Posted by Amanda on January 06, 1997 at 12:38:04:
In Reply to: Re: Christian values and morals? posted by Stephen Charchuk on January 06, 1997 at 10:37:19:
: Hardly, but at the time those who commited these acts believed that they were doing the "moral" thing, as doing what their god wanted.
Hardly what?
Yeah, sure, they believed what they were doing was 'right' morally - but it's not just in the past that these actions were done - it's here in the present. If so many people are confused by what God expects from them in the morality department then I think he should send his messenger boy back here to explain it more clearly - either that or we should focus on what we ourselves perceive as moral and immoral - though there are bound to be disagreements, I'm sure we could come up with a much better blueprint than that of the bible.
: I bet that many Judeo/Christians would be surprised at the true origins of the Ten Commandments. They come from a set of laws written by the ancient Babylonian king Gilgemesh (sp).
I bet they'd be surprised about how much of their entire religion is based on the ancient ones - little originality has been put into both Judaism and Christianity. The Ten Commandments can easily be thrown out though - as having little bearing on morality. The first five are simply propoganda for a particular religion - putting fear in the readers so that they conform to christianity. The next one about honoring thy mother and father is something that will happen naturally if both the children and parents are worthy but as we know - not all parents deserve to be honoured. The other ones about killing, stealing etc... are not at all christian in origin and are held by many secular establishments both from the pre-christian era and in the here and now. So the claim they make doesn't survive the blast.
I'd be curious to know how many christians in this day and age don't use the lord's name in vain either. I feel like a hyprocite everytime I use it but it's been etched in my brain and I can't stop myself at times - same goes for "Jesus Christ" - us atheists need to find some alternatives!