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In the movie Kite Runner, the father explains to the son that all the sins that we are to avoid are all some form of stealing, therefore, by his own reasoning, theft is the only true sin.
The story takes place in Afghan society, with their religious and moral codes of conduct as an attendant parameter. However, when I saw the movie, and I heard the father relay his idea to his son, I immediately thought about the Ten Commandments and wondered if the father's philosophy applied there as well. When I examined each Commandment through the theft filter, I found 100% confirmation, with minor qualifiers. Let's take a look. #1 "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." We rob God of His proper place in our lives and the universe when we 'worship' anything other than God. #2 "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image..." Again, giving our spiritual devotion to any object other than God is robbing God of his sovereignty. #3 "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain..." This one pushes the envelope a bit, but one could observe that taking God's name in vain goes beyond simply robbing God of His deserved respect, and includes disrespect on top of it, thus adding insult to injury. #4 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." To not remember the sabbath day is to steal time away from God that should have been spent not laboring. #5 "Honour thy father and thy mother..." If you dishonor your parents, you rob them of their pride in your existence. #6 "Thou shalt not kill." This is an easy one; if you kill someone, you not only take the victim's life, but also you steal from every person who cared about him or her. #7 "Thou shalt not commit adultery." If you commit adultery, you steal all kinds of things. You steal trust from your spouse, you steal dignity from anyone who may be in love with your lover, and you steal integrity away from you and your lover. You also steal from God, because His model for humans is monogamy, not the selfish "free love" that the world loves to promote. #8 "Thou shalt not steal." Enough said. #9 "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." If you lie and cause another person to be wrongfully identified, you have stolen the truth from them, and stolen the truth from the world that now incorrectly thinks that person is guilty. #10 "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's." If you greedily desire something that someone else has, you have robbed God of the gratitude He deserves for the things you *do* have, and you have also robbed yourself of your own peace of mind. So, all in all, theft really is a no-no... especially if no one else appears to be watching. |