Signs on cars
11/07/15 05:13
Yesterday, while driving across the city, I saw a car in the lane to my left with a sign on the door that was topped with the words, “God’s 10 Commandments.” The rest of the print was too small for me to read the individual words, even though our vehicles were pretty close, but I’m pretty sure that they were the 10 Commandments from the bible, or at least shortened versions of them. It didn’t appear that they were very different in length, which is the case in Exodus 20:1-7 and Deuteronomy 5:4-21, the two places where the commandments appear in the bible. It is common to shorten the second and fourth commandments about not making idols and remembering the sabbath day.
I did not now the person who was driving the vehicle, nor his or her destination, and it is possible that I won’t see the vehicle again. I didn’t happen to notice if it was local or from outside of our area. However, as I continued my drive, I imagined several scenarios where I might talk to the person who was driving the car. These are some of the conversation starters that I will never use:
“Nice graven image on the door of your car. Did you make it yourself or have it made for you.” The term “graven image” comes from the Deuteronomy version. In Exodus the term used is “idol.”
Or perhaps I might say, “Are you like the guy in the story about Jesus who knew all of the commandments, but lacked one thing?”
Maybe, I could lead with, “Is that sign in honor of you mother or your father?”
Or, “I see you’re into the work of evangelism. Do you remove the sign on the sabbath?”
A variation on the above: “It sure is hard to read the fine print on your sign - do you give readers Sundays off?”
Perhaps, I could say, “Oh I see you haven’t memorized the commandments yet. Good luck as you work on them.” or “Romans and Hebrews speak of God’s commandments being written ‘in our hearts and on our minds.’ Is your car your heart - your one true love - or your mind - the thing you think about every day?”
How about, “Good to know you wouldn’t steal my parking place. Heck, you won’t even covet it.”
Actually, I have no problem with a person posting the commandments on the door of her or his car. It isn’t a hazard to traffic. It doesn’t offend or hurt other people. And maybe it is a form of personal spiritual discipline to be reminded of them every time you get into your car.
I do, however, wish that people wouldn’t take them lightly. There is much more in really living by the path of human freedom outlined in the commandments than just putting up a sign. Always keeping God first - in every action and decision - is actually hard to do. We make gods out of all sorts of other things that are far smaller - we work for money and privilege and power and recognition and a host of other things. And the final commandment - the one about not coveting the possessions of others - that’s pretty hard to achieve in such a status-bound society.
I’m a minister. I go to church every Sunday. But I wrestle with the commandment about the Sabbath all the time. I have a real struggle with shifting my focus away from work. And I know that the members of the congregation I serve do, too. There are all kinds of things that pull them in other directions and make demands on their time. Setting aside a whole day for rest is a challenge.
In some Orthodox Jewish communities, where the commandments are taken very seriously, you will see devout people walking to worship because operating a car is considered work and they don’t work on the sabbath. I’m told that in Jerusalem on Saturdays the elevators stop on every floor so that they can be used without pushing the buttons - operating the machine by pushing the buttons would be considered to be working.
There’s no need to get into the argument about which day of the week is to be set aside as the Sabbath. Make friends with a member of the 7th Day Adventist Church if you want one perspective. They observe the Sabbath on Saturday as do most Jews. In fact Jesus would have observed the Sabbath from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday. There have been all sorts of arguments and dissertations about the exact days of the week that Jesus died and was resurrected, but our observance of Sundays as the first day of the week and the day for worship is based on a theory that Sunday was the day that the women went to the tomb and found it empty - the third day that Jesus promised when he would be raised.
I don’t have any signs on the doors of my car. I do have a vanity plate on my pickup that says REV TED. The plate is appropriately named - it is all about vanity. But it is an expression of my identity. And when I stop at a rest area or am parked in a lot and a stranger approaches me and asks if I am a minister, I’m not ashamed to say, “I am.” I used to have quite a few college stickers on the window of my vehicle. In the days when our children were attending college, I displayed the stickers of their colleges. But the stickers got old. So did the car, but I still drive it. One day I removed the stickers that were starting to peel off anyway and I haven’t replaced them. I decided that I am far more proud of my kids than I am of the institutions they attended.
We never had little stickers representing our kids, pets or hobbies in the back window of our car - they became popular after our children were raised. I don’t imagine I would have been inclined to put them on the car anyway. We always wanted to have room for extras when we were raising children. Various exchange students, friends and other children were always included in our family. And what about the years when we cared for our parents? I’ve never seen a car with a couple of adults and a couple of people who use walkers for mobility.
