Is it true without the Ten Commandments we wouldn't have morality or ethics?

[Gref]

I've met some southern preachers who thought the bible ok'd slavery.

It does. Exodus 21.

 

[mozfonky]

It does. Exodus 21.

I should have specified, that the southern preachers thought it ok'd american/african slavery. That's bullshit.

 

[tenniswhiz]

Why are there only 10?

Why not an 11th saying ‘thou shall not go to North Sentinel Island and attempt to convert the locals.’

 

[Andy Capp]

Abstain due to no "None of the above" option. A moral code is a necessary consequence of living in communities, IMHO. In order to have a society where people aren't killing each other in the streets over perceived wrongs, you need to establish standards of comportment and dispute resolution, i.e. laws, and laws necessarily come about from a shared understanding of how people should behave and what society should do about it when they don't.

If you want to assert we would not have societal communities without the 10 commandments, ok, but I'm gonna need to see the receipts, as it were. There's a lot of evidence for large communities that had no contact with biblical teachings.

 

[Gref]

Why are there only 10?

Why not an 11th saying ‘thou shall not go to North Sentinel Island and attempt to convert the locals.’

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/613_commandments

 

[Andy Capp]

I sense multi perspective & participatory spiritual awareness or movement developing that may lead to something, or not.

Or not ROFL

 

[Sinister]

Nope

 

[AnGrYcRoW]

No , silly question tbh

 

[RonDante]

Abrahamic religions aren’t the only religions with moral systems which asks why do all groups have ideas on how people should behave? And why are they all so similar….

 

[Don Quixote]

I don’t think so; I believe that God has placed objective morality in his creation from the beginning. The 10 commandments was giving to Israel to assist them in what is right and wrong and to help them become a great nation.

 

[nhbbear]

I voted yes because it is that fear of something greater, be it God, Ten Commandments, Zeus, Kim kardashian-whoever, that keeps many people in line. Sure, withiut religion, there would still be mores of society and some rule, but I think the Ten Commandments is something that a lot of our modern laws are based upon whether you believe in it or not

 

[SakurabasEar]

The holy books are not the basis for morality, nor do they even claim to be. But certainly serve as a reinforcement and guildline (such as the case with the 10 commandments) to living and preforming moral good. These things do occur naturally, but often can be out done by lack of morality or ethics. We've seen this struggle represented again and again throughout our worlds history

Its an interesting argument that gets clouded by the fact that in America, 65% claim to be Christian but many of which dedicate none of their time to the teachings, beliefs, or lifestyle of Christianity and just use the book as a moral club against their enemies.

 

[LMP]

No, religion doesn't create morals.

 

[EndlessCritic]

I don't think it's true.

The ancient human beings had morality, way before the Ten Commandments. Nature has its rules, just like all animals has to follow a certain guideline to prolong their life and not only survive but to thrive. And we are part of nature. So we're all part of these universal truths.

Imo, It's all about adapting to your surroundings. The less risk and stress you put yourself the better you're off and the longer you will live. The Ten Commandments is really nonsensical. There is no need for it.

Plain old common sense is the best approach. I also believe morality is innate and it changes and adapts through time.

Just listen to how redundant and silly the Ten Commandments are from the great George Carlin. He said it best.

(Anywho, just thought I'd post this to start a insightful civilized discussion.) Hope it works. : - )

The 10th commandment is literally, "Do not covet your neighbour's slave".

These backwards morons from the stone age thought it was worse to covet your neighbour's slave than to own a slave.

 

[luckyshot]

Out of the 10 commandments, about three are obvious, three are counter productive, and four you can take or leave.

Most overrated moral document of all time.

 

[Blayt7hh]

Hammurabi’s code is like a thousand years older than the 10 commandments. It did not invent the idea of morality

 

[tastaylvr]

I voted yes because it is that fear of something greater, be it God, Ten Commandments, Zeus, Kim kardashian-whoever, that keeps many people in line. Sure, withiut religion, there would still be mores of society and some rule, but I think the Ten Commandments is something that a lot of our modern laws are based upon whether you believe in it or not

lol yes the majority of people don’t kill and rape due to the fear of god…

hahaahahhah

 

[tastaylvr]

Still blows my mind that America is one of the most religious countries in the world

 

[orca]

lol even stone age men cared for their family/clan

 

[TheGreatA]

Jesus's teachings had a much bigger impact on morality than the Ten Commandments. The Old Testament reflects the world as it largely was prior to Jesus, cruel, harsh, unforgiving, with death or bodily mutilation being the penalty for most "sins". Jesus introduced to the world the concept of mercy, which rarely existed prior to him, certainly not introduced to people on such a grand scale.

Without him, people would probably still hold onto pagan beliefs, which were not all that dissimilar to those that exist in the Old Testament. It did not take a genius to figure out that stealing, murder and incest were detrimental to long-term society building. Ancient civilizations already operated under these same rules. What did, in fact, change the game, is that you could actually forgive people and give them a second chance at being productive citizens. It radically altered our mentality from the aggressive, brutish nature that humans had. We needed a respite from the brutal war for survival that the world had largely been, and Jesus by his words offered that.