Tomorrow Belongs To God

In religion classes, among the first lessons taught to children are the Ten Commandments. Some teachers require that they be memorized. Others prefer to stress the underlying principles of the commandments. One teacher, who combined both approaches, would relate an incident to illustrate one of the commandments and then ask the children which commandment applied. The dialogue went something like this:

Teacher: John’s parents went shopping at 9 a.m. Before leaving the house, they told John to get out of bed and wash the breakfast dishes before they returned. The parents returned at noon. John was still in bed and the dirty breakfast dishes were still on the table.

Student: HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.

Teacher: Helen was with her mother in a supermarket. While mother was busy unloading her basket at the checkout counter, Helen took a candy bar from the shelf and slipped it into her pocket.

Student: YOU SHALL NOT STEAL.

The young students did very well…