You shall not covet your neighbour's wife....
I'm not even remotely religious. I am one of many who have grown up in a world of war with religion at its very core, the result of which is my belief that religion is one of the hugest causes of fuck-ups among the human race.
But some aspects of the Bible are in essence humanitarian in nature rather than outright holy babble. Take the Ten Commandments, for example. They're a lot more about how we should treat each other and manage ourselves and our behaviour than prayers and worship. Aside from 1, 2, 3 and 4, of course...
"ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'
TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.'
THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'
FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'
FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'
SIX: 'You shall not murder.'
SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'
EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'
NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.'
TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbour's.'
A huge aspect of these Ten Commandments is in fact common decency. To elaborate, within this lies the theme of fidelity.
Would it count if one were to covet his next-door-neighbour-but-one's wife / donkey / ox? True, I'd never even consider attempting to steal a friend's boyfriend - that's social suicide in its truest form. (And I wouldn't really be up for having an affair with their ox or donkey, to tell you the truth. But, let's get back onto the subject, and away from bestiality.)
Most of us know better than to fuck our best friend's boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife, but what about your enemies'? Or relative strangers?
Whoever wrote the Ten Commandments could have been a little more precise, if you ask me.
But some aspects of the Bible are in essence humanitarian in nature rather than outright holy babble. Take the Ten Commandments, for example. They're a lot more about how we should treat each other and manage ourselves and our behaviour than prayers and worship. Aside from 1, 2, 3 and 4, of course...
"ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'
TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.'
THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'
FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'
FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'
SIX: 'You shall not murder.'
SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'
EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'
NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.'
TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbour's.'
A huge aspect of these Ten Commandments is in fact common decency. To elaborate, within this lies the theme of fidelity.
Would it count if one were to covet his next-door-neighbour-but-one's wife / donkey / ox? True, I'd never even consider attempting to steal a friend's boyfriend - that's social suicide in its truest form. (And I wouldn't really be up for having an affair with their ox or donkey, to tell you the truth. But, let's get back onto the subject, and away from bestiality.)
Most of us know better than to fuck our best friend's boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife, but what about your enemies'? Or relative strangers?
Whoever wrote the Ten Commandments could have been a little more precise, if you ask me.
posted by A Girl Like Me | 4:20 pm
It's funny you should ask who your neighbour is, Illegible, because some bod in Palestine did so about two thousand years ago (check the gospels in the NEW testament). As you are referring to the Bible (and not the Torah) the question you pose is otiose, as the answer was already provided by Jesus, who stated that it was just any other human being *including* your enemies. In fact, if you want to take it a step further and really toy with biblical interpretation, Jesus actually professed that you should *love* thy neighbour. Ok, I'll grant that there are different types of love, but if we take just romantic love for the sake of argument, any adulterous lawyer could easily debate their way out of it, seeing as the more recent rule supersedes the anterior one. Basic rule of implied repeal and the very *essence* of the New Testament; to sweep out the cobwebbed archaic inconsistencies and raining sulphur.
I'll take my head out of my arse now.
Great Aunt Jemima! LIAC is turning into a theological debate. See what you started JiB?
Christ... As everybody that made a comment has implied, Illegible has written a post that's both lazy and totally non-understanding of the myriad complices that religion can spew.
For a start, the first four commandments *are* to do with how we live our lives - they are all parallels to love. I'll leave you to work them out.
Secondly, with coveting neighbours donkeys, well... It's an outdated-enough concept that it's idiotic. But it's always there. Everything and anything in life is about being better than the Jones'. Capitalist business covets the ideas of other capitalist business. Single girls covet the blokes that their best friends are dating. Way of the world. Life's a bitch.
People need to grow past religion (which = society-induced "morals").
Where are the fucking individuals?
Witt: If you were a girl, I'd marry you point blank. FACT.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Had a slight attack of morals there, but have removed all traces of it.
And there I was just being completely random!
What can I say?! Yes I was being lazy. Forgive me. It's Christmas, and to be honest I was stuck for LIAC material.
OBVIOUSLY - I expected no less.
Ever see 'Pulp Fiction' when they chat in the diner about how silence is better than filling the air with bullshit? If you're stuck for material, don't post.