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I was raised Charismatic Lutheran. 10 commandments are fairly foundational to the paradigm. I bought all of it hook line and sinker, like I bought all things I was exposed to by the people I loved and trusted as a child. Until I reached the age of reason and read the bible cover to cover, twice. The contradictions and cognitive dissonance stacked into an un-ignorable heap until I found I had to move on. I was resentful and bitter toward the 'lies' I was fed for years and years. I am no longer bitter and have come full circle to revel in many of Christ's teachings. The Gnostics particularly resonate. But I had a moment I wanted to share, some time after I left the church, regarding the 10 commandments that was very powerful for me and helped me to release much of the pent up anger and resentment and it was a subtle change in perspective. The 10 commandments in my experience should be called the 10 path markers. They are not a list of 10 things you should never do, or you'll be punished for eternity, or punished at all perhaps... I don't know. They are a list of things that you would never do, were you to be walking the Path of love. They are a brief, incomplete list; clear road markers as to what path you are on. When I am keyed into divine love, it is not something outside of me. It emanates from my being. I can't call it God. I don't believe in that type of being. But I have definitely experienced divine love and that feeling is what the christians in my church called 'walking with god'. "He is so filled with love, he's really walking with God." As I said, I don't believe in God, but I experience a godly love in my Path in life. The tao of the ten commandments are really the 10 path markers that tell you whether you are on the path of divine love/tao/bliss/unity. When you are walking in love/unity/tao you simply will not be capable of killing, stealing, coveting... anything. It would be impossible to have any other gods above this, as this experience is transcendent even of the idea of a god. When man followed the Tao, no laws existed. sidenote: My mom got a call from my youth minister the night I asked him why 'Thou shalt not rape' was not a commandment. That one still bothers me.