The Ten Commandments

A commandment is defined as "a command; a mandate; an order or injunction given by authority; charge; precept. By way of eminence, a commandment is a precept of the decalogue, or moral law, written on tables of stone, at Mount Sinai; one of the ten commandments. A commandment is authority; a coercive power."

The Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai are the original laws of doing, which apply to visible, material things and living souls, and deal with personal expression and action. The Ten Commandments include every instance in the Bible where God commands us "Thou shalt" (248 times) or "Thou shalt not" (365 times). Every law of doing directs the soul to the right choice for action. You can apply this rule to discover many more unrecorded laws.





The Ten Commandments: Exodus 20:1-17

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

5. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

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Edna Lister on the Ten Commandments

Earth’s masses interpret the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) literally and physically. People lived by the law given to Noah, "Whoso sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed," until Moses brought the commandments, because this was all they could comprehend.

Metaphysically, to obey the Commandments emotionally, list the difficult negative emotions and thinking under each commandment. To obey the Ten Commandments mentally, keep your nose out of others’ business, and assume all blame for others around you and for the world.

Finally, obey the Commandments on the spiritual plane, which is to take full responsibility as an ascending creator god. Even if you did not do the deed, it remains your responsibility to lift it and to declare it good.—Edna Lister, March 1933.

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The Mystical Ten Commandments

1. Thou shalt love honor above all things.

2. Thou shalt love justice and live it continually.

3. Thou shalt live with thy neighbor as thou dost desire to live with thy Master.

4. Thou shalt honor thy Father and Mother Virtues, that in thy soul and heart they may be lived, and glorify thyself before thy Maker.

5. Thou shalt not kill vision, lights, prayer or love.

6. Thou shalt not disturb by word or by action or by deed, by false prophecies or by false pretenses.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8. Thou shalt not steal one’s faith, ideals, hopes, aspirations or inspirations, for God will not hold him guiltless who disturbs a soul’s peace.

9. Thou shalt hold thy neighbor close: his joy shall be thy joy, his sorrow shall be thy sorrow, and the understanding of Christ in you shall see the Light to shed.

10. Thou shalt not desire another’s goods by look or by word or by action, such as personal ideas, loves, friendships or the personal path each chooses to go on, for God will hold you responsible for their indirection from His directed path.—Edna Lister, March 1933.

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Edna Miriam Lister
1884—1971
The original Christian Pioneering Mystic,
Platonist philosopher, American Idealist, Founder, Society of the Universal Living Christ, minister, teacher, author, wife, and mother.


Edna Lister


Etymology of commandment: Middle English commaunden, from Old French comander, from Late Latin commandare: "to entrust."


The Ten Commandments are laws of doing.


References

The Holy Bible. King James Version (KJV). Public Domain.

Webster, Noah. s.v. "Commandment," Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language. New York: S. Converse, 1828. This work is in the public domain.