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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (55174)	7/1/1999 11:59:00 PM
From: Achilles	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 67261

I've taken the liberty of copying and pasting the commandments below. It seems to me that #1 and #2 are pretty meaningless in 20th century N. America, where the competing traditions are various kinds of monotheism, acephalous deism, and atheism. These rules assumed a polytheistic environment that no longer exists. Believers have (appropriately imo) salvaged the text by interpreting 'false gods' metaphorically. But that does not in any way make these two particular rules 'universal', if by that we mean that all or most humans would adhere to the ethical principle implicit here. I also suspect that #3 and #4 does not convey any 'universal' principle. Murder (#6), theft (#8), false accusations (#9) are I would assume universally condemned, though I suspect that human ethical systems show remarkable diversity in what kinds of killing constitutes 'murder' and in what circumstances transfers of property ownership are unacceptable. The others (#5 honouring your parents; #10 coveting) are probably good advice for a happy life. But they are of a rather different order than many of the others, wouldn't you say? But can I take this a step further. I hope that I will not be struck down by lightning for this, but without serious exegesis and allegorization, the Ten Commandments are not a very useful list of ethical precepts. Nothing about telling the truth generally (only false accusation is prohibited by #9). Nothing about assault. Nothing about wearing socks with sandals. Nothing about selfishness. Nothing about compassion. Nothing about civility. Not of course that these principles are found elsewhere in the Bible: they are. It's just that they're not explicit here. Which of course raises the question of why does anyone think that putting up these signs will do anyone any good? And do you honestly believe that people will read them? Or is this like the Krishna prayer wheels: that the repetition of sacred texts, no matter how mechanically done, has some unseen saving effect? And surely you can't be serious when you say that the cost will be negligible. There must be half a million schools and courts in the US. It'll cost 100 million at least to produce and install these signs. For reference: 1.(3)You shall have no other gods before Me. 2.(4)You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 3.(7)You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. 4.(8)Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 5.(12)Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you. 6.(13)You shall not murder. 7.(14)You shall not commit adultery. 8.(15)You shall not steal. 9.(16)You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 10.(17)You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox, or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

To: jlallen who wrote (55174)	7/2/1999 2:33:00 AM
From: truedog	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 67261

to: jlallen from: truedog the 10 I am really glad to see that the ten commandments have made the proper correction on the "kill" one. The saying of " Thou shalt not kill" was based on the King James revisers from their interpretation of old texts. Further research has been done, and intense studies of the ancient Hebrew texts have resulted in the more accurate "You will not murder". This makes sense because, the Commandments were given to Moses in chapter 20 of Genesis. Then, early in Leviticus, God gives Moses a list of people that He wants killed because they are abominations to Him. IMO, God don't make mistakes!! I'm sure the anti-Christian element will chime in on this but, unlike someone else we know, they can say anything they want about me. BUT, I will retaliate. Any non Christian that doesn't want to believe in any aspect of our beliefs can do so. I personally feel that it is their loss but, they have every right to disagree. Regards' truedog