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People were worshipping the creation rather than the creator long before that time. Worship is just giving worth to something, acknowledging where our blessings come from. Being considerate to others was part of it, as it says to love God with all your heart and love others as yourself. Rape would possible be a subcategory under covetousness--wanting something that is not ours and we cannot have. Further on in the Law of Moses, rape was punishable by death.
Truly, what does it matter what we worship? You say it's needed to add worth to something. Wouldn't worshiping nature lend value to nature? We could use a little more of that: we might actually take care of our Earth rather than pillaging it as is our wont.
If rape could be a subset of covetessness, then couldn't "make no graven images, keep the sabbath holy, and don't take the Lord's name in vain" all be put under "You shall have no other gods before me"?javajo said:
Possibility? Why not just put "rape" in the commandments to clarify it?
It probably wouldn't have hurt to reinforce it in the easy-to-remember list of ten. We could replace one of them with "Take care of the Earth". Wow! I'm just imagining what a profound change that would make in the way many Christians tend to view the environment and policies geared towards protecting it.We are to take care of the earth, this was established in Genesis, and it is a shame we have not done better. Go green!
I dunno. I would think "Treating outsiders kindly (ala the Good Samaritan)" would have more than set them apart from everyone else. Everyone was generally extremely insular, tribal. Word would have quickly gotten around about this strange tribe that treats everybody as equals, regardless of what tribe they belonged to.javajo said:
True, most Christians have trouble with just the ten. I know I have broken all of them numerous times.
True, Christianity did that well as in there is no difference between Jew nor Greek nor bond nor free, love your enemies, do unto others, etc. OT Israel had many strange laws to set them apart from those around them, like not eating pork or shrimp, etc. They also took in people outside of their tribe and had laws for treating them fairly, I think more so than surrounding tribes.
I can't begin to imagine how much human suffering could've been averted if one of the Ten Commandments had been something like "human beings are not property. Do not own people as slaves."
Because it's nowhere near as important as making sure to not work on Saturday, obviously.
You've murdered? Numerous times? Seriously?
1 John 3:15 says: Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer...So in that sense, I am sure any time I have hated someone even for a moment, I have broken the essence of that law. It is the same with adultery, Jesus said if we look at a woman to lust after her we have committed adultery in our heart. So it is the essence of the law that is important, too. But mainly, the law, that is the 10 commandments, are there to show us that we all fall short of God's Holiness, we are all sinners. If we have lied then we are a liar, if we stole anything at all, we are a thief. If we have taken God's name in vain we are blasphemers. So, when we stand before the Lord on Judgement Day, we will stand before him as lying, thieving, blasphemous, murderers and adulterers at heart, etc. and if we have not trusted Christ that he paid for all these sins and gave us his righteousness in place of our own, then we stand before God guilty and without hope. That's my belief anyway.
That's a pretty non-constructive reason for creating a set of laws.
Describe "personal relationship"....beta said:
odion said:
I said "mainly", not exclusively. It had more than just that one purpose. But it is not non-constructive, for it provided a way for all people everywhere to be freely saved apart from the Law. Galatians explains this in detail, here is just a little bit of it, but read the book, it says if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness should have been by the law, but:
No argument from me there.
That's the most important question. I doubt very many at all.
Whoever made it seemed to have a bit of a dodgy outlook on how women would feel about marrying someone who had raped them. The rule seems like it ultimately rewards the rapist.
I just think that the main purpose of any law-- particularly a law given by an omniscient and benevolent God-- would focus more on how to coexist peacefully and happily with each other, rather than with a) how to properly worship God or b) to simply show us that we can't possibly live up to the law.
Wait... huh? You are saying that the 10 commandments were constructive because they gave people a way to be saved by not having to follow the 10 commandments? That's like saying twinkies are healthy because you can eat an apple instead.javajo said:
javajo said:
Even if we can't be saved just by being good and following the 10 commandments, there is no reason why God couldn't have created a more balanced set that actually dealt with how to appropriately treat and interact with your fellow human beings and the world in which you live.javajo said:
How many legs does a dog have if you call its tail a leg?
A personal relationship can be subjective though. Stalkers think they have personal relationships with their victims when in truth the victim may not even know the stalker. Some people define their personal relationships through letters, internet, or even just over the phone.Friend, if you don't understand what 'personal relationship ' means you are not old enough for one.
