THE FALLACY OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
(Rev. 240930)

If your IQ is above 100, and you are not a gullible bigot, then you will probably understand this logical and rational explanation of why I believe that the ten commandments were not given by God. Instead, it is just another fictitious bible story.  

The first inconsistency, that I noticed, is related to historical dates and the invention of alphabets.
According to biblical historical data, Moses era was between the 13th and 14th century B.C. At that time Ramses was Egypt's ruler. And the Egyptians were drawing their history in hieroglyphics, since there was NO alphabets yet, only cuneiform written in clay tablets in Mesopotamia.  About 300 years after Moses, the first alphabet was created by the Phoenicians. And about 50 years after that, the Hebrews create the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. Therefore, in what language were the commandments written on?

But more important than the date inconsistencies, are the fact that some of the commandments are not worded the way that God would have worded them. And I am indicating such inconsistencies bellow, one commandment at a time.

1. Thou shall have no other gods before me.

This logically implies that there are other gods. But if there is only one god, then why would god imply this.
If I had been Moses, I would have asked god: "Are you implying that there are other gods?  If so, who or what are they?  And how do they differ from you?"
Of course, I do not expect that the person (or persons), that made up the Moses story, could understand implications and inferences.

2. Thou shall not make unto thee any graven images.

The Christianity created by the Romans do not seem to obey this one. Their churches are full of images and statues of saints, and apostles. In fact, the cross can be consider a graven image, since it was the thing used to kill Jesus and thousands of early Christians and slaves that did not please the Roman empire.  However, why would god not like us to worship the image of someone who was a saint (divine person while he or she lived)? This can be consider an implication that god is jealous. And jealousy is an evil attribute, not a divine one. And god has all the divine attributes. The evil attributes belong to the ungod. Therefore god would not have given us this commandment.

3. Thou shall not take the name of the lord thy god in vain.

What name? The common name we use (god)? Or a unique name? Like Yahweh ? Or Ala, or Jehovah, or Elyon? ...etc
But names are a human concept. If there is only one god, then why does he need a name? And who gave it to him, or her, or it. And "lord" is a human title. God needs no human titles.

Why didn't Moses ask god to clarify how to pronounce his name? (if he, she. or it, has one)

4. Remember the sabbath day. To keep it holy.

How do we keep it holy? And what about the other days? Are they unholy days?

5. Honor thy father and thy mother.
 
What about thy grandfather and thy grandmother?
A better commandment would be:
    "Love thy family, and be loyal and protective of family member that deserve it"

6. Thou shall not kill.
    Later changed to Thou shall not commit murder.

This commandment is too vague. Killing can be justified if it is done to save innocent lives, or in self defense.
And does it apply to humans only? What about the killing of animals for sport?

7. Thou shall not commit adultery.

This is a good one. However, most people choose not to obey it.

8. Thou shall not steal.

This is also a good one. I can not find any problems with this one. In fact, it is very logical, because if no body steals, then nothing will be stolen from us.

9. Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

God would not limit this to neighbors. Because this implies that it would be OK to bear false witness against some one who is not a neighbor.
This one should have been "Thou should not bear false witness against any one"

10. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife, or his slaves, or his animals, or anything of thy neighbor.
      Later truncated to: Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife.

What about the wife of someone who is not thy neighbor? Or what about thy neighbor's husband ?

This commandment could not have been created by god. It was probably written by a male chauvinist, for males. Because it does not state not to covet thy neighbor's husband. It also implies that the person who invented this commandment believes in slavery. And I believe that god does NOT approve slavery.

I believe, that if god were to really give us some commandment, it would be something like:

1. "BE HONEST AND SINCERE"
2. "AVOID EVIL ACTS"
3. "AVOID EVIL EMOTIONS"
4. "SEEK SERENITY"
5. "LOVE FAMILY MEMBERS AND FRIENDS, WHO DESERVE TO BE LOVED"
6. "PROTECT THE OCEANS AND THE ATMOSPHERE"

However, in order to obey 2 and 3, we must clearly define what "evil acts" and "evil emotions" are.
Therefore I am defining them here, for your benefit:

An "Evil Act", is something that is “done” (executed) by an intelligent life form, and causes the physical and/or emotional harm and/or suffering of another intelligent life form. The life form can be any animal that has a brain and therefore is capable of feeling pain and suffering. And if the life form is human, then "financial harm" must also be consider, since financial harm can cause emotional suffering.

An "Evil Emotion" is a strong feeling or state of mind that tempt us, or motivates us, to commit an evil act. Some examples of such evil emotions (or evil states of mind) are; hate, anger, lust, delusion, bigotry, racism and ignorance.

Although some "evil acts", such as killing, are sometimes necessary, for our survival or to prevent greater evil acts such as the bombing of innocent civilians or mass murders. Therefore, there are certain evil acts that can be considered necessary evils.

And now, there are some gullible idiots who are trying to teach the fake 10 commandments (not given by god) in schools.
And to make things worst, some idiots want teachers to teach from the bible.

I guest they must be intelligent deficient, and do not understand the "separation of church and state" as required by the U.S. Constitution.

What they need to teach in schools, beside science and the humanities (art, music, etc), is ethics (moral philosophy) using logical rationality. Not religious ideas from religious texts created by individuals who had very little knowledge and created stories that are not historical facts. 

REFERENCES:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments

"Good And Evil" A Reference Manual and User's Guide

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