Ten Commandments- the name of the Lord

[theist]

Maybe this version is more clear.

 

Exodus 20 :: New International Version (NIV)

The Ten Commandments

 

1 And God spoke all these words:

 

2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

3 "You shall have no other gods before me.

4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

 

7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

 

8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.

11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

13 "You shall not murder.

14 "You shall not commit adultery.

15 "You shall not steal.

16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

 

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"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, ...

 

 

I can think of a couple of ways we misuse the Lord's name.

 

We can chant His name to obtain some material thing or goal, from a couple of dollars on up to being awarded some demi-god status.

 

We can also chant the Lord's name with the aim of ridding ourselves from sinful reactions we are doing at the same time instead of praying to be free from our offensive tendancies.

 

We can chant with the expectation that we are using the Lord's name to merge into the impersonal absolute Brahman instead of chanting to be merge into attitude of pure love for Him.

 

I see this commandment to be right in line with Indian teachings on Vaisnavism.

 

Here is another good topic for a book by some vaisnava scholar who wants to share this principles with Christians, the Ten Commandments and how they link up with Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy.