The Ten Commandments

[OnceConvinced]

Have you ever looked at the ten commandments and wonder what the hell was God thinking? Why did he put these ten things above all else? I can understand most of them, but certainly not all.

Just take a look at them:

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: (for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;)
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates
5. Honour thy father and thy mother
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
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.

The first three commandments are all about God and if they are that important to him then it shows us what an insecure and jealous God he is (Note that jealousy is a sin). That’s 30% of the commandments! Is God’s ego that delicate that he had to include 3 commandments such as this? Then you have laws like “thou shalt not covet” which seems to be small fry in the sin department next to many other things. “Thou shalt not commit adultery” also seems to be a small fish in a big pond when things like rape and paedophilia seem to be given a very low priority.

So what about some of the other important stuff? Where are all the other commandments that would seem to be so incredibly important? Where is…?

Thou shalt not take another human being as a slave (You’d think God would take a harder line on this issue)

Thou shalt not rape (Sexual crimes seem to be unimportant as far as God’s concerned when it comes to the 10 commandments - apart from adultry. In fact the bible says God expects rape victims to marry their abusers)

Thou shalt not take drugs (or something like that. After all, God knows what will happen in the future and must have surely known it would become a major problem further down the line. He is either short sighted or has no knowledge of what will happen in the future.)

I am aware there are a lot of issues dealt with in other parts of the Torah relating to immoralities, however the 10 Commandments seem to stand out as God’s main issues and that is what I am trying to focus on here.

So my questions:
What commandments that haven't been included do you think should have been included and why?
Should any have been omitted? Why?
Should any have been reworded or elaborated more on?.

[cnorman18]

TRUE CHRISTIANITY should be neither wholly jewish nor wholly Gentile. Each claiming their own authority over people is entirely misleading and has in fact contributed to this deception the Bible speaks of.
Jesus had much to correct and condemn in Judaism and what is more they rejected HIM as the Messiah and son of God to this day - how can they then lord it over people ? Their own problems have not been settled yet Rom.11.

The Gentile Era began only after separating from the Jews and setting up a different following not fully based on Jesus or the original Apostles. (Nicean Council 325 AD.)
Consequently both Jew and Gentile are to this day in error. Only Christ will correct both at his second coming.

And I suppose YOU are in possession of The Only Truth.

Where do you get the idea that Jews "lord it over people"? We don't claim that ours is the only true religion or that one must be Jewish to be either "saved," whatever that may mean, or beloved of God. Judaism doesn't claim authority over anyone; doctrinally speaking, it doesn't even claim authority over Jews.

Christianity and Islam both have an explicit and supposedly God-commanded mandate to become the ONLY religion and see everyone converted to those beliefs. Judaism does not, and never has. We wish only to practice our own religion and be left alone.

[daedalus 2.0]

Why would your God care if someone honored the God of Crops, whether that God existed or not? Why the bug up his a**?

For the moment, I'll go along with the assumption implied in your question that this Commandment was God's idea in the first place.

As I wrote in an earlier post; this Commandment was one of the terms of a formal contract, or covenant, between the Jewish people and God. In that context, it makes perfect sense. If you have an exclusive contract witn NBC News, you don't get to report stories for CBS.

If you're not Jewish, the contract doesn't apply to you. Worship any God you like, and God doesn't care.

Christians see the Ten as applying to everyone. Sorry. They don't, and it says so in Exodus and Deuteronomy. We Jews aren't responsible for the views of people who don't understand what they read.

However, the Council of Trent thinks otherwise, and they speak for God.

The Ten Commandments
Called also simply THE COMMANDMENTS, COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, or THE DECALOGUE (Gr. deka, ten, and logos, a word), the Ten Words of Sayings, the latter name generally applied by the Greek Fathers.

The Ten Commandments are precepts bearing on the fundamental obligations of religion and morality and embodying the revealed expression of the Creator's will in relation to man's whole duty to God and to his fellow-creatures. They are found twice recorded in the Pentateuch, in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, but are given in an abridged form in the catechisms. Written by the finger of God on two tables of stone, this Divine code was received from the Almighty by Moses amid the thunders of Mount Sinai, and by him made the ground-work of the Mosaic Law. Christ resumed these Commandments in the double precept of charity--love of God and of the neighbour; He proclaimed them as binding under the New Law in Matthew 19 and in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5). He also simplified or interpreted them, e.g. by declaring unnecessary oaths equally unlawful with false, by condemning hatred and calumny as well as murder, by enjoining even love of enemies, and by condemning indulgence of evil desires as fraught with the same malice as adultery (Matthew 5). The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord's Day. The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. xix) condemns those who deny that the Ten Commandments are binding on Christians.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04153a.htm


It's quite easy for you to declare what your religion says, and that others are wrong, but not one religionist here has been able to make that case that they are more accurate in determining God's Will (or if a God exists in the first place).

