How did people knew what was bad or good before the ten comandments were made?

Answer 1

That is a very good question. Good thinking.

I looked thorugh my Bible, and yes, people did know what was right from wrong, even before the 10 commandments were given to man by God. So the key to findign out how they knew is quite simple, read the follow up to Exodus 20. Reading is important. Especially when it comes to the Word of God.

Right throughout Genesis, and the beginning of Exodus, we see that God had other means of communicating his will to mankind.

1) God spoke to man directly (Noah, Enoch, Adam, Moses, etc)

2) through the Holy Spirit (which speakes to the heart and mind of man)

The 10 commandments are binding, even today. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever
be blessed :-)

Answer 2

I don't believe that people needed the Ten Commandments in order to distinguish the difference between right and wrong. Common sense, decency, and compassion for fellow man is what gives us the since on what should and should not be done. The entire world does not follow the Ten Commandments and they know the difference between right and wrong. I know you're probably thinking that everyone doesn't know the difference between right and wrong, but everyone does. It's a matter of whether or not you care enough to do what's right or if you have no regard for what is right.

Answer 3

Everyone is born with a "conscience", which means "with knowledge". In our conscience God gave us a knowledge of right and wrong. Everyone is responsible for their own actions. When we die God will judge us by the standard of His Moral Laws. If we stand guilty before God then we will end up in Hell. The good news is that God provided a way for us to be forgiven. Jesus Christ died on a cross and rose again to pay the debt for our sins. What we must do is Repent, which means to ask forgiveness, turn away from our sins, then put our complete Trust in Jesus Christ. Only then will we be accepted into Heaven not becaues we're a good person, but because we're a bad person who's been forgiven.

Answer 4

The consensus of the group. Whether family or community. Our basic survival instincts tell us that it is safer in a group. If the group decided that one member was causing trouble for the group, then they would banish them. The Ten Commandments didn't tell us what not to do, they pointed out what we were doing already. They made us aware. Now, Jesus fulfulled the law with his death and resurrection, and the Holy Spirit came into the world who now convicts all of wrongdoing because He, the HS, has written it upon our hearts.

Answer 5

Joseph was in the bible before the ten commandments
That is the reason the Jews ended up in Egypt.
He was to take care of ponifers wife. She wanted him bad.
Everyday it says she tried to get him to lie down with her.
He was sold as a slave, in a foreign country. Yet somehow he knew that adultery was wrong and refused to have sex with her.
He said, "How could i do that and commit this great badness and actually sin against God." How did he know it was a sin?

Answer 6

What instruction or law do you need if I come up to you and beat you over the head and take from you what I want?

What teaching or law has to be written to tell you about my raping your sister, wife, mother or daughter?

What law has to be written to tell you that, you do not want me to tell others that you stole what you did not steal, did what you did not do?

We do not need LAWS to tell us what is right or wrong, we only have to ask ourselves if we want the situation applied to us and what we would want the outcome to be.

The thief, in jail for stealing, gets angry when someone steals from him.

Today, as in that time, people still do what ever they want to do and try to lie, twist, distort or what ever and say there is no law against what they have done.

So the law was written so that all would know, what the already knew, should not or could be done. And no questions asked, that a punishment would be imposed!

Answer 7

Good and bad are not the functions of your religious beliefs.

Its your conscience that makes you feels bad/guilty when you do something wrong.

If 10 commandments are the only definition of right and wrong, non-christians would allbe bad, stealing, lying murderers. That this is not the case proves that religion does not affect our actions as strongly as somepeople think.

Infact 10 commandments can not prevent anyone from being evil.

Answer 8

Well, first, there were more than 10 commandments in the Bible. Those are just the basic ones. Anyway, to address your question:

Since it started with Adam and Eve in the garden and they "walked and talked" with God, they were able to commune directly with him. Once "sin passed upon all men," there had to be an atonement for our sin. God required the people to sacrifice a clean animal as payment for their sins. Once Jesus (the Spotless Lamb) died on the cross he became the ultimate sacrifice for our sins and therefore eliminated the need for the sacrificial dispensation.

Answer 9

God gave rules to the priests DIRECTLY
and the priests passed on the info to the people.


Most of the rules in the begining were simple rules
just to keep people healthy enough to reproduce.
Stuff like not eating shellfish and pork.
Since they didn't have refrigeration and stoves
most meat was eaten raw. Pork and shellfish raw
can kill.

Answer 10

No idea how they figured out that shamshing your wife in the head with a rock over and until she died was a bad thing. Good question that may never be answered.