The 10 commandments, allegedly gods word and moral code. Its quite obvious, they are completely inadequate, not only for the time they were fabricated, by bronze age Palestinians, but even more so now. Humanity has come up with more heinous crimes with international reach and committed on an industrial scale.
Examining the commandments, the first questions to raise alarms, why the finite number of 10 and why God has never added amendments? Surely, the moral instructions of the all powerful deity should be progressive and adjusted to cope with geo-political changes and progression of technology and communications.
“I am the LORD thy God
Thou shalt have no other gods
No graven images or likenesses
Not take the LORD's name in vain”
I am the lord thy God, that’s more of a statement from a narcissistic, despot dictator than a commandment. Looking closer at the actual statement that was made, we can view the greater extent of this.
“I am Yahweh your God, who brought
you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall
have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves an
idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that
is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you
shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh
your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on
the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who
hate me, and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love
me and keep my commandments.”
"Yahweh", really. The less said about that the better.
You shall have no other gods before me. Now the dictating starts, although the "before me" line leaves the door open for as many gods as you like, in the understanding that Yahweh is praised the most. A clear indication of an inferiority complex and the attempted construction of a hierarchy of deities.
No graven images or likenesses, has been the most misinterpreted of all the commandments. On one hand, the Roman Catholics have completely ignored this. The churches of Rome are filled to the rafters with, statues, idols, symbols and art works which are to all intents, bowed to, worshipped and served. On the other hand the Islamic community not only follow this to the nth degree but issue the fatwā, an Islamic version of a death warrant, for something as benign as a satirical cartoon.
Thou shall not take the lords name in vain, really, why not? Its doesn’t even give a sense of context in which the lords name is take in vain. If an anvil is dropped on your toe and you shout "GOD" at the top of your voice, what is the punishment? Eternal damnation? A bit harsh if, you consider some other crimes or moral outrages that are not covered by the divine insurance policy to heaven.
The most disturbing aspect of the statement containing the first four of the commandments is, "for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God". Not only is this contradictory to large parts of the bible as a whole but completely goes against the commandment of coveting donkeys and the like. Already, we are confused and conflict arises are the motives of Yahweh are being questioned. OK, he has megalomaniac tendencies, that has been established. Though he can be jealous, we can not.
Easiest thing to do at this point, bin the first four commandments and amend with a single commandment that is able to cover humanity as a whole and the vast array of cultural and religious diversity.
New Commandment Number one.
“You are free to believe in a god or gods, but do not force the will of that god onto others or collect taxes or use public funds in the name of that god.”
Remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy. This again is not only ridiculous but unhelpful and lacking information.
Six days you shall labour, is this compulsory? What if your sick or have nothing to do? But the seventh day is Sabbath, on it you shall not do any work. It doesn’t even say what day the Sabbath is. What calender are we working from here? Is it the Julian calender, the Mayan calender? Who knows. Christians think its Sunday, Jews think Saturday, Muslims a Friday and the Hindus were never forwarded the memo on the 10 commandments. 3/4 of the people are doing it wrong and condemned to impending doom.
Honour Thy Father and mother. In the first instance this seems perfectly fair. Though its quite self explanatory and hardly worthy of a spot on the list. It's human nature to honour your parents. The commandment seems though, to be compulsory under any circumstances and no exceptions are granted. See the above example were the honouring of your father is not advised. What if, your mother was complicit in the physical, mental or sexual abuse by a step father, does she deserve to be honoured? An alcoholic or drug addict mother who neglects her children? This commandment is flawed, though well meaning, its inadequate and doesn’t cover the scope of life.
New Commandment number 2
“Never hurt a child physically or mentally and always care for your children .”
Mothers and fathers deserve honour but its not essential. The well being of children is and in all forms
“Thou shall not kill.”
New commandment 3
“Do not commit murder or genocide.”
This makes the unlawful killing of people forbidden and the ordering or willing of killing groups, all condemned. By replacing kill with murder it leaves the opportunity to defend yourself and your loved ones.
“Thou shall not commit adultery.”
New Commandment 4
“Do not engage in any form of non consensual sexual activity.”
