Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to The problem with the Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments deal with contracts.
Mary Anne — (archived)

Morality is not derived from them. Quite the opposite. These are laws. Laws are issue-specific, so frequently forbid things.

Now, I was raised Catholic, so I know that there's some discrepancy over the grouping and phraseology. Please bear with me.

The first three have to do with the human contract with God. God lays down the conditions: There is no God but God, so don't worship other gods; no taking the name of God in vain; and keep the Sabbath holy.

Numbers 4 through 10 have to do with legal relationships among humans.

4. Honor thy father and mother: Family relationship contract, pre-Social Security.

5. Thou shalt not kill (sometimes rendered "murder"): Basic human mutual security contract.

6. Thou shalt not commit adultery: Maintenance of marriage contract; connected to #4 (family) and #9 (chattel). Also protects paternity claims, since men are so insecure about this, traditionally.

7. Thou shalt not steal: Personal property protection, and community property protection as well.

8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor: Sometimes construed as an injunction against lying, but in fact a narrower protection of a person's reputation against deliberate false testimony by another.

9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife: Another protection of possessions, with special attention to conspiracy. I have issues with the whole woman-as-chattel thing, but these were drafted thousands of years ago.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods: See #9. Definition of "chattel" less of an issue, since oxen can't vote.

The Big Ten codify certain aspects of behavior pertaining to social activities. They are derived from pre-existing moral guidelines. Though tradition has it that they were written in stone, the commentary on them has permitted a wide latitude of interpretation.

And then the rabbi Jesus came along and reduced them to two, in principle: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and thy whole soul and thy whole mind, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. If one is an agnostic or an atheist, the last one is the only one that applies. Lo and behold, it's the Golden Rule.

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