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Comment by pierat | Hacker News Reader

What Im always confused about is why Christians of most/all stripes seem to gravitate back to the Torah's "10 commandments" (which there are 20 of them).... And not go towards the Beatitudes.

* 2 different sets of 10 commandments: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2896/jewish/W...

* Beatitudes https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatitudes

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I was somewhat curious about what that first article had to say, but found it impossible not to be distracted by the constant G-d and L-rd. Presumably this is a workaround to deal with somewhere being told not to use the name of God or something.

This sort of hack around commandments and other holy decrees seems incredibly odd to me. Either you think it matters and obide by the spirit of it, or you don’t, in which case crack on and just say “God”, if there is an omnipotent being who cares deeply about this I doubt they’re going to be fooled by you running a quick regex on anything you publish.

I feel similarly about the various hacks used around the Jewish sabbath, as mentioned elsewhere in these comments. Great wires around entire cities are not going to make God think “ahh, got me there lads, you’ve turned Manhattan into one big living room”. And if you believe in the sanctity of the sabbath then it feels off to me to work around that by hiring a bunch of people who aren’t Jewish to work then instead.

It isn't about the writing of G-d's name but rather about whether the written form will be treated respectfully or not.

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/486809/jewish...

>“ahh, got me there lads, you’ve turned Manhattan into one big living room”

The "gotcha" IS the point. Jewish people ~~believe that god put loopholes into his rules on purpose, as an explicit reward for studying his teachings, and that finding and using those loopholes is basically an intentional part of Judaism. Remember, they are the chosen people, god gives them special treatment.

The second set of commandments is like watching a movie (the first ten commandments) with director's commentary. It's a lot of insight and clarification but fundamentally the same thing

> And not go towards the Beatitudes

The 10 commandments and the Beatitudes are fundamentally different and serve different purposes. The 10C gives very specific things that you should and should not do - very concrete and prescriptive. The Beatitudes are very poetic and descriptive, not prescriptive.

The Torah's 10 commandments are equally relevant. After the beatitudes, Jesus says:

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” (Mat 5:17, KJV)

He says that before giving more commands in the sermon on the mount (the next two chapters of Matthew), much of which extend the old law/10 commandments.

Jesus completed (fulfilled) the requirements of the law and prophets ... so what requirements are left?

Faith in Jesus is the primary one. There's many given in the next two chapters of Matthew which come after that quote, and I'd say they all hinge upon belief in Jesus and his teachings (i.e., faith).

The beatitudes are much more difficult, with some of them unlikely to be prescriptive (blessed are those who are persecuted), some of them being unclear (blessed be the meek) and others that are difficult to translate to actions (blessed be the pure of heart). In contrast, the simple rules of the ten commandments, most of which just tell you not to do a basic thing you probably weren't doing anyway (thou shalt not steal) are much easier to follow and much easier to confirm you are doing well in. People resonate more with simple yardsticks like the ten commandments than with the vaguer "be a good person and it's ok if things are bad for you now" beatitudes.

People find it easier to follow rules rather than principles.

The 10 commandments tell you what to do/not to do. The Beatitudes offer values and require interpretation to put into practice. They also are more ambiguous in their punishment/reward on the physical/spiritual level.

Compare:

"You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal."

"3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." ... "25 Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry."

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