In fact, when it comes to mortal sin, or serious sin, the Church almost always has it backwards. The act of adultery is pretty harmless in and of itself. It's the lying and cheating which inevitably accompanies it that devastates our lives. Sin almost always boils down to one thing. Honesty. There simply is no sin you can commit without lying about it. So now it's time for me to jump back up on my soapbox for one tiny little page. You can skip it if you want.

Honesty should be the primary directive. If we were incapable of lying the world would be a wonderful place. Now I am not talking about the strictest definition of that word. In fact, a more accurate word would be forthrightness. Being honest is pretty easy, even if you have the mind of a criminal.

“Did you murder your wife, Mr. Wadsworth?”

“Of course not.”

“Did you poison her?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Did you put poison in the sugar bowl.”

“Yes but I was trying to kill rats.”

“Did you warn your wife about the poison in the sugar bowl?”

“I don't remember.”

“Don't remember warning her?”

“Yes, I mean No.”

“Did she eat the poison?”

“I don't know.”

“What did she die of?”

“I think she stopped breathing?”

It really is a lot like wrestling an eel. This man can easily claim that he is telling the truth, even though all of us know he is obfuscating. Instead of being forthright, he is being evasive. So although we might be able to say he was being honest, we could not possibly say he was being forthright. By any common sense standard, he is a slimy liar.

So if I were allowed to write the commandments, they would be delineated in positive terms.

1. Dedicate your life to others
2. Tell the truth always

That's really all you need. It covers everything imaginable. Do those two things and everything else just melts away into insignificance. It covers all the bases. If you choose to worship the wrong God, these two rules keep you out of trouble. So you do not have to choose a religion if you choose to obey these two rules.

I know. You Jesus lovers tend to believe the conservative line that insists on acceptance of the Christian God. And you try to pretend that you get to decide who is and who is not a Christian based on your exclusivity test. Gotta believe or gotta go to hell. WWJD? Indeed.

Throughout my life, it has been my observation that fundamentalism is almost exclusively the realm of dim witted people. These are people who must have a universe that is purposely just. Only one problem with their mantra. It is empirically false. The universe is random, not just. If you deny that most basic truth, you deny reality.

Now you know why conservative pharisees were uncomfortable around Jesus. He was truly a radical lefty. His ideas about adultery and peace and love were not only revolutionary, they got him killed.

Okay back off the soapbox and back to the funny.