Critics of the Christian bible occasionally can score a point or two in discussion with the religious community by noting the many teachings in both the old and new testaments that encourage the bible believer to hate and to kill, biblical lessons that history proves Christians have taken most seriously. Nonetheless the bible defendant is apt to offer as an indisputable parting shot, "But don't forget the Ten Commandments. They are the basic bible teaching. Study the Ten Commandments."

Do study the Ten Commandments! They epitomize the childishness, the vindictiveness, the sexism, the inflexibility and the inadequacies of the bible as a book of morals.

Actually only six of the ten commandments deal with an individual's moral conduct, which comes as a surprise to most Christians. Essentially, the first four commandments say:

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make thee any graven images or bow down to them, and if you do I'll get you and your kids and their descendants.
Thou shalt not take the name of the lord in vain.
Keep the Sabbath holy.
The exact terminology is found in chapter five of Deuteronomy. Two other versions of the "ten commandments" can be found in the Old Testament. One version, in Exodus 20, differs slightly from the Deuteronomy version, while a third, in Exodus 34, is wildly different, containing commandments about sacrifices and offerings and ending with the teaching: "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk." This is the only version referred to in scriptures as the "ten commandments."

In essence, the first four commandments all scream that "the lord thy god" has an uneasy vanity, and like most dictators, must resort to threats, rather than intellectual persuasion, to promote a point of view. If there were an omnipotent god, can you imagine him or her being concerned if some poor little insignificant creature puttered around and made a graven image? Do you think that any god, possessing the modicum of good will you could expect to find in any neighbor, would want to punish children even "unto the third and fourth generation" because their fathers could not believe? How can anyone not perceive the pettiness, bluster, bombast and psychotic insecurity behind the first four commandments? We are supposed to respect this?

"Honor thy father and thy mother" is the fifth commandment, and it is, of course, an extension of the authoritarian rationale behind the first four. Honor cannot be bestowed automatically be an honest intellect. Intellectually honest people can honor only those who, in their opinion, warrant their honor. The biological fact of fatherhood or motherhood does not in and of itself warrant honor. Until very recently, parenthood was not a matter of choice. It still is a mandatory, not optional, happening for many of the world's people. Why should any child be commanded to honor, without further basis, parent who became parents by accident - who didn't even plan to have a child? All of us know children who have been abused, beaten or neglected by their parents. What is the basis for honor there? How does the daughter honor the father who sexually molests her? "Honor only those who merit your honor" would be a more appropriate teaching, and if that includes your parents, great! "Honor your children" would have been a compassionate commandment.

Commandments six through nine - thou shalt not kill, commit adultery, steal or bear false witness - obviously have merit, but even they need extensive revision. To kill in self-defense is regrettable, but it is certainly morally defensible, eminently sensible conduct. So is the administration of a shot or medication that will end life for the terminally ill patient who wishes to die.

Adultery, the subject of the seventh commandment, again raises the question of an absolute ban. For the most part fidelity in marriage is a sound rule, making for happiness; but some marriages may outlast affection. Some couples may agree to live by different rules. Until relatively recent times Christian marriages were not dissolvable except by death, so the ban of divorce coupled with the ban of adultery obviously created great distress. Adultery, it must be remembered, involves an act between consenting adults. How much more relevant and valuable it would be to have, for instance, a commandment that forbids the violent crimes of rape and incest.

"Thou shalt not steal" raises questions regarding the usefulness of a blanket condemnation, and may put squatter's rights ahead of public and private welfare. Should people who are cold or ill steal to ameliorate their situations? Should the child who is hungry steal? Surely this commandment cries for some amending clauses. One is reminded of the comment of Napoleon, who really had religion figured out: "How can you have order in a state without religion? For, when one man is dying of hunger near another who is ill of surfeit, he cannot resign himself to this difference unless there is an authority which declares, 'God wills it thus.' Religion is excellent stuff for keeping people quiet."

In general, to bear false witness is construed to mean "don't lie," and that is a valuable moral precept, except again it is stated in absolute terms. Lies have saved lives, they have preserved relationships, and everyday they save hurt feelings. The truth is not always a reasonable or kind solution. Interestingly, in biblical times the dictum not to bear false witness against a neighbor was a tribal commandment and meant to apply only to persons within the tribe - it was quite alright to bear false witness against "strangers."

