A Reply to The Ten Commandments Are Not What You Think They Are Just another example of Biblical ignorance in today’s culture by Tim Zeak
While reading this story, I felt obligated to reply. As a Christian, I mind when the Bible is misquoted, misinterpreted, or misused. This goes against God.
Let me say, first, that Jesus was not enamored with the Pharisees and the law givers. He even said:
John 7:21–23 New American Bible (Revised Edition)
21 Jesus answered and said to them, “I performed one work and all of you are amazed 22 because of it. Moses gave you circumcision — not that it came from Moses but rather from the patriarchs — and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. 23 If a man can receive circumcision on a sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a whole person well on a sabbath?
Note “not that it came from Moses but rather from the patriarchs”. This is why I know that Leviticus, which is used as a reason to hate LGTBQ+ people, did not come from God. Neither did the Ten Commandments that you advocate as the true Ten Commandments.
Jesus said the following:
Matthew 15:1–6 New American Bible (Revised Edition)
1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash [their] hands when they eat a meal.” 3 He said to them in reply, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses father or mother shall die.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to father or mother, “Any support you might have had from me is dedicated to God,” 6 need not honor his father.’
Here Jesus spoke of the Ten Commandments that you are attempting to negate.
Also, there is a problem with some of the Commandments that you advocate as the true Ten Commandments.
Commandment #8: 25 “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, nor is the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover to be left over until morning.
Commandment #10: “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
These are the usual food prohibitions which, in reality, are food safety practices. God could care less about food prohibitions as Jesus stated. It is about the spirit, not the physical. Go back to Genesis.
Genesis 9:1–3 New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 9 1 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth. 2 Fear and dread of you shall come upon all the animals of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon all the creatures that move about on the ground and all the fishes of the sea; into your power they are delivered. 3 Any living creature that moves about shall be yours to eat; I give them all to you as I did the green plants.
Note: “Any living creature that moves about shall be yours to eat; I give them all to you as I did the green plants.”
This issue ties in with Leviticus which I know was not given by God. God doesn’t change It’s mind, I mean His mind, yeah it sounds bad to say It. I guess they had to choose something else when referring to God in their patriarchal society. I will explain It later in this writing.
So, I know that the first Ten Commandments are the genuine Commandments and that Leviticus came from the Priests, Scribes and Pharisees. The reason that this is crucial is that “Christians”, people who call themselves Christians but don’t follow the Commandments of Jesus, hate LGTBQ+ people. God is not hate. God is love. For “Christians” to ignore the genuine Ten Commandments and, more importantly, the two Commanments that Jesus gave, shows that they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. There is way too much of that going on today.
When the lawyer (you know, stickler for the law but not for the spiritual) asked Jesus which was the greatest Commandment, he had a reply.
Matthew 22:36–40 New American Bible (Revised Edition)
36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and the first commandment. 39 The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Many religious lawyers today explain that you need to follow all of the laws in the Bible meaning all of the Old Testament laws. One of the explanations is that to love God, you have to follow the rules. The only rule is to love.
John 14:23–24
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.
To not realize all of this is ignorance. It shows a slanted viewpoint which is not at all what Jesus taught.
1 John 5:1–12 New American Bible (Revised Edition)
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the father loves [also] the one begotten by him. 2 In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, 4 for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith. 5 Who [indeed] is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Below is my favorite Bible verse.
1 John 4:8 New American Bible (Revised Edition)
8 Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.
Love for God comes from the heart, not the law.
Romans 10:1–13 New American Bible (Revised Edition)
1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on their behalf is for salvation. 2 I testify with regard to them that they have zeal for God, but it is not discerning. 3 For, in their unawareness of the righteousness that comes from God and their attempt to establish their own [righteousness], they did not submit to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for the justification of everyone who has faith.
5 Moses writes about the righteousness that comes from [the] law, “The one who does these things will live by them.” 6 But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will go up into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 or ‘Who will go down into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” 8 But what does it say?
“The word is near you,
in your mouth and in your heart”
(that is, the word of faith that we preach), 9 for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11 For the scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, enriching all who call upon him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
In other words, as should be evident by now, Jesus is the law. The law is love. That love must be in your heart. Christians who do not know this or intentionally go against this are not Christians because they do have love in their hearts.