I think that not raping people deserves to be on the list rather than adultery. The ten commandments do not cover rape, sexual assaults, and the like in any form. Does god condone this behaviour? Do the ten commandments give a green like to rapist, peeping toms and sexual deviants? The lack of condemnation seems to suggest so, if only in its lack of importance by god.
“Thou shall not steal.”
New commandment 5
“Do not steal, commit fraud, embezzle, create false wealth or use other's property as collateral.
Financial crimes are the most wide spread, industrialised and have the furthest reach and consequences in the modern world. The new 5th commandment outlaws such industrial thief ranging from JP Morgan's selling of precious metals they do not own through to stealing of tumblers from the pub.
"Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbour"
Shall not bear false witness, is this in terms of a court system as a lowest common denominator or is it lies in any form from basic over exaggerating to accusing an innocent person of murder?
Who exactly is your neighbours. Is it the guy next door, people of your town, people of your ethnicity? It doesn't say. It could be interpreted that way, allowing the Jews to be blamed for everything. We've seen that before.
In February 1933 Adolf Hitler ordered the burning of the German reichstag and blamed the communist party. Their members were arrested and the Nazi party consolidated it's power and suspended civil liberties. That lead to, ethnic cleansing, genocide, torture and 100 million dead in a world war.
The gulf of Tonkin incident started the Vietnam war. The u.s. government fabricated a story about the North Vietnamese attacking a u.s. ship. The incident never took place.
A million Iraqis lay dead because false evidence was presented to the world about the Iraqis having weapons of mass destruction . No such weapons existed.
The false flag as arisen many times in history and results in the most despicable crimes against humanity. It is the worst form of lies that usually results in dire consequences for the entire planet.
Are all lies wrong, according to to orthodox commandment it would seem so. Are there circumstances were lying or bearing false witness is acceptable?
It could be argued that lying for the greater good is acceptable. Hundreds of millions lie to children about Santa clause. Is this harmful? I've not seen any evidence to suggest it is. People will tell friends a performance they gave was good when, it was poor, to save their feelings.
New commandment 6
“Do not committee perjury, do not wilfully lie for personal gain or the detriment of others or create an event to blame on another party.”
At last my favourite commandment for many reasons, the one with donkey
Ring the alarms bells, here comes the thought police. For the first time, god has instructed us what not to think. Not only our actions are being judged but our very conscious and subconscious thoughts.
Are the thoughts god is forbidding so morally outrageous? My next door neighbours donkey is fabulous, it has a shiny coat, strong carrot gnawing teeth, a bushy tail and can carry a mighty load. My donkey on the hand looks as though it has rickets, is blind in one eye and can't walk the length of it's self.
Should I not aspire to have a donkey as good as him next door. Is aspiration not the path to personal progression. If we are forbidden to be inspired and aspire to be as good as others, do we not lose a vital tool in the pursuit of progression as a species?
We are also forbidden to covet the neighbours wife. I myself would never covet my neighbours wife as she looks like a female version of John Merrick. Now, that being said I have coveted a wife or two in my time. We have already been commanded to not committed adultery but now we are ordered not to think about it.
Dictating the thoughts of people is dangerous and Ill advised. Can we really control our thoughts, especially those generated in the furthest parts of the subconscious. If my dreams where held accountable in court as actions , I'd have been locked up a long time ago.
This commandment to me is a badly phrased, padded and a work around of, thou shall not be jealous. Hasn't Yahweh already declared the fact of his own jealousy, should he not lead by example? A glaring contradiction and unhelpful moral argument.
Again, mentioned are the man servants and the maid servants. Yahweh has mentioned these servants more than once. Are they paid or slaves? The fact we are ordered not to labour them on the Sabbath suggests to me they are unwilling participants in their servitude.
Rather than attempt to infringe our free will with thought authoritarianism, would it not be in the greater interest of all to ensure the freedom of man kind.
New commandment 7
“Do not have, trade, participate in slavery or hold the innocent captive against their will.”
We need to cover classical slavery as well as modern slavery such as the sex trade and human trafficking. Also, kidnapping is covered by this update and hostage taking and detention without trial.
