11th commandment?

Anyone ever thought of something that they wish had been one of the 10 Commandments or maybe an 11th?

I'd be curious to know what you guys would have added. Considering the history of civilization up through the 19th century, it would have been nice to have this one:

11. Thou shalt not own slaves

I think that's an obvious one. Any other ideas?

Actually, I think God did a pretty good job the first time and I don't think I can improve on His holy work.

I am glad, though, that the Ten Commandments are unlike our Constitution that can be ammended on a whim. God's law, unlike human law, is perfect. Just as it is. Period.

__________________
There's nothing that can help you understand your beliefs more than trying to explain them to an inquisitive child. ~Frank A. Clark

We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today. ~Stacia Tauscher

Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man. ~Rabindranath Tagore

The 10 cover all there is to cover, properly understood.

DT 5:22 These are the commandments the LORD proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

OK, I understand the need to think that everything in the Bible is absolutely perfect and therefore cannot be improved upon, but surely someone will agree that an anti-slavery commandment would have been useful.

Think of all of the human suffering that could have been prevented if Christians knew, in no uncertain terms, that slavery was impermissable under ANY circumstances.

That's the beauty of the commandments: they are difficult to misinterpret. Considering all of the Old Testament verses that can be interpreted to condone slavery, having a "No Slavery" commandment would have been a boon to mankind.

And, by the way, the U.S. Constitution is notoriously difficult to amend. It certainly cannot be amended "on a whim", especially now that it is standard practice to give all new amendments only a 7-year period to be ratified by 2/3rds of the states.

What are some other serious social problems that are not addressed in the commandments?

How about:

Thou shalt not inflict cruelty upon your fellow man

Just think of all of the "witches" and "heretics" who were tortured until they confessed to crimes for which they were eventually killed.

That would have been a nice commandment, too.

I think Jesus Christ said it best:

John 13:34
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Christ's love was unconditional.


Jesaiah

__________________
"Let us, therefore, not be ashamed of the Cross of Christ; but though another hide it, do thou openly seal it upon thy forehead, that the devils may behold the royal sign and flee trembling far away."
-St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, Lecture IV.14


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Now we're talking... that's a good one!

Thou shalt love one another

Um, have you READ the bible? How many times do Heroes and Heroines of the bible kill? In God's name, or at God's behest? Or how often does God himself do the killing? If there is sufficient justification, killing seems to be okay. The other commandment, for example, about not letting witches live. Exactly what did He mean by that, if we weren't to kill them?

While Jesus put out rules on how to treat slaves, he did not make it flat out illegal. That might be why there isn't such a commandment. Note that there is also no commandment about homosexuality...or creationism...or abortion...or any of the other high-profile causes of today. When the Big Happy Infallible Sky Guy listed his top ten tick-offs, 'honor mom and dad' scored higher than extra marital sex, birth control or whether good works or faith or both were required for salvation.

I'd say the commandments were well enough as is, but a lot of people are really strident about things that ARE NOT on the Big List.

__________________
Humble card-carrying member of the Clergy since 10 AUG 01.

Actually, Gods law is kind of like the constitution in that sense.. Jesus came along and reformed it, didn't he?

__________________
"If priests had not been fond of mutton, lambs never would have been sacrificed to god. Nothing was ever carried to the temple that the priest could not use, and it always happened that god wanted what his agents liked."
--Robert G. Ingersoll

"Give me the storm and stress of thought and action rather than the dead calm of ignorance and faith. Banish me from Eden when you will but first let me eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge."
-- Robert G. Ingersoll

I think you missed my point. When you place an edict in "commandment" form, there is the implication that it is a universal command regardless of context.

Whether the other verses contradict one of the commandments was irrelevant to my point.

it's not an implication, it's implicit...that's why they're called commandments. But how universal a command can it be if it contradicts another universal command?

That's my point. Even if it were in commandment form, it wouldn't matter a bit. People would still find justification and rationalization to do whatever they wanted to.

Exodus 21, verses 1-6 have god's rules on how to treat slaves, so there is no liklihood of such a commandment, anyway. But, even if there were a commandment condemming the practice, people would find other reasons or verses justifying it. Or, they'd call it something else. Or there would be a fundamental law that God wouldn't let anyone be a slave unless they were going to hell, anyway, or something like that.

The commandment against witches clearly contradicts the one about not killing...but the people that burned or stoned or pressed or disembowled or boiled or dunked or beheaded witches still maintained that they followed all ten of God's commandments.
He might as well have left a blank spot on the plates for each person to write in their own commandment.

__________________
Humble card-carrying member of the Clergy since 10 AUG 01.