Do You Believe that God Wrote the Ten Commandments?

by cameo-d 33 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • cameo-d
    cameo-d

    Yes? No?

    Was this an invisible God?

    Any opinion on who wrote the Big Ten?

    (I got a sneakin' suspicion it was Moses father-in-law)

  • John Doe
    John Doe

    More importantly, wgas?

  • betterdaze
    betterdaze

    (I got a sneakin' suspicion it was Moses father-in-law)


    Which one? Jethro priest of Midian, Reuel, or Hobab (FIL @ Judges 4:11; Reuel's son/Moses' BIL @ Numbers 10:29 )

    ~Sue
  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut

    Before you decide, it helps to consult an expert:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkRYaMiP4K8

  • FreeAtLast1914
    FreeAtLast1914

    I've got my suspicions about the Hand of God kind of thing that seemed to happen alot before video cameras came on the scene. Of course, my background inside the WT has made me a skeptic about all things supernatural.

  • pixiesticks
    pixiesticks

    NO. I think it's pretty well proven that they weren't written by God. They weren't even written by Moses. I highly recommend the book 'Who Wrote the Bible' by Richard Elliott Friedman. It's one of the most interesting books written on the Documentary Hypothosis. Really facinating.

  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut

    If someone today claims their "inspiration" (let alone writings) came from God, we call the ambulance and we get them a padded room.

  • Chalam
    Chalam

    The clue in in the text :)

    Exodus 20:1-17 (English Standard Version)

    The Ten Commandments
    1 ( A ) And ( B ) God spoke all these words, saying,

    2 ( C ) "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

    3 ( D ) "You shall have no other gods before [ a ] me.

    4 ( E ) "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 ( F ) You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am ( G ) a jealous God, ( H ) visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands [ b ] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

    7 ( I ) "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

    8 ( J ) "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 ( K ) Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the ( L ) seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the ( M ) sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For ( N ) in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

    12 ( O ) "Honor your father and your mother, ( P ) that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

    13 ( Q ) "You shall not murder. [ c ]

    14 ( R ) "You shall not commit adultery.

    15 ( S ) "You shall not steal.

    16 ( T ) "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

    17 ( U ) "You shall not covet ( V ) your neighbor’s house; ( W ) you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s."

    Exodus 24:12 (English Standard Version)

    12 The LORD said to Moses, (A) "Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the (B) tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction."

    God spoke them, Moses heard them and God wrote them on the tablets.

    Blessings,

    Stephen

  • hamsterbait
    hamsterbait

    Many of the Laws the jews claim were given by God on the stone tablets, were already being followed by other cultures before the jews got them.

    "You must not Murder" - Most civilizations knew this, yet the jews only found it was wrong when God told them at Sinai!!!

    Uncleanness of women during menses was already followed, as was Brother in law marriage.

    The first born son getting a double portion was practised by the Egyptians. The four cardinal virtues was taken from the Egyptian tradition of the four canopic jars which stored the organs which expressed each one.

    Stealing was also known as wrong - which was why joseph would not sleep with Potiphars wife. Bearing false witness was wrong under Egyptian law.

    Hammurabis law code condemned adultery.

    The distinction of clean and unclean animals was known even by Noah. All this can be seen if you read Genesis carefully.

    The sacrifice of a scape animal for the peoples sin was also continued from pre jewish times well into the post Roman age.

    Just about the only Law that was original was You shall have no other Gods before me. (Quelle surprise!!)

    Tithing was practised by Abraham, and the Egyptian priests. Animal sacrifice was also done before the Law.

    Other borrowings are the concept of winged cherubs, and the substitution of a ram for a firstborn son as a sacrifice.

    HB

  • Terry
    Terry

    I don't know how many of you are aware of the fact that the Protestants, the Catholics and the Jews have each a different version of the TEN COMMANDMENTS.

    The next time some right wing nutcase starts pushing this agenda refer him to the following chart.

    Which Ten Commandments?

    Protestant Catholic Hebrew
    1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
    		 1. I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. 1. I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
    2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
    		 2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
    		 2. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; Thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; And showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments.
    3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
    		 3. Remember thou keep the Sabbath Day.
    		 3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.
    4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
    		 4. Honor thy Father and thy Mother.
    		 4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath in honour of the Lord thy God; on it thou shalt not do any work, neither thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
    5. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
    		 5. Thou shalt not kill.
    		 5. Honour thy father and thy mother; in order that thy days may be prolonged upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
    6. Thou shalt not kill.
    		 6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
    		 6. Thou shalt not kill.
    7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
    		 7. Thou shalt not steal.
    		 7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
    8. Thou shalt not steal.
    		 8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
    		 8. Thou shalt not steal.
    9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
    		 9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife.
    		 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
    10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.
    		 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods.
    		 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
    King James Bible, issued by the American Bible Society.
    		Catholic Catechism by Peter Cardinal Gasparri, "published with Ecclesiastical approval" and bearing the imprimatur of Patrick Cardinal Hayes, Archbishop, New York. P. J. Kenedy & Sons, 1932.
    		 Bloch Publishing Company, New York, 1922.

    Graphic Rule

    Which Ten Commandments?

    First Tables of Stone (Exodus 20)("which Moses didst break")
    		 Second Tables of Stone (Exodus 34)("the words that were on the first")
    1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.
    		 1. Thou shalt worship no other god (For the Lord is a jealous god).
    2. You shall not make for yourself a graven image. You shall not bow down to them or serve them.
    		 2. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.
    3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
    		 3. The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep in the month when the ear is on the corn.
    4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
    		 4. All the first-born are mine.
    5. Honor your father and your mother.
    		 5. Six days shalt thou work, but on the seventh thou shalt rest.
    6. You shall not kill.
    		 6. Thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, even of the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.
    7. You shall not commit adultery.
    		 7. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread.
    8. You shall not steal.
    		 8. The fat of my feast shall not remain all night until the morning.
    9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
    		 9. The first of the first fruits of thy ground thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God.
    10. You shall not covet.
    		 10. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk.
    Adapted from Microsoft Bookshelf 98 K. Budde, History of Ancient Hebrew Literature

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