Meditation for December 17th, 2016
The Ten Commandments Now
A long time ago an Egyptian Jew walked up to a mountaintop while he was leading a flock of Jews from Egyptian captivity back to the land chosen for the chosen people to get some rules from Yahweh. These were written into stone as The Ten Commandments.
People refer to them all the time, and some want them placed in halls of law. They weren’t the first set of universal laws, but due to bigger armies and government’s use of religion, it became the most popular set of laws.
What does it mean in today’s society? Do the laws hold up thousands of years later? Let’s look at each one.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me
In the olden days the land was full of gods. Most people in those days believed in several gods doing different things. Yahweh was a jealous god with low self-esteem that was into the idea of being to only god.
Today people believe in many gods again: money, science, resources, and god has become a tool for those to attain those things. God is now put behind country, wealth, power, being right, oil, and other things humans have made worth something.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
Ah, the worship of idols, real or imagined. This is, and all the other commandments, is dealt with by death. This is the pictures of Zeus or Justin Beibler on your wall. This is pictures of saints and your heroes including Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson.
A true Christian would have blank white walls and would ignore superstitious beliefs like walking under ladders. People should be murdered for saying bless you after someone sneezes.
Thou shalt not take the name of thy Lord thy God in vain
This is just saying God, God damnit, God fucking damnit, gawd, gosh, Jesus Christ, Jesus H. Christ, Jesus H. Christ in a crutch, God Jesus fuck it, Jesus having sex with Mohammed, god almighty, and just plain old Lord or Lordy. The vain part is saying it without true conviction or honest faith.
The entire modern political world in America has been the empty and vain proclamation of the Lord Almighty for political power. This is the very definition of the third commandment and a good ole stoning should be in order.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy
Because of inventions of new calendars and changing things for convienience, sabbath usually is on Sunday. This means worshipping the Lord and not doing anything else – no turning on and off lightbulbs or football.
There was a time where stores and other businesses were closed in Sunday. Then there were limited hours. Then it was just straight up open on Sunday. Now shops are open on Christmas and Easter. Poor people, even if they are devoutly religious, are required to work on holy days including sabbath. Consumerism beats this commandment hands down.
Honor thy father and thy mother
All of the sudden a commandment that sounds nice and makes sense. It’s even more important than not stealing or killing, but in the order of things less important than making fun of God or worshipping Derek Jeter.
Family is important in all cultures, so it almost seems bizarre to even mention this. Duh, be nice to those that gave you life and raised you, even if they did a really terrible job. In fact the Torah makes a statement that even the wickedest of parent ought to be honoured and respected.
This is really a clause to keep the children of Yahweh in the fold and not running off to hang out with worshippers of Baal because of daddy issues.
Thou shalt not kill
This makes a lot of sense. Even in these days murder was illegal and the guilty would be punished. Pro-lifers who ignore all the rest of the laws of Moses will use this one for their war on choice, but usually in favor of war against non believers and even killing doctors who perform certain medical services.
This world is still full of war and most of it from the three religions that stem out of these very commandments, the Abrahamic religions. Murder is fine provided it is god’s will. So an unborn baby needs saving, but an expected mother in Syria is the wrong worshipper. Seriously, either no killing at all or stop claiming your religion in vain.
They say suicide is an unforgivable act and the soul will not find the comforts of heaven, but, boy, things would have need different if all murder was unforgivable in god’s eyes. Too bad he kept letting his chosen people to commit genocide to get what they want.
Thou shalt not commit adultery
Cheating is a bad thing, right? So, this commandment makes sense, right? During the days of this stone chiseling, this wasn’t protecting love, this was protecting a man’s property, a wife, from being used without the man’s knowledge.
The old way of marriage, which some of the ritual survives to this day, is to buy a girl from her father who then pays for a celebration of the union of the two families, a union of familial, property, financial unions, and the woman is now kept by the new family.
True feminism is to cheat on your “man”.
Thou shalt not steal
Another obvious one, right? This is just the loophole that says property and ownership is very real. The original translation was a little different in that it was kidnap and not steal. Kidnapping has always been a very lucrative business even in Old Testament world.
In some views this also refers to conning people out of things even if you pay them. To truly appreciate and honor this commandment, you must pay full price for everything and you must take no as a hard no. To do so is an act of stealing.
Thou shalt not bear false witness to thy neighbor
This is the commandment that should over rule the fifth amendment in if you have testimony, you must testify. Truth is the very nature of all of these commandments, so to lie to your neighbor is a commandment.
Slander and gossip are all ways to bear false witness. Talking shit is a breech of this commandment.
The very nature of modern politics in the United States has been breaking this commandment, mostly by the party that flexes its Bible nuts the most. This election even worse than most with a Christian nation using false witness to undermine another Christian nation. If the biblical laws were upheld, and America was to die due to Russia’s false witnesses, they would be due the same death.
Thou shalt not covet your neighbor’s house. Thou shalt not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor
The tenth commandment isn’t saying not to steal, it already says you can’t, it says not to borrow, but not to want it. This may seem insane to not want something that isn’t ours, but let’s look at the wisdom of it:
Communism. This was supposed to be this government that helped everyone share everything equal, right? Too bad the CIA’s black market helped keep some Soviets with things others didn’t have. Envy is the reason the Soviet Union fell to her knees.
This also helps in our capitalist society. So much is sold by us that envy someone else having it or trying to be the one that is envied. Happiness would be want inf the things you have. Ecause you want it. Advertising is a direct front to this final commandment. Our whole society is based on envy based consumerism. God didn’t want that.