Rebuttal 2: Why the 10 Commandments? Part 2

Commandment 2:
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou salt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

(in New International Version)
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to a third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

To only analyze verse 4, which is "Thou salt not make unto thee any graven image" and ignore the rest of the verses before the 3rd commandment is totally unreasonable and unfair. This whole chunks of words make up the 2nd Commandment which we will analyse in detail.

Argument (c): Any representation of God is an image of God. Hence the Bible should be burnt, no temples should be built, blah blah blah...
Rebuttal (c): The temple doesn't represent God (like 'duh', you don't see believers worshipping the bricks of the church building do you?) It does, basically, represent the dwelling place of God in the Old Testament. Hence, i don't see why we can't build temples. In the New Testament, God dwells in the hearts of His believers, ie. the believers make up God's temple. The Bible does try to provide an image of God. However, the Bible is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16), therefore is not 'made' by man.

Argument (d): What about sculptures and posters?
Rebuttal (d): I did a simple comparison of the coefficients in the two equations above (betw NIV and KJV) as taught by my math teacher in sec 2. Upon comparing, one would realise that 'graven image' is being translated to be 'idol'. Hence, there is a connotation of worship involved with respect to the image. This is further supported by verses 5 and 6. Therefore, by mathematical induction, i am free to put up my fav creed poster as long as i don't worship the band.

It's getting late, pardon me.

Commandment 3:
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD your God in vain

Argument (e): Can't i say, "In the name of Jesus may you be healed"?
Rebuttal (e): Prolly the lousiest argument. Note the term 'in vain', or rather, 'misuse' in NIV.

Commandment 4:
Remember the Sabbath day. Keep it holy

Argument (f): God needing a rest doesn't mean that i need. What about hospitals and police?
Rebuttal (f): The rational behind this commandment is to rest and remember God, for God knows that man may get caught up with what they're doing and so, He instituted a time-out for us. The important thing is to have adequate rest and a constant awareness of the presence of God. In the New Testament, even Jesus Himself worked on Sabbath. It's not the strict obedience of Sabbath that God demands, but an understanding and appreciation of the rationale behind this commandment. In the New Testament, Sabbath is spending time with God through prayer, songs and hymns, and also reading the bible.

Commandment 5:
Honour thy father and mother

Argument (g): No qualifiers!! What if i have a drunk as a father, prostitute as a mother and both abandoned me when i was 11?
Rebuttal (g): Precisely that's why there's no qualifiers. What is it based on that we should honour our parents? Is it based on what their moral values are, or how they live their lives, or whether they're responsible in bringing up their kids? Honour them not for what they do, but for who they are. Our parents. Moreover, what's the difference between lying and prostitution? They're all acts of sin. And the emotional hurt caused by a lie may not be less detrimental than the physical degradation inflicted upon a prostitute.

Commandment 6:
Thou shalt not kill

Argument (h): No qualifiers!! What about self-defense?
Rebuttal (h): If one was to spend a lil more time going thru' the bible, he'd realise that God did elaborate on these commandments and how they should be implemented. There are, what is known as cities of refuge, where people who killed another out of self-defense or unintentionally can run to and seek refuge.

That's all for today. It's more tiring and tedious than i thought to actually pen down the rebuttals i have on my mind.