Should the 10 commandments be allowed in gov't buildings?

Josh said:
Are ya'll Offended?


Don't you realize what ya'll are doing is EXACTLY what i said about in my earlier post?


Ya'll think the Idea that there is a God is a bad thing. The Bible says we Everyone already has a knowledge of God but choose to do evil anyway.


Everything Jesus said is coming true, if you wanna know what i'm talking about, PM me.

You have mentioned a few times "What Jesus Said" or "What is in the Bible". Can you quote books and passages please. I would like to refresh myself on these words.
 
Ok, I haven't read this thread from the beginning but here is my .02 on posting the 10 Commandments...aside from the religious basis, what is offensive about stating that it's wrong to kill, steal, lie, etc. ? The crime rate and offenses against our fellow man are rampant. Should it be a big deal to post that these things are wrong and against the law in a building which upholds the law?
 
Josh said:
Are ya'll Offended?

Don't you realize what ya'll are doing is EXACTLY what i said about in my earlier post?

Ya'll think the Idea that there is a God is a bad thing. The Bible says we Everyone already has a knowledge of God but choose to do evil anyway.

Everything Jesus said is coming true, if you wanna know what i'm talking about, PM me.
I also believe in God and that Jesus will return. But I don't expect tax money to be used to advertise my beliefs nor the beliefs of those who believe differently.
 
Josh said:
Jesus Christ said that there will come a time in History where EVERYTHING dealing with Him, God, God's Law, the Ten Commandments, Christians, etc... will be Hated.

We're There Now.

Hardly breaking news there, Since day one people have disputed god's law etc.

I mean its pretty obvious if you are extremely outspoken or lean strongly in one direction that there will be an amount of people in an opposing direction. Even if you sit firmly on the fence not leaning one way or the other you can be hated, doesn't seem like much more than common sense jesus employed there.
 
Josh said:
Are ya'll Offended?


Don't you realize what ya'll are doing is EXACTLY what i said about in my earlier post?


Ya'll think the Idea that there is a God is a bad thing. The Bible says we Everyone already has a knowledge of God but choose to do evil anyway.

I guess it depends on your definition of God, personally i put no weight in the christian idea of God.

As for the 10 commandments, well you have to look at exactly where the structure of your government sits with ideas of christianity and faith and how that ties in with the governing structure.

I feel that your government should seperate church and state or make more effort to embrace and support other belief/non-belief systems. I think to seperate it would be the safer bet, of course i understand the idea that they are there to resemble the history of the government, that can't change.
 
Josh said:
Here's Jesus telling His discples about the end of the world

Matthew 24:4-15


4Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,[a]' and will deceive many. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 15"So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,'[b] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.


People have claimed to be christ in the past just as He said they would and many have followed them only to be deceived. Look at all the wars that have been going on and the fact that we can hear of anything big so easily with the news and all the Bad weather, the huriccanes, tsunamis, etc... and all the Disease like SARS and the Bird Flu, and that's just those two examples. That's evidence enough for me.
I think the problem Josh is that your not looking any farther back than the last few years. Everything that was mentioned in that passage has been going on for, oh, a couple of thousand years. What about WWI and WWII? The Crusades? What about polio, smallpox and the Black Plague? Earthquakes? Hmm, SF in 1906, Alaska in the '60s. How many devastating earthquakes have occurred in the Middle East and Asia over the centuries? Do you think this was the first tsunami in history to kill a large number of people? Our country was founded by Puritans because the Church of England was corrupt. That was a little over 400 years ago. When fuedal lords ruled on high and oppressed their subjects, do you think that they could have been considered wicked? Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun?

I commend you for your dedication to your beliefs. But before you go any farther down the road you appear to be going down, I think you need to step back and take a look at a bigger snapshot of history than the last 5-10 years. Give youself a chance to grow and gain a little more life experience before you make proclamations such as the ones you've made here. You'll be the better for it.
 
michaeledward said:
My question(s) for you would be this;

What is the First of the 10 Commandments in your faith?

Are you aware that different faiths view the Commandments differently?
Are you aware that the Jewish traditions of the Decalog allow for penalties for sins to be applied to the offspring of the offender; the Sins of the Father are punished on his Children?

