Ten Commandments thru the eyes of a Freethinker

Ten Commandments through the eyes of a Freethinker

These are the commandments allegedly passed down to Moses on Mt. Sinai.

I – You shall not have no gods before me.

                When someone who is without “God Goggles” looks at this commandment they see that God is worried about his followers serving any other God. This can easily be used to prove the existence of other gods. Christians would tell you that the other gods God is speaking of is the golden calf’s the people were worshiping while Moses was hanging out with the “real” God on the mountain. This does not seem to hold water because God doesn’t worry about the golden calf until the second commandment which we will look at next.

II – You shall not make for yourself a carved image.

                God goes on to say that he is a jealous God. How is this possible? Jealousy is a human emotion. Is God saying he is human and who is there for him to be jealous of? Perhaps the other gods he forbade you to worship in commandment one! What’s the problem with carved images? Everywhere we look in society we see many carved images of crosses, statues of Jesus, the special Jesus fish on your car, but I guess those are acceptable carved images because of what they represent.

III – You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

                Well, there goes sex! All of you women who moan “oh god” out of pleasure are surely going to hell now. Also, every single person who has ever taken an oath that started with “do you swear” and ended with “so help me God” you’re screwed to! 

IV – Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

                Where should I begin? Let’s begin with teaching believers to use a calendar. Sunday is the first day of the week thus making the Sabbath on Saturday. Therefore, if God was willing to kill a man for picking up sticks (Numbers 15: 32-35) on the Sabbath, how do you think he feels about you working on Saturday? How do believers justify making the first day of the week holy? Did they forget how to count? If you were to actually live your life according to the bible, every believer would be taking every Saturday off and would hold church services. Then they would be able to watch the game on Sunday.

V – Honor your father and your mother

                God forgot to add “or you will be stoned to death” to this commandment (Deut. 21: 18- 21). I find it interesting that God would add this as a commandment knowing Jesus would teach the opposite (Luke 14:26). Why make this commandment if it were not intended to be permanent?

VI – You shall not murder.

                Evidently this commandment applies to everyone EXCEPT God.  All throughout the bible we read where God is killing millions of people; Sodom and Gomorrah, Amalekites, the flood, just to name a few. Why is it okay for God to kill men, women and children? My theist friends would justify these killings by saying “He is God, he do anything he wants with his creation.” I would add “Except set a good example.” If we were to follow the example set by God this commandment would definitely read differently.

VII - You shall not commit adultery

                Unless God tells you to of course. In the bible God tells a man to sleep with his brother’s wife and plant his seed inside of her. While the man is enjoying the pleasure of his brother’s wife, he pulls out and spills his seed on the ground. This angers God and God kills him.  Also, let’s not forget Abraham who had a child with his maid servant while married to Sarai. In fact, God allows him to do so. So, I guess we can kick this commandment to the curb as well if we were to live according to the bible.

VIII – You shall not steal

                Only plunder after following God’s order to wipe out an entire city and every living inhabitant. But then again I guess it isn’t stealing if they are dead right? Maybe this commandment applies only to living people, I'm sure that’s it, it’s only applies to the living.

IX – You shall not bare false witness against your neighbor.

                This leaves the question who is your neighbor? If we are to understand that our neighbor is our fellow man, when Abraham bared false witness to the Pharaoh by calling his wife his sister does this count as well? How about the second time when Abraham pulls the same stunt on King Abimelech, does this count? I guess not because Abraham kept all the livestock and money paid to him for his wife err sister.

 

X – You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, wife, male and female slave or anything belonging to him.

                In the bible there is no need to covet anything.  All throughout the bible we read of numerous times when God told men to go into a city and kill everyone then take their belongings as spoils of war. Even sadder God tells them to kill all the women who have been with a man but keep the virgins alive and do as you wish with them. 

I have heard on more than one occasion Christians saying they live their live according to the Ten Commandments. I know they think that these are the Ultimate Laws to live by, but I wonder if they have ever actually compared these laws to what is actually written in their holy book.  I know this article is going to upset a lot of the theist that read it, but I would say to those theists who happen across this article to please consider what is written here without passing judgment. I know it is easy to pass judgment and not give any thought to what is written but at some point everyone should approach the bible with level of skepticism when verses do not seem to add up.