So, it seems the Catholic Church trumps; it's Judaism 2.0. The question is, is Islam Judaism 3.0 and Mormonism 4.0?

Perhaps Scientology is right after all....?


Cnorman, looks like you're going to have to take this up with the Pope, and since he speaks for God, whereas your religion doesn't claim to have people directly speak for God, you are at a disadvantage.

[Cathar1950]

TRUE CHRISTIANITY should be neither wholly jewish nor wholly Gentile. Each claiming their own authority over people is entirely misleading and has in fact contributed to this deception the Bible speaks of.
Jesus had much to correct and condemn in Judaism and what is more they rejected HIM as the Messiah and son of God to this day - how can they then lord it over people ? Their own problems have not been settled yet Rom.11.

The Gentile Era began only after separating from the Jews and setting up a different following not fully based on Jesus or the original Apostles. (Nicean Council 325 AD.)
Consequently both Jew and Gentile are to this day in error. Only Christ will correct both at his second coming.

And I suppose YOU are in possession of The Only Truth.

Where do you get the idea that Jews "lord it over people"? We don't claim that ours is the only true religion or that one must be Jewish to be either "saved," whatever that may mean, or beloved of God. Judaism doesn't claim authority over anyone; doctrinally speaking, it doesn't even claim authority over Jews.

Christianity and Islam both have an explicit and supposedly God-commanded mandate to become the ONLY religion and see everyone converted to those beliefs. Judaism does not, and never has. We wish only to practice our own religion and be left alone.

Actually they did convert even under the sword many under Hezekiah, Josiah and the Maccabees and they would be thought of as Judeans.
The stories of Joshua seem to be propaganda for Josiah’s time as there isn’t much of a conquest until the three above. Although the Omari dynasty did a pretty good job in the North which included the South.
Post Second Temple Judaism is another story.

[daedalus 2.0]

TRUE CHRISTIANITY should be neither wholly jewish nor wholly Gentile. Each claiming their own authority over people is entirely misleading and has in fact contributed to this deception the Bible speaks of.

So you say, but you could be trying to mislead and decieve. Can you tell us why you might have a better understanding than people who study this for their whole lives, in the original languages?

[Beta]

There is nothing silly about the 10 lost tribes since Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of Israel , as were the original Apostles.
All the tribes had different parentage, not all came from Judah who were called Jews.
It's what the Bible says , people's opinions don't count.

[Goat]

There is nothing silly about the 10 lost tribes since Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of Israel , as were the original Apostles.
All the tribes had different parentage, not all came from Judah who were called Jews.
It's what the Bible says , people's opinions don't count.

You claim that the bible says that. Why don't you give quotes from the bible, and we can look at the quotes in context?

[OnceConvinced]

goat , you quoted some scriptures which do not say what you claim they say. Not one says he has already returned and because his followers expected his immidiate return does not make it so. 2000 years with us is no more than 2 days scripturally in this case and it is human understanding taking a wrong reading.
Jesus has not yet returned but that event is extremely close as some have been made aware. The majority will not know until he has actually arrived for to them he will come like a thief in the night.

I agree with Cathar on this one. Why would Jesus use those words "soon"? It just doesn't make sense. He was talking to people who took him literarly. It is quite obvious when you read Paul's letters that he was expecting Jesus to return in his life time. He even declared that the gospel had been preached to "every living creature under the sun", which he saw as a prophecy fulfilled, a sign that Jesus was about to return.

You should try debating with some preterists some time. They have some marvelous arguments saying Jesus did return back then.

[Beta]

There is nothing silly about the 10 lost tribes since Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of Israel , as were the original Apostles.
All the tribes had different parentage, not all came from Judah who were called Jews.
It's what the Bible says , people's opinions don't count.

You claim that the bible says that. Why don't you give quotes from the bible, and we can look at the quotes in context?

Mat.15v24
Mat.10v6

As for all the sons of Jacob (named Israel) we need to go back into the OT. I'll look it up if you need to know where.

[Beta]

I am not into arguing peoples opinions as we would go round and round in circles until we die as did the unbelieving people in the wilderness. Don't you know this is an example for us today not to do the same ?

When God or Jesus say soon they speak from a biblical / spiritual point in which our time is no more than the blinking of an eye compared with eternity. God can not speak to man entirely along human lines or how could he prepare us for an eternal existence totally foreign to us. It is done gently and his Word should give us food for thought . Does not scripture say we must not live by bread alone but every word proceeding out of the mouth of God ? We are to chew on it spiritually, grind it down into smaller scriptures. Debates are not really helpful in this as we all rush ahead with superficial replies put there by human imagination thus actually complicating matters.

[Fallibleone]

God can not speak to man entirely along human lines or how could he prepare us for an eternal existence totally foreign to us.

I know this isn't the point of the thread, but this comment seems to go against the idea of God's omnipotence. Plus all the different interpretations of the Bible just go to show a god has nothing to do with it.