Covenant News
Ten Commandments Engraved on Stone - Again
ALLEGAN, MI (October 10, 2005) - Christ Community Church has had the Ten Commandments and the "Jesus Creed" engraved into a large field stone that can be seen by motorists as they drive past on the outskirts of the community. The stone was dedicated on October 2.
"It is the hope of Christ Community that the engraved stone might act as
both a reminder of the daily work of our awesome God, but also used as a
teaching device for young and old," says Pastor G. Patrick White.
In his book The Jesus Creed, Scot McKnight, who serves as the Karl A. Olsson Professor of Religious Studies at North Park University, refers to Mark 12:29-31 as the Jesus Creed. ("Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind; and the second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself." NIV).
White says he wants people to read the commands so they "might take them to heart and become living monuments of the Ten Commandments," adding, "it is not our desire that people will substitute inscriptions and monuments for that which is to be writ large in people."
Recent Supreme Court rulings on the display of the commandments in
public buildings prompted White to suggest that they be displayed on the
church property. Within days, money was pledged for the monument. White
believes such displays are appropriate, noting that the Bible speaks of
building monuments, such as the 12 stones at the crossing of the Jordan
River as reminders of what God had done in the people's lives.
(Editor's note: for an in-depth look at the controversy surrounding public display of the Ten Commandments, see the current October issue of The Covenant Companion. To order a copy of the October issue, call Eric Gonzalez at 773-907-3310. To order a subscription, either call Gonzalez or order online by visiting Subscribe. To order a copy of McKnight's book from the online Covenant Bookstore, please visit Jesus Creed.)
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