A panentheist believes that everyone and everything is God. That means that you and I and your neighbors and friends: all of the inhabitants of Earth and the Universes, plus Nature, are God. How do the Ten Commandments stand in this environment?
1: I am the Lord your God: you will not have other Gods before me.
There is only one God. Ourselves and Nature are expressions of that God, as indeed are the archetypal Gods of all human cultures. So, the later half of the commandment is irrelevant: there are no other Gods, there is only one.
2: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
Which one? God has millions of names, depending on which aspect you are focusing on. So? You should not take anyone’s name in vain.
3: Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.
This is easy since all days are holy and sacred to God.
4: Honor your Father and your Mother.
Indeed, you should do this. Your body was created from your Father’s seed and your Mother’s egg.
5: You will not kill.
This goes without saying. If you kill another person, or for that matter, commit violence toward another person, or an animal, you are killing yourself. You are killing God. This commandment also forbids the death penalty and war. Note: This does not apply to animals killed for food. After all, our human bodies are natural carnivores.
6: You will not commit adultery.
Adultery is defined as sex outside of marriage. It doesn’t matter how many people you are married to, just don’t stray outside of your marital group.
7: You will not steal.
No argument here, but refusing to pay your taxes is stealing from the government that you have instituted to organize society.
8: You will not bear false witness against your neighbor
This means telling a lie, and telling a lie (a falsehood) about your neighbor is the same as lying about God, for God is you and your neighbor. It is telling a lie about yourself.
9: You will not desire your neighbor’s wife.
What about “You shall not desire your neighbor’s husband?” This makes your wife/spouse a possession. But your wife/spouse is not your possession. She/he is a free individual who is owned by his/her self. He/she is God just as you are God. God is not a misogynist, but this commandment makes him/her one.
10: You will not desire your neighbor’s possessions.
In other words, you shall never be jealous. That is what jealousy is: the desire for another persons stuff. Kabbalists wear a red string around their left hand to ward off such jealousy, whish also known as the “evil eye.”
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