How to Break the Ten Commandments, Part 2 of 2

Eric Butterworth delivered a number of Sunday lessons in 1976 on the commandments found in Exodus 20, the most popular Ten Commandments in contemporary literature.  Jimmy Carter was President when How to Break the Ten Commandments was published by Harper and Row.  When Unity Books republished it in 1988, Ronald Reagan was President.  The book carried the less dramatic title: Metamorality.  Butterworth’s purpose was to break through, loosen, or get past the ancient cautions to positive spiritual principles. The book explores the meaning of the commandments and calls on readers to explore living from a higher plane.  Butterworth reminds us that we are always near the spiritual solutions to our challenges (1).

The first four commandments refer to relations with the divine.  The first rule is having no other gods besides Yahweh.  Butterworth reminds us how Emerson challenged Americans to move from a religion of tradition to a religion of the heart.  Like other New Thought ministers, Butterworth believed that the consciousness of God is available within each of us (12).  God is your creativity, your passion, your love.  Following the first commandment wholeheartedly means following the other nine as well.  The second commandment admonishes to make no idols.  How do we allow ourselves to get past fixed attitudes and hardened ideas about God and actually interact with Spirit?  Butterworth suggests that the difficulty is also found in our “false attitudes” about our selves.  You and I are images, expressions of God. 

The third instruction cautions against the wrong use of the Lord’s name.  The book suggests eliminating all false and negative statements altogether.  Focus on the positive nature of the divine and eliminate “pessimistic proclamations (34).”  The fourth commandment is to keep the Sabbath holy.  Butterworth criticized the belief that the energy of God stopped or rested.  He advised reflecting on the creative life of Spirit at work in you (46).  Practice the nature of God in you. 

The final six commandments deal with human interactions.  Honoring parents is the fifth demand.  In the Gospels, Jesus seems to discount his own parents and honor God as his father.  Butterworth challenges that children honor parents by experiencing their own freedom and spiritual growth (54).  No murder or killing is the sixth commandment.  Butterworth wonders how the world would be different if we eliminated destruction of any kind: no eating meat, no killing insects, no capital punishment and no war (64).  As a society we make exceptions to the commandments all the time and we find the effects in our own lives (68).  Our generation is learning what other generations knew: war affects not just those directly involved, but our entire country. 

Butterworth realizes how views of sex have changed and reminds us that the Hebrew word for adultery simply means “abandoning of one’s principle (77).”  We can commit to lives of integrity in all our relationships.  Butterworth offers some social commentary regarding the commandment “You shall not steal.”  He points to the cultural respect for private property and how everyone loses in our justice system (85).  Criminals may be prosecuted at high costs to taxpayers, only to be freed without new attitudes and skills.  With the law against bearing false witness, Butterworth adds: don’t exaggerate and don’t contribute excessive criticism (96).  We are known by our attitude (103).”   Butterworth warns against the passion of materialism as he explores the rule against coveting your neighbor’s house or property.  Instead he calls on us to merge ourselves “with the Divine Flow. . . (110) understanding that everything comes through the Divine.” 

Butterworth tells his readers “. . . the weight of Judeo-Christian tradition notwithstanding, do not keep them.  Break the code and find the keys to personal power (118).”  Ask yourself tough questions about your values.  We are each called to the edge of our comfort zone and a higher way of living.