RE: You can be an atheist and still follow the ten commandments as guidelines
January 30, 2017 at 1:38 pm
(This post was last modified: January 30, 2017 at 1:41 pm by Simon Moon.)
(January 20, 2017 at 12:47 am)pool the great Wrote: The ten commandments are in my opinion guidelines. There is no harm in following them.
Quote:You shall have no other Gods but me.
You shall not make for yourself any idol, nor bow down to it or worship it.
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
You shall remember and keep the Sabbath day holy.
Respect your father and mother.
You must not commit murder.
You must not commit adultery.
You must not steal.
You must not give false evidence against your neighbour.
You must not be envious of your neighbour's goods. You shall not be envious of his house nor his wife, nor anything that belongs to your neighbour.
These are good guidelines imo. You can follow the good ones and ignore the one about God if you like but at the end of the day these are good principles to live with. Credit where credit is due.
Sorry, but I have to vehemently disagree.
There only 3 that are worth following.
You must not commit murder.
You must not steal.
You must not give false evidence against your neighbour.
These existed long before the Bible was written, in The Code of Hammurabi, for example. But more importantly, they seem to be a product of our evolutionary past.
The one about adultery depends on the marriage. Some people have open marriages, so for them, this commandment does not apply.
If it wasn't for being envious of your neighbor's goods, capitalism would collapse. Which may be a good thing, but that's a conversation for another topic.
The rest are concerning 'god's' vanity. Why would those be good guidelines for those of us that do not believe any god exists, to follow?
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
