How realistic are the commandments in the yr 2005?

[EnigmaXOXO]

I think this commandment has nothing to do with saying "Oh my God" or "God damnit"--I think that's stuff you tell kids so they'll watch their mouths. I think taking the Lord's name in vain is when you use God or religion to hurt other people instead of for how it's intended.

 

I agree. At least, this is how it was explained to me in Catholicism class when I was a kid. It's when someone condemns or damns someone in G-d's name…or when they judge another in G-d's behalf…or when they are so arrogant to pretend they speak for G-d…or use G-d as a reason to commit an injustice or "sin" against another (such as war or murder). That's vanity. That's ego. That's blasphemy. And to me, is closely related to "baring false witness" against G-d.

 

It's really quite simple when you strip away all the confusion of dogma: Do no harm to another, be responsible and aware of yourself, and spend your time on earth trying to do more good works instead of bad.

 

As far as honoring the Sabbath, I know those who spend their Sundays serving food in soup kitchens, putting in time towards Habitat For Humanity, and performing various other acts of charity. You may not see them in church, but by their works I believe they are celebrating their faith in the best possible way.

 

Then again, G-d didn't tell me this. It's only my humble perspective.

[JPMorgan]

TEN COMMANDMENTS

 

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (Exodus 20:1-2)

 

 

1st Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3)

 

2nd Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: [color=blue]for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God[/color], visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:4-6)

 

3rd Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. (Exodus 20:7)

 

4th Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:8-11)

 

5th Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the lord thy God giveth thee. (Exodus 20:12)

 

6th Thou shalt not kill. (Exodus 20:13)

 

 

7th Thou shalt not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)

 

 

8th Thou shalt not steal. (Exodus 20:15)

 

 

9th Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. (Exodus 20:16)

 

10th Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. (Exodus 20:17)

 

They can still hold up today, but one thing that I have always questioned is where God tells us that He is a jealous God. Are thre other Gods for Him to be jealous of? Is He egotistical? Are these commandments serving Him; His ego; ourselves? Is God not perfect as He has been portrayed? Or, if God is a jealous God then will He accept us with our own 'emotional baggage' and insecurities? Is jealousy only allowed for God? There are a ton more questions to go with this, but I won't write them here.

 

I think the 10C would hold up now and that many people do follow them, including holding virginity until marriage and not working on Sunday (Isn't there a popular fast-food chicken place that is still closed on Sunday because the owners don't believe in working on the Sabbath?). But I also think that maybe God is flexible enough to understand that the world is different now and that working on Sunday is OK and not a sin. We all need a day of rest and shouldn't work constantly so as long as we each take one day of rest in seven we are OK. If we pray to God to help us find a job to support our family and the job God helps us find happens to include working on Sunday, would God want us to quit the job? I don't think so.

[tiki]

I find them totally fitting in this world. You have the freedom to choose between a worldly world or a Godly world. Although sometimes hard, I choose the latter.

[smile95]

I do agree that they fit, but as someone said, I think God understand the change in the times.

[tiki]

I would imagine that your God is an understanding God.

 

Such a good thread. I've really enjoyed it.

 

And it's Chick-fil-a, for the poster that asked about the restaurant being closed on Sunday.

[smile95]

thanks tiki! I really love to get other people's views on questions I have. This is so much more productive than watching TV!

 

thanks to all who posted!

[Auz]

Amerikajin

 

We werent created 'to test whether or not we believe in our creator's existence'. We were created out of love, and because of this love, we were given the gift freedom of choice - To believe in God and to follow his ways, or to believe otherwise. If we werent given this choice, then it would be like living under any dictatorship or oppression, where you MUST follow one persons rules - you have no freedom of choice.

 

Some people chose to believe in God the catholic way, others chose to believe in the same God a different way ie other christians, and others chose to believe in a different 'God' ie Buddhism. Some people prefer to believe that there is no Greater Being at all, and once again this is their choice.

 

None of us can honestly say 'My religion is right and yours is wrong' - the most we can say is 'My religion is right, but I respect your choice for thinking otherwise' - for all we really know, maybe we are all right, and all believe in the same God in different ways - kinda like different call plans for different people:). For all I know, maybe I have chosen the wrong beliefs and those Tree Loving Druids were right all along...But the fact is I have put my faith in Catholicism, because that is what i believe is right.

 

To your points (although I follow slightly different wordings)..:

 

1) If God eliminates all other theoligies, then what good is freedom of choice? Why should God punish someone for reading a book on Zen? If you force people to do something, then they will fight against it. Follow the Pope John Paul IIs lead, and acknowledge other religions - dont necessarily worship them, but respect them for their choice. And God is meant to be loving, not vengeful - so causing arthiritis wouldnt make sense.

 

I guess its why religion is called faith - because we have faith in things that we dont necessarily understand or comprehend, faith in events that occured in the past, and events that will happen in the future. If I needed to rely on physical signs like burning bushes, then religion would be called fact not faith:)

 

2) It means dont worship carved images of things in the sky, on the earth, or in the water - ie dont go around worshiping the Sun, the Moon, stone statues, trees etc if he created them all. Reminds me of the saying 'God created the Stars - do you turn to him or your Horoscopes for advice?'