Also, women are still, often, discriminated against by “Christian” men. This, too, does not come from God. God loves women as much as men, maybe more. It really depends on a person’s heart, not their sex.
Commandment #7: and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. 23 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24 For I will drive out nations from you and enlarge your borders, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.
Why only the males? Could this be because Israel was a patriarchal society? You see, God is spirit. God does not have a sex because God does not procreate through sex. God is nonbinary. As the UK paper, the Guardian, reported on November 21, 2018, Not in His name: God is gender-neutral, says archbishop of Canterbury. I already knew this because I actually know God. I was glad to see that someone else understood God as well. I don’t listen to people who don’t know God but claim to. Think about this:
Numbers 23:19 New American Bible (Revised Edition)
19 God is not a human being who speaks falsely,
nor a mortal, who feels regret.
Is God one to speak and not act,
to decree and not bring it to pass?
God is not a human being. God is a spirit being. God is not a male. It is impolite to say It. So, Jesus called God Father.
As far as women are concerned, Jesus had many female disciples. They were possibly even apostles. Who knows? Even in the New Testament, people changed what Jesus taught. With women:
1 Corinthians 14:34–35 New American Bible (Revised Edition)
34 women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not allowed to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. 35 But if they want to learn anything, they should ask their husbands at home. For it is improper for a woman to speak in the church.
Jesus would not have approved. Jesus spoke with women as is evidenced over and over. They were as important as his male apostles.
Also, there was the Council of Jerusalem, Acts 15. This is too long to write in entirety here but suffice it to say that Paul and Barnabas disagreed with the Messianic Jews of Jerusalem who stated that Gentiles should be circumcised. So, Paul, Barnabas and a few others went to Jerusalem to state their viewpoint. At this meeting, it was agreed by all parties that Gentiles should be given a letter in writing stating that they were “to avoid pollution from idols, unlawful marriage, the meat of strangled animals, and blood.”
Unlawful marriage is for a man to marry a woman who is divorced. This is considered, by Jewish law, adultery. I disagree with this as well. God showed me that if your husband does not act as a husband should toward his wife, it is okay to divorce and remarry. Many woman have been battered by unloving husbands. God does not want this. God is love.
So, the Bible is not as perfect as many people would claim. In fact, it has been changed by various people to be the collection of books that they want it to be. First, some books were removed by the Protestants during the reformation even though they had been canonized even though they claim that the canonized Bible is the true word of God. They quote 2 Timothy.
2 Timothy 3:16 New American Bible (Revised Edition)
16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, For non Christians who are only learning, not the wolves in sheep’s clothing “Christians”, yes, there is a schism in the true church. They call this schism denominations. So, exactly which Bible is it that is the authoritative, inspired word of God?
Additionally, all denominations have their own viewpoint which differs from every other denomination. I’m pretty sure that is not what Jesus intended.
Matthew 12:25–32 New American Bible (Revised Edition)
25 But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and no town or house divided against itself will stand.
In this passage, Jesus was stating to the Pharisees, that He had not cast out a demon through Satan but through God. Yet, this is very applicable to the modern church. The true church is the body of Christ. This is all who are true Christians.
Going back to politics, President Lincoln addressed the Illinois Republican State Convention, Springfield, Illinois June 16, 1858. He used this verse to address the fact that slavery needed to be ended.
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
“I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.
I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided.
It will become all one thing, or all the other.
Either the opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new-North as well as South.
Have we no tendency to the latter condition?”
In reference to the legality of enforcing the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, God gives free will. God does not enforce. God leaves the choice up to each person. They either choose to be with God or not. I do realize that right wing people are using the Bible to try to enforce their ideology but they do not speak for Jehovah or Jesus. They speak against Them. It is my prayer that more true Christians will speak up about this.
One additional small point. In item 16, you state “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. (Should have said against anyone, not just against your neighbor.). Jesus said that everyone is your neighbor. Jesus told everyone to love everyone else. That is what true Christianity is.
There is so much more that I can say about all of this but this writing is not a book. I am working on my book about Jesus.
