Those of us who are a certain age can remember the early days of the PC. These were the days when you didn’t have online help manuals to help you navigate the ins and outs of your computer and software. You learned by installing the program, then you would try to, what I called, “See if I could break it.”

You would buy a software program ( I have fond memories of WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3) and it came in a large box. There were installation disks that required someone to insert them in the correct order, make various selections for which options to install, and if all went well you were up and running, well as long as you didn’t choose the wrong language (Lotus1-2-3 was not fun in Chinese).

In the box, there would be a book or sometimes more than one of information about the software’s features and how to perform various tasks. I recall the WordPerfect manual as being a foot thick. The manual was quite detailed and written by someone with knowledge of the software. It was a bit of a struggle to learn.

In order to make the process easier, you could go to your local bookstore or computer store and purchase books that were easier to follow, usually with pictures and diagrams. These books could be expensive and rather lengthy, but they were a great resource. Eventually someone figured out that the books could be simplified and geared to the less technical people, or as one publisher called them “Dummies”.

What does any of this have to do with Catholicism or Christianity, the kinds of things I normally write about? Well, the other day I came across a book titled “The Didache, or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”. According to the introduction:

The Didache purports to be an instruction based on sayings of the Lord and given by the Twelve Apostles to pagans who wished to become Christians.

Quasten, Johannes, and Joseph C. Plumpe, eds. 1948. The Didache. Translated by James A. Kleist. 6th ed. Ancient Christian Writers. New York; Mahwah, NJ: The Newman Press.

Let’s look at it this way. You decide you want to become a Christian or become a better one. You need an instruction manual. Of course you will want a Bible where you can read all about Jesus Christ and his teachings. But that’s pretty big and very detailed. There is a lot of information there. While everyone should take the time to read the Bible, especially the New Testament, wouldn’t it be nice if there were a more compact version? This is what I consider the Didache to be. The Bible is the big, detailed instruction manual and the Didache is the “For Dummies” version.

You only need to read Part One and you will get the basic information you need. Here are two paragraphs:

Two Ways there are, one of Life and one of Death, and there is a great difference between the Two Ways.

Now, the Way of Life is this: first, love the God who made you; secondly, your neighbor as yourself: do not do to another what you do not wish to be done to yourself.

The Way of Death is this. First of all, it is wicked and altogether accursed: murders, adulteries, lustful desires, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, sorceries, robberies, false testimonies, hypocrisy, duplicity, fraud, pride, malice, surliness, covetousness, foul talk, jealousy, rashness, haughtiness, false pretensions, <the lack of the fear of God>

Quasten, Johannes, and Joseph C. Plumpe, eds. 1948. The Didache. Translated by James A. Kleist. 6th ed. Ancient Christian Writers. New York; Mahwah, NJ: The Newman Press.

Pretty simple wouldn’t you say?