Examining the 10 commandments
1st commandment: (Exodus 20:2)
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."
I have always thought this commandment was a little strange because it seems a bit petty and childish that an all powerful God should be so bothered whether humans believe and worship or not. The reason is probably that, freewill and what people believe is the one thing that God does not control, and God wants people to "follow the right path" by believing. Still, shouldn't God respect the fact humans are free to believe in and worship "other gods" and to choose not to worship at all? You may think that God does indeed respect this freedom, however Leviticus 26:14-44 goes into great detail in explaining some of the punishments for not following the commandments, some are particularly nasty punishments that you wouldn't expect to come from an all loving God, who, remember is punishing you for your free choice and doesn't give the impression of respecting peoples freewill at all. For example some of the punishments include: wasting disease, fever, failure of the eyes, seven punishments from God, plagues, having to eat your children's flesh, seven more chastisements and the destruction of whole cites. It also talks several times about the use of the sword which I can only assume to mean the death penalty. Quite graphic in some places but are they to be taken literally? There is room for interpretation with some of them but others are more specific. Even if it's not to be taken literally the basic idea is that God will make you suffer (also the death penalty is the punishment for breaking a number of the commandments).
There are people who will say that all "sins" should be appropriately punished and that this is an appropriate punishment for breaking one of the most important commandments. I disagree, not that people should be punished appropriately, which they should, but the fact that the passage in Lev 26 is an appropriate punishment. It is appropriate to not allow non-believers into heaven but there is no need to unnecessarily 'torture' them (and kill them) as well. It could be seen as emotional blackmail - repeatedly punishing people until they become a believer, but I may have misinterpreted it and as I'm not God I don't know the reasoning behind it.
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."
I have always thought this commandment was a little strange because it seems a bit petty and childish that an all powerful God should be so bothered whether humans believe and worship or not. The reason is probably that, freewill and what people believe is the one thing that God does not control, and God wants people to "follow the right path" by believing. Still, shouldn't God respect the fact humans are free to believe in and worship "other gods" and to choose not to worship at all? You may think that God does indeed respect this freedom, however Leviticus 26:14-44 goes into great detail in explaining some of the punishments for not following the commandments, some are particularly nasty punishments that you wouldn't expect to come from an all loving God, who, remember is punishing you for your free choice and doesn't give the impression of respecting peoples freewill at all. For example some of the punishments include: wasting disease, fever, failure of the eyes, seven punishments from God, plagues, having to eat your children's flesh, seven more chastisements and the destruction of whole cites. It also talks several times about the use of the sword which I can only assume to mean the death penalty. Quite graphic in some places but are they to be taken literally? There is room for interpretation with some of them but others are more specific. Even if it's not to be taken literally the basic idea is that God will make you suffer (also the death penalty is the punishment for breaking a number of the commandments).
There are people who will say that all "sins" should be appropriately punished and that this is an appropriate punishment for breaking one of the most important commandments. I disagree, not that people should be punished appropriately, which they should, but the fact that the passage in Lev 26 is an appropriate punishment. It is appropriate to not allow non-believers into heaven but there is no need to unnecessarily 'torture' them (and kill them) as well. It could be seen as emotional blackmail - repeatedly punishing people until they become a believer, but I may have misinterpreted it and as I'm not God I don't know the reasoning behind it.
posted by David at 8:28 am
1 Comments:
More evidence of God using blackmail and abusing peoples freewill is when the Isralites start worshiping a golden calf after they get bored of waiting for Moses to return from the mountain, God orders them to kill each other: (Exodus 32:27 Then he said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.' " The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died). So much for God allowing people free will to worship other gods.
Also God says kill your own family if they go and worship other Gods (Deuteronomy 13:6-10"If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery").
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