I think I know where you are going with this, michael...maybe ;)

Until a time comes where all religious "commandments" (and I use that word only as a general term) are accepted in public display, especially in a government setting, the display of the christian ten commandements could be seen as biased towards one said religious institution. Please correct me if I am wrong. :)

I have learned a lot from this thread. Sat back quietly lurking and reading. For instance, I did not know that you had the option not to be sworn in on a bible.

I agree with hardheadjarheads perspective that the "all or nothing" approach has some appeal. I just wonder if I will ever see the day where church and state are truly separated.
 
Sil Lum TigerLady said:
Ok, I haven't read this thread from the beginning but here is my .02 on posting the 10 Commandments...aside from the religious basis, what is offensive about stating that it's wrong to kill, steal, lie, etc. ? The crime rate and offenses against our fellow man are rampant. Should it be a big deal to post that these things are wrong and against the law in a building which upholds the law?

Post Columbine, a few Republican lawmakers tried to install the ten commandments in public schools. It was stricken down, and they didn't bother trying to replace those with secularized versions, like "No killing other students please."

The whole point is to play to the fundie base.
 
Lisa said:
I think I know where you are going with this, michael...maybe

Until a time comes where all religious "commandments" (and I use that word only as a general term) are accepted in public display, especially in a government setting, the display of the christian ten commandements could be seen as biased towards one said religious institution. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I have learned a lot from this thread. Sat back quietly lurking and reading. For instance, I did not know that you had the option not to be sworn in on a bible.

I agree with hardheadjarheads perspective that the "all or nothing" approach has some appeal. I just wonder if I will ever see the day where church and state are truly separated.

Just a couple of thoughts ... I had entered a more extensive reply, but, my wireless card hiccupped.

1 - I had mentioned earlier that I think Joshua ben Joseph (Jesus) is an excellent teacher. One of his lessons that I like particularly is:
Matthew 6:6 said:
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
This seems a clear instruction to keep your religious activities private.

2 - One version of the First Commandment is this:
The All Mighty said:
I am the Lord Your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
The speaker of this Commandment is the god of the Jews, sometimes named Jehovah, sometimes name Yahweh. The Christian version of this commandment does not reference Egypt or Slavery. The speaker of the Christian version of this commandment is spoken by the Father God of the 'Trinity', which, as I understand it, is almost heretical to the Jews. Alternatively, in Islam, which is also an Abrahamic religion, the speaker can only be Allah.
If these religions can not agree on the exact wording of the First Commandment, nor on how to address the speaker, it would seem there will be greater problems than if the scripture should be publically displayed. Greater Problems as in, oh, let's say The Crusades.

This commandment certainly seems anachonistic, don't you think.


The 18th Century (already enough of a Christian reference in my mind), is referred to as 'The Enlightenment'. I try to keep this in mind when recalling how the United States was originally formed; including the idea of separation of Church and State.
 
Lisa said:
I agree with hardheadjarheads perspective that the "all or nothing" approach has some appeal. I just wonder if I will ever see the day where church and state are truly separated.

Well, that will always be difficult when there are people like Josh in positions of political power. Despite this, I have faith (hah, a pun!) that it is a goal that can be achieved one day.

That being said, I always find individuals like Josh curious in their apparent inability to distinguish between Separation of Church and State and a supposed 'attack' on their religion. It inceasingly seems clear that such individuals interpret the two concept to be one and the same (meaning, they will only be satisifed with some form of quasi-theocracy in America).

As a psychology student, I'd be interested in regards to the origins of such obvious cognitive biases.

Laterz.
 
terryl965 said:
This thread is just to funny.
Michaeledwald you ask why it was insulting to me, to tell you the truth it is just a gut thing with me, I know you are not trying to be dis-respectful it just was to me and I wish I could tell you why just can't.

So for now it is a lost case for me keep on going sir.
Terry

Terry, I am certainly not trying to insult anyone. I do find it, shall we say, interesting, that if you gather the faithful from different religions and put them into a locked room, they would be unable to come to a concensus as to what the "Ten Commandments" actually say; each faith has its own version. In fact, there are two different versions of the 'Ten Commandments' in Exodus (as I understand it - Exodus 20 & Exodus 34).

So, we argue about an idea, "The Ten Commandments", with even defining on the actual idea.

That we as a society would desire to inscribe our Justice System with the words; "I am the Lord your God . . . " sounds an awful lot like an Iranian Theocracy. It amazes me that people are first unable to see that parallel, or that they would want to change to that.
 
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