In The Kite Runner, one of the characters near the beginning of the film states:
The greatest sin is theft and all the sins are variations of it.
I believe this to be true. The very definition of stealing is to deprive someone of having a particular thing, whether it’s tangible or intangible. And no matter which way you cut it, theft is theft (as many people often like to recite, usually sitting on a high horse.)
I even got to thinking at one point: if you look at the Ten Commandments (whether or not you believe in Christianity), most of them are related to some form of theft.
(On a side note: I once asked a girl at a speed dating event if she could name any one of the commandments, and despite calling herself Christian she couldn’t think of a single one. Don’t do that!)
Here’s how some of the Commandments can be interpreted as theft:
- You shall have no other gods before Me. – the theft of God’s significance, and giving it to someone or something else. (The name God can be replaced with whatever you call your version of the higher power.)
- You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. – again could suggest the theft of importance; this is a bit like taking something sacred and turning it into something trivial. Think of the countless classic songs that have been murdered over the years, by talentless acts looking for a cheap number one in the charts.
- You shall not murder. – probably the most important and relevant of the Commandments: the theft of someone’s life, as in “taking one’s life”. Not only that, but it’s stealing the experience of life – stealing someone’s opportunity to make a difference to the world, and stealing from the people who care about them.
- You shall not commit adultery. – the theft of trust and commitment from a significant other. Also, the theft of someone’s ability to trust and commit to other people. How often have you been wary of trusting people, after someone abused your trust? How often have you been scared of commitment, after someone took your commitment for granted?
- You shall not steal. – obviously the most obvious, the theft of someone’s property, or the theft of a person’s right to have that property.
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. – the theft of someone’s right to a “fair trial”.
- You shall not covet (your neighbour’s possessions). – the theft of someone’s right to have what they want, which is the best way I can put it right now. It’s a bit like being envious of someone else getting a bonus at work, or someone being awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize, and for whatever reason wanting to take it away from them.
As you could probably imagine, the most significant one of the seven for me personally is bearing false witness against someone: it’s by far the most common and the easiest of the Commandments to break. I might make post on it in the near future, as there’s too much to say about it without going into a tirade.
Many thanks to allabouttruth.org for the descriptions of each of the Commandments, which I copied because I was lazy.
Tags: Adultery, Christianity, Experience Of Life, God, High Horse, Kite Runner, people, Sin, Stealing, theft, trust, Trusting People, Variations, words