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Thou shall not covet another man's wife


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I think there's a Commandment from the Christian Bible that says "Thou shalt not covet another man's wife"

 

If you want to get technical, it does not pertain to women and in the ancient days, it was frowned upon to be single. We are aware of the stigma for single parents and single women when our grandparents were bring raised, but in the ancient days, it was far wrose. If you get deep into history, women out numbered men, and before it became big in the muslim faith, it was quite common to marry more then one women. Those men were celebrated because they saved a women from being left single.

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If you want to get technical, it does not pertain to women and in the ancient days, it was frowned upon to be single. We are aware of the stigma for single parents and single women when our grandparents were bring raised, but in the ancient days, it was far wrose. If you get deep into history, women out numbered men, and before it became big in the muslim faith, it was quite common to marry more then one women. Those men were celebrated because they saved a women from being left single.

 

And it stems before Canadian and American history. The bible was written from historical findings that were written before those countries even existed.

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I think there's a Commandment from the Christian Bible that says "Thou shalt not covet another man's wife"

 

The full commandment from which that is taken is: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, not his manservant, not his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, not any thing that is thy neighbor’s." [Berean Bible]. This particular commandment speaks against jealousy and envy, moreso than against taking or stealing what is not yours.

 

The commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery" also speaks against 'not taking a second God'; it supports, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

 

The idea that 'adultery' refers only to having (or not having) sex with married people is, as igotoverit said, more of a human-made concept that was not so much present when the text for what became the original scriptures were progressively released.

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Happy Lemming
I think there's a Commandment from the Christian Bible that says "Thou shalt not covet another man's wife"

 

Yea, Yea, Yea... Yet another commandment I have broken.

 

If there is a Heaven and Hell, I already have a seat reserved on the express train to Hell.

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The commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery" also speaks against 'not taking a second God'; it supports, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

 

The idea that 'adultery' refers only to having (or not having) sex with married people is, as igotoverit said, more of a human-made concept that was not so much present when the text for what became the original scriptures were progressively released.

^^^ That isn't quite correct.

 

Adultery was forbidden in the time of Moses because (in the days before DNA testing) fatherhood could not be proved.

 

So a woman who committed adultery was in deep trouble because she would

a) produce a bastard child that her husband would have to support and

b) generally screw up the family blood lines.

 

That's why women who transgressed in this way were stoned to death :eek:

 

The 10 Commandments are the very basis of Mosaic Law ie; the Law of God as given to Moses on Mount Sinai, and are not a human invention.

Edited by Arieswoman
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BarbedFenceRider

Damn alpha...I just had popcorn go down the wrong hole while swallowing...ROFL!

 

Seriously, the commandments were around LOOOONG before any western ideal was in place or even contemplated. Moses brought down the commandments from the mount in the OT (old testament) which is originally the hebrew bible even before the torah.

 

To not "covet" is to have wanton need for. To having something that is not yours. As for adultery, since most marriages were consummated by the act of lovemaking in the first night, as was the beginning of the traditional view of family in the eyes of God 1 man, 1 woman together joined as 1.... In the hopes of procreation (being fruitful and multiply).

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The 10 Commandments are the very basis of Mosaic Law ie; the Law of God as given to Moses on Mount Sinai, and are not a human invention.

Yes, I agree; the body or text of it was revealed to Moses through what I call 'progressive revelation'. That is, in this case progressive to what had been given to Abraham. Human interpretation is what causes confusion...the Law itself is not what gave men the right or some God-given authority to stone women (and yet, not men) to death for having non-marital sex. That is only how the Law was applied through human interpretation and desire to keep women 'in line'.

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major_merrick

As for coveting, I think coveting tend to happen as the precursor to adultery. So, by banning covetous behavior, God installs a kind of barrier to the final act. And avoiding adultery and therefore avoiding shame, bastard children, and messed up families is important enough that two commandments had to be instituted to prevent it. In the same way, avoiding stealing is important enough that God bans both coveting (the precursor) and the act itself. Interesting.

 

I am kind of new to the whole "having some guidelines for my life" deal, so I will no doubt be guilty of covetous and lustful behavior for a long time yet...

Edited by a LoveShack.org Moderator
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I think there's a Commandment from the Christian Bible that says "Thou shalt not covet another man's wife"

 

Why do you ask Pops?

 

Each poster will answer as they are but what is your question?

