ChatterBank1 min ago
Ann Widdicombe
What did you think about Ann Widdicombe views on Christianity last night ?
Answers
Best Answer
No best answer has yet been selected by modeller. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
-- answer removed --
It was on Sunday Ch.4. 7pm The Bible : a History. She maintained that we should live by the 10 Commanments as set out by Moses 4000 years ago. She seemed particularly against any desire to obtain any worldly things. 'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours belongings'.etc. which she described as greed . So much for world trade.
However It was worth watching as an example of blind faith.
However It was worth watching as an example of blind faith.
-- answer removed --
-- answer removed --
dunno about blind faith really - i only watched the bit about the 10 commandments where she had a ding dong with stephen fry. her argument that this is a good moral code which is still followed/relevant today (thouh shall not kill, not steal, commit adultery, covet etc etc) seemed to remarkably ignore the circa 2,000 years of christianity where this was continuously disregarded by christians in god's name.
While watching the programme, I was wondering why no one asked the question, “Which Ten Commandments?”. There are at least three 'ten commandments' and most of them have more then ten commandments in them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments
From the above link -
“Although Exodus 34 contains ten imperative statements, the passages in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 contain fourteen or fifteen. However, the Bible assigns the count of ten to both lists. Various denominations divide these statements into ten in different ways, and may also translate the Commandments differently.”
Hmmm.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments
From the above link -
“Although Exodus 34 contains ten imperative statements, the passages in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 contain fourteen or fifteen. However, the Bible assigns the count of ten to both lists. Various denominations divide these statements into ten in different ways, and may also translate the Commandments differently.”
Hmmm.
Continued...
We're told that Moses is first told the Laws by God (they are not actually written down). These are the Laws recounted in Exodus 20 – they contain more then 10 Commandments.
We next hear of the Laws in Exodus 31 – where God uses His Holy finger to write the Laws on tablets of stone. These laws are not identical to the ones written in Exodus 20. So much for infallibility.
After seeing the Israelites making a golden calf, etc. Moses smashes these tablets and after much murder and mayhem, God tells Moses that He will recreate His Laws on further stone tablets – God promises to "write upon [them] the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest".
But God seems to get it wrong. The new Laws are described in Exodus 34 – and contain approximately 17 Laws (depending on how they're interpreted and grouped).
One of them being, “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.”.... Err... okay, I promise not to.
The Laws are further repeated in Deuteronomy and are yet again inconsistent with the Laws in Exodus.
So which Ten Commandments are we actually talking about?
We're told that Moses is first told the Laws by God (they are not actually written down). These are the Laws recounted in Exodus 20 – they contain more then 10 Commandments.
We next hear of the Laws in Exodus 31 – where God uses His Holy finger to write the Laws on tablets of stone. These laws are not identical to the ones written in Exodus 20. So much for infallibility.
After seeing the Israelites making a golden calf, etc. Moses smashes these tablets and after much murder and mayhem, God tells Moses that He will recreate His Laws on further stone tablets – God promises to "write upon [them] the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest".
But God seems to get it wrong. The new Laws are described in Exodus 34 – and contain approximately 17 Laws (depending on how they're interpreted and grouped).
One of them being, “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.”.... Err... okay, I promise not to.
The Laws are further repeated in Deuteronomy and are yet again inconsistent with the Laws in Exodus.
So which Ten Commandments are we actually talking about?
The lady is typically blind to reason because of her faith.
If you examine the ten commandments as recognised by Christians, it is perfectly clear that only the first four are specifically ‘religious'; the remaining six are purely ‘social'. That is, they must form the basis of any rational and moral society.
I personally think religion is utter bunkum, but I fully support the necessity for Commandments 5 - 10 inclusive if society is to hold together.
These ‘rules' clearly existed from the earliest times, when mankind first began to live in settled communities which could obviously not have existed without them.
That was long before any of the monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity or Islam - were even thought of and thus long before the Ten Commandments were written.
Buddhism and Confucianism - both from around the 5th/6th centuries BC - for example, both exist perfectly happily as ethical/moral systems without dependence on gods. Even the Egyptian Book of the Dead, from over 2,000 years BC, contains most of the social concepts in the Ten Commandments.
As always with people like Ms Widdecombe, they just float over any attempt to get them to provide rational reasons for religious belief.
If you examine the ten commandments as recognised by Christians, it is perfectly clear that only the first four are specifically ‘religious'; the remaining six are purely ‘social'. That is, they must form the basis of any rational and moral society.
I personally think religion is utter bunkum, but I fully support the necessity for Commandments 5 - 10 inclusive if society is to hold together.
These ‘rules' clearly existed from the earliest times, when mankind first began to live in settled communities which could obviously not have existed without them.
That was long before any of the monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity or Islam - were even thought of and thus long before the Ten Commandments were written.
Buddhism and Confucianism - both from around the 5th/6th centuries BC - for example, both exist perfectly happily as ethical/moral systems without dependence on gods. Even the Egyptian Book of the Dead, from over 2,000 years BC, contains most of the social concepts in the Ten Commandments.
As always with people like Ms Widdecombe, they just float over any attempt to get them to provide rational reasons for religious belief.