The first of the Ten Commandments
I have recently been thinking a lot about the origin of the concept of sin. The idea or concept of sin has been a concern of every human since they began to consider what behavior might benefit each other. At some early point in history, we humans began to codify what specific behavior would be considered bad or wrong. I am not sure at what point in historical time that we humans began to assign the responsibility for delineating sinful behavior to the gods or to a single god.
Different religions posit different concepts of sin. Consider what Krishna constitutes as sin. According to enotes.com,
“Once this basic concept of dharma is clear, we can describe sin - called papa in Sanskrit- as all actions not in line with dharma. Evil covers all actions intended to cause harm to others and society.
At times, society may be harmed by some action sanctioned by dharma because of the uncertainty of result. Such action is not sin. But if the intention is to deliberately cause harm to others, rather than total good of the society, then such action is evil. All evil actions are also sins, because they violate the basic requirement of dharma that our action must be guided by good of the total society rather than by considerations of personal benefits.”
Some Christian theologians and Jewish scholars define sin as:
“. . . sin is understood mostly as legal infraction or contract violation or violation of Christian ethics, and so salvationtends to be viewed in legal terms, which is similar to Jewish thinking. (Wikipedia.org)
My understanding of the teachings of Jesus is that sin is any action which keeps us separated from ourselves. Thus, not embracing one’s sacred humanness would keep one separated from self. If one is not present to self, one cannot be present to others or to the rest of universe or the God of one’s understanding. Thus, one might conclude that my concept of sin is more in line with the teachings of Krishna than with the teachings of many Christian theologians or scholars.
Although there are many similarities between the 10 commandments, the seven deadly sins or the eight evil thoughts the first of the ten commandments is unique in that a single God was posited as different than we humans. Still, the first of the ten commandments makes it seems to me as if this single God has a lot in common with some of the gods who the Greeks posited. As was true with some other groups of people, the Greeks envisioned many gods who had many human attributes. Thus, it is not surprising that there was a Greek god of envy and jealously. This god was Pythons.
“Hthonos (or Phthonus) was the spirit (daimon) of envy and jealousy. He was associated in particular with the jealous passions of love. In one ancient Greek vase painting he even appears in the guise on an Eros (winged love-god) in the company of Aphrodite. The female counterpart of Phthonos was nemesis, goddess of jealous retribution, who was often concerned with matters of love, as well as indignation at undeserved good fortune. “ (theol.com)
It is important to note that Phthonus is not posited as a jealous God. He is posited as the god/spirit (daimon) of envy and jealously. The Greek gods could both be concerned about some of the core qualities of we humans while also exhibiting the same qualities or characteristics.
Monotheism is much different in that He/She has no associates with whom to have the kind of relationship issues which had characterized the Gods of the Greeks and other communities/groups.
The ten commandments, as I originally learned them, were from either the King James or a more modern translation of Exodus 20: 1-17. Commandment 1 is:
Then God delivered all these Commandments:
1. "I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods before me. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their father's wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation, on the children of those who love me and keep my Commandments.”
It is fascinating to me that in this passage of Exodus and in some other passages of the Old Testament we now have a monotheistic religion envisioning a God who is all knowing and all powerful but who retains the characteristics of a weak ego despotic ruler who cannot stand to have anyone hate him or pay homage to any idols or other false Gods.
Although there may be those who claim that it is the belief by some Muslims that visual depictions of Muhammed are sacrilege, I am not convinced that the reasons for this belief are for the same reason that this first commandment of the ten commandments is posited. I cannot locate any reference of Allah getting angry if one worships or pays homage to another God but certainly some Muslims get angry because they believe showing a visual image of Muhammed is disrespectful. I may need to be corrected on this.
In Christianity, again, I understand the teachings which are attributed to Christ have a lessening of this idea of God having a fragile ego although there is still many in the Christian religion who read some of the translations of the words attributed to Jesus as requiring that it is only by allegiance to the name of Jesus and it is only by acceptance that salvation only comes through absolute obedience to Jesus that one will have “eternal life.” One can certainly read the New Testament as positing a Christ who retains some vestiges of the jealous God. Yet, in stories of the behavior of Jesus toward others, we have this very simple, foot washing, unconditionally accepting man who does not need the God-like adoration of others.
This is not intended to be a theological treatise and, thus, I will not attempt to present a more scholarly argument for this question I am posing about this commandment. I am hoping to stimulate a thoughtful discussion about whether we need to continue to hold on to an angry, jealous, weak ego concept of God.
In future blogs I will attempt to open up a discussion about the other nine commandments as well as the seven deadly sins and the eight evil thoughts.
