Anonymous
Introduction
There are so many thou shalt nots in the Bible it is hard to determine exactly which ones made it to Moses' tablet. They include many minor sins and leave out major ones, gagging on gnats and swallowing camels. I felt it was high time somebody brought them up to date.
The Original Ten Commandments
I am the Lord your God. You Shall have no Other gods Before Me.
A recipe for religious intolerance and violence.
You Shall Not Make Graven Images.
Graven means statues. Kristians totally ignore this with their plastic Jesus's dangling from the dashboard and weeping virgin statues in their
churches, and statues generally. I agree most of these statues are tacky, but I cannot understand why this should be considered the number two sin. Do statues accidentally entrap spirits trying to incarnate in
bodies? Would putting a little warning sign on the statue saying "Not a real person" suffice to stop it from being considered a danger? Islam has a similar prohibition, even against two dimensional realistic
images, possibly based on Deuteronomy 16:22. Is it only because of the temptation to worship them? Is the problem idealisation , creating impossibly beautiful images that no real person could measure up to,
basically a condemnation of pornography? What is the history of this taboo? Do dolls, robots, holographic projections and inflatable dolls count as statues? This commandment needs to be reformulated to make it
clear why it is needed, if indeed it is. Few people literally worship golden calves any more, though I did read that the golden calf from the movie was being auctioned at EBay.
Do Not Take God's Name in Vain.
This means don't swear. Is this really important enough to make it to the top ten sins?
Keep Holy the Lord's Day.
Again, is refraining from Sunday shopping one of the world's top ten sins? Get serious.
Honor your Father and Mother.
This is often taken to mean you should unquestioning take on your parents
beliefs, including such things as racial prejudice and xenophobia.
Do Not Kill.
However this does not seem to include hunting for sport, killing whales,
killing in war, or capital punishment. This is too wimpy a commandment.
Do Not Commit Adultery.
Adultery is about the least valid reason for a couple to split up. This
commandment encourages couples who are otherwise happy to split over a single instance of adultery. Adultery handles only one of many important agreements people make with each other.
Do Not Steal.
Stealing
is defined to be a crime only of the lower classes. When upper class people do it is called "cornering the market", "sharp business", "monopoly" or "pressing your
advantage". It needs to be reformulated to explicitly cover more territory, perhaps something like the Buddhist refrain from taking that which is not given.
Do Not Lie.
Judge Jackson got in trouble for not lying about what he thought of Bill Gates. This is a strange world.
Do not covet your neighbour's goods.
As sins go, this harms only the covetor. Why is it here in the top ten? How come all this seemingly minor stuff is up there, but all seven deadly sins are not represented? Where is homosexuality?
