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The Ten Commandments

We live in amazingly dynamic times. Everybody seems in a dreadful hurry to meet tight schedules and there is this floating anxiety of missing one of thousands of luring opportunities. Big companies race to offer the latest generation of cell phones, or a portable computer in the vogue. TV commercials after the news will let you know about the latest model of the most smashing car with countless extras. The worldwide web comes up with great bargains for trips to a dozen most exotic destinations. Is it possible to resist the temptations? All the more so that present-day icons – Hollywood actors and musicians – maintain lifestyles bathing in glamour and glory.

In the meantime, while watching the news we tend to be little impressed by reports that innocent people died somewhere on the planet. As Easter approaches we ought to take a deeper and closer look at ourselves and think about intransigent values such as love, compassion and friendship. To what extent is the message laid out in the Ten Commandments relevant today? To what extent do Bulgarians follow them? More from father Vasil Vasilev from the Three Saints Church in the town of Shumen, North eastern Bulgaria, and in interviews with residents of the city of Sofia.

“Our century is a time of high technologies”, the young priest says. “We live dynamic lives and amid the sea of information, problems and various emotions, man is lost for the right direction – he loses his identity as he wrestles with daily hardships and in the battle for survival. What are the moral values and foundations today? Unfortunately, for a man to prosper he should become a hypocrite, swindler, villain or whatnot revealing the dark aspects of his personality. The Ten Commandments were given by God Jehovah to prophet Moses and they will remain relevant for human beings till the end of this world. The commandments are religious and moral imperatives;
they draw up a comprehensive credo that man has been called to carry out so as to become part of a better society. They have been incorporated in the Holy Bible. In the New Testament Jesus Christ unites all Ten Commandments into two. He says: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”, and also, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. This is the quintessence of the Decalogue – there is love for God in it – God as Creator of everything visible and invisible, and whom we should respect and fear. Secondly, we should love our fellows. This explains why there are no inferior commandments, and we cannot say that any of them is more relevant or less relevant. They are all equally important and equally necessary.”

Do Bulgarians know the Ten Commandments, and to what extent do they tend to abide by them?

“Unfortunately, religious instruction is not taught in Bulgarian schools, so Bulgarians do not know their faith well, and the Ten Commandments are not the moral basis of present-day families”, Father Vasil admits. “For this reason our society is not fully democratic. We can see lawlessness everywhere and impunity, meaning our society is not democratic;
it is rather demonocratic – run by demons ruling human emotions and vices. Let us hope that the voice of our church will be heard so that the young people can know their faith better – by being taught Orthodox Christianity in Bulgarian schools. It is Faith that saves humans;
the Faith from the Holy Gospel;
given by Jesus Christ. Young people are eager to learn but they are confused;
very intelligent, very bright but unfortunately soulless.”

“You shall not murder”, “You shall not lie”, “You shall not steal”, “You shall not commit adultery” are the most popular of the Commandments among Bulgarians. Alexandra, 22, says however, that these spiritual values have to a great extent lost their power and importance. “Of course, I try – and maybe I succeed in being good with my family and friends and with the people who deserve good”, she added. More from some residents of Sofia.

“I think they are eternal. It is a different matter that times have changed – and people too, so it has become quite a challenge to abide by the Ten Commandments that are in fact the moral code of every human being”, Mariana Angelova, who is retired, said. “Well, there are many people who practice forgiveness, love and compassion. The Ten Commandments tell us: ‘You shall not kill’, ‘You shall not steal’, ‘You shall not covet’. What I try to observe is good will and good intentions. I am not one of those who can forgive easily though it is now the period of the Great Lent.”

“I think that Bulgarians are not very faithful Christians”, Mrs. Djorova says. “Yes, some go to church to light candles. I am always ready to help others. I do not like stealing or lying. However I cannot claim I am a believer, because faith is something I cannot understand. Still, I think I behave with dignity as I communicate with people.”

Tanya Bencheva who studies to become a social worker believes that people who try hard to live pure and noble lives in fact honour the Ten Commandments.

“It is very important not to lie. I think it is also important to love your fellow as you love yourself. The commandment ‘You shall have no other Gods before me’ means that we should be Christians. I have heard some say that faith in God is a good excuse for the weakness of an individual but this is wrong. I think superstition is an excuse for the lack of faith. If you believe that something bad could happen to you, you do not have faith in God, in that He does protect you.”

“The so-called Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments, is valid today. Still very few people make efforts to stick to this code”, explains Georgi who is retired. “Neither of the Ten Commandments is of smaller value, because the whole Christian moral code is laid out in their totality. Whoever chooses to observe it, he is a moral person. These are fundamental values that should be observed by every human being.”

