The Ten Commandments

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Many Christians say that one of the most important laws to uphold are the Ten Commandments. But I wonder if they've actually bothered to check what they are for once.

I will bold those that are actually in the laws of contemporary western societies today.

#1 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'

#2 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.'

#3 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'

#4 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'

#5 'Honor your father and your mother.'

#6 'You shall not murder.'

#7 'You shall not commit adultery.'

#8 'You shall not steal.'

#9 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'

#10 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'

Only 40%? I don't know about you, but I think the Ten Commandments got an F...

The Bible is not a good source for morals, but if you're really interested in trying to find anything worthwhile morally in the Bible you should read the Jefferson Bible. The Bible is useless in anything else, it even sucks as fictional stories go.

I can explain what they all mean


The Ten Commandments are important because sins are the forbidden fruit and while it may be sweet to the consumer, sins are what hurts us most.
It’s the center of many a controversy. People want to ban them from being shown.
Commandments are rules like your parents would give you (except maybe not involving jumping on the bed) but they are to keep you from getting hurt. This is something many kids don’t get to know well and remember. They live without a moral foundation and are hurt as a result. The commandments teach us that by following certain rules that we are safer and have more freedom in the long run.
The best way to describe this is to go over the commandments one at a time.
1. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.

2. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.”
God is the only God and many of the homemade idols (Jesus is ok since he was the son of God) have people burning children alive (and you thought grounding was bad) and things like that that mix with murder and abuse.
God had the people taken to Egypt so that they would see he was the real God when the homemade ones wouldn't answer them. He rescued them with Moses who was along for the journey to lead them to the Promised Land and that's also when these commandments were made.

3. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
The meaning of this commandment should be obvious. Using the Lord’s name in vain is disrespectful and a horrible thing to say to someone or about something. Cursing is wrong and doesn’t make you look cool or anything in God’s eyes. So think before you speak. So say no to swearing because there are better words you can always use.

4. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
This is where Sundays come in although it can be any day within a week. If we don't rest it hurts us mentally, physically, and spiritually. Work hard but don't overdo it. Keep a day for the Lord as he did himself. If you can’t get to church just make some time for learning about the Lord.

5. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”
Basically it says that we should love our parents. You don't have to like, but you should love. You don't have to do what they say if it hurts you, someone else, or makes you feel uncomfortable but respect them enough to say so. When parents are using good intentions, it’s best to listen.

6, “You shall not murder.”
This is the ultimate. You know that murder is a horrible act. It hurts the families, the victim,and the killer.
There are killers out there who do have remorse and know they did a bad thing and feel bad about it. They can be forgiven if they ask but still they live with that for the rest of there lives in jail without much freedom. So you can see that real freedom comes without sin.

7. “You shall not commit adultery.”
When you cheat on someone you hurt them and break trust. You also break your vows that you swore to. Also this hurts the cheater since they risk diseases and in the end it hurts everyone.

8. “You shall not steal.”
Ever have someone steal from you? It hurts, doesn't it? Taking things that others have worked hard for is cheating no matter how small. When you want something like a video game work hard and earn it. That makes it more worthwhile and you have no guilt later on.

9. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
This commandment refers to lying which we have all done and we still do slip up a lot on it. We try to remember not to. When you do it so much soon people won’t believe you when you do tell the truth.
Lying hurts in many ways. Just look at all the commandments and see how it fits in.

10 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”
This leads to many of the above problems. For example when the wrong person wants someone else's boyfriend they may kill or harm the girlfriend for him.
If you want something in the wrong way it can sometimes tempt you to steal it. Be happy with the things you have and you never know maybe you will get whatever it is of your own one day.


So you see in Jesus there are more freedoms then you may think. Going out and freely doing these sins may seem exciting but really hurts more in the end. Having a good moral foundation is an important thing in life so it’s good to start while young in building that up.
So think about it like that and put it into perspective.

Anyone can be forgiven if the prayer is genuine and you really mean it. A serial killers moments before his death that says the prayer is accepted

I do not see here anything special in those commandments. When we would take e.g. the Roman Ten Table Law or the laws of antique Greek Polis - some sound still very reasonable:

"If a man die, leaving children, if his wife wish, she may marry, taking her own property and whatever her husband may have given her, according to what is written, in the presence of three witnesses of age and free. But if she carry away anything belonging to her children she shall be answerable. And if he leaves her childless, she shall have her own property and whatever she has woven, the half, and of the produce on hand in possession of the heirs, a portion, and whatever her husband has given her as is written. If a wife shall die childless, the husband shall return to her heirs her property, and whatever she has woven the half, and of the produce, if it be from her own property, the half. If a female serf be separated from a male serf while alive or in case of his death, she shall have her own property, but if she carry away anything else she shall be answerable."
(Code of Gortyn, 450 BC)

This sequence seems for more reasonable than what you find a few lines later in the Bible regarding selling daughters into slavery.

Some opinions of mine?

#6, #8 and #9 have been accepted in most cultures and religions as good working rules for a civilised society. On that count, there was nothing especially moral about ancient Judaism, and I don't think there's anything about those rules that a non-religious person wouldn't come up with.

#7 should not be misunderstood. We (OK, many of us) disapprove of adultery, in the sense of cheating on your partner, because of the human misery it can cause. Fair enough, but that was not its original meaning. Look at this rule and similar ones in the Old Testament, and in the world in general, and you'll find that they had to do (and in some places still have) with the fact that women are seen as the property of men, and to put it crudely the property cannot be allowed to shop-soil itself or it'll be useless for breeding purposes. It would be more honestly phrased as 'A woman shall not have sex outside the ownership of a particular man'.

#1 has been used to justify the persecuation and death of people of non-Judaeo-Christian religions. #2 has widely been used to persecute and gag artists. I'm not even sure what #3 was originally about, even, but it most likely was not straightforward cussing as some people understand it.

#4 is actually quite sensible in that everyone does need time off work and it helps if it's enshrined in law. But it shouldn't need religious justification.

#5 is very widely abused. It is, I know from people who've been in that situation, routine for abusive parents from a religious background to use that verse to justify any amount of hate, pain and emotional blackmail. If someone only honors their parents because a rule tells them they should, their parents almost certainly aren't worthy of the honor.

And #10 is a) about preventing feelings, which is not something any rule can do - you can only discourage people from acting on those feelings if the actions would be undesirable; and b) has the same attitude to women as #7 - your neighbor's wife is his property.

Not surprisingly, religious people have broken most of those commandments unapologetically and with religious intent.

Never surprises me when someone even one who believes in supreme being is just like everyone else when the pot is calling the kettle black.

And let's not forget the homophobes who eat shell fish....

In the Bible when one of the experts on the Ten Commandments asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was, Jesus answered by saying, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment.”

Then Jesus said, “The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” I think that Jesus is telling us that God's commandments can be summed up in one word: "love."

Although many Christians did own slaves, it was the Christians who were the main force behind ending the international slave trade. I've heard that two-thirds of the members of the American Abolition Society in the early 1800s were Christian ministers.

rules were needed back then because as time goes on more&more people inhabbit this home we call the cracker. some of the commandments are good, some are questionable. some were clearly way to religious with a culture twist. so i guess the point im trying to make here is humans really are silly. common sence is common. i mean, really..

now however since nobody can be shure if they were actually written by god or not people dont care. because 'duh it was! and dont you question it.