Let's see.
Christ said the greatest commandment is to love God.
This is also the first commandment of the old testament.
I think anyone who calls theirself a Christiaqn has to accept this is a given. It certainly does not harm anyone to love God. It does tremendous harm not to.
Unless you are claiming it is because of some punishment after this life (for which you can give no evidence), I can't see where it does tremendous harm not to. And an argument could be mad that belief in God has done harm.
The second greatest commandment, in the old testatment, goes hand in hand with the first, and I think could fairly be called a part of the first.
It is the commandment not to make idols or worship idols.
Now, in history, people have violated this. Jim Jones, David Koresh, Charles Manson, certain kings have claimed to be gods. The results were horrendous each and every time.
False, the results have not been horrendous every time. Look at the society of the ancient Greeks, which was so far advanced compared to the rest of the world that much of our current society is still based on the ideas and morals of that culture. Same with the Romans, though it can be argued there were individual emperors that caused great pain.
And Biblical governments have no better a human rights record than those based on religions you believe are false -- a large part of the Old Testament is devoted to the problem of having a righteous religious government. It failed every single time it was tried.
In fact, religious governments have such a bad reputation it led the founders of this country to create a secular government.
According to Christ, the second commandment is to "love your neighbor as yourself."
Well, lets see. Treating other people with the same love and respect that you want them to treat you with - how is that tearing up society?
How is not doing that helping society?
This is a nice idea, now if only Christians would follow it as you explain it. A simple example, I seem to recall that you oppose gay marriage. Yet this is an example of Christians not loving their neighbors. There are plenty of other examples of Christians attempting to impose their religion on people who believe differently.
In the old testament, it says, don't use the Lord's name in vain. In other words, don't say, "God wants this," if God didn't say it first. Don't "use God's name and title and authority" for your own personal benefit or profit.
I think we can all see how that is a good thing.
Sorry, I can't see that. And if it really is a good thing, does that mean we should enforce it like the Muslim nations do? It is often as not the people who claim to be Christian that I see take the Lord's name in vain as non-Christians.
Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Now, the sabbath is a day when you rest from your work, and you spend time in fellowship with God and your loved ones.
Doesn't have to be a Saturday, doesn't have to be a Sunday. All it is supposed to be is a time when you stop, take a break, rest, remember God and love. Doesn't even have to be a church. Adam didn't have one.
And yet, this is another Christians tend not to follow. Not unless you count the Sabbath as the one or two hours you go to church each week. And if you read the Bible, this is clearly not what God meant at all -- he literally talked of a day where everything was aimed at glorifying God (which is why healing on the Sabbath was a good thing, since it glorified God, even though it was technically a violation of the law).
Honor your father and mother.
While in most instances I think children should be respectful of their parents, do parents who abuse their children deserve honor?
"Live your life in a way that will cause others to think well of your parents."
That's what it REALLY means.
Besides not seeing anything that remotely looks like this in the Bible, why should a child of parents who abused them try to make others think well of his/her parents. It is this type of attitude that keeps children in abusive homes.
I have a friend whose mother was abusive. The father had a job that caused him to travel a great deal -- and it appears much of that was so that he wouldn't have to be around his abusive wife. Yet, because the children were told to honor their parents the mother was a highly respected member in their Baptist church. Any allegations of abuse that surfaced were not believed and the children were told they should honor their parents.
Unfortunately, my friends experience is not exclusive to her, I've heard too many other similar stories through the years.
Don't murder.
Don't commit adultery.
Don't steal.
Don't give false testimony about your neighbor.
Don't get jealous over your neighbor's property!
Don't get jealous over your neighbor's wife!
Yes sir, those sure are terrible ideas!
Come on people!
Yet these are wrong by any moral standard, they do not need to be classified as "sin" for people to understand they are wrong.
Which of these 10 do you REALLY think is so bad?
Which of these are you willing to walk up to your parents or teachers or ministers and say, "You know. I really, really dislike this rule. Don't you agree I should be allowed to break it?"
I have trouble understanding this paragraph. Most Christians I know follow their own conscience and don't ask permission. They may debate an issue with their minister or teacher to show them why they believe they are wrong but ultimately they will just find a church more in line with their views. Or, if extreme enough, they'll just give up on their believe altogether and just never go back to church.
And this to me is the biggest problem with "sin", there is no universal agreement as to what sin is. For example, some will claim that killing is wrong, as the 10 Commandments appears to say. But then the current Iraq war with the thousands of deaths it has caused are considered justified by many Christians. There are Christians that justify murder of gays or abortionists. There are Christians that justify homosexual acts. There are Christians that justify not loving their neighbor or not following the Golden Rule. In the end, sin is meaningless because if people decide "sin" based on their own biases.
