I know there are Religious people on this forum and this Website. I do not wish to offend anyone but I know that will most likely be impossible as people get offended by everything these days. You probably got offended by that.

All i'm saying is, if you are Religious and don't want to be offended. Don't read this topic.

The 10 Commandments from an Atheist Perspective

1. 'Thou shalt have no other Gods before me'
Is that really a moral principle we should be living by? The time when that was written down the Jews were Polytheist or recently changed to polytheist. They believed in lots of Gods but were under very strict instructions to worship only one of them. The Jealous God.

'2. No graven images or likenesses'
Apparently I have nothing to say about this one except, why not? What if we worshipped a likeness of God as a Helpful or Happy thing. Such as Charity. Would God really have us decrease our investment in helping others simply because we are doing it more than worshipping him?
[Thanks to Slyestcat for showing me an error in this commandment]

3. 'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain'
You would think God would have more important things to worry about. Like, death, famine, plague, disease. But no, say "Jesus Christ!" as a natural reaction to something and you are a sinner. Hell awaits you!

Notice how the top 3/4 Commandments are all about God? [Not including the 2 Great Commandments]

4. 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy'
Numbers 15:32 : And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses.

The man was collecting sticks to light a fire for the cold night ahead in order to protect his family with warmth and fend off predators. Good one 'Lord'.

5. 'Honour thy father and thy mother'
That's a good one.
BUT. Let's see what Jesus himself said about this.
Luke 14:26: "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple."
What a moral God.

6. 'Thou shalt not kill'
The Jewish reaction when Moses came down the mountain:
"Thou shalt not kill? Oh how silly of me! We all thought it was a great idea to kill"
Funny thing, there's no penalty for this in the Bible. I guess they have to stone so many people they'd have to commit suicide if they enforced this one. It's human nature not to kill. Just because i'm atheist doesn't mean I'm going to run around stabbing people in the eye with a sharp pencil.

7. 'Thou shalt not commit adultery'
This is one I agree with, but it's their decision. Just because God came down to Earth and experienced being a human doesn't give him the divine right to influence someone's eternal future. Jesus was never in a loving relationship and resisted temptation from the Devil. Who wouldn't?

8. 'Thou Shalt Not Steal'
In Biblical times, this commandment was both ridiculous and useful. Picture a family starving. The husband cannot get a job because he has little or no opportunity for work. There is a food stand. The owner has his back turned. Is a small amount of money out of that mans pocket worth an entire family surviving. Yes. Who knows how many deaths this commandment caused because of people being afraid of eternal damnation.
BUT: Do you mean to seriously tell me that up to the point where Moses came down from Mt. Zion with the Ten Commandments that Israelites were stealing from one another and nothing happened?
Seriously nowwhat happens when you find that someone is stealing from you?
There are obviously going to be repercussions and retaliation.

9. 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'
Again, were the Israelites so void of any real world experience or sense of outrage at being stolen from pregnancies of family members through adultery or lies against one another, that nobody ever saidweve got to do something about this and make some laws?

10.'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'
You mean to tell me the very act of wanting something my neighbor has is a sin?
It almost sounds like Ronald Reagan trying to convince me that trickle down economics is what my level of satisfaction should be.


These are my personal opinions on the topic, please post yours below. If you are Religious and you read it and got offended don't say you weren't warned.

EDIT:

The Conspiracy is that these commandments are man-made due to their inconsistencies. There is no logical way that an all knowing God could come up with such illogical commandments.