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RonniW,

 

the Law itself is not what gave men the right or some God-given authority to stone women (and yet, not men) to death for having non-marital sex. That is only how the Law was applied through human interpretation and desire to keep women 'in line'.

 

I agree.

 

The Law was quite clear that adultery was wrong, for the reasons I cited. It also destablises family units (as we have seen from these pages).

 

However, the punishment of "stoning" was a man-made creation and a man could be stoned to death for rape.

 

See; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoning

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Why do you ask Pops?

 

Each poster will answer as they are but what is your question?

 

Oh I wasn’t asking anything. Just reminding the OP, since she’s a Christian.

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The Law was quite clear that adultery was wrong, for the reasons I cited.

The Law (on adultery) given to Moses may well have been for the reasons you cited. However, the esoteric meaning is to have only one God and not be disloyal to It.

 

Killing for any reason is, of course, against the Law - so, stoning men to death for rape does not make any better the stoning to death of women for non-marital sex.

(Unless I've misunderstood your reason for adding about the stoning of men?)

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LivingWaterPlease
The Law (on adultery) given to Moses may well have been for the reasons you cited. However, the esoteric meaning is to have only one God and not be disloyal to It.

 

Killing for any reason is, of course, against the Law - so, stoning men to death for rape does not make any better the stoning to death of women for non-marital sex.

(Unless I've misunderstood your reason for adding about the stoning of men?)

 

The above bolded is incorrect.

 

Ten simple-to-understand laws were given by God to Moses on Mt.Sinai. They are listed in Exodus 20 and also in Deuteronomy 5. They were placed in two distinct categories, First: Commandment #'s 1-4 which pertained to Man's/Woman's relationship to God. Second: Commandment #'s 5-10 which outline Man's/Woman's relationship to his/her fellow man and/or woman.

 

"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," is the first one of the ten commandments and is in the category of man's relationship to God.

 

"You shall not commit adultery," is number seven and is listed in the category of man's/woman's relationship to each other. It is clearly a commandment forbidding fornication between two humans.

 

The mosaic law spells things out very simply because it was given directly to Moses who was shepherding a people who were coming out of slavery in Egypt for 215 to 430 years (scholars vary in their opinions as to how long the enslavement lasted) and were a crude uneducated (through no fault of their own but because they'd been enslaved with no opportunity to attain an education) group.

 

To your point of spiritual adultery, yes, the Bible alludes to spiritual adultery in many places and when that is the case the Bible explains that it is, but this is not one of those places.

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They were placed in two distinct categories, First: Commandment #'s 1-4 which pertained to Man's/Woman's relationship to God. Second: Commandment #'s 5-10 which outline Man's/Woman's relationship to his/her fellow man and/or woman.

That is the linear, outer way to read/interpret the Bible, yes. I'm not arguing with it.

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Why do you ask Pops?

 

Each poster will answer as they are but what is your question?

 

A meta-discussion of religion had begun and moderation had its fill of meta-discussions in a thread with a different topic so moved posts in that meta-discussion to a thread in our Religion and Spirituality forum rather than deleting them and sanctioning the members for off-topic excursions. Doing God's work as it were. Excellent topic. Please continue!

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RonniW #14

 

Killing for any reason is, of course, against the Law - so, stoning men to death for rape does not make any better the stoning to death of women for non-marital sex.

(Unless I've misunderstood your reason for adding about the stoning of men?)

 

I never said that stoning was an acceptable way of going about enforcing the law.

It was you who said that stoning for adultery was a "way of keeping women in line."

I was showing that stoning was a way of keeping anyone in line.

 

Stoning was practiced because the principle behind it was much like a firing squad - no one person could be sure that they actually killed the miscreant. A kind of anonimity for murder if you like.

 

The same principle is used in those states in the US that execute by lethal injection. Several people administer various drug via an IV line, so no one person can be completely responsible for the death of the convicted prisoner.

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It was you who said that stoning for adultery was a "way of keeping women in line."

Oh, okay - thanks for clearing it up for me, Arieswoman.

How you interpreted what I said is not the idea that I intended to put forth, but I do see how the error happened. Thanks again, for taking the time. :).

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TheFinalWord
Yea, Yea, Yea... Yet another commandment I have broken.

 

If there is a Heaven and Hell, I already have a seat reserved on the express train to Hell.

 

Everyone has!

 

Christ took it even further than the physical act. From the sermon on the mount:

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

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