The rules present in the Ten Commandments and missing from the 'Moral Rules' listed in this weeks lecture are what make them rules widely accepted by most American's, versus rules that govern a religion. Of course the lack of rules referring to God, the whole I am your God, do not make any Gods before me and don't worship false idols business, is left out. This is notable for a two major reasons; the first being that we* pride ourselves on being a society that allows people religious freedom, the second which is in direct conflict with the first, is that we seem, as a people, to view those among us without a religion as wanton rebels with no allegiance to country or self. We go about pretending to allow religious freedom, all the while never electing some one to public office unless they have the religion of the majority, and having reference to God on everything from our currency to our Pledge of Allegiance.
Another major difference is the moral rule which states:
DON'T DEPRIVE OF PLEASURE
This is nearly opposite, in our society, to the commandment:
You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.
What is pleasure about in todays world? Getting what you want, when you want it, at whatever the cost. Never mind the cost to the environment, or your family, or the world at large. We all covet. This commandment is also at odds with:
DON'T DEPRIVE OF FREEDOM
Male or female slave? Slave and freedom are about as opposite as they get. Yeah, sure, I know this is the Old Testament version, but if you want to me believe that the Bible is the word of God, you can't just go changing it arou ...