Paul, we don't have to lay it on so thick.
If you want to say it, of course, I'm not faulting that. But there are other interpretations with strong validity.
Moses' character is very advanced for a person
living 2900 years ago or so. He sets forth
guidelines for a society that is not dominated
by military dictatorship, but is free. There is
a lot of mush in the 613 laws of Moses, but
among the 10 commandments are very few if any that
are not good advice, or at least baselines from which our adventures should not stray too far.
By comparison, most OTHER
governments at that time tended to be the emperor system: if the emperor is sane and the weather is good, life is pleasant for most. If the weather or emperor are not so good, we all suffer.
Although I am against all forms of actual stoning,
and am liberal about allowing diverse human lifestyles, I think the Ten Commandments are a darn good baseline with scientific merit.
Please dispute the modern interpretive value of them ( I might have them out of order):
I Have no other Gods before me. (Remember your true purposes in life, with priority governing action.)
II Keep the Sabbath Holy (Even if you have endless assignments, you are not a machine...take time off to remember your purposes in life!
III Make No Graven Images of God (Any Graven Images are Not of God, so Do not worship the graven images or idols of this world ahead of your own
private, eternal horizon. This is encouragement to remember what I am sure you will prefer anyway.)
IV Do not murder ( In its day, this must have been a step forward to some folks. Its day still has not entirely arrived for everyone.)
V Do not steal (Commerce requires a willingness to refrain from stealing. If others are willing to produce value and trade with you and NEVER steal from you, it is a new, free world compared to the old model where trade was only necessary if they could not steal from you. It frees up a lot of security guards in case they want more interesting work, too.)
VI Honor your father and mother. ( The world doesn't give us the right signals sometimes but this one is a patch. It is an act of power-sharing for a government or religion to suggest giving honor to all, whether rich or poor, simply for being willing to parent their children. It sets an atmosphere of respect which
the natural world might at times neglect.)
VII Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. ( This one is inherent in modern science. If not for honesty 'when nobody's looking,' we would not be as happy or
successful as we are.)
VIII Adulterize not... (Some folks literally
had no concept of this. We treat it in great detail in our literature today, in a freer society. I am not trying to constrain your freedom to choose your relationships based on this.)
IX. The covet thing. Envy... What's number X, nutrition or math? |