IF YOU CAN'T BEAT THEM, JOIN THEM

You know that it's been a slow day up north due to the rain? You should because I told you in a previous post.

It must be inclement down in the lesser Hutt valley as well as: 

• Robert wrote about his pet fish, bird and mouse and decided to cook one of them. Don't ask - they're Catholics down there and adopt some strange dining practices - look what they eat on Sunday mornings!
• And Richard decided to rewrite the Ten Commandments.

To be fair he just went to Google and found  THIS but let's give the old guy some points for initiative OK even though creativity was lacking.

He found and printed this ......

...... but didn't expound on the meaning of it. He could have just copied and pasted the 'meaning of it' which was just underneath the bloody big purple section but, I guess he ran out of initiative and as we know, his creativity had long sailed.

Here's what the Reporter-Times explained about the big purple bit.

The 10 Commandments

1. You shall have no other God’s before me.

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images.

These laws were very important. The Israelites needed them to become a strong nation amid all the people around them who worshipped idols. We are pledging in these commandments our allegiance to be loyal, obedient and respect God.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

We don’t like it if people call us bad names do we? They are being disrespectful. God’s name is Holy and it must be used only in a reverent way.


Some people take God’s name in vain because others are doing it and we find ourselves saying these words that dishonor God. It can take root in our hearts and mind and begin saying it and don’t realize you did. Be careful don’t allow it to take root in your heart.

4. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it Holy.

Back in the Old Testament, this meant they should not work on the Sabbath but they carried it too far and wouldn’t let people pick up something heavy. Jesus changed this and said we should keep the Sabbath day to worship, remember creation, and rest so we could serve God and others.

5. Honor your father and mother.

Honor means to love and respect them. When you honor your parents you love and obey them because they are wiser. God wanted homes to be happy so he made this an important rule.

6. Thou shalt not kill. — God wants us to protect human life.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. — This means husbands and wives should be faithful to one another.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

No one is permitted to take something that belongs to another. Not only is it God’s law but it is the basic law of the society we live in.

9. Thou shall not bear false witness.

This means do not tell a lie. Do not tell stories that are untrue about people. When you tell a lie, you hurt yourself as well as others. Soon people will not trust what you say.

10. You shall not covet.

Covet means to want something that belongs to someone else. A person who covets may be led to break all most all the other commandments.

God's laws protect us

These were the laws God established for His nation of people. When we become believers, God says, “This is a New Covenant I will make with my people on that day says the Lord. I will put my law in their hearts and I will write them on their mind.”

Then he says,” I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.” Hebrews 10: 16-17.

The Reporter-Times I think, did a good job explaining away that nonsense and it's a pity that the well-known atheist and god-denier Richard couldn't be arsed to do the same or at least copy and paste what the hard-working and worthy Reporter-Times bothered to do. It's just a pity that they used the silly American spelling but, you can't have everything.

So, you might ask, where is this post going (apart from to Robert's god's hell (which going by his latest post might not be as bad as we all were led to believe and maybe no worse that living in Moera)?

Well, having been indoctrinated in Catholicism as a child and to the end of my secondary schooling in 1970 (even though I turned off to it in 1965) I had those silly 10 commandments force-fed to me. Like Richard I thought that it was a bit over the top for old goddy to make the first four about him, sorry, Him. The others make sense - proscription against murder, theft, adultery, disrespect and lying but I do think he could have been a bit more prescriptive about what we all should be doing. 

Richard did give it a go, fairs fair but, like old goddy, he wandered off a bit.

These are his (Richard's alias John's) new commandments:

1. Who you choose as a god, if you need one, will depend on where you were born. That's all fine. If you don't need one, that's even better.
2. Stay away from guns and other weapons of destruction.
3. Treat everyone's name with respect.
4. Help people where you can and try to understand their plight.
5. Honour everyone but watch out for imbeciles. The world has had enough martyrs.
6. Don't harm others, physically or mentally.
7. If you're in a relationship, be a good, kind and sympathetic partner.
8. Don't take stuff that does not belong to you.
9. Don't make up things about other people.
10. You don't need a lot of stuff to be happy.

I think that a sharper approach is required:

1. Don't kill anything*.
2. Don't steal anything**.
3. Don't lie.
4. Don't commit adultery***.
5. Be respectful towards those who deserve it.
6. Use ethical values before politics.
7. Don't be religious.
8. Be nice.
9. Try to eat more vegetables.
10. Don't over-chill your red wine.

* Except for cockroaches, flies, poisonous spiders, rats and world dictators. Only eat lab-produced 'meat' if you don't want to be a vegan or vegetarian.

** Unless you are working for a wine and spirit company and want to increase your knowledge on the products you sell.

*** Just be honest and tell your partner that it's over and move on. Don't put your (previously) loved one through all that pain and angst.