The Fifth Commandment

If you're a devoted Christian and you either: 1) attend church every Sunday, or 2) read a Holy Bible every night before you go to sleep, chances are you can easily recite the Ten Commandments He gave Moses like a few thousand years ago.

For some of you (like me), who can't recall the Ten Commandments by heart, here you go:

1. You shall have no other gods before me
2. You shall not make for yourself a carved image
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy
5. Honor your father and mother
6. You shall not murder
7. You shall not commit adultery
8. You shall not steal
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
10. You shall not covet

Okay, before you start spouting some random stuff at me, please know that I think the Ten Commandments are awesome. And if people actually start obeying it, this world would be a much better place. I mean, a world where there is no murder? A world where there is no chance of your wife being fucked by other people? A world where there is no theft? A world where there is no liar? It would be one perfect world, indeed.

Let's look deeper into it, shall we?

The first three commandments is about God. The one guy who supposedly created Earth, Sun, Moon, and everything else, which means that they are not about me. And since this blog is just one big egoist's rant, I could safely ignore the first three commandments here, right?

For the fourth commandment, Sunday is probably the only day in the week that I could actually spend sleeping without feeling guilty. And sleeping is -- whether you believe it or not -- the holiest activity that you can ever do. I mean, when you're awake, there is a chance that you will look at your neighbor's car and unconsciously drool at it, right? And yearning for other people's stuff, that's breaking the tenth commandment right there. So yes, I could safely say I 'remember' the Sabbath day and I effortlessly keep it holy, then I could safely ignore the fourth commandment.

For the sixth up to the ninth commandment, I can say that I wholeheartedly agree with them since they align with common sense. And they are actually enforced by laws. Even if I do want to murder someone, I don't want to get into jail. Same thing goes with stealing and the rest. So, no question for the sixth up to the ninth commandment.

That leaves us with the fifth commandment. And the tenth, which I will not talk about here.

The fifth commandment dictates that we 'honor our father and mother.' I first read the Ten Commandments when I was 8 years old, and the first thing that I realized upon reading it was that it was 'honor,' instead of 'love.'

Did you know that the word 'love' appeared in the Bible 686 times while 'honor' appeared 211 times? Why honor? Why not use the more common word, love? I mean, they're our parents, it's only obvious if He told us to love them, no? 

When I was a kid, I used to like my dad. My dad used to allow me to do stuff, he introduced me to freedom. When I wanted to go to my friend's house, I asked him. When I wanted to buy something, I asked him. Long story short, I used to like him.

When I was a kid, I used to not like my mom (I didn't exactly hate her, I just didn't like her). All the things that I didn't like but had to go through, she forced me to do it. She was the one who forced me to go to dentist to have my teeth fixed. She didn't allow me to eat a lot of candies. She scolded me if I spent too much money on phone bills. She didn't allow me to go out when I have exams the day afterwards. Long story short, I used to not like her.

As I grew up, both my mom and dad changed. And I can safely say that I really love my mom now. If you ask me who the person I respect and love the most is, my answer would be my mom. I respect and love her, a lot. As for my dad, let's say there are a lot of people I respect more than him. I'm currently 21 years old now, and I still have no idea why the Ten Commandments dictate that we respect our parents, instead of love them. I'm not saying that I disagree with the fifth commandment, all I'm saying is that Moses should rephrase it.

I mean, you can love someone unconditionally. And that's the greatest definition of love, right? Skipping dinner when you're financially lacking and giving it to your child as you say, "Eat it, son, I'm not hungry." Lending your girlfriend your laptop as you say, "Use it, I can live without my laptop, anyway." Love can be unconditional and it is encouraged to be so.

Respect, on the other hands, is different. There is no such thing as unconditional respect. One has to do something extraordinary to gain respect. You can't just sit around being good-looking and earn respect. SNSD, for example, some people respect them not because they're cute, but because they follow a strict diet (and probably because they're able to straight-facedly lie to general public about not having plastic surgery).

You might wonder as to why I'm writing this. My point is this, if you're a parent or a soon-to-be parent, do not abuse your child and expect them to respect you just because the Bible says so. Stop shoving Bible in your kids' face and ask them to respect you. Do something for them so they will respect you without you having to ask them. Respect is not given, it is earned.