If you were to talk to random people on the street, and ask them which commandments they've broken, you'd probably find the first commandment pretty close to the bottom of the list. It would most likely fall just above murder. However, if one were to really dig into this commandment, they'd soon realize that it is actually one of the most commonly broken commandments. So, lets do just that. Let's examine the first commandment.

The first commandment basically reads: You shall not worship false gods. This can vary from bible to bible, or from passage to passage, but that's basically the gist of it. The reason most people don't believe they've ever broken this commandment (including most Judaeo-Christians), is because they falsely assume this to mean Zeus, or Athena, or Osiris, or Shiva, or even Satan. While indeed this would be a violation of the commandment, this is not the full meaning.

 

To worship means to put one's faith in something beyond themself; or to show extravagant respect, honor, or devotion. A god is defined as 'a being or object having more than natural attributes or powers. So, the third commandment's full scope includes giving faith/respect/honor/devotion to a being or object that you believe has more than natural powers. Putting it that way changes your perspective a little, doesn't it?

 

One of the biggest false gods worshiped today is the all-mighty dollar. People literally refer to it that way too, don't they? 'All-mighty'. People are taught in the churches of government (aka public schools and corporate media) that the dollar can solve all your problems. If you can get enough of them, nothing is out of your reach. The life you've always wanted is yours, as long as you keep chasing those dollars. The dollar itself is a piece of paper. It has no power, and really no intrinsic value at all. It cannot grant you any of your desires. Yet, the amount of devotion most people show the dollar is above anything else in their lives. Sadly it is often placed above God and their own family.

 

Another big one is the Government. The amount of faith people put in a collection of greedy fools is truly insane. Government cannot save your soul. Government can't give joy. Government cannot perform miracles. To be quite frank, most government workers could not care less about you and your well-being. They care only about their own wealth and power. Despite this fact, the vast majority of people put more faith in government than in the God of the universe.

 

A simple, yet maybe not so obvious, one that I see every single day is the mask. There is absolutely zero evidence that they can stop people from becoming ill. In fact, there is a massive body of evidence that shows they cause harm. This is easy enough to discover if you want to put in even a little effort. Despite all that, many people insist on wearing them. Masks are quite clearly a case of putting your faith in an object while believing it has super-natural powers (because again, the science quite clearly shows they cannot protect from disease). If you really think about this one, it goes even one step further; people are actually self-harming to give honor to their mask god.

 

Now that I've got you started thinking about this topic, I'm sure that you'll start to see this more and more in your everyday life. That's a good thing. Look for it, correct it, and try to push others to do the same. There is one supreme God. He created everything you see around you, and a whole lot more that you can't see. Be sure to always put him first in your thoughts, prayers, and actions.