different beliefs.
While the argument for conversion is certainly stated within the religious text, the fact that the effect of this action goes against the responsibility that one has towards one's fellow man.
Resources - Donations to the church are normally invested in maintaining the church for worship of the lord. These funds could be more effectively used helping the less fortunate.
With such a commandment, the upkeep of the church, the gold, the expansive land holdings, all would no longer be required. Doing god's work would be simply helping people, instead of murmuring prayers to the lord's greatness as a sign of a worshipper's devotion, the spirit of the lord's message would be achieved, rather than glorifying the words.
There are of course a few problems inherent with this rule, the first being the phrase "fellow man".
Definition -"Fellow Man" would have to include not only the people of all races, but also both sexes. Differences in Color, Culture and language would have be eliminated as a sign of inferiority, as would geographical position, caste status and technological means.
Evasion -The second would have to be the abuse of this commandment as a loophole. Where an individual would seek to 'write-off' his sins as acts performed for god. This is not a new problem, but could be alleviated by setting a few guidelines.
E.g.
Do not commit murder because you -think- the person you plan on killing may harm another. |
Committing adultery in order to increase the individual's pleasure is not really a good thing. |
Overall however I believe that including this would have saved a lot of trouble for mankind, it would have eliminated some of mankind’s darkest days and resulted in a much nicer place to live.
The Author would like to thank Alcohol, lack of sleep and Christmas Day for their contributions to this Writeup.
The Opinions contained herein are not set in concrete nor are they something the author lose sleep over... ( anymore )