Mr. Edwards, the ten commandments always sparks a train of thought…
In Judaism, what white people call the “ten” commandments are merely the first ten of the 613 mitzvahs (commandments) found twice, once in Exodus and again in Deuteronomy. I suspect that is the reason study is so deeply embedded in Jewish culture.
Rabbi means scholar or teacher, which is hugely different from preacher, pastor or priest which means someone in ‘charge’ of a Christian church or congregation with the ‘authority’ to perform certain rites and sacraments. Clearly teaching is different than preaching which means to publicly proclaim, publicly announce or officially declare something to be (like the King’s law, the law of the land, or the papal orders of a Pope).
I’m no scholar, that’s for sure. However, I do find that study awakens the mind, sharpens the senses, keeps us alert and serves as forewarning. For example, the wisdom of the ages comes shining through in the commandments (mitzvahs) regarding missionaries – and I think, if only people had followed them… but alas they did not. As a result, the missionaries flourished and laid their Doctrine of Discovery over the entire earth.
“When the missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the missionaries had the Bible. They taught us how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.” — Jomo Kenyatta
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” — Exodus 20:4
The sculptures of Christ hanging on a Cross in churches are graven images. How Christians justify their display of disobedience to G-d is beyond me. It’s like shoving graven images in congregants faces and daring them to object to the power of the man standing in the pulpit.
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” — Exodus 20:8–10
Again, Judaism is more specific: “Six days you shall labor and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath unto the Lord Your God, in it you shall not do any manner of work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your man-servant, nor your maid-servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates.”
“Honor thy father and thy mother.” — Exodus 20:12
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord God gives you. Note: G-d created the earth, not the government, banks, or mortgage companies.
“Thou shalt not commit adultery.” — Exodus 20:14
Judaism regards sex as a divine gift and a holy obligation — both for the purposes of procreation and for pleasure and intimacy. The Talmud specifies a husband is required to be intimate with his wife and obliged to sexually satisfy her (yes, sir, that includes regular orgasms). So vital is sexual activity to Judaism that celibacy, even for those so devoted to spiritual life that they feel they don’t have energy left for marriage and children, is frowned upon.
Christians reversed this natural way of being and required women to sexually satisfy men. The results speak for themselves; throughout Christendom, rape, misogyny, domestic violence, sexual trafficking of girls and young women is a way of life. Its no surprise that Christian sexual violence spread from vulnerable girls and women to boys (tens of thousands of documented cases of boys sexually molested and raped in Southern Baptist churches, Catholic churches, and the Boy Scouts of America).
Now imagine how different Christian men would feel about women, if they felt morally, socially and personally obligated to sexually please them. At the very least, Christian men would less time for adultery.
“Thou shalt not kill.” — Exodus 20:13
That is a very bad translation of “Thou shall not murder”. Kill and murder are different, and the distinctions are many. Mr. Edwards, the genocides and holocausts you list are murders (not killings).
“Thou shalt not steal.” — Exodus 20:15
From Muslim culture comes the story of a European who was visiting the home of a Muslim where the two men were discussing their different cultures and morals.
The European expressed his disapproval of the number of wives the man had living in his home.
In turn the Muslim man explained I take care of all my wives, and all of my children, I do not cast them out of their home, drive them from my bed, or leave my wives to raise my children alone with no means of support. He went on to point out that European men divorce their wives, cast them out of their homes and leave them to raise their children penniless and alone, then marry another woman and have even more children that they leave penniless again, so they can marry yet another woman. How is that moral asked the Muslim?
The European man insisted that murder was the worst sin, but the Muslim man thought stealing was the worst. In the Muslim world, killing a man who is alone in the world hurts no one. But murder steals a son from his parents, a brother from his siblings, a husband from his wife, a father from his children, a man from his community, a man’s kindness from strangers and a child from his G-d and harms many, many people – for generations on end (the harm of murder is exponential, the harm grows). Likewise, a rich and powerful man is capable of harming so many people, killing him saves lives.
Oh my, this was a long comment. Luckily my train of thought has run out of fuel – for now.
