Acknowledgements | 10greencommitments

The idea for the 10 Green Commitments came from the 10 so-called commandments given to Moses to advance human behaviour as written in the bible in Exodus 20. Commitments are about selfactualisation, commandments are too authoritative. Interestingly, I had been busy writing these commitments for a year, but when I recently prepared a presentation I consulted Neale Walsch’s Conversations with God, which I had read a decade ago:

God explains, “Moses was an earnest seeker, begging for answers: . . ‘Give me a sign that I may tell my people! How can we know that we are chosen?’” and God responded by giving him a covenant. “You shall know that you have found the path to God, and you shall know that you have found God, for there will be these signs, these indicators, these changes in you . . . the Ten Commitments . . . these are your freedoms, not your restrictions. These are my commitments, not my commandments. For God does not order about what God has created – God merely tells God’s children: this is how you will know that you are coming home.”(1.1)

If we just take commitment number six from the original covenant, God clarifies:

‘You know that you have found God when you observe that you will not murder (that is wilfully kill without cause) . . . Your new reverence for life will cause you to honour all life forms – including plants, trees and animals - and to impact them only when it is for the highest good.’(1.1)

Viva!

Indeed the Conversations with God series is a wonderfully enlightening read. It is most reassuring, most affirming; contains wisdom and truth, and provides penetrating insight and guidance to life. It shows God as a loving, non-judgemental God.

I would like to sincerely thank my wife Judy, and my aunts, Shelagh Blackman and Moira Moore, for their invaluable contributions.

Stephen M. Lincoln

Member Environment and Sustainability Committee, CDA, Auckland.

smlincoln99@gmail.com 18.1.2015