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RE: You can be an atheist and still follow the ten commandments as guidelines
January 20, 2017 at 11:51 pm
It's a strange thing, but I've found I don't actually need to consult a list of diktats in order to know not to kill anybody or worship false gods. I lnow; weird.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
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RE: You can be an atheist and still follow the ten commandments as guidelines
January 21, 2017 at 12:22 am
Not really.
#1: Thou shalt have no other gods before me
How about no gods period? I mean you come up with ten rules, and this one is 10% of them? Really? "Hey don't worship other gods! I'm mighty jealous. So jealous that I made this the #1 rule in the Top 10 Rules. It's pretty much bullshit.
#2: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
Really? This makes #2? It's absolutely worthless as far as morality goes.
#3: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
God dammit. This is yet ANOTHER commandment wasted on ego.
#4: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy
Another shitty one. Wow. 40% of the commandments, and they're already all shit. Great start....
#5: Honour thy father and thy mother
This one seems fine on the surface--but what if you have parents that are abusive? Half a point for this one.
#6: Thou Shalt Not Kill
Okay, this is a good one. It's really obvious though, and somehow... didn't come in until sixth. Five commandments (all of them useless I might add!) before they get to 'thou shalt not kill'
#7: Thou shalt not commit adultery
Nope no points here. Adultery is too loosely defined to give it credit for 'not cheating on your spouse' and makes no way for open marriages. Not to mention most believe it refers to all sexual 'deviancy' which is a pretty poor definition itself.
#8: Thou shalt not steal
This one only gets half a point too, because while you shouldn't steal... what if your family is starving? Should you just let them starve? Or do you steal some bread?
#9: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour
This gets another point, I suppose. Though it's interestingly not THOU SHALT NOT LIE. It's not bearing false witness.
#10: Thou shalt not cove blah de blah blah blah
No points for this. It's a thought crime. My neighbor has a nice car, and maybe I'd like to have one. Oh no! I coveted. How terrible. It also treats women like property. Not surprised to see this one popular with the misogynists.
So out of 10 possible points... the Ten Commandments gets a whopping... 3 points. That's 30% worth. So they're not even really good guidelines. And one of the good ones is incredibly obvious.
The whole tone of Church teaching in regard to woman is, to the last degree, contemptuous and degrading. - Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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RE: You can be an atheist and still follow the ten commandments as guidelines
January 21, 2017 at 2:54 am
(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.
The problem is that those are not the Ten Commandments. The real Ten Commandments are found in Exodus 34:10-28.
The ones in Exodus chapter 20 and in Deuteronomy chapter 5 are not the Ten Commandments.
Not too many Gentiles would follow the real Ten Commandments so they had to sell the lie that the other sets were the Ten Commandments. Even today most people are too lazy to actually read the fairy tale for themselves so they take the easy way out and believe the lies.
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RE: You can be an atheist and still follow the ten commandments as guidelines
January 21, 2017 at 2:56 am
(January 21, 2017 at 2:54 am)Wyrd of Gawd Wrote: (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.
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.
The problem is that those are not the Ten Commandments. The real Ten Commandments are found in Exodus 34:10-28.
The ones in Exodus chapter 20 and in Deuteronomy chapter 5 are not the Ten Commandments.
Not too many Gentiles would follow the real Ten Commandments so they had to sell the lie that the other sets were the Ten Commandments. Even today most people are too lazy to actually read the fairy tale for themselves so they take the easy way out and believe the lies.
Could you quote the actual ten commandments you speak of, anon?
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RE: You can be an atheist and still follow the ten commandments as guidelines
January 21, 2017 at 3:09 am
(This post was last modified: January 21, 2017 at 3:45 am by Wyrd of Gawd.)
(January 20, 2017 at 1:24 am)paulpablo Wrote: What about people who enjoy killing and stealing? Do these commandments take those people into consideration?
The First Commandment actually instructs people to invade other people's land, to kill or enslave them if they won't leave, and to destroy their religious artifacts. (Exodus 34:11-14). People love that Commandment more than any other.
(January 21, 2017 at 2:56 am)pool the great Wrote: (January 21, 2017 at 2:54 am)Wyrd of Gawd Wrote: The problem is that those are not the Ten Commandments. The real Ten Commandments are found in Exodus 34:10-28.
The ones in Exodus chapter 20 and in Deuteronomy chapter 5 are not the Ten Commandments.
Not too many Gentiles would follow the real Ten Commandments so they had to sell the lie that the other sets were the Ten Commandments. Even today most people are too lazy to actually read the fairy tale for themselves so they take the easy way out and believe the lies.
Could you quote the actual ten commandments you speak of, anon?
Here it is in visual form. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkCJ8rb8Grw
If you want to understand it yourself I suggest you get some paper and a pen and read Exodus chapters 20-34 and to make notes on each section in your own words. Read it carefully and summarize what who have read in each section.
Note that the stone tablets are not mentioned until Exodus 24:12 so that by itself means that the Commandments in Exodus chapter 20 are not the Ten Commandments.
In Exodus 31:18 finally gets the two stone tablets, written by the finger of God.
In the meantime the local yokels are having a party and working on developing the idea of religious freedom with their gold calf. God & Moses get ticked off and God wants to storm down and gut everyone. Moses says "cool down Daddy, let me have some fun killing them." So Moses walks down the mountain with the two stone tablets God had spent forty days and forty nights chipping on and when he sees that the people are having fun he breaks the tablets.
Moses gets his gang of thugs (Taliban/ISIS types) and slices and dices 3,000 people. after the slaughter Moses hits the road to Mount Horeb. And then Moses and God had a face to face chat (Exodus 33:11). Remember, at one time God was going to kill Moses (Exodus 4:24).
