![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xiphiasI think it would be very interesting to have a polling firm do the following poll, throughout the United States. Two questions, but the second one would be a bit long:
1. With the caveat that you might be able to see exceptions in some cases, do you, on the whole, come closer to supporting or opposing the display of the Ten Commandments in public, not-overtly-religious buildings such as courthouses, town halls, or schools, and the like?
2. Please name as many of the Ten Commandments as you can.
Question 2 would be scored from 0 to, oh, about 14 or so, with half-points given for partial credit. The reason for going over 10 would be for people who could name multiple versions of commandments, including the "keep" and "remember" distinction in the commandment of the Sabbath, and between the Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish versions. Actually, perhaps one would want to score from -1 to 14, to cover people who list things that aren't in the Ten Commandments, such as "Love thy neighbor".
I hypothesize that there would be no correlation between the "support" or "oppose" answer, and how many they could name. And that the average number would be somewhere around 2.
1. With the caveat that you might be able to see exceptions in some cases, do you, on the whole, come closer to supporting or opposing the display of the Ten Commandments in public, not-overtly-religious buildings such as courthouses, town halls, or schools, and the like?
2. Please name as many of the Ten Commandments as you can.
Question 2 would be scored from 0 to, oh, about 14 or so, with half-points given for partial credit. The reason for going over 10 would be for people who could name multiple versions of commandments, including the "keep" and "remember" distinction in the commandment of the Sabbath, and between the Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish versions. Actually, perhaps one would want to score from -1 to 14, to cover people who list things that aren't in the Ten Commandments, such as "Love thy neighbor".
I hypothesize that there would be no correlation between the "support" or "oppose" answer, and how many they could name. And that the average number would be somewhere around 2.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-08 03:21 pm (UTC)This is like #1 commandment in the Adventist church, so I have the KJ version memorized. :) I noticed at one Protestant church (can't remember which) they had a poster of the 10 commandments up, which had eliminated the fourth, and divided the tenth into two. I find that reprehensible.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-08 11:33 pm (UTC)To "remember" it (זחר, I think, although I could have spelled that wrong, "zachar", "to remember") is to bring forth in one's mind the reasons for Shabbat, and to understand it. It is mental and spiritual.
So, by having the two commandments, we are commanded both to obey the laws with our body, by taking and refraining from actions, and to understand and feel the laws with our mind and soul, by thinking and feeling.
spelling
Date: 2006-09-10 09:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-08 11:45 pm (UTC)At one point, I counted about thirty commandments in the Ten Commandments. So everybody groups them into smaller chunks. Does it matter how they're grouped?
Remember also that all the punctuation is speculative, so sentence breaks can be reasonably put in somewhat different places. Further, in most situations, the verb "to be" is implied rather than explicit, so something like "Ani Adoshem" can either mean "I AM G-d", or "I, G-d. . . " -- that is, it can be a separate standalone concept, or simply an introduction to another concept.
It's an interesting exercise: what is the largest number of discrete commandments you can make out of those phrases? Personally, I could count "I am Adoshem" and "No gods before me" as two separate commandments. . .
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-09 12:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-09 12:24 am (UTC)My point is that you can't argue that one was deleted and another was split up -- because any way that you argue that, the same argument can be made about yours.
See, they could argue that you deleted one and split up the fourth and fifth to cover it.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-09 12:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-09 01:14 am (UTC)1. No other gods before Me.
2. No graven images.
3. No taking God's name in vain.
4. Shabbat/Sabbath.
5. Honor your parents.
6. Don't kill.
7. Don't commit adultery.
8. Don't steal.
9. Don't bear false witness.
10. Don't covet anyone else's wife or any of his stuff.
Those are the ones I learned. Where am I losing one?
The poster I saw had no Sabbath, but had no coveting wife/no coveting stuff as two separate ones.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-09 02:42 am (UTC)