The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments are thought to be the moral frameworks by which people, or at least, Christians, have to pattern their lives. Christians often refer to these commandments as the Objective Moral Laws.

Anyone who was brought up Christian can identify at least five (5) of these commandments. For the sake of those who do not know what the Ten Commandments are, here they are:

1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.

2. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

5. Honor your father and your mother

6. You shall not murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.

You now have the Ten Commandments of God or the Objective Moral Laws of Christians. Now, let us try to scrutinize each of these commandments.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.

The first commandment does not even constitute a moral action. Having gods other than the God of the Bible does not have any pleasant or unpleasant consequence.

A commandment to serve any god lacks wrongness or rightness. One good example for this is the service of people to different gods.

Muslims serve Allah and Allah is considered as the only true god. Muslims also have a commandment regarding not having other gods before him. Christians, on the other hand, serve Yahweh and Yahweh is the only true god for them. This, simply, negates the claim that the first commandment is an objective moral framework.

Even if each person in the world turns to praising and worshiping a different god, such an action does not cause harm or benefit to others.

You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

It does not require superior intelligence and logic to realize that the first commandment and the second commandment are just the same. They are similar egoistic prohibitions.

It must be noted that if people follow the first commandment, it is impossible for them to worship different stuff. Commandment number one is enough.

God should have used this slot for other more important commandments.

As an omnipotent, omnipresent, omnibenevolent and omniscient being, he should have made a commandment against rape. (Rape is obviously not prohibited in the Bible. In fact, Deuteronomy 22:28 commands that a virgin rape victim has to marry her assailant and has not to divorce him for the rest of her life.) Also, it would have been better should God have put a commandment against slavery (a condoned immorality in the Bible), pedophilia (just slipped God’s mind), plagiarism and other good commandments.

Clearly, the people’s welfare and safety is not one of the things that God prioritizes. The fact that he gave two commandments for his benefit proves his egocentrism and narcissism.