In Exodus chapter 34 God tells Moses to whip up a new set of stone tablets and that God would do some more writing. However, in verse 27 it says that God told Moses to do his own writing. In verse 28 it says that whether it was Moses or God that did the writing after forty days and forty nights the stone tablets that contained the verbiage in Exodus 34:11-26 is the official Ten Commandments. It took them 80 days and 80 nights to make two sets.
So, if you have the time and interest in understanding the fairy tale read that material and summarize it in your own words and/or watch the video. Then, when you think about other biblical stories you will see how they all come back to one of those Ten Commandments.
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RE: You can be an atheist and still follow the ten commandments as guidelines
January 21, 2017 at 6:26 am
Okay???
I think the Nine Satanic Statements are even better guidelines to live by...
1. Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence
2. Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams
3. Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit
4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates
5. Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek
6. Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires
7. Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his “divine spiritual and intellectual development,” has become the most vicious animal of all
8. Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification
9. Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as He has kept it in business all these years
So why not live by these guidelines?
My point is, there are all sorts of lists of rules out there you could explore. What's the point? While I personally agree with all of the Nine Satanic Statements above, at the end of the day living in the way that is best for me and those I love wins out over all. Be a decent person, do things that are good for yourself and treat yourself and the people you care about well. What's the point of lists? Especially ones that were written thousands of years ago...?
“Love is the only bow on Life’s dark cloud. It is the morning and the evening star. It shines upon the babe, and sheds its radiance on the quiet tomb. It is the mother of art, inspirer of poet, patriot and philosopher.
It is the air and light of every heart – builder of every home, kindler of every fire on every hearth. It was the first to dream of immortality. It fills the world with melody – for music is the voice of love.
Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to Joy, and makes royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume of that wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven, and we are gods.” - Robert. G. Ingersoll
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RE: You can be an atheist and still follow the ten commandments as guidelines
January 22, 2017 at 5:39 am
(This post was last modified: January 22, 2017 at 5:41 am by ApeNotKillApe.)
(January 21, 2017 at 6:26 am)AceBoogie Wrote: Okay???
I think the Nine Satanic Statements are even better guidelines to live by...
1. Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence
2. Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams
3. Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit
4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates
5. Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek
6. Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires
7. Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his “divine spiritual and intellectual development,” has become the most vicious animal of all
8. Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification
9. Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as He has kept it in business all these years
So why not live by these guidelines?
My point is, there are all sorts of lists of rules out there you could explore. What's the point? While I personally agree with all of the Nine Satanic Statements above, at the end of the day living in the way that is best for me and those I love wins out over all. Be a decent person, do things that are good for yourself and treat yourself and the people you care about well. What's the point of lists? Especially ones that were written thousands of years ago...?
They're open to extreme interpretation and they're contradicted by the Rules of the Earth, but sure.
I am John Cena's hip-hop album.
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RE: You can be an atheist and still follow the ten commandments as guidelines
January 22, 2017 at 3:54 pm
(This post was last modified: January 22, 2017 at 5:27 pm by Thumpalumpacus.)
I generally avoid guidelines set by someone else altogether. I prefer to live by my own lights.
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RE: You can be an atheist and still follow the ten commandments as guidelines
January 22, 2017 at 8:33 pm
(January 22, 2017 at 5:39 am)ApeNotKillApe Wrote: They're open to extreme interpretation and they're contradicted by the Rules of the Earth, but sure.
If you're referring to the Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth I have absolutely no idea how you've arrived at this conclusion, but more power to you for missing the point completely, anyway.
Like I said at the end of the day, I do whatever is best for me and those I care for, regardless of any list made by anyone. However if we're going to start saying, "This set of rules may not apply to you, but they can still be good rules to live by"... why not just choose any old list and find a way to make it work for yourself?
The point being, we shouldn't be letting silly lists of rules written by other people dictate how we live.
“Love is the only bow on Life’s dark cloud. It is the morning and the evening star. It shines upon the babe, and sheds its radiance on the quiet tomb. It is the mother of art, inspirer of poet, patriot and philosopher.
It is the air and light of every heart – builder of every home, kindler of every fire on every hearth. It was the first to dream of immortality. It fills the world with melody – for music is the voice of love.
Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to Joy, and makes royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume of that wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven, and we are gods.” - Robert. G. Ingersoll
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RE: You can be an atheist and still follow the ten commandments as guidelines
January 22, 2017 at 9:14 pm
(January 20, 2017 at 11:43 pm)Astreja Wrote: Okay, I've done a little bit of research on the brain's processing of positives versus negatives, and have this to report:
- First of all, it's not as simple as it appears. Most instances I found of the "brain cannot process negatives" trope were on sites devoted to pop psychology rather than peer-reviewed journals.
- Secondly, the actual structure of the statement determines how the brain processes it. Link: True or False? How Our Brain Processes Negative Statements (Association for Psychological Science). The presence of a negative word does not automatically cause the brain to struggle with it, but the more syntactically complex a sentence is, the longer the reaction time.
- What I found particularly interesting is that the brain processes affirmative and negative statements in different regions. Link: Negative and affirmative sentences increase activation in different areas in the brain (Journal of Neurolinguistics - abstract only)
It's also noteworthy that emotional content determines how we process and remember things. Probably for survival reasons, we react more quickly to negative stimuli (not to be confused with negative statements, although it's possible for specific words and ideas to act as triggers).
Sorry for the late reply, and thanks for doing some of the heavy lifting.
I'm going through the links right now.
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