Moses, the first author of the Bible, lived historically in 1,500 BC and knew the wisdom of the ancient Egyptians. Isn't it interesting then that the Ten Commandments from 1,500 BC are included in the Egyptian Book of the Dead written at least 2,000 years earlier (around 3,500 BC)? In the Egyptian version, there are more than ten.

Billion Dollar Fine | Translations | Comparison of Commandments to Egyptian Book | Contributions in the Times of Moses | Principles of Ma'at | Clinging to Faith | Bald Eagles are Your Creator! | Conclusions | References

Billion Dollar Fine

A headline from August 22, 2003 read "Alabama could be fined as much as $1 billion a week if it does not move the Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state judicial building." I wonder if there would be as much hot debate over this issue if people knew the following.

Translations

Just as with the bible, there are several English translations of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. The one below is translated by E.A. Wallis Budge. There are also different versions and wordings of the Ten Commandments: Protestant, Catholic, and Hebrew. Here are eight slightly different versions of the ten commandments. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Compare these to the Declarations of Ma'at. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Comparison of Commandments to Egyptian Book

Contributions of in the Times Moses

Resting on the Sabbath and making God number one were ideas that were added at the time of Moses, but the other ideas existed thousands of years before.

Principles of Ma'at

Were not Moses and the Israelites were originally Egyptians? As such, they would have originally been familiar with the Principles of Ma'at, Goddess who personified the ideals of Truth and Righteousness.

Fascinating isn't it? Most of my Christian friends seem to think that before Moses it was all a mess with no moral direction since the time of Adam and Eve. It seems humans have always struggled with the same issues of morality.

Clinging to Faith

My Christians friends say the Christian God obviously had a hand in telling the Ancient Egyptians about good vs. evil long before Moses. This doesn't make sense to me. Why would true "Christian" ideas sit happily for thousands of years with the Ancient Egyptians large collection of lesser gods, Ra, Isis, Osiris, etc.? Why would they have the more complete version of the commandments?

Bald Eagles are Your Creator!

Imagine this. I take a group into the woods. Then, to establish order after we have been lost for a few years, I run into the camp one day and I say,

I have been given a message! God carved a message on this large branch! ( I hold it up as people gasp.) It says, "We the people, in order to form a perfect union, establish justice for all. You must do three things! 1. Dissolve political bands, 2. Treat each other as equal. 3. Worship bald eagles, for they created you!"

Years later, when someone finds the Declaration of Independence some of my followers try to say that the same God who carved the large branch also helped the writers of Ancient America. No matter that I was familiar with the Declaration myself before I got lost in the woods. ... You get the idea.

Conclusion

I conclude that 1. Humans have always had conflicting drives which result in internal mental struggles. 2. Due to those struggles, religious stories and guidelines have resulted as societal and mental defense mechanisms. 3. Religious guidelines of the past were the laws of the land. In modern times, these guidelines have evolved into our own complex system of laws. 4. Religion remains in place today because it gives people social support, feelings of comfort through familiar rituals, hope, freedom from fear of mortality, and most importantly, it provides daily guidelines not found in our laws for handling conflicting human drives. 5. Many people need a religion. Others will do the right thing without the fear of Hell or the promise of Heaven.

 

References:

http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=1413117&nav=8fapHbln

http://www.mysteries-in-stone.co.uk/bookofdead.htm

http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_10c4.htm

http://www.godstenlaws.com/commandments.htm

http://www.holidays.net/shavuot/ten.htm

http://www.ainglkiss.com/10com/

http://www.therain.org/studies/ten.html

http://www.themiracleofstjoseph.org/tencmds2.htm

http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article7115.asp

http://islam-usa.com/e70.htm

http://www.ou.org/chagim/shavuot/aseret.htm

http://www.ag-east.org/West/Maat.html

http://members.aol.com/TAOofAPU/maat.htm

http://www.maatinus.com/Nguzo Saba/maatprn.htm

http://www.neberdjer.org/pages/spiritual/maat.htm

http://www.geocities.com/wally_mo/moses2.html

" “VENGEANCE IS MINE”, sayeth the Lord. From Leviticus in the Old Testament to Romans in the New, both Christians and Jews have been told to never seek vengeance against one another... (Leviticus 19:18)