Mornings are weird times for me. I don't mean mornings as in nine to noon. No, I'm referring more to the moments between dragging myself out of bed and getting out of the shower. I guess my brain is trying to right itself after being horizontal for the last few hours, or it's trying to sort dreams from actual memories, or maybe it's just freaking out a bit because today just became yesterday and tomorrow just became today - I don't know. But I think a lot in those moments, and honestly, it's not always pleasant (no one will ever accuse me of being a morning person, trust me).

Sometimes, like today, it can be a little intriguing, though. When it comes to god and the Bible, I am no fundamentalist. But neither am I liberal - some of the things those guys come up with just stretch the limits of rational thought too far for me. Still, I have often considered - and stated my belief that - God is not contained by the Bible. The Bible tells us things about Him, but does not, and can not, define Him. God is bigger than the Bible, and if you extrapolate that concept out further, accepting God as a pre-existent, eternal being, God is bigger than time.

The thing is, the Bible describes God through the eyes of - and using the terms and references of - civilizations that have been dust for centuries. God, in His nature, is unchanging, but the world we live in is not, and just as God is bigger than our perceptions and terms of recognition, so, also would He have been bigger than the perceptions and terms of those archaic civilizations. My point is that God is just as comfortable in the 'now' as He was in the 'then.' He's not surprised by it, He doesn't struggle with any generation gap, He's just as present now as He was then, and this period in history is just as valid to Him as that one was.

Now, at this point, there are plenty of modern-day "theologians" that would use that train of thought to reinterpret scripture in some pretty irresponsible ways, but that's not where I'm going. I was just thinking all this through in the shower and wondered what the Ten Commandments would sound like had they been given today, in this culture. For instance:

1. "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me."
That could be rephrased as "There is only one God, and I'm it. If you put your faith in anything other than me, it will ultimately fail you every time, so just don't."

2. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image."
I hear this one along the lines of "If you make an idol out of stone or clay, then all you're really putting your hope in is rocks and dirt. See commandment one..."

3. "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."
"I am God, and you really need to keep that in perspective. My name is not just another word to be tossed about, nor should you claim affiliation with Me lightly - you may fool them, but you won't fool me. Show some respect."

4. "Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it Holy."
Take a day to slow down and purposefully remember who I am and what I've done, and all that that means and implies. One day out of seven is not asking a lot.

5. "Honor thy father and mother."
Your parents have experienced more life than you, so listen to them. They invested a good chunk of their lives into yours, so be thankful. You represent them in the world, so don't do things that would shame them. It's pretty straight forward...

6. "Thou shalt not kill."
Don't murder anyone. I gave them life, and you do not have the right to steal what I have given.

7. "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
Don't do anything to destroy the trust and respect in the marriage relationship. I made people for relationship, and the marriage relationship is a particularly special one in my eyes. It is an exchange of trust between two souls, and further, it represents my commitment to those who come to me. Treat it accordingly.

8. "Thou shalt not steal."
If it's not yours, leave it alone. Either learn to be content with what you have, or to work for what you want. Either option will be of far more value in the long run than anything you can just walk up and take.

9. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."
Don't lie. It cheapens life, and it cheapens you. I am the author of all truth, and if a lie falls from your lips, it did not come from me. Consider the options.

10. "Thou shalt not covet."
Don't waste time and energy brooding about what others have and what you don't. That's focusing on things, not people. Life isn't about what you own, anyway - you'll have to leave it all behind eventually...

So, I didn't actually intend to do all ten, but there they are. Might be fun to re-imagine other scriptural concepts in modern terms, like Satan tempting Christ in the wilderness. What would he tempt Jesus with? Fame? Gourmet food? Political power? Hmmm...

Honestly, although it's a bit of a tangent, I've also often wondered about why God chose to send Christ at that particular period in time, into that particular area. I've heard some intriguing discussions on that thought. Wonder what it would have looked like if God had waited until now? Maybe I'll save that for another blog...

To blog or not to blog...

Hm. Just read a blog post by a Christian artist and the expansive list of responses that followed. I have to admit I admire his courage in putting his thoughts out there as regularly as he obviously does, a well as with his commitment to stay engaged with those who respond. Of course, the next thought to jackrabbit through my mind was "Why don't I do something like that?"

In spite of the fact that I've been told by numerous people - people that I trust and admire, even - that I have good thoughts and should find a way to share them, the answer to the question above goes off like fireworks - sparks flying in all directions, each with plenty of material to easily carry a self-absorbed blog post all by itself. Too busy. Tired. Apathetic. Unsure. Scared. Lazy. You name it. I know enough about my own nature to know that I tend to invalidate myself too quickly, and the fear of coming across as arrogant is strong enough to incline me to keep my thoughts to myself many times (the fear of coming across as wrong picks up a lot of what's left over - that and a deep dislike of being ridiculed). In all honesty, if it weren't for the fact that I believe that the number of people that will actually find this post can be counted on one hand, I likely wouldn't be typing it.

Yet here I am...

Does that mean that I secretly think I have some wisdom of worth to offer, or perhaps that I just want to believe that I do? Am I self-centered for typing out my thoughts, thereby tacitly attaching worth to them when I have no discernible objective reason to do so? If I were conveying something funny, I would be able to attach worth to that, because I believe in the value of sharing laughter, and that's a value that I perceive as existing outside of myself. But describing my own struggles, or my own beliefs, or observations - those are more personal. Those are much more about me, rather than just being about something outside of me that's funny. If I really started opening up about some of the things I think, some of the things that tick me off - I don't know. Let me put it the way it occurred to me earlier today: "It seems to me that there are more and more assholes in the world these days, and sometimes I'm afraid I'm one of them." But I do have beliefs that I'm passionate about - or at least beliefs that I hold passionately to - even some of the ones I have doubts about, oddly.

My point? Sometimes I cuss, though I believe I shouldn't. I claim faith, though I often doubt. What kind of a witness is that? Sometimes I can be bitingly sarcastic, even derogatory, in my thoughts. Not good things to have running through my head. I can be angry, resentful, prideful, lustful, selfish, petty... In a nutshell, I firmly believe I should be a better person than I am, and as a result I am reluctant to share the front row seat to my failings with the rest of the world, because I think I'd like to have a few friends left at the end of the day, thanks, and I'm sure none of them struggle with those things, right?

So if you happen to be one of the four or five people that accidentally find this post, and then happen to be one of the maybe two that are bored enough to have read this far, sound off if you have any thoughts on the topic. I'd be interested in hearing them...