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Doug Griffin
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Guest Writers
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Dissecting the Ten Commandments
by Doug Griffin
Reprinted with Permission
© Doug Griffin at Counterbias.com
March 9 2005
With the debate raging over the display of the Ten Commandments at
America’s courthouses and other government buildings, I wanted to analyze
each commandment with something called logic.
I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
First of all, what does this commandment have to do with law? Nothing
says control like “obey me and only me.” This is the most blatant attempt
by the authors of the Christian Bible to control you. You are not allowed
to question this, only accept it. I’d question anything that says, “this
is the only way and all others are false.” These are the edicts of an
insecure god, not a powerful one. Also, if God is all-knowing and
all-powerful, there is no need for the middleman (Moses of old, Benny Hinn
in modern times) to deliver the message to the masses. Throughout history
there have always been hucksters—and I'm sorry but, theoretically, Moses
might qualify—saying that they are delivering the message of God. I heard
D. L. Hughley once say, “everybody that says they work for God, isn’t
necessarily being truthful.” Or something to that effect.
Jesus is quoted as saying, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the
Kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If
they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you.
Rather, the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you
come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize
that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not
know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."
This is one of those quotes that you won’t hear often at church because
the statement basically cuts out the middleman—your pastor(s). If you
claim to be Christian, it stands to reason that you would follow the words
of Christ—and not necessarily the Old Testament which Jesus supposedly
made null and void. For all you fire-and-brimstone conservatives, that
means you’ve got to let go of a lot of your beliefs. That is, if you are
truly a Christian. But that requires change—possibly your biggest fear.
II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of
any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to
them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth
generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them
that love me, and keep my commandments.
Again, nothing to do with the law. And again, here is another control
mechanism. Do you realize that only the Abrahamic religions (Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam—they're all related) require you not to question
their respective validity? From a logical standpoint, does it make sense
that an all-knowing, all-powerful entity needs:
A) hucksters and charlatans to spread the message? B) your total,
unquestioning obedience to soothe God’s ego? And last, but not least, C)
your money?
I think if one can think logically, the answer to these questions is
“No.” But logic has no place in organized religion, otherwise, most
wouldn’t exist.
III. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the
LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Again with the vanity. And again, not a law. Why anyone with higher
than a third grade education—around the time I started questioning
religion—buys into the absurdity that any omnipotent figure would be this
petty, is beyond me.
IV. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou
labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the
LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy
daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy
stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven
and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:
wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Almost halfway through and no laws yet. The true Sabbath is Saturday;
the origins of the word Saturday bear that out. In Spanish, Saturday is
Sabado. Christianity can’t get their own days right in this respect, so
they go to church on Sunday. Obviously it is okay to question or even
change some rules to suit your needs. This too should be a reason to
question. But most Christians wish to continue the status quo and be
slaves to their beliefs rather than think for themselves as Jesus
Christ—again, the namesake of the religion—directed.
V. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the
land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Five commandments in, and so far nothing resembling any laws we have on
the books. Maybe this one should be a law considering the way we treat
elderly people in this country.
VI. Thou shalt not kill.
Finally, a law! The problem is that people, including Christians, kill
all the time. From the original Crusades to the modern day Crusades of
President Bush (a devout Christian), and everyday across America. The man
accused of being the “BTK” serial killer is reportedly a devout Christian
and active member in his church—probably a registered Republican too. Go
figure. Additionally, abortion clinics have been bombed by
Christians—ironically called pro-lifers. Those bombings took the lives of
innocents as well; some of the victims have been pregnant women, who would
no more think of abortion than the most avowed pro-lifer, but whose only
mistake was working in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kill ‘em all and
let God sort ‘em out!Huh? Can I get an Amen?
VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Another no-brainer, but not a law. If it were, the sanctity of marriage
might actually mean something, rather than the ridiculous and
un-constitutional notion of banning gays from it. If you would not want
your spouse to cheat on you, why then would you cheat on him or her? Why
does one need a commandment to uphold their marriage vows? If you follow
one of the most basic of Christian doctrines—Do unto others—you need only
think to yourself before you break that vow, “How would I feel if my
spouse were to do what I am about to do?” If you're honest with yourself,
you wouldn’t like it. It might even make you want to kill someone.
VIII. Thou shalt not steal.
Hey, another law. That’s two. We’re cooking with gas now!
IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
This one is only a law if you are under oath. This falls under the do
unto others category.
X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy
neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor
his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
Again, do unto others… but not a law.
So, only two of the ten commandments are actual laws on our books. Why
then must the commandments be displayed on government property?
Jesus reportedly summed up the Ten Commandments with two:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your strength and with all your mind. And, Love your neighbor as
yourself.
Buddhism simply says, “Cause no harm.”
That sums up everything that Commandments 5 through 10 discuss in one
simple sentence. It sums up life in general. Is what you are doing at this
moment causing harm to anyone—including yourself? That’s the only question
you need to ask yourself before you do anything—lie, cheat, steal, kill,
abuse—to any person or animal.
Commandments 1 through 4 basically feed the alleged vanity of God.
Again, I ask, why would an omnipotent being be vain and need ego-stroking?
The question has to be asked, again, why display something at our
courthouses that really has nothing to do with our laws?
It is the ego of Christianity—not of God—which compels Christians to
insist the Ten Commandments be displayed. Everyone does not worship the
Christian God and it does not make those people wrong because they do not.
Nor should it diminish the power of the Christian God simply because the
commandments are not displayed. Give God a little more credit!
To me, one of the biggest problems with Christianity, indeed Judaism
and Islam as well, is the arrogance that each have in saying that theirs
is the only way. If you notice, the further west you go on the globe, the
more arrogant the practitioners of the religion in the region. And you
just don't get any further west or more arrogant than the United States of
America.
I am not an atheist. I grew up in the Baptist church. I started
questioning the contradictions in the Bible—and there are many—a long time
ago. However, I do still believe in a higher power. I just don’t believe
that I am as detached from that power as the messengers of Christianity
would have us believe. I believe that we are all God. I don’t need a
filter nor do I need to be told how to connect—I am already connected to
God.
It has been my experience that getting to heaven is the sole motivation
for Christians to do the right thing.
In that respect, I ask two final questions:
Is it best to do what is right because you have a perceived reward
waiting for you in the hereafter?
Or, is it best to do what is right
simply for the sake of doing what is right?
Cause no harm.
Reprinted with Permission
© Doug Griffin, at Counterbias.com
About the Author
Doug Griffin is just a regular
guy from Texas, sharing his thoughts about the Bush Administration.
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