ooh, and here's the next section, just love it, lol
Ten commandments? Which ten commandments?
Christians are quick to condemn others, especially atheists, for their lack of moral and ethical integrity. I've even heard some Christians claim that it is impossible to have any ethics at all without religion. However, what is the Christian moral code? Is there a list of rules by which god has commanded Christians to live by? Yes, the bible tells us a story of how god once handed down ten commandments for his people to live by. However, the vast majority of Christians, as usual, have not bothered to read this story for themselves, instead blindly believing whatever they are told. The odd truth of the matter is that god actually handed down twenty commandments, not ten, and most churches, for some reason, completely ignore the last ten commandments handed down by god (probably because most of them make no sense in the modern world compared to the first ten).
Our story begins in Exodus 19. There was a guy named Moses, who was the current leader of the Israelites. Moses went up Mount Sinai to talk to god. The mountain shook, there was smoke, and trumpets, and god spoke! (Why does this never happen anymore? Hmmm). Anyway, god gives moses two stone slabs with the infamous ten commandments written on them. They are:
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy god in vain.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Thou shalt honour thy father and thy mother.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house or wife.
Now, for most Christians the story ends right there. However, the bible has a way of not knowing when to stop, and true to form, this story continues on. It seems that Moses, the klutz, ends up breaking the stone tablets that god gave him. No problem, in Exodus 34 god tells moses to carve out two new, blank stone tablets so that god could again carve the ten commandments onto them. Here's the catch - this second set of ten commandments doesn't even remotely resemble the first set. Here's the second set of ten commandments:
Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: but ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves.
For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.
The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.
All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male.
But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.
Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.
Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.
The first of the firstfruits of they land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.
So what happened here? Specifically, what happened to "thou shalt not kill" and "thou shalt not commit adultery"? I mean, the first ten were clear, concise, and to the point. This set of ten commandments isn't nearly as catchy nor as quotable. Any guesses as to what significance "thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk" might have in today's world? If you guessed "none at all", you'd be pretty close to the truth.
How is it that the bible can contradict itself in so few pages? In Exodus 20, we receive a set of commandments from god dictating how we are to live. In Exodus 34, we receive an entirely new set of commandments. So which set is correct? Let's walk through the possibilities.
Possible explanation #1: The first set is correct - let's say the first set of ten commandments is the "real" set of ten commandments. This theory is supported by the fact that pretty much every Christian church in existence today only quotes from this set of ten commandments. If this theory is correct, why then did god give moses ten essentially useless commandments as replacements when moses broke the tablets containing the first set? Did god make a mistake? If so, how is that possible? Was god playing a trick on his people, kind of like an april fool's joke? If so, why? And why did he never rescind these commandments? Or did Satan fool moses into thinking that this second set actually came from god? If so, how? Or did whoever wrote the bible make a mistake, writing down nonsense in Exodus 34 instead of the real ten commandments? If so, why did god allow such a glaring error to be entered into his holy book? We aren't talking about a minor typographical error here, this is a fundamental core concept of Christianity.
Possible explanation #2: The second set is correct - let's say the second set of ten commandments is the "real" set of ten commandments. If this theory is correct, why does the Christian church not acknowledge this fact today? No Christian ever seems to quote "the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb", but how many times have Christians screamed "thou shalt not kill" while gunning down abortion doctors? Further, if this theory is correct, why does Exodus 20 contain such a glaring error? This book is supposed to be the word of god, so where did those first, incorrect, ten commandments come from? Satan? Or did god make a mistake? If so, how is that possible?
Possible explanation #3: Both sets are correct - let's say that the Christian church is wrong, and that there are actually twenty commandments. If so, why did god originally only give moses ten? Why does the church not acknowledge the second set? And why is it that so few Christians are even aware of this glaring problem in the bible?
But let's ignore that glaring discrepancy (as the church seems to have decided to do). Take a look at the first set of ten commandments, the set that most Christians claim to live by. Are these useful? At all? The first four are merely instruction on how we are supposed to worship god. How does this make life better for anyone? The last six are too vague to be of any real value. Thou shalt not kill. Does that include abortion or not? Even Christians can't agree on that. Is killing in self defense okay, or is that also forbidden? How about people in the line of duty, like police officers or soldiers, can they kill to defend themselves or others? Is it okay to kill someone if they want to die? Assisted suicide, euthanasia, does this count as killing? Those four simple words are far too vague to answer any of these questions. Let's try another. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife or possessions. What's wrong with coveting? If my neighbor has a really nice car, am I not allowed to feel jealous? Why not? Do I injure my neighbor by feeling jealous? Do I injure myself by feeling jealous? What if my desire for my neighbor's car causes me to work really hard so that one day I can buy one for myself, is that wrong? To suggest that the ten commandments represent the epitome of moral values is ridiculous. Anyone could draft up an arbitrary set of commandments that would be more useful than that, try these out:
Thou shalt not kill someone who does not wish to die, unless you are defending your life or the lives of others. Women who conceive a child that they do not want or can not support may violate this commandment so long as they do it before the child is born. Otherwise, consider adoption.
Thou shalt not take something that doesn't belong to you without first paying for it, then thanking the person you are buying it from.
Thou may worship whatever god or gods you please, in whatever manner you please, so long as you do not attempt to force your religion on others against their will. Or, if thou pleasest, thou may worship no god at all.
Thou shall try to show respect for people in positions of authority over thyself. If thou canst, thou shall at least try to be civil.
Thou may have sex with whomsoever thou pleasest, in whatever manner thou pleasest, so long as the other person(s) are willing participants. If thou canst not procure thyself a mate, thou may pay for one at the brothel of thy choice. However, thou shalt not bring a child into the world unless thou are certain thou can support it and love it.
If thou must get drunk, thou shall do it in a safe manner, and in a safe place, where none will be offended or injured by thy drunkenness.
Thou shall try not to be an asshole.
I could go on, but it's a fairly useless exercise. The notion that it's even possible to draft up a short list of morals that will govern how people live their lives is naive. The church claims that their vaunted ten commandments, plus their "golden rule" (interesting that their golden rule isn't included in their ten commandments) are all you need to live life ethically. What a joke.
