2/18/05
"The kind of emphasis that is given to an idea is sometimes about as important as the idea itself. Recently a minister on the radio said that he never talked about the Ten Commandments in his church anymore because they were too far out of date. He also said that their language was too harsh for the weak sensibilities of our day. This minister felt that instead of using such strong terms as command and Thou shalt not, the Lord should have employed some softer words such as I recommend or I suggest or I advise. But soft words frequently produce soft attitudes with weak meanings and built-in violations.

We know that the destructive permissiveness of our present day causes some of our most serious sins. But the Lord allowed no permissiveness to get into the Ten Commandments. He came down onto the Mount in a cloud of fire from which the smoke ascended as from a furnace. He came with such power that the mountain quaked and the people themselves trembled. Then, to the accompaniment of the lightnings and thunders of that sacred mountain, God gave the people their basic law and listed some of those things that they must not do." - Sterling W. Sill, "Thou Shalt Not," Ensign, Dec. 1971, p. 93