Greatest Commandment

Love of God and love thy neighbor are not the only commandments

But I venture to add the following commandments:

(3) Love the minerals, stones, rocks, mountains, and other objects as thyself for we all came from them; it was from them that all myriad creatures, including us humans, came from. Their imprint is already in us, in our genes and DNA. They continue to influence our ways of thinking , feeling, and behaving, whether for better or for worse.

(4) Love the plants, trees, for they too are alive like us. Deprive them of food—air, water, sunshine, fire, and soil—and they grow weak and even die.

They have feelings too like us. They can be sad and happy. Let them listen to music and they become animated and lively. Chop their trunk or branches and they shed tears. Being unable to move from one place to another, they are most vulnerable to external aggression. And their primary aggressors are human beings.

(6) Love the insects and the animals. For they too have life. Killing them is no different from killing a human being. Science says life is made of the same ingredients consisting of atoms and molecules while religion says that we all, including minerals, plants, trees, originated from the same spirit of God.

(7) Love the spirits that dwell in the trees, forests, streams, rivers, oceans, caves for they too form an essential part of creation. In particular, love the enchanted spirits (engkantos), dwarves, gnomes, and fairies. They deserve our respect. They’re all creatures of our Lord God Almighty. Protect their homes and shelters.

Minerals, stones, plants, trees, insects, and animals must have known that we were coming so they prepared a smorgasbord of abundance and wealth for us that can even last for all the generations to come. They are our hosts and hostesses. Our subhuman kindred are our life. Let’s protect and take good care of them for, despite the destruction and damage humanity has inflicted on them, they continue to serve, nourish, and sustain our lives like loyal servants. Let’s be one in love and in communion with them for our society also depends on them.

Ten Commandments: The Thou Shalt Nots

Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D. - March 10, 2022

In the 10 Commandments, Yahweh forbade adultery, idolatry, killing, and stealing. But why did he not forbid wars? Wars are worse. They can trigger widespread adultery, idolatry, and stealing.

It’s hard to fathom the mind of Yahweh. If he knows the future, he could have already forbidden wars and the dark Ages would not have happened. There would not have been Jihads and Holy Crusades. History would have been different.

But as it is, the Dark Ages still lingers in our minds and evoke fresh images of blood and violence. The Jihad continues to this day even as killings and violence persist at greater intensity among and between Christians.

Today, as it has been,and will ever be in the future, wars can be justified in the name of religion. Each continent or nation has its own espoused religion, which they can always invoke to justify their actions.

Paradoxically, the House of God is also being used as refuge for the perpetrators and victims of war. War criminals, mass murderers, together with the casualties of war find themselves fed, attended to, and protected safely by people who may have been themselves child abusers, abortionists, tyrants, and war addicts.

It really blows my mind!

Are all this part of Yahweh’s grand design? Allowing his children to fight against each other and at the same time welcoming them into his Mansion as a loving father? Is he not also a tyrant and murderer himself by sacrificing and killing his own sons and daughters in the name of love?

We cannot accept the theory that God designed all this. Drugs and wars destroy people, nations, and our ecology. What must have been the reason for God to allow and tolerate this but at the same time forbid adultery, idolatry, and killings in his Ten Commandments?

And this prohibition continues in the New Testament, even made harsher for as it is written, thoughts are already bad in themselves because you can't do a bad thing without first thinking about it:

"Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed” (James 1:14-15).

I must have inherited my personality from Yahweh. Both the good and the bad, the beauty and the beast, love and hatred, compassion and revenge are all inside me playing the game of tug-of-war, at the least provocation of which, explodes ferociously into action, whether the result is compassion or hatred.

After all, I was created to his image and likeness. His blood is my blood. His spirit is my spirit. His pain is my pain. His suffering and anguish is my suffering and anguish.

Or perhaps, the tablet of commandments he gave us through Moses was just a symbolic act for us to realize that life here on earth is all strict obedience to his rules and it’s up to us to choose whether, in the midst of all this, we still want to be happy or not in this life.

The little children are not even aware of any commandments. They are happy. The Lord Jesus knows this:

“Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein” (Matthew 19:14).

Yes, once everything is seen from another perspective, there are no more commandments. Our challenge is how to expand our Consciousness in such a way that we all become like little children.

The Ten Commandments

Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D. – September 12, 2021

In the Ten Commandments, God forbid adultery, idolatry, killing, and stealing. Why did it not forbid wars and drug addiction? Wars and drugs are worse. They can be the roots and causes of adultery, idolatry, and stealing.

Was God in effect allowing religions to engage in wars, whether civil wars or world wars? Indeed, both are happening today and they're escalating.

Was God in effect also tolerating religions to be sanctuaries of warriors, summary executioners, and drug addicts? Go to the Church and you're safe. A God-loving nation like the Philippines has become a refuge for people who are running away from the long arm of the law or away from their oppressive governments as well as a haven for drug Lords and drug addicts.

If so, then, it is justified to interpret and lambast religion as an opium of the people and the greatest, most powerful killing machine ever invented so far.

Just recall what happened during the Dark Ages and today's ongoing Jihad. There's no use disagreeing. History has proven this many times during the Middle or Dark Ages. The Knights Templars, the Holy Crusade, the Freemasons still evoke fresh images of blood and violence in our minds.

The Jihad continues to this day even as killings and violence persist at greater intensity among and between Christians.

We cannot accept the theory that God designed all this. Drugs and wars destroy people, nations, and our ecology. What must have been the reason for God to allow and tolerate them but at the same time forbid adultery, idolatry, and killings in the Ten commandments?

And this prohibition continues in the New Testament, only shortened into two commandments, namely, love God and love thy neighbor.

Whatever the reason is, let's learn from our messy and bloody history. The fact that our situation today is worsening suggests that we have not learned enough yet from our past.

We're still so blinded that we remain unable to distinguish between right and wrong, between good and bad, between moral and immoral, between ethical and unethical. We're still acting like animals--survivalists, territorial, expansionists.

Life in this world is all about learning and applying what we learn to our day-to-day life. This goes on and on for the remaining days of our life until there's nothing more to learn and apply.

When that time comes, we will finally rest in Thee, Oh Lord (St. Augustine), unless our Lord God Almighty sends us back to Earth, as it will do to its Son Jesus soon (2nd coming), if he is not already here with us, to stop all these wickedness, and establish peace and harmony on Earth.