I do see what your saying Carmen but how can we know whether the text of the Bible has been preserved accurately down through the centuries? Is it logical to believe that a book written by more than 40 authors in different locations over 1,500 years can be trustworthy? Can we prove that the text we have today is reliable?

Your explanation is brilliant Fruitlover. Surely that post explains everything very clearly. I believe that the Bible and its messages via story-telling is even more necessary today. Its because people have no 'faith' in anything anymore that there are so many problems in the world. How have these stories changed? They may have differing interpretations but the message is still as clear today as it ever was.
I realise some people may think these are the ramblings of an old lady but they are not. I still have all my brain cells. Its because I am old and have disobeyed some of the 10 Commandments and survived, that I can now understand what the stories are meant to convey. We should all try to be good. How many people try to be good today? With all the gossip, greed, and fighting around the world with people thinking only of themselves, I think some should take a long hard look at their lives.
The Bible should be taught in schools whether in Bulgaria, Britain or anywhere else in order to have a basic understanding of how to live their life. I cannot understand how people can live without believing there is something greater than themselves. Maybe thats why people want to live forever because they are afraid of dying. They might find out what happens to people who do evil deeds. If that sounds far-fetched I'm sorry, but its what I think and from many things that have been happening in my life I cannot believe its all just coincidence. Never mind, if others can live without God that's their business.

I agree by trying to live by the 10 commandments. But I can't agree that having "
faith"
would
solve problems. The majority of wars throughout the centuries have been caused by religion!
Look at the state of the world now - most of it religion orientated.
But you're right, religion should be taught as part of the curriculum, as should tolerance of
other faiths.

Scunnered wrote:

I agree by trying to live by the 10 commandments. But I can't agree that having "
faith"
would
solve problems. The majority of wars throughout the centuries have been caused by religion!
Look at the state of the world now - most of it religion orientated.
But you're right, religion should be taught as part of the curriculum, as should tolerance of
other faiths.

I must agree with you the 10 commandments is one thing I think we should all try to live by but faith is the ruin of man, as you rightly say most wars around the world in the past and definitely in the present are faith related so I think faith is something all of us should think twice about.

I would ague that its not personal faith that is causing wars but the extreme dogma that is preached by some religious fanatics. I am talking about personal faith in something greater than ourselves which guide us through life and not religion as such. My faith, or Karma, if the word 'faith' alarms people, is absolutely nothing to do with anything other than being mindful of the Bible stories which help us to lead a good life as best we can and to ask for forgiveness when we make mistakes. It is really that simple at least to me. Starting wars in the name of religion is an entirely different matter.

I so agree Oldun, the Bible stories are metaphors for life aren't they? Their inner meaning is eternally relevant, like all the other stories our language is full of. Everyone knows what it means to "
cry wolf"
for instance, despite the lack of four-footed furry predators prowling our daily environment? (Unless you live in the Bulgarian mountains!) We don't question the validity because it's self evident, but some of the Bible stories require considerably more reflection and effort to penetrate. Not because the lifestyle depicted is outdated but because the concepts are more advanced.

One of those is the realisation that we are not the only ones evolving, God does too, hence the clear distinction between the Old and New Testaments. Yaweh (Jehova) is the God of Vengence (an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth) but Christ heralds the new way of forgiveness. This is no different from the belief in a Karma that required us to 'balance' in a future life the acts performed in this one, i.e. if you killed me today I'd have to kill you in my next life . . . but only until I learn how to FORGIVE and let it go. Before Christ the atonements were direct, then we have the halfway house where balance can be achieved without direct intention to kill, (as in our many "
accidents"
on the roads and elsewhere) until we reach the stage of being able to really grasp the principles involved and eventually achieve the ability to forgive in full consciousness. We can look around us and see people at every stage of this soul progress today.

It's all an evolution of consciousness, with God showing the way but leaving us free to work upon ourselves, or not. When we can stop thinking that anybody "
Should"
or Shouldn't"
act in the way that they are, and realise they are simply at a different stage on their path than ourselves, it becomes clear that whatever you call your guiding power, the process is the same. Always we are free to stay the same, or go forwards, or go backwards, that's our free choice. I think it's awesome!