Finally, the tenth commandment, which rifles the feminist blood, says: "Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife, neither shalt thou covet they neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is thy neighbors." In addition to rating a wife with an ox and an as, the bible loftily overlooks the woman who might desire her neighbor's husband. Covetousness somehow does not seem like such a crime. If you can't have a comfortable house or a productive farm, what is the great harm in wishing you did? Covetousness may be nonproductive and unpretty, but to make a big, bad deal out of it is ridiculous. Bible apologists sometimes will excuse the triviality of the tenth commandment on the basis that to covet, in a more superstitious age, meant "to cast an evil eye." Someone who coveted "his neighbor's house" was purportedly casting an evil eye on that property with a view towards its destruction. Whether one accepts the apologist's definition of covet or the more popular meaning, the tenth commandment lacks real importance.

Little in Christianity is original. Most of it is borrowed, just as the celebration of Christmas was borrowed from Roman and earlier pagan times. When the "lord" supposedly wrote his commandments on two tablets of stone and delivered them to Moses (Deut. 5:22), he was only aping earlier gods: Bacchus, Zoroaster and Minos. Reflect for a moment that almost anyone reading this nontract could write a kinder, wiser, more reasonable set of commandment than those that Christians insist we honor. Try it!

The propblem isnt the commadments, its people inability to follow them. Thats why he gave us a way outta our sinfull life.

Because most of the morality presented in the Old Testament is discarded by modern Christians, it surprises me that the Ten Commandments are still considered the law of God by most Christians today. I very much wonder how familiar many Christians are with the Bible.

I am reminded of this link, where the Congressman supporting a bill to put the ten commandments up in a courthouse cannot name the ten commandments:
YouTube - Stephen Colbert and Congressman

What I mean is, when people voice their support of the Ten Commandments, I wonder how many actually know what they're supporting.

This is why the internet is a dangerous place. People can just go to an fro throwing allkinds of info around, but having no understanding. Old test is a good representation of Moses law for his people. The law NEVER applied to gentiles. It was rules set by themselfs to govern the Jews. And no one on earth EVER was able to fully follow the law. Cause the law is perfect and we are not. Christains disregard the laws of Moses cause they were never ment for us to begin with.

4 of the ten commandments are utter bullshit and have nothing to do with morality!

In the Bible, those laws are described as the will of God. When Jesus arrived, he stated that he did not come to abolish any law. So what makes you think that the Old Testament is not intended for you?

And okay, so if those laws were not intended for you, why do the Ten Commandments still apply?

The old test is very much for me. Especialy old test prophecy. But the law of moses is not. Never has been. It was to govern the Jews. The 10 commandments were hand carved by God himself as a message to all people.

Jesus did say that he didnt come to abolish the law, but that he came to fullfill it. Jesus is where The law, and Grace found peace with each other.

Hrm, well I think I understand what you're saying, except that when I read the Bible, I do not get the impression that God meant his laws to be exclusive only to the people of Moses, and that when Moses died, so should these laws.

I got the impression that the laws in the Old Testament were God's will, and that all people desiring to please God should follow them: just like the Ten Commandments.

Is there something in the Bible which makes you feel differently?

The one that always cracked me up (or two, depending upon who is counting) is the one on "coveting"...

9) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
10) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.

covet:
1 : to wish for earnestly <covet an award>
2 : to desire (what belongs to another) inordinately or culpably
intransitive verb : to feel inordinate desire for what belongs to another

So basically, you're violating one of the 10 commandments if you WANT something that your neighbor has????

Hell. In some ways I think that capitalism itself is a violation of this commandment...
It's funny how this one seems to be the one time forgot. How pastors can talk about how you need to follow the Lord, or not swear and the profanity in society, or a bunch of the other commandments...
... but I've never heard of anybody focusing on the "covet" commandment...

Basically, the ten commandments are basically Bullshit, JayD recognizes them as bullshit, and no christian here has stepped up to defend them.

TAKE THEM DOWN...

Furthermore, if the basis of a religion is such crap, isn't the whole religion crap? I mean really... we are supposed to worship a 2000 year old childrens character who tells you to defy everything that is natural to you? I don't think so... It's a cult... It divides us as a people... and it is essentially a way to control masses. When people cast off their antiquated ways the world will progress towards the betterment of all.