I guess if you really want to know what I believe, you’d have to have a conversation with me. That, of course, is also true of the person with the 10 commandments posted on the door of their car.
I did not now the person who was driving the vehicle, nor his or her destination, and it is possible that I won’t see the vehicle again. I didn’t happen to notice if it was local or from outside of our area. However, as I continued my drive, I imagined several scenarios where I might talk to the person who was driving the car. These are some of the conversation starters that I will never use:
“Nice graven image on the door of your car. Did you make it yourself or have it made for you.” The term “graven image” comes from the Deuteronomy version. In Exodus the term used is “idol.”
Or perhaps I might say, “Are you like the guy in the story about Jesus who knew all of the commandments, but lacked one thing?”
Maybe, I could lead with, “Is that sign in honor of you mother or your father?”
Or, “I see you’re into the work of evangelism. Do you remove the sign on the sabbath?”
A variation on the above: “It sure is hard to read the fine print on your sign - do you give readers Sundays off?”
Perhaps, I could say, “Oh I see you haven’t memorized the commandments yet. Good luck as you work on them.” or “Romans and Hebrews speak of God’s commandments being written ‘in our hearts and on our minds.’ Is your car your heart - your one true love - or your mind - the thing you think about every day?”
How about, “Good to know you wouldn’t steal my parking place. Heck, you won’t even covet it.”
Actually, I have no problem with a person posting the commandments on the door of her or his car. It isn’t a hazard to traffic. It doesn’t offend or hurt other people. And maybe it is a form of personal spiritual discipline to be reminded of them every time you get into your car.
I do, however, wish that people wouldn’t take them lightly. There is much more in really living by the path of human freedom outlined in the commandments than just putting up a sign. Always keeping God first - in every action and decision - is actually hard to do. We make gods out of all sorts of other things that are far smaller - we work for money and privilege and power and recognition and a host of other things. And the final commandment - the one about not coveting the possessions of others - that’s pretty hard to achieve in such a status-bound society.
I’m a minister. I go to church every Sunday. But I wrestle with the commandment about the Sabbath all the time. I have a real struggle with shifting my focus away from work. And I know that the members of the congregation I serve do, too. There are all kinds of things that pull them in other directions and make demands on their time. Setting aside a whole day for rest is a challenge.
In some Orthodox Jewish communities, where the commandments are taken very seriously, you will see devout people walking to worship because operating a car is considered work and they don’t work on the sabbath. I’m told that in Jerusalem on Saturdays the elevators stop on every floor so that they can be used without pushing the buttons - operating the machine by pushing the buttons would be considered to be working.
There’s no need to get into the argument about which day of the week is to be set aside as the Sabbath. Make friends with a member of the 7th Day Adventist Church if you want one perspective. They observe the Sabbath on Saturday as do most Jews. In fact Jesus would have observed the Sabbath from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday. There have been all sorts of arguments and dissertations about the exact days of the week that Jesus died and was resurrected, but our observance of Sundays as the first day of the week and the day for worship is based on a theory that Sunday was the day that the women went to the tomb and found it empty - the third day that Jesus promised when he would be raised.
I don’t have any signs on the doors of my car. I do have a vanity plate on my pickup that says REV TED. The plate is appropriately named - it is all about vanity. But it is an expression of my identity. And when I stop at a rest area or am parked in a lot and a stranger approaches me and asks if I am a minister, I’m not ashamed to say, “I am.” I used to have quite a few college stickers on the window of my vehicle. In the days when our children were attending college, I displayed the stickers of their colleges. But the stickers got old. So did the car, but I still drive it. One day I removed the stickers that were starting to peel off anyway and I haven’t replaced them. I decided that I am far more proud of my kids than I am of the institutions they attended.
We never had little stickers representing our kids, pets or hobbies in the back window of our car - they became popular after our children were raised. I don’t imagine I would have been inclined to put them on the car anyway. We always wanted to have room for extras when we were raising children. Various exchange students, friends and other children were always included in our family. And what about the years when we cared for our parents? I’ve never seen a car with a couple of adults and a couple of people who use walkers for mobility.
I guess if you really want to know what I believe, you’d have to have a conversation with me. That, of course, is also true of the person with the 10 commandments posted on the door of their car.