Atheists if you don't believe in the Bible, why do you insist on follow at least five of the ten commandments?

Question

1. Honor your father and mother.
2. You shall not kill.
3. You shall not commit adultery.
4. You shall not steal.
5. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
6. You shall not covet you neighbor's wife.
7. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.

-note; those in prison don't need to answer; thou has been condemned for his / her actions.

Don't get me wrong, but why follow any of them at all? I mean what's stopping you? If all we are comes down to free beasts on land; where does society step in?

Answer 1

Listen; We're not following the "commandments", we're just using common sense.

Answer 2

they save the Sabbath Holy, do no longer make idols, and haven't any Gods earlier the God of Abraham? i think of you're at a loss for words. and that they are able to no longer use the call of their god wrongfully, or undergo fake witness. so because it extremely is 5 out of the ten down good there. 2 extra are against the regulation homicide and robbery. maximum have not got any reason to no longer honor their moms and dads. So there we've 3 possibly observed Adultery is extra very own. however maximum see it as immoral some do no longer belive in marriage so it extremely is beside the point. maximum additionally belive no longer something is erroneous with intercourse outdoors marriage All it extremely is left is to no longer covet and that i will't choose a team of individuals on that so there are your 2 unknowns. i'm going to assert in all hazard observed. so which you have 4 that are broken by way of utilising no longer believing in god. you have a million (idols) possibly broken and specific N/A. 2 observed by utilising regulation. and 3 as a private determination. i could say it extremely is secure to assert the typical atheist breaks 6 and a good number of wreck 8.

Answer 3

Who says I insist people follow those commandments?

Not all parents deserve honor (some deserve prison).
Killing seems to be okay if we are at war.
Is wife swapping adultery? For some consenting adults, swigging works.
When a starving person steals food, it isn't a sin. I can see many cases where "stealing" wouldn't be wrong.
All people fantasize about other peoples' wives, husbands, ect. That is just a dumb commandment.
Coveting in general seems to be the point of American economy, so I don't see why it is a sin.

So, you clearly haven't thought about what an atheist might have to say about all of this, have you?

Answer 4

Why do you assume Christianity has a monopoly on morality? Those are basic morals that most humans follow, and therefore Christianity has reflected that. And besides just because I'm not Christian does not mean that I have to contradict everything Christianity preaches.

Also, are you telling me the only thing keeping you from stealing, murdering someone, cheating on your significant other, etc... is because your God told you not to? So if, hypothetically, we were able to prove God does not exist, you would go around breaking all of the Commandments just because there is now nothing "stopping you?" Now that is frightening.

Answer 5

It's rather narrow-minded to assume that Christians (never mind just people who believe in a god or gods) have a monopoly on morality. Evolutionary biologists/psychologists would argue that 'moral' behaviour is wired into the brain as a mechanism to help the survival of the species. If you accept that this is the only reason for this behaviour, then there is absolutely no contradiction in being an atheist and a 'moral' person.

[Edit] I happen to believe that the world I live in will be a more pleasant place for me if I do my bit to make it better. So 'moral' behaviour may even just be a form of selfishness.

Answer 6

They are not commandments to atheists. They are the social conventions that allow people to live peacefully and happily with each other.
You are asking the same "how can atheists have morals without god" question that has been asked endlessly.
And everybody covets their neighbors belongings, be it cars, MP3 players or wide screen TVs.
May I also point out the disproportionate number of theists in jail.

Answer 7

excuse me ! I dont need someone to tell me what's right and wrong I already know ! Just because a person is atheist does not mean they have no morals. and personally the only thing that really qualifies as differntiating between right and wrong is killing and cheating and stealing. and Two out of three of those are AGAINST THE LAW. I don't understand how you already have these incorrect pre-concieved notions about people when you don't know a thing about them. You've been taught to judge by label alone already. I guess that happens in church

Answer 8

Morality existed long before the Ten Commandments were written. I didn't need someone to write a rulebook to keep me in line. I'm perfectly capable of using my own common sense to do so. I need neither the instruction book or the middleman.

Perhaps a more appropriate question would be to ask Christians why more of THEM don't ADHERE to their Ten Commandments. Maybe if more of you followed your own rulebook, you'd be better "role models" for those of us you consider to be heathens.

Christians are the best deterrents to conversion:)

Answer 9

Im going to go with the Jewish version:

5. Honor thy Father and Mother
I like Mom and Dad and want to stay in the will

6. Thou shalt not murder
Dont want to go to prison

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery
Dont want to lose half my stuff

8. Thou shalt not steal
Dont want to go to prison

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor
Dont want to get sued and lose half my stuff

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife
Dont want to be murdered and/ or lose half my stuff

Answer 10

If you do not believe in Shamash, why do you believe in laws that can be traced back to the Code of Hammurabi?

Anyway, the only laws I adhere to are 2, 3 and 5. I hated my dad, I want to bone several married women and I would love to have some stuff others own.

Answer 11

I look forward to seeing whether or not people simply say "it's against the law" without going into WHY it's against the law.

but yeah, here's what i believe;

I think that atheists acknowledge that although christianity may indeed be based on the flawed testimony of a few hundred or so people that can never be proved, they do acknowledge that we wouldn't be where we are today if it were not for those commandments that political christians established as law.

Whether they want to or not, it's the truth of the matter.

Now then, instead of simply rebelling against what one sees as 'wrong' or 'incorrect', why not get involved and deal with the problems of corruption and scandal instead of condemning the whole damn christian religion?

I fail to see anything wrong with believing in a higher entity, however i do see something wrong with claiming to believe in that higher entity in order to use that respected social position specifically to abuse the people around the individual who does so.

And of course, the church is afraid to openly cast out these heretical defilers of the true word of God, because that would be a sign of weakness and - oh-ho - risk further condemnation.

Allow me to put it another way - if christianity wasn't so predominant, we'd all be worshipping Islam, and the people who deny the existence of THAT god WILL get their heads cut off.

Not that i'm trying to offend anyone by saying that, of course.

edit to add;

Of course.. perhaps some people are simply afraid of making that kind of commitment...