If I was to create a list of the 10 Commandments, they would be these because
56The Ten Commandments are basically religious rules or morals, the originals are (they may not be in order):
- To have no other Gods but God
- Not to have or worship any fake idol
- To blaspheme (take the Lords name in vain)
- To keep the Sabbath day holy
- Respect your parents
- Do not commit murder
- Do not commit adultery
- Do not steal
- Do not give false evidence or lie
- Do not be envious of your neighbour
I would still keep some of the above because these do seem important and I will explain my reasoning below, with what I would choose as new commandments
1. To have respect or tolerance for all religions and people
2. Not to worship any idol or passing phase
3. To feed and support the poor and vulnerable
4. To keep Sabbath day(s) holy
5. Respect your parents and elders
6. Not to commit murder (unless in self-defence)
7. Not to injure anyone or any living thing
8. Not to steal but live within your means
9. Not to lie or give false evidence
10. Be courteous
1. TO HAVE RESPECT OR TOLERANCE FOR ALL RELIGIONS AND PEOPLE
Quite often people do not respect others, with many members of the general population discriminating against a person’s religion, colour or race. We do not always understand and are not always tolerant whether this is because of the media portraying the bad side of the culture or due to simple ignorance and fear. We as a society have much diversity of race, colour and religion which sometimes should be embraced but only a small percentage give others respect. Everyone has the right to their beliefs and not to live in fear. Whether we have a religion or not is no need to be disrespected unless we commit a terrible crime and most of us do not do this. Our children are growing up with very little respect for others as a whole and within their friends are often frowned on and are sometime bullied and become a social outcast. Everyone has a useful skill and a right to privacy and respect, we should not push past people I the street or demand they give us want we want of theirs but should be kind and perhaps offer to assist. Most importantly not think, believe and act like we are better than others when we do not know them well, if at all.
2. NOT TO WORSHIP ANY IDOL OR PASSING PHASE
So many of us now are worshipping celebrities and weak idols, these do not hold much worthy of being praised as a higher being and will soon pass their prime. Most religions have been going for as long as the earth has been in existence. People worthy of worshipping are ones that really have done greatness in their life to help mankind to survive and evolve and will forever be taught about in schools. Of course, like I said above it is every individual’s right to choose something they personally believe in or worship. Even the unusual can hold belief and be worshipped to a point; tarot, magic, scientology and many, many more.
3. TO FEED AND SUPPORT THE POOR AND VULNERABLE
Most of us have enough money, food and clothes to last even if we do find it a bit of a tight struggle in our western existence but there are those in all our countries and especially in the third world countries who do not have a simple things like a bed, some food to last the day or enough clothing let alone a home, food for their family and warm or suitable clothing. It is not right or fair that certain governments and others keep building their possessions or wealth when the people of their country are homeless, starving or cold. We are now in a global recession or financial crisis with more and more not being able to pay their rent or mortgage, put food on the table or afford to put the heating on. We should help those less fortunate than ourselves and not give in to greed. We should think about our elderly and needy, some simply cannot afford the rising costs and cannot go out to work due to bad eyesight or being frail, we often put our grandparents in an old person’s home and then only go to visit them once a month for half an hour, they are our history because without them we would not have been born so why be nasty and uncaring? Charity shops always want donations of clothing and toys but if they have a mark they are not sold – can these not go to the homeless or to other needy people? If you were poor what help might you want, offer a kind word or the last of your coffee or newspaper to someone who may look like they need it rather than binning it.
4. KEEP THE SABBATH DAY(S) HOLY
Almost every religion has a Sabbath; for Christians it’s Sunday, for Jews it’s a Friday but whatever religion and whichever day surely there are enough workers for each to have that as a rest day from work. I would like for no shops to open on a Sunday and this is possibly because I was raised with it being a Sabbath where we only went to church and the only shops open were a little petrol garage. It is one day a week and even if we didn’t see it as a Sabbath where we go to church surely we could see it as a family day where we spend quality time with our loved ones or friends.
5. RESPECT OUR PARETS AND ELDERS
We should have respect for our parents and elders because not only have they been around longer than us with more experience but without them we would not have been born and so rather than seeing your parents as a never-ending bank account or an unpaid nanny we should be willing to help them if they need it but often they do not ask because it is not the done thing. Get to know them on a personal level and do not judge how they live their lives unless it hurts anyone, they have had time to develop in many aspects of life that we have yet to understand and possibly never will, like a world-war. We should perhaps give them our seat on a crowded bus, tube or train and offer to help assist them when they are weak and frail rather than just thinking of them as a general nuisance.
6. NOT TO COMMIT MURDER (UNLESS SELF-DEFENCE)
I am not talking about death-row. I mean those who actually kill when the person has not committed a crime. We should not kill for money, power or status. The only reasonable time to commit murder and even then it would be dodgy is in self-defence, when you know you are in physical danger.
7. NOT TO INJURE ANYONE OR ANY LIVING THING
We have often heard from the media of death by dangerous drink driving or neglect of a child or animal, all needless and reckless events. No one deserves to be injured by another person unless it was by partial fault of their own, restrained in handcuffs by the police and struggling from this as example. If people cannot look after their children then see about having them looked after and cared for by family members or via adoption or fostering. If you find you cannot look after a pet any longer then get in contact with a pet fostering service or a similar organisation as there really is no need to cause pain and suffering to any other living person or animal.
8. NOT TO STEAL BUT LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS
We all have times when we would like something; a piece of clothing, more money or perhaps even a car but most of us do not go and steal the item in order to possess it. We either decide we cannot afford it and therefore do not go ahead in getting it, there are those that put themselves into bad circumstances by obtaining loans, finance or credit cards for these items but they make themselves worse off for it. We should decide the level of comfort we can afford from wages and save. There are however those that do steal items and this can have a bigger effect on the local community, local government and also sometimes the country. Thieves do not realize or even care that they ruin it for themselves and everyone else but that is why taxes and prices rise which makes everything financially tighter for us all, I would like to rid the world of all the thieves but this will never be possible and so we all need to take preventative steps so we help to stop the thieves
9. NOT TO LIE OR GIVE FALSE EVIDENCE
There are a few people who do for whatever reason give false statements and this can happen almost anywhere at anytime, some others lie. It might be a better place if we did not lie or give false statements and then not only might we ourselves feel better but we would be highly trusted and respected. I have often heard of children falsely accusing people of abuse because they simply do not like them but this makes the genuine cases be sometimes difficult to know and believe and can have bigger repercussions than just making sure they do not have to see them again.
10. BE COURTEOUS
Often in our daily life we do not think of anyone else but ourselves and what we can gain from others to gain a worth but really a bigger worth is being kind, polite and courteous as we can achieve more and feel better for doing a kind deed for someone and quite often a good deed is then done to us. It is a cliché but no good deed goes unnoticed or unrewarded even if the deed returned is smaller, if we all did this I certainly think we would have some better societies and also a slightly better human race.
Now, all of what I have said above is my own personal opinion which is one of my human rights to hold, maybe you disagree with some of what I have written but I have not made any reference to specific people, more types of people and all are personal views but not discriminatory in any way. Let me know if you agree with some or all of the above; if you were to choose 10 commandments; which would be yours and why?