My goodness - what an intelligent and informative post again by Fruitlover. Life is a journey and without 'God'' none of us really progress. To say that religion causes wars is a very general and uniformed thing to say. Study is needed of all religions in order to understand why these wars started. Its the seeking of power by individuals, governments or religious leaders who deliberately slant 'faith' to their own ends. This does not mean that faith should be abandoned by everyone and that it should not be taught in schools. A religious education surely would make it more difficult for the fanatics to indoctrinate the young to become suicide bombers in the name of a God of whom they have no other knowledge.
We each have a personal responsibility to at least try to atone for our mistakes and move forward but in order to achieve this there has to be education. I guess my religion would now be called 'Humanitarian' this being a more modern interpretation of the Bible story. 'Do as you would be done by' is a good metaphor to live by.
Finally, the statements regarding religion being the cause of many wars is a very poor excuse for abandoning one's own beliefs and 'faith' and not teaching religious instruction in schools everywhere.

We never got taught them in my schools, we did nothing about relgion. ::
Althought I do love relgious things and If I could I would take it as a Alevel.
However I have probably broken all the 10 comandments haha.

the only bibical refrence I know is 'eloi eloi lama stabachini?' - my god, my god, why have you forsaken me?
apart from that hmmm I know bits and pieces adam and eve errrm the cruifi thing - can't spell....and thats it?

Again I agree with Oldun. If each generation were taught, not to be religious as such and no 'doctines' but the fundamental concepts of the great religions, this would provide a balanced view from which to decide one's own belief system. Covering Buddhism, Christianity - including the Gnosis - Islam, the Jewish tradition, and including Ancient Indian wisdom such as the teachings of the Holy Rishis from which different Indian religions have since evolved, together with what we can discover about the ancient Sun God known as Ahura Mazdao and also by other names. This would provide a balanced view and allow young people to discover the evolutionary development to be found within the whole picture.

I appologise for leaving out any I know nothing about, such as the Incas etc, though I think most ancient peoples followed the Sun God until such time as this Being was percieved by the wisest and most advanced among us to be approaching the Earth, to ultimately enter the body of Jesus of Nazareth as The Christ. You don't have to believe this to grasp the concept, but you can discover how many older religions tell of a new time coming when it would no longer be appropriate to worship the 'Old God' because a new one would be among us upon the Earth. Then you can observe for yourself which branches cling to old beliefs and become decadent, either dying out or separating themselves off and wishing to impose their view upon everyone else;
and which evolve forwards towards Universal Human Free Brotherhood.

This kind of religious education would allow young people to make informed choices, rather than being indoctrinated into a specific branch or being taught just the modern day beliefs and traditions of different sects who happen to attend their school. Our children are ready to grasp concepts that were difficult for us to attain and almost beyond our parents let alone our grandparents, and we should give them credit for it and offer them the chance.

If any of you saw the recent program about Tutan Khamoun and the seartch for his parents, wasn't it telling? How his father broke away from the old traditions to found a new way for the future (which would move away from marriage within the family) because he had seen that this was necessary. Typically, he was overcome by the people, who mostly didn't want to advance, so the royal line went back to in-breeding and died out! It's amazing how much evidence is around if you just make the connections.

As for the Bible, what we have today is to some extent a collection of mistranslations, due not least to the fact that most theologians were not language scholars, and most language experts were not theologians. Take the incident of the diciples out in a boat, who "
saw"
Christ walking towards them (from) on the water. They were amazed, because there they were out in a boat, many miles away from Him, and yet they "
saw"
him walking! The original doesn't say Christ walked on the water. No doubt he could have, but it's not about that, it's about the fact that he had raised their consciousnesss, and now they could "
see"
Him when he wasn't with them. He could appear to them clairvoyantly when he chose, that's what this story is describing: their amazement the first time he did so. One simple word left out, in this case "
from"
and it obscures the whole meaning and purpose of this passage! No wonder it's hard to find any relevance to our lives today, when in many cases we don't actually have the real text.

No doubt the translators did their best, but it's such a profound document that even with a perfect translation we would still only gradually understand, a little at a time, because it's truths are true on many different levels. You can find correspondences with any system of personal development given today, because it's the same truth wrapped up in different packages. That's one of the really satisfying things about the Bible, that you can come independently to a certain truth, and then discover that it was already given in the Bible all that time ago!

Mechta - your post appeared since I started this, if there is not an opportunity for you to study this in classes there is nothing to stop your reading the Gospels yourself and making your own study. St. Luke is the easiest to start with, they are written from different standpoints and if you want to know more about it feel free to ask me.

fruitlover wrote:

Again I agree with Oldun. If each generation were taught, not to be religious as such and no 'doctines' but the fundamental concepts of the great religions, this would provide a balanced view from which to decide one's own belief system. Covering Buddhism, Christianity - including the Gnosis - Islam, the Jewish tradition, and including Ancient Indian wisdom such as the teachings of the Holy Rishis from which different Indian religions have since evolved, together with what we can discover about the ancient Sun God known as Ahura Mazdao and also by other names. This would provide a balanced view and allow young people to discover the evolutionary development to be found within the whole picture.

