[Vision2020] Which Commandments? How many?

[Paul Rumelhart]

See what happens when you go without sex for three days?  More commandments
than we can reliably count foisted upon us.

Also, the commandment against making idols of anything that lives in the
waters under the earth is obviously talking about Cthulhu.

In all seriousness, though, I don't know what to think about the ten
commandments being etched into stone in various governmental buildings.  I
can understand the argument that it is a symbol of faith and should have no
place on government property.  I have felt that way myself in the past.
Currently, though, I don't look upon it as being any different than statues
of Lady Justice (where she is blind and holding a balancing scale).  The
rise of Christianity is as much a part of our collective history and (if I
don't offend anybody) our mythos as Greek and Roman deities are.

My concern would be seeing religion being pushed in actual law, which I
haven't seen lately.

Paul


On Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 8:02 PM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

> *"The Ten Commandments"* by George Carlin
> http://www.tomandrodna.com/Soundbites/Ten_Commandments_George_Carlin.mp3
>
> Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .
>
> "Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
> http://www.MoscowCares.com <http://www.moscowcares.com/>
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> "There's room at the top they are telling you still.
> But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,
> If you want to be like the folks on the hill."
>
> - John Lennon
>
>
> On Aug 20, 2014, at 7:53 PM, "Nielsen, Ralph (nielsen at uidaho.edu)" <
> nielsen at uidaho.edu> wrote:
>
> Sent to the Moscow Daily News and the Lewiston Tribune.
>
>  What’s the real story of the so-called Ten Commandments (Exodus 19-20)?
>
> When the Israelites came to Mount Sinai Moses told them to wash their
> clothes and not have sex for three days. Then Mount Sinai was enveloped in
> thick clouds and smoke and rocked by earthquakes and loud trumpet blasts.
> Moses went up the mountain, where the LORD spoke "these words" (Exodus
> 20:1-17) to Moses, who in turn spoke them to the people.
>
> These words or commandments are not numbered, and there are more than ten
> of them. Among others, you must not make an idol of anything that lives in
> the waters under the earth (the earth is flat, with four corners). You must
> not work between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday. If you honor your
> parents you will live a long life (because there is no life after death in
> which to be rewarded). You must not covet any of your neighbor’s property,
> including his house, his wife, his slaves and his livestock.
>
> Nowhere in these two chapters (Exodus 19-20) does it say that these words
> or commandments were carved on tablets of stone. Nor are they numbered.
> Jews, Catholics and Protestants divide them into ten commandments, but they
> can’t agree on how to divide them, nor on how to number them.
>
> So why waste time, money and materials to erect images of them on public
> land? You are bound to offend somebody: wrong listing, wrong numbering,
> wrong place.
>
>
>
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