The Missing Link in the Ten Commandments/Court House Debate

The Ten Commandments has made the national news yet again, this time in Florida.  Christians in this local community are upset that a statue of the Ten Commandments could be removed from their court house.

There's a quote in this article in which someone complains that the world has gotten worse ever since prayer and spanking have been removed from public school.  What those two things have to do with the Ten Commandments, I'm not sure, but that's not my main point here.

Based on these types of news stories and quotes from Christians, it saddens me that the church has lost the meaning behind the Ten Commandments.  We now only see them as rules that we pluck from their biblical context, place them on a public wall or a statue and smugly say, "Hey heathens, follow these rules like we do and this world would be a better place."

Now, I know that not all Christians have this "holier than thou" attitude when it comes to displaying the Ten Commandments, but this is the perception that many in our society have about us.  I'm all for sharing our faith in our community and world, but I think we're missing the point if we think that a simple listing of the Ten Commandments will reflect the heart of the Judeo/Christian faith.

Moses gave the Hebrew people these commandments (and many others) as a way for them to remember the love and graciousness of God and how God had freed them from slavery in Egypt.  And secondly, these commandments were ways for the people to respond to what God had done for them.

In other words, the Ten Commandments are to be seen in the context of God's love and grace.  We tend to screen out the opening verses that lead up to the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20.  "Then God spoke all these words: 'I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." - Exodus 20:1-2

The Christian faith isn't primarily a rules following faith as much as it is a covenental faith in which God has acted on our behalf and we are called to respond to God's love and grace in our lives.  There are quite a few Christians who for whatever reasons focus on rules following to such a degree that God's grace is left behind or not even mentioned.

While the ACLU probably won't change their tune if verses 1 & 2 were added, maybe it's Christians who need to pay more attention to the biblical context of the Ten Commandments and rethink what we're attempting to do when we seek to display them in public settings.
.