I appologise for leaving out any I know nothing about, such as the Incas etc, though I think most ancient peoples followed the Sun God until such time as this Being was percieved by the wisest and most advanced among us to be approaching the Earth, to ultimately enter the body of Jesus of Nazareth as The Christ. You don't have to believe this to grasp the concept, but you can discover how many older religions tell of a new time coming when it would no longer be appropriate to worship the 'Old God' because a new one would be among us upon the Earth. Then you can observe for yourself which branches cling to old beliefs and become decadent, either dying out or separating themselves off and wishing to impose their view upon everyone else;
and which evolve forwards towards Universal Human Free Brotherhood.

This kind of religious education would allow young people to make informed choices, rather than being indoctrinated into a specific branch or being taught just the modern day beliefs and traditions of different sects who happen to attend their school. Our children are ready to grasp concepts that were difficult for us to attain and almost beyond our parents let alone our grandparents, and we should give them credit for it and offer them the chance.

If any of you saw the recent program about Tutan Khamoun and the seartch for his parents, wasn't it telling? How his father broke away from the old traditions to found a new way for the future (which would move away from marriage within the family) because he had seen that this was necessary. Typically, he was overcome by the people, who mostly didn't want to advance, so the royal line went back to in-breeding and died out! It's amazing how much evidence is around if you just make the connections.

As for the Bible, what we have today is to some extent a collection of mistranslations, due not least to the fact that most theologians were not language scholars, and most language experts were not theologians. Take the incident of the diciples out in a boat, who "
saw"
Christ walking towards them (from) on the water. They were amazed, because there they were out in a boat, many miles away from Him, and yet they "
saw"
him walking! The original doesn't say Christ walked on the water. No doubt he could have, but it's not about that, it's about the fact that he had raised their consciousnesss, and now they could "
see"
Him when he wasn't with them. He could appear to them clairvoyantly when he chose, that's what this story is describing: their amazement the first time he did so. One simple word left out, in this case "
from"
and it obscures the whole meaning and purpose of this passage! No wonder it's hard to find any relevance to our lives today, when in many cases we don't actually have the real text.

No doubt the translators did their best, but it's such a profound document that even with a perfect translation we would still only gradually understand, a little at a time, because it's truths are true on many different levels. You can find correspondences with any system of personal development given today, because it's the same truth wrapped up in different packages. That's one of the really satisfying things about the Bible, that you can come independently to a certain truth, and then discover that it was already given in the Bible all that time ago!

Mechta - your post appeared since I started this, if there is not an opportunity for you to study this in classes there is nothing to stop your reading the Gospels yourself and making your own study. St. Luke is the easiest to start with, they are written from different standpoints and if you want to know more about it feel free to ask me.

hmmm is there an online verision of that?

Sorry I don't know, there may be. It's kinder to your eyesight to read long documents in print rather than from a screen. Somebody may be able to lend you a Bible, or at least a New Testament, you could even ask at your nearest Church so long as you don't mind them trying to persuade you to join!

In the Bible, one of the Ten Commandments states: “Thou shalt not kill.” Regardless of religious preferences and beliefs, everyone knows of this Supreme command;
but do they know what it means? Consider this: does “Thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not murder” mean the same thing? By its common definition, to “murder” means to kill unlawfully or at least unjustifiably. However, centuries ago, the Ten Commandments handed to Moses simply mentioned "
kill"
. There was no mention at all whether “to kill” distinguished between the lawful or unlawful taking of a life, or for that matter if the life even had to be that of a human. In today’s society, it appears “Thou shalt not murder” is more appropriate than “Thou shalt not kill,” as “kill” denotes a just and lawful reason to take a life.

It then becomes clear that the way each person defines a certain word affects the meaning and intent of a statement or discussion. It is essential that a word be defined in a way that clearly illustrates its true essence. To make a definition successful, three criteria must be followed to avoid confusion. Possibly the most difficult condition to preserve when explaining a word’s meaning to someone is to not give that person only examples of the word. When an example is the only source of knowledge of a word’s meaning, a problem occurs. One must take into account that those examples could encompass ideas other than the true nature of the word, or perhaps not fully cover other characteristics of the word. This leads to the second criterion of a successful definition. A definition cannot be too general, yet at the same time it cannot be too limited. Finally, the third condition of a successful definition dictates that a form of the word or an equally obscure word cannot be used to redefine the word. To break the cycle, terms more familiar than the one being defined must be used. Though these three conditions are not absolute, they do lead to a clearer, less vague definition of words.

