Are the 10 Commandments that we have the real 10 Commandments, or are we mistaken about what they are.

A question that seems to persist in the not so well researched world of the Atheism web can be found at http://www.positiveatheism.org/crt/whichcom.htm where it is discussed which set of 10 Commandments are really the true 10 Commandments. This is simple to answer, there is only one set. Positive Atheism states this on its website: "As the tale goes, Moses smashed the tables of stone, and God said he'd make a new set of tables containing "the words that were on the first" (Exodus 34:1). However, as we see on the second page, the second Ten Commandments in no way resemble the first set. To popularize this knowledge is to knock the wind out of this entire move to place "The" Ten Commandments in our schools." Now its interesting that what is cited afterwards regarding the 10 commandments are two different sets of decalogues. At first glance this looks convincing enough to say that there are two different sets of 10 Commandments, and that God did not know which one was the actual decalogue, that God was somehow confused. The cite goes on to cite two different "sets" of decalogues: Which Ten Commandments?

First Tables of Stone (Exodus 20)
("which Moses didst break")

Second Tables of Stone (Exodus 34)
("the words that were on the first")


1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.

1. Thou shalt worship no other god (For the Lord is a jealous god).


2. You shall not make for yourself a graven image. You shall not bow down to them or serve them.

2. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.


3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

3. The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep in the month when the ear is on the corn.


4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

4. All the first-born are mine.


5. Honor your father and your mother.

5. Six days shalt thou work, but on the seventh thou shalt rest.


6. You shall not kill.

6. Thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, even of the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.


7. You shall not commit adultery.

7. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread.


8. You shall not steal.

8. The fat of my feast shall not remain all night until the morning.


9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

9. The first of the first fruits of thy ground thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God.


10. You shall not covet.

10. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk.


While this seems like its got a great point, anything could when attempting to pick and choose what to include within a citation. If this author had decided to cite some passages that preceded these laws, he would have noticed the errors of his ways. The Decalogue is translated from the Greek as actually meaning, "The 10 Words." The "Words of the Covenant" actually is synonymous with the term "The 10 Commandments." He begins Exodus 20 off with: Exodus 20:1 "And God spoke all these words." The words that followed were an entire covenant with Israel. 10 that were mentioned were the ones that were mentioned in Exodus 34. However, the point to remember is in Exodus 34, the words, "These words" are not mentioned. Rather simply a covenant was mentioned. There were many covenants mentioned within the Bible. The first part of Exodus 34 is no more than simply a covenant, but not the "Words of the Covenant." Those are reserved for when we look at Deuteronomy 4-5, which was conveniently left out of the reference to the 10 commandments on the Atheist cite. What is mentioned in Exodus 34 after the 10 laws were mentioned to be abided by the Hebrewic people, which were not actually the 10 Commandments, is that after Moses is to write those things down, he is to THEN write the 10 Commandments out. Again, this is missed by Positive Atheism's source, Jyoti Shankar. The 10 Commandments are more clearly stated out in Deuteronomy 5, once again, conveniently left out by our source Shankar.

The rest of this source should be called, "10 things I want to manipulate out of the Bible to make it sound bad." Its abuse of context is quite pathetic and need not be mentioned too much here. The 1st law from Exodus 22:20 is very accurate. If one is to worship another besides almighty Yeshua, then he will be destroyed. Sin leads to corruption, and ultimately to ones downfall. Such is the same for Leviticus 24:16. Exodus 31:15, 21:15, 21:17, 22:19, Leviticus 20:13 and 20:10 are almost right except now we have the ultimate sacrifice given to us by Yeshua, so that he shall be put to death is no longer necessary as their is now forgiveness offered for these sins. They were applicable to the early Hebrewic culture, but since Yeshua has come some of the laws have been changed. Mark 16:16 missed half of the quotation: "16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." which is the ninth law he simply doesn't like. As to why this is...well he doesn't seem to want to make the point that Mashiach's atonement is the only way to be forgiven of sin. So he just chooses to not address that important point. And the tenth law...way out of context as well. This does not apply to modern day priests. It applies to a Wicked land of people known as Edom. Again, poorly researched material breeds poorly researched internet articles.