In his excellent book, The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard talks about the reluctance of Christians and modern Bible teaching to address the life-change available in the Word of God. He sees this reluctance extend to our application of God's "Perfect Ten."
This remarkable reticence extends even to the Ten Commandments and to all the specific moral directives of the Judeo-Christian heritage. Amid much talk, there is little resolute conformity to them. Some current critics of the U.S. Supreme Court like to point out that it does not allow the Ten Commandments, though written upon the walls of its own chambers, to be displayed in public schools.
But where do we find churches that put them on their walls? The Ten Commandments really aren't very popular anywhere! This is so in spite of the fact that even a fairly general practice of them would lead to a solution of almost every problem of meaning and order now facing Western societies. They are God's best information on how to lead a basically decent human existence (56-57).
Hard to argue with Willard's charge, isn't it? Christians argue vehemently for the posting of the Ten Commandments in courthouses, statehouses and school houses. But why do we avoid posting them in our church houses?
Perhaps we'd all be better if we reminded ourselves that a visible posting of the Ten Commandments on a public facility wall is not nearly as impacting as the posting of the Ten Commandments on the wall of our heart!