As seen in the initial example, “murder” is commonly defined as killing unlawfully or unjustifiably. However, it is not specified if this definition is dependent on what is being killed or what is actually killing. Perhaps it means only living things, for example people and animals, can murder or be murdered. It is also accepted that something such as an idea or belief can be killed through doubt. For example, if the government bans free speech of ideas of change or revolution these ideas were killed by unconstitutional means. Despite the method, these ideas are dead;
but does that mean that they were murdered? By the accepted understanding of murder, an idea is not usually thought of as the target of murder, yet it appears from the definition given that an idea can be murdered. This definition “to kill unlawfully or unjustifiably” is therefore too broad as the meaning of “murder” encompasses more. At the same time, this definition also appears to be too narrow. Is it really murder if the act was committed without intent or if it was an accident? Again, by the accepted understanding, a murder only occurs if it is committed with malicious and criminal intent. In this case, “to kill unlawfully or unjustifiably” is too narrow a definition.

The sun is yellow. The business section of the phone book is yellow. The second light of a stop light is yellow. Granted, these are all examples that describe yellow, yet, in reality, they mean so much more. Some would argue that the sun is in fact orange, and at times even described as red or white. The “yellow pages” of the phone book also have other colours such as black, red, or blue. Perhaps the second light of the stop light in a normal lane of traffic is “yellow,” but consider a turn lane with 5 different signals on it. Does “second” instantly mean second from the top, or could it be second from the bottom? In this case, it is possible that the light is in fact “green” or “red.” Though sometimes these examples all point to “yellow,” it is also seen that “red” can be common to all as well. Simply giving examples of a word leads to a flawed understanding of said word.

A game is a sport. A sport is football. Football is a game. The word has been defined, but in such a way that it essentially has not. The full circle is complete and one is no closer to truly understanding the extent of what a game can be;
essential the word is being defined with itself. This definition, in fact, appears to fail all three criteria of a good definition. Only examples are given thus leading to too narrow a definition of what a game is. Because there are several denotations of “game,” this method only provides a “definition” of an athletic game. This method of defining game is clearly flawed in many ways.

A good definition is sometimes hard to create. Returning to the first example and attempting to define “murder” does not seem like too difficult a task. Murder is an intended, unlawful and criminal act of one human killing another human without provocation or justification. For the most part, this definition fulfils criterion one;
it is not an example. Secondly, this appears to get at the heart of what a murder is: not too broad, or too narrow. The third criterion is also met, all the words used are relatively familiar. For the most part, the definition captures the essence of the word “murder” in its most common use. That, however, is where the problem lies;
the definition is only good for the common use of “murder.” It can be seen that one must follow these three conditions of a definition to gain true knowledge and understanding of what a word means. It is also evident that multiple definitions of a word are required to truly encompass its full meaning and uses.

Perhaps the writer of this analysis might like to study the original language of the text (in which the Ten Commandments were recorded) to discover whether these distinctions apply? Modern language is a very different thing from ancient language, and certainly from the Word of God, which is a creative energy. Our words today merely describe.

"
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God"
. We are dealing with something nighty here. In this context, the word KILL seems unequivocal, it means to end life. We are told, only God can give life, therefore it is only for God to take away.

If God had wanted to distinguish between "
lawful or unlawful"
(according to men) or between killing a concept or a living being, I suspect God was more than capable of making this clear. On God's terms, can there be such a thing as a "
Lawful"
killing, performed by a Human Being?

On the subject of colours, isn't it interesting to discover the perfect correspondence between the light frequencies of the colour spectrum and the sound frequencies of the octave, the movements of the planets, and the dimensions of the vertebrae of the Human spine, to name butt a few? How you can look at a light source through layers of yellow cellophane and the more layers you add the darker it becomes until it is red - or to be accurate until the impression we receive from the interaction of our eye and our brain produces the sensation "
red"
in us.

One might also ask, does it profit us to explore the minutae of possible shades of ambiguity in a phrase, do we grow any wiser from it and better able to deal with life confidently? Or lose our way in confusion? Or do we rather grow wiser and more sure of our place in the Universe by studying the living truths of reality? We can ask questions forever, the importance is not the answer but where does the answer lead us? Once this concept is grasped then we can understand which are the important questions to ask, don't you think?

fruitlover wrote:

Sorry I don't know, there may be. It's kinder to your eyesight to read long documents in print rather than from a screen. Somebody may be able to lend you a Bible, or at least a New Testament, you could even ask at your nearest Church so long as you don't mind them trying to persuade you to join!

i'm not allowed to go to church

That's a shame, so much for Human Freedom! Are you also forbidden to own a Bible?