The original commandments have been condensed down from 10 to 7 yet there scope and range have been vastly increased and the outdated nonsense removed.
We have covered the florescent omissions from the original 10 such as rape, slavery, genocide and mass corruption but more has to be done. Crimes against nature and protection of the future, I argue have to be included as well as other omissions such as discrimination.
New commandment 8
“Never withhold or suppress knowledge from humanity.”
In an ever changing environment it is important that knowledge and technological advancements are made available to all to ensure humanity has a future.
In an environment where energy sources are finite, the suppressing of an alternative to fossil fuels such as cold fusion or efficient solar power would be a despicable crime not only against us all but our children and their children. In a world of economic gain from the scarcity of resources, it's clear to see why some would gain to benefit over the many in such a case.
Medical knowledge should be open, transparent and available to all. Imagine a cheap cure for cancer being with held from humanity for the profit line of big pharmaceutical companies. Is that not a crime of massive proportion ?
Knowledge of considerable philosophical should also be disclosed, imagine the undisputed evidence for the existence of extra terrestrial life or worse, contact with extra terrestrial life being covered up from humanity by a state or special interest groups.
I shutter to think what wonders were removed from the offices of Nikola Tesla at the time of his death . Again the evil hand of j.p. Morgan dips into the mix for his own advantage. These things can not go unchecked
New commandment 9
“Do not interfere with the water supply, food supply or the atmosphere for profit or personal gain.”
Water, food and air are the three most import things for the survival of the species. For individuals to meddle with any of these for profit, personal or collective advantage is not only a moral outrage but a crime against humanity.
Companies such as Monsanto messing with mother nature at her fundamental level in the name of the bottom line, is outrageous.
The long term consequences are grave and deplorable. Creating non replicating seeds, forcing farmers in the third and first world to repeatedly buy seeds is disgusting. Spicing genes with insects and plants creating genetic crops with built in pesticides and other toxins is beyond belief and the long term effects will be irreversable.
Diverting water supplies to the advantage of one group of another is clearly wrong. Dumping toxins into the water is also clearly wrong. It's a fundamental right of all humanity to have a natural water supply.
Our atmosphere is the biosphere of life. Should such crimes as chem-trailing be allowed? Not only is consent withheld but this shouldn't be done in a clandestine manner, that is so much worse.
Weather modification will also fall under the domain of this addition. If used as a weapon or an attempt to change weather for the good of one group over another is despicable.
The all knowing deity feels this is not worthy but surely as a rational people we should include and attire to this practice.
New commandment 10
“All humans are equal, do not treat any human different from another for any reason.”
The mighty Yahweh didn't find discrimination in any form worthy of inclusion on his commands. Without question, fundamental to our humanity is the right of all of us to be treated and respected the same no matter our colour , creed , sex etc. This is something humanity has realised on it's own without Divine guidance or intervention. We have fought for it and worked for it through multiple generations. And our own sense of right is slowly bringing us through the other side of the issue.
I have managed to throw together and discuss, in the space of an hour, ten commandments that have far greater scope and range than the divine. We don't need deities to give us morals or ethics. We get our morals from discussion and debate, social commentary, our courts, public opinion, presidents set, our disgusted at crimes, our internal moral compasses set by our empathy and compassion and through experience.
The New Commandments
1. You are free to believe in a god or gods, but do not force the will of that god onto others or collect taxes or use public funds in the name of that god.
2. Never hurt a child physically or mentally and always care for your children.
3. Do not commit murder or genocide.
4. Do not engage in any form of non consensual sexual activity.
5. Do not steal, commit fraud, embezzle or create false wealth or use other's property as collateral.
6. Do not committee perjury, do not wilfully lie for personal gain or the detriment of others or create an event to blame on another party.
7. Do not have, trade, participate in slavery or hold the innocent captive against their will.
8. “Never withhold or suppress knowledge from humanity.
9. Do not interfere with the water supply, food supply or the atmosphere for profit or personal gain.
10. All humans are equal, do not treat any human different from another for any reason.
