The ten commandments as handed down to Moses make a very good moral code by which we should live. Most of them make perfect sense but some give me pause for thought.
“You will have no other god but me.”
A simple enough instruction but doesn’t this imply, since God admitted that He was jealous and vengeful, that there are other gods out there whom we might be inclined to worship? Is there something in the holy books that we are not being told?
“You will have no idols in the form of anything that is on Earth or in Heaven.”
This takes a little more thought. I suppose for most people that an idol is an attempt to personalise a god or guardian spirit. If this is against God’s ruling, why are churches full of crucifixes and statues? Can the priests not read? Do the priests believe that the word of God does not apply to them? More importantly, why do we often get taught by the priests to genuflect in the presence of a craven image, an idol?
“Don’t bow down to worship false gods.”
This does not make sense as a separate commandment since false gods (idols) are forbdden. Did God accept that, like Adam in the Garden of Eden, mankind would ignore his instruction?
I have trouble accepting these imperfect commandments as being the word of God – even if transcribed by imperfect human beings. It troubles me, at times, to think that there might be a whole panoply of gods about whom we are being kept in ignorance.
Maybe the multi-theists had the right idea but got the names wrong?
Originally published at Qondio