Written January 23, 2016
I have recently been thinking a lot about the origin of the concept of sin. The idea or concept of sin has been a concern of every human since they began to consider what behavior might benefit each other. At some early point in history, we humans began to codify what specific behavior would be considered bad or wrong. I am not sure at what point in historical time that we humans began to assign the responsibility for delineating sinful behavior to the gods or to a single god.
Different religions posit different concepts of sin. Consider what Krishna constitutes as sin. According to enotes.com,
“Once this basic concept of dharma is clear, we can describe sin - called papa in Sanskrit- as all actions not in line with dharma. Evil covers all actions intended to cause harm to others and society.
At times, society may be harmed by some action sanctioned by dharma because of the uncertainty of result. Such action is not sin. But if the intention is to deliberately cause harm to others, rather than total good of the society, then such action is evil. All evil actions are also sins, because they violate the basic requirement of dharma that our action must be guided by good of the total society rather than by considerations of personal benefits.”
Some Christian theologians and Jewish scholars define sin as:
“. . . sin is understood mostly as legal infraction or contract violation or violation of Christian ethics, and so salvationtends to be viewed in legal terms, which is similar to Jewish thinking. (Wikipedia.org)
My understanding of the teachings of Jesus is that sin is any action which keeps us separated from ourselves. Thus, not embracing one’s sacred humanness would keep one separated from self. If one is not present to self, one cannot be present to others or to the rest of universe or the God of one’s understanding. Thus, one might conclude that my concept of sin is more in line with the teachings of Krishna than with the teachings of many Christian theologians or scholars.
Although there are many similarities between the 10 commandments, the seven deadly sins or the eight evil thoughts the first of the ten commandments is unique in that a single God was posited as different than we humans. Still, the first of the ten commandments makes it seems to me as if this single God has a lot in common with some of the gods who the Greeks posited. As was true with some other groups of people, the Greeks envisioned many gods who had many human attributes. Thus, it is not surprising that there was a Greek god of envy and jealously. This god was Pythons.
“Hthonos (or Phthonus) was the spirit (daimon) of envy and jealousy. He was associated in particular with the jealous passions of love. In one ancient Greek vase painting he even appears in the guise on an Eros (winged love-god) in the company of Aphrodite. The female counterpart of Phthonos was nemesis, goddess of jealous retribution, who was often concerned with matters of love, as well as indignation at undeserved good fortune. “ (theol.com)
It is important to note that Phthonus is not posited as a jealous God. He is posited as the god/spirit (daimon) of envy and jealously. The Greek gods could both be concerned about some of the core qualities of we humans while also exhibiting the same qualities or characteristics.
Monotheism is much different in that He/She has no associates with whom to have the kind of relationship issues which had characterized the Gods of the Greeks and other communities/groups.
The ten commandments, as I originally learned them, were from either the King James or a more modern translation of Exodus 20: 1-17. Commandment 1 is:
Then God delivered all these Commandments:
1. "I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods before me. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their father's wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation, on the children of those who love me and keep my Commandments.”
It is fascinating to me that in this passage of Exodus and in some other passages of the Old Testament we now have a monotheistic religion envisioning a God who is all knowing and all powerful but who retains the characteristics of a weak ego despotic ruler who cannot stand to have anyone hate him or pay homage to any idols or other false Gods.
Although there may be those who claim that it is the belief by some Muslims that visual depictions of Muhammed are sacrilege, I am not convinced that the reasons for this belief are for the same reason that this first commandment of the ten commandments is posited. I cannot locate any reference of Allah getting angry if one worships or pays homage to another God but certainly some Muslims get angry because they believe showing a visual image of Muhammed is disrespectful. I may need to be corrected on this.
In Christianity, again, I understand the teachings which are attributed to Christ have a lessening of this idea of God having a fragile ego although there is still many in the Christian religion who read some of the translations of the words attributed to Jesus as requiring that it is only by allegiance to the name of Jesus and it is only by acceptance that salvation only comes through absolute obedience to Jesus that one will have “eternal life.” One can certainly read the New Testament as positing a Christ who retains some vestiges of the jealous God. Yet, in stories of the behavior of Jesus toward others, we have this very simple, foot washing, unconditionally accepting man who does not need the God-like adoration of others.
This is not intended to be a theological treatise and, thus, I will not attempt to present a more scholarly argument for this question I am posing about this commandment. I am hoping to stimulate a thoughtful discussion about whether we need to continue to hold on to an angry, jealous, weak ego concept of God.
In future blogs I will attempt to open up a discussion about the other nine commandments as well as the seven deadly sins and the eight evil thoughts.
Written January 23, 2016
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