h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Ten Commandments - A29157933
Author: Paff - U1522321

You want stuff in PR? You asked for it.

Enjoy.

Paff

Brilliant.
There are some entries you can link to, but I'll search for them later today if you haven't done so yourself by then.

Paff, this is brilliant - I'm so glad you are as good as your word


Hey, you were better than your word - this is a fine thing to behold.

Superb - classic stuff

Tiny quibble - Bible should be capitalised throughout eg footnote 3 vs footnote 4

Interesting stuff, Paff, but why do you stop off at 10? The relevant passage lists hundreds of commandments - there's a whole book of the Bible full of them. So why do we normally say there are 10?

And if you are going to stop at 10, you should at least mention that the Catholic 10 are different from the Protestant 10.

Exodus 20:26 And do not go up to my altar on steps, lest your nakedness be exposed on it

Exodus 21:16 Anyone who kidnaps another and either sells him or still has him when he is caught must be put to death.

Exodus 21:28 If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull must be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten

Exodus 22:18 Do not allow a sorceress to live -- this one caused a lot of trouble in Salem, Massachusetts.

Exodus 22:19 Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal must be put to death

Exodus 23:19 Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.


And here's an interesting one:

Exodus 23:31-33 I will establish your borders from the Red Sea [a] to the Sea of the Philistines, [b] and from the desert to the River. [c] I will hand over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before you. 32 Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. 33 Do not let them live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.

I could go on. Jehovah certainly did.

The footnotes were a little off-putting. Did you consider attributing the verses in the blockquote, just like you would a regular quote?

I didn't know there were differences in the Commandments between religions, that would be interesting to point out.

Also, is "You shall" a direct quote from the version of the Bible you're using? I thought they were all "Thou shalt"s?

Otherwise, very fine stuff, Paff. I enjoy your style

I think there are only 10 because that was the wording of the challenge ... and the most common term.

I didn't know they were allocated on a *perm any ten from hundreds* basis either, so it would be worth adding the two main top tens, I think.

There may be another entry in this for the *also ran* commandments - I'd certainly be interested in it.

There are basically 11 commandments, of which the Protestants group the last two together to make a 10th commandment (don't covet your neighbour's wife or goods), while the Catholics group the first two together to make a 1st Commandment (no other Gods or idols), meaning that the numbering of all the others doesn't match either.

Folks, can I take this opportunity to go with a gut feeling here, having quickly read the above posts... (Please be aware that I was up all night writing the entry, so I haven't had much sleep)...


The reason I gave up writing and commenting in PR in the past was this:
You write an entry, "typical stuff", and then before you know it you are being told that there are so many other things you haven't mentioned, and what about the other 5 books of the Bible worth of laws and commandments, and what about the Catholics vs Protestants, blah, blah, blah.

This entry is entitled 'The Ten Commandments'. It does what it says on the tin. If I were to write about _all_ the commandments I would:
(a) not get it done in a night,
(b) end up with 3000+ words of boring tosh that would interest no one,
and
(c) have written something so large that we would spend the next six months picking holes in it, and basically trying to force a square peg into a round hole (in fact, to get the analogy straight, I would be jamming a _round_ peg into a _square_ hole, and trying to fill the gaps round the edges with bits of wood shaving and glue).

So, I've written what I've written, and am _more_than_ happy to fix errors/mistakes. However, if what we want here is an entry on something else, then it appears I'm in the wrong place, and I'll happily get my coat and ask Rich to take my name off the "I'm definitely committed" list.


This isn't a rant at any particular researcher, by the way.


Can I say one more thing (and sorry, this PR thread may not be the right place)...

When I read Skankyrich's tale of EG doom and gloom in the Post, and his compelling call to arms, I thought - and almost posted - this:
"Maybe it's best that PR has _almost_ died so that we can reinvigorate it with all that was (allegedly) good about PR. Maybe PR might learn some lessons from AWW, in that AWW concentrates on what is good about an entry, whereas the nature of PR is to focus on what is wrong with an entry."