 

3) Respect God's name and what he stand for - Dont beat a Mormon up and say 'God made me do it'

 

4) Capitalism once again comes from free choice. I chose not to work on Sundays, where I can avoid it. Sure some people will have to, but if you can avoid it then good.

 

5) Respect your parents only if they respect us???? Why not be a better person and respect them, even if they hate your guts. If someone disrespects you, then why stoop to their level and be just as spiteful?

 

 

Auz

 

 

 

Originally posted by amerikajin

All this biblical crap just doesn't make sense. I've never understood why a God would go through the trouble of creating life for the sole purpose of testing whether or not it believes in its creator's existence. If I created some form of intelligent life, I'd do it because I think it was interesting - like some kind of lab experiment or something. I'd do it just to see if I could succeed in building a stable planet in which all of my creations could somehow live in some degree of harmony, not because I need to appease my ego and have them believe that I exist. I'd assume that if I were successful at creating intelligent life, they'd sooner or later figure out that something more powerful and more complex than them was responsible for their existence. Having said that....

 

ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.

 

...okay, then. I'll live by that condition - if God would be just do me the courtesy of eliminating all of the other pseudo theologies of which he speaks. Give me a sign or something - like if I start reading Zen Buddhism, give me a painful case of temporary arthritis. After two or three times, I'll get the picture - trust me. I won't touch a Buddhist text ever again after that.

 

TWO: '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.'

 

Hunh? Don't make carved images of the heavens above or soil beneath? Umm, that is sooooo B.C., man.

 

THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'

 

Sounds like this God's got a bit of an ego.

 

FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'

 

And then God said 'Let there be Capitalism'. Okay, maybe God didn't...but a lot of his most ardent supporters sure did.

 

FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'

 

Agreed - assuming they honor us.

 

I'm cool with 6 through ten, though you might want to replace your neighbor's donkey with "car" or modern appliance...and it might be more p.c. to leave out the references to "servants."

[Nicholas]

Originally posted by Auz

We werent created 'to test whether or not we believe in our creator's existence'. We were created out of love, and because of this love, we were given the gift freedom of choice - To believe in God and to follow his ways, or to believe otherwise. If we werent given this choice, then it would be like living under any dictatorship or oppression, where you MUST follow one persons rules - you have no freedom of choice.

I think he was being a bit sarcastic, but I totally see his point (and am interested in your response).

 

He means, if there is a creator, why wouldn't he make his presence known? The challenge of religion is indeed to find faith in God, which means that essentially, even though it may not sound beautiful, what Amerikajin said is the key to salvation. We were put on this earth to eventually realize who put us here. It's a test to see whether or not we believe in him.

 

With some question-begging, we can navigate around that and say we were given free will and freedom not to believe out of love for us--but that all assumes a belief in God anyway, and is of no use to those without a strong faith.

 

But I think his point is still a valid one. Ultimately, if you subscribe to the common belief of salvation through faith, the only way to save yourself is to believe in God. Assuming the greatest gift God can offer us is life forever up there with him, the "test" to see if we're worthy of that gift is whether or not we believe in him.

 

I get the whole love and free will schpiel (and so does, I'm sure, Akj.) but even if there is a positive spin on the reason for our creation, you can't deny that 'to test whether or not we believe in our creator's existence' is a certain motive of the Creator, or else the gift of heaven wouldn't be dependent on us meeting that criterion.

None of us can honestly say 'My religion is right and yours is wrong' - the most we can say is 'My religion is right, but I respect your choice for thinking otherwise'

In almost all cases, the latter is just a more respectful way of saying the former.

I guess its why religion is called faith - because we have faith in things that we dont necessarily understand or comprehend, faith in events that occured in the past, and events that will happen in the future. If I needed to rely on physical signs like burning bushes, then religion would be called fact not faith:)

But isn't it true that the more you try to make sense of it, the less faith you have?

 

For example, I agree with your belief that "for all we really know, maybe we are all right, and all believe in the same God in different ways"--That's what I want to believe more than anything. I like the idea of no one being wrong.

 

But that's just wishful thinking on my part. It's something I chose to believe so that I could remain consistent (a reconciliation with all the faiths and the idea of a loving god who accepts all).

 

People of strong faith wouldn't need to worry about consistency. Faith has a brazen quality that to me, is off-putting. I'm interested in your thoughts.

[moimeme]

for all we really know, maybe we are all right, and all believe in the same God in different ways - kinda like different call plans for different people.

 

That's exactly what I believe. I, too, am Catholic but don't think that one *must* be Catholic or even Christian and I don't think we're put here to be tested 'so - do ya believe Me'? All our religions, and even non-religious spirituality, teaches that there is an Entity to be honoured, be it gaia or g-d or whatever and that we must treat our fellow humans kindly. That these two truths (the two Great Commandments, as it turns out) made it into every religion and philosophy tells me that they are Truth and that's why we should abide by them. It is the very universality of these ideas on this planet of far-flung people of different origins and ideologies that is the strongest proof to me that there is a God who inspired these ideas.

 

In short, my faith exists because faith exists.