The Ten Commandments- Do they Really Contain Lessons to Live By?

The Ten CommandmentsI've always been curious about the worthiness of the Ten Commandments and decided to take a close gander for myself and examine each of them one by one.

First, you should not worship any other God. This "commandment" to me stresses less of a particularly beneficial life lesson and demonstrates more of a vindictive, jealous God who allows for no others before Him.

In the expanded second commandment, God forbids images of Him and depicts himself once again as a jealous God, "For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments." So once again, the commandment is basically stating that mercy is shown to those who respect and love God, but what about the masses who happen to have had no exposure or a different opinion? No mercy there, apparently.

Again, more big Ego stuff. "You should not take the name of the Lord in vain." This is not so much of a life lesson as demonstrating the belief of God and apparently Moses that God's name is more important than any others. I guess he never heard that, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

"You shall not break the Sabbath." Ok, nothing wrong with a day of rest, but does it really have a special purpose or is it just so the Lord can be worshipped for a single day?

Finally, we get to the potential life lessons: You shall not dishonor your parents. This sounds pretty cut and dry, until you consider further the meaning of dishonor and the fact that not all parents are created equal. What would be considered dishonorable by one family would not be by another.

You shall not murder. This seems difficult to argue with, but if you take into consider  wars and self-defense, it becomes a little trickier.  Generally speaking, it is a rule to live by, but do we really need a Bible to tell us not to go around killing people? I don't think so.

You Shall Not Steal: Again, while it is a welcome relief to see that God has finally found it in his heart to keep himself out of the equation, this is also a murky point. There are few among us who wouldn't support a mother stealing for her child. And, again, do we really need God to dictate morality for us?

You Shall Not Commit Perjury. I basically agree with Honesty, but also believe that on occasion, honesty may not be the best policy.

You shalt not Covet. "You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s." While I too, see the danger in trying to keep up with the Flanders, there is not a doubt in my mind that every single person at one point in time has wanted something that was out of their reach or wasn't theirs. The big thing that is left out of this commandment for me is the fact that Thoughts are different from Actions.

Just because I like my neighbor's donkey doesn't mean I am going to steal his donkey. This basically ties into the perception of Christian fundamentalists who believe they are sinners and evil-doers and that they must give bow down before the Lord in prayer to redeem themselves, when the sins in question are actually so small as to be done by everyone.

The Christian website that I took the Commandments from exemplifies how literally they are taken by many Christians. I did not intend to belittle their beliefs, but instead to give my own point of view to laws that are not so necessary and not so altruistic as many Fundamentalists would have us believe. If religion has any purpose at all, it is to provide comfort to those who need a supportive community and words not so much to live by, as to inspire people to greater heights.