So let me attempt to sum up. Please give criticism all you like. But please _don't_ tell me to write a different entry.


Again, this isn't a rant at any particular PRer, it's just the general feel I've had in PR previously, and the feel I now already have from coming back in today.


I will address the specifics of the posts above when I've had some sleep folks. and thanks.

Paff

I hadn't a clue that Protestant and Catholic commandments differ, and I've never heard there are more than ten, but then I'm not religious. I am convinced, though, that anybody reading the title will expect exactly what Paff has written - no more, no less.
This entry is well written and does list and explain the Ten Commandments in a very informative and enjoying way, I personally wouldn't ask more of it.

Well I agree Bel, but given that there are differences between the two *main* 10 I'd put a footnote in about that ..... and then another about the loads of other commandments.


Sleep well Paff


Bless .... he must be exhausted.

I agree, a footnote or two about these points woudl certainly not go amiss.

OK, Paff. My suggestions were two:

1. That you include something about all the other commandments. This is only a suggestion and you're welcome to ignore it. Don't feel that you are being oppressed in Peer Review just because I make a suggestion.

2. You've written about the 10 Commandments, but the ones you included are not the ones that most Christians consider to be the 10 commandments, since you've given the Protestant ones. This certainly is worth pointing out, and I don't consider that I am being overly picky by pointing it out.

Well, as a non-religious person it would look fine to you, and it did to me, too. But as Gnomon points out, a Catholic would read this and say 'No, that's all wrong.'

It wouldn't take a *different* entry, or even a major re-write of this one, to iron out the wrinkle - just a footnote would do, I think.

Catholicism and Protestantism are both major religions, and the Ten Commandments are pretty central to both. I don't think it's asking to much to just mention the difference, without going off onto a whole new tangent.

And maybe I didn't make myself clear in the first point either.

God gave Moses about 7 million commandments. So why do we talk about "The Ten Commandments"? I would expect an Entry on "The Ten Commandments" to explain why people think there are ten.

But this is a suggestion. It is entirely up to you what you put in your entry.

I wouldn't necessarily expect this to mention the other 7 million commandments (demanding little deity, isn't He?). I would think that the commandments outlined here would give the curious reader enough of a push to check out Exodus for themselves if they were so inclined.

He can stick with the Ten Commandments because there is a movie tie-in.

The Decalogue is important by itself, in which ever of the two versions found in the Old testament, or which ever in the versions of the cults of the world, including the Jewish one, as well as the Catholic and Protestant, because it serves as a non-pictoral icon of the establishment of an easily remembered, easily recited basic code of behavior. Lawyers and priests like volumes of guck, for the uninitiated and the unwilling to be oppressed by. The Israelites had emerged from an Egypt that switched deities and rules with each ruler, since the temples and observances were basically all about he or her. With the Decalogue, the One True God of the Mountain, El Shaddai, provided the Hebrews with an almost humanistic alternative to the golden calf, which demanded sacrifices that we can only imagine, but most certainly involved observances of a sexual nature, as well as material gain for the leaders of the cult. By contrast, the Decalogue in it's use of the number ten, foreshadowed the use of the tenth measure or the tithe with regard to the individual's obligation to the One True God.

The burning bush part of the story is also important because from the beginning, Moses had been a little drama queen. He said he couldn't talk, so he was given Aaron as a mouth piece. He said he had to impress the Pharoah, so he was given a trick staff. God literally lit a fire under Moses with the bush. He also gave the little idiot two sets of tablets, because goof ball wasted the first set in a fit of rage. Michelango might have had the right idea with the horns.

Now I'll go read the entry.
Apparently it helps sometimes when making comments.
Oh, and PAFF, I once tried to write an entry on Buddy Holly. I ended up with four version of it. Go see which one's in the guide.

I agree with Milos, I like the style.
I particularly like the gag with the footnote numbers matching the verses.

I don't remember if you mentioned which translation of the Bible you are using, but I'm not sure it matters.

Good stuff and feel free to ignore anything I said before.