The Fourth Commandment: Threat of Murder
Sunday April 20, 2008

Dear Ms. Miller,

I am re-reading your book “The Body Never Lies”. In the introduction, you write: “On closer inspection… we see that the Fourth Commandment contains a threat…”.

My father used to repeat to his children aloud the Fourth Commandment very often (he was Jewish, but not at all religious), never forgetting to include the words “that thy days may be long upon the land the Lord thy God giveth thee”. As a child, I always FELT and KNEW this was a THREAT OF MURDER. It was very clear to me. What you write in your book is a very important observation, and it confirms my own experience. This commandment is a nothing but a tool for parents to terrorize their children. I wonder how such a terrible and frightening threat could be referred to as a “moral principle”!

N., ISRAEL.

AM: You are right with your observation. In the German original version of the book I wanted to make the reader aware of the fact that the word EHR-FURCHT (AWE) contains the word FURCHT that means FEAR.