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.