Ever think about how glibly the Ten Commandments are evoked? Ten! Hey, that's a lot. Now quick, tell me what they are. Betcha' can't. I couldn't, and so I googled them with the "feeling lucky" button, which took me to a site wherein I learned that these commandments, far from being "written in stone," are presented quite differently by Jews (for whom they were first written), Catholics, and Protestants. But there is enough commonality between them to allow from some general comments on them, and the move by certain Americans to turn our fair land into a theocracy, in much the same manner as the fundamentlist Islamic nations which are now perceived to be our enemies. (What a victory for those terrorists, who turned so many of us into them, right?)
I'll cut to the chase. IMHO only three of these vaunted commandements even deserve to be taken seriously as laws to live by: Don't kill, don't steal, and don't bear false witness. (Incredibly, the commandment against murder was expunged from the list when Moses rewrote the commandments, after smashing the first stone tablets!) Anyway, what kind of a God was it who would put at the top of the list: Hold no other God above me! Gee, the Muslims say the same thing: There is only one Allah! If ever anyone needed a clue that these commandments were written by power-hungry patriarchs, this is it. Commandment number one is: Don't you dare pay any attention to those prophets across the mountains, in the next valley!
And then there's all this business about "graven images," which was written by Moses in such a way as to prohibit ALL graven images. Hello! Message from the 21st century. We now live in an image-saturated world. How could the Supreme Court, let alone serious leaders in various states, expect the population to take this seriously? What? We should close down all the image gravers--all the magazines, all the broadcast media, not to mention all of the arts, and drag our women back to the caves, where these commandments seem to have originated?
Article comments
1 - Lisa R
I suggest you do a bit of research. The "demonization" of sex does not occure in Judaism. In fact, the exact opposite is the case. Judaism teaches that sex is a natural part of life. In fact, there is a positive commandment that it's the duty of the husband to please his wife, especially during Shabbat.
2 - Dorian Grayson
I'll grant you that Jews don't demonize sex "today" the way Christians do. But most of the scriptural fuel that Christians use to do so is taken from the old testament, home of Sodom & Gamorrah and of Moses's Ten Commandments, which tell us not to even think about it. The Jews have tempered their scriptures with reality; too many Christians have not.
3 - Lisa R
Well, again, you really need to do your research because you are approaching Judaism from Christianity. You might be surprised to find out that modern Jewish attitude toward sex has become more strict.
Although the Christian Old Testament is taken from the Tanach (Jewish Bible) it is not the same thing as it has been greatly altered to support the tenets of Christianity. From grammar and word changes to the addition of a whole book.
Contrary to Christian teachings there are not "Ten Commandments" there are 613 and they are not Moshe's, they came from HaShem (G-d). What you are referring to are more accurately called the Ten Utterances or Statements which are essentially the categories the 613 Commandments fit under. Within the 613 Commandments there ARE laws dealing with sexual morality but as I stated, there are positive commandments through which we learn that sex is a natural and good part of life in addition to the negative commandments dealing with such issues as adultery, incest, etc.
As for the story of Sodom and Gemorrah, contrary to what is taught in Christianity, that story is NOT about sex. In fact, sex is barely a minor point in that story. That story is about the failure of a society to choose to do good over bad and the repercussion of such choices.