# A list of things you can do without breaking any of the 10 commandments **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 19, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566 "2009-02-19T17:08:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/21 "2009-02-19T21:28:28Z")
I don’t see anything in the list about putting on a vinyl sundress and getting buttfucked by a rhino. Score! ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/22 "2009-02-19T21:51:34Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > \*apparently coveting your neighbor’s husband is fine-and-dandy. If you stab the neighbor who was coveting your husband, but you don’t kill them and you have no intention of killing them, does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/23 "2009-02-19T21:55:21Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I don’t see anything in the list about putting on a vinyl sundress and getting buttfucked by a rhino. Score! WhoooHooo! I’m _not_ a sinner after all! Damn, I was sooooo worried… ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/24 "2009-02-19T22:04:48Z")
> [@Khampelf](#): > > I notice that fornication and masturbation aren’t specifically forbidden… Nor homosexuality. > > Just don’t be thinking of thy neighbor’s ox while doing any of the above. Might be covered under “You shall not commit adultry” i.e. having sex with someoe you are not married to. ---
**Author:** ![seodoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@seodoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seodoa)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/25 "2009-02-19T22:12:40Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Might be covered under “You shall not commit adultry” i.e. having sex with someoe you are not married to. Adultery is not sex with someone you are not married to. It is better described as “conjugal infidelity,” as [ChristianAnswers.net](http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/adultery.html) cites: > [@](#): > > SEXUAL ADULTERY—“Conjugal infidelity. An adulterer was a man who had sexual intercourse with a woman he was not married to, either a married woman or one who was engaged to be married. A woman who did the same thing was an adulteress. Adultery is fornication. The Bible regards adultery as a great sin and a great social wrong. It has been inferred from John 8:1-11 that this sin became very common during the age preceding the destruction of Jerusalem.” Sex outside of marriage (ie, two unmarried people) is _fornication_, not adultery. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/26 "2009-02-19T22:18:15Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Might be covered under “You shall not commit adultry” i.e. having sex with someoe you are not married to. Spoilsport!! I’m sticking to my guns, fornication is a different word, why else have a different word? Adultery is breaking a matrimonial vow, fornication is sex without a marriage vow, IIUC. Of course I’m pagan, so this is just an intellectual exercise. All acts of pleasure are a dedication to the goddess, and the only sin is knowingly hurting another. (except to prevent a greater hurt.) ETA - I see **Seodoa** brought the cites, if not the pie. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/27 "2009-02-19T23:51:31Z")
This _is_ kind of silly. They’re not meant to be an exhaustive list; that’s what the rest of the Torah is for (and even then they have the “Don’t be a jerk rule” ;)). Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/28 "2009-02-19T23:57:06Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > By that logic I’m guilty of theft of oxygen by breathing, as my doing it reduces the amount of oxygen in the world. But you’re not ‘stealing’ it. Just binding it to carbon, then releasing it for the plants to feed on. Circle of life and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Kalea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b487fb/32.png) [@Kalea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalea)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/29 "2009-02-20T00:15:08Z")
> [@Rysdad](#): > > “You shall have no other gods before me.” > > I’ve always wondered about this one. Does it mean I’m OK with making small offerings to the small, leather-winged mini-demon that lives in my sock drawer in order to maintain my current level of foot apparel as long as I keep Yahweh #1? Yep! “No gods before me” is not the same as “I am the one and only”. Just make sure it’s actually the demon and not a graven image. Especially not one you carved yourself. ---
**Author:** ![seodoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@seodoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seodoa)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/30 "2009-02-20T08:37:21Z")
> [@Khampelf](#): > > ETA - I see **Seodoa** brought the cites, if not the pie. Who says I didn’t bring pie? I’ve got cinnamon-apple, elderberry, pumpkin, and lemon meringue. We’re pie people in this house. ETA: It’s important to note, though, that fornication can include adultery. While fornication is generally used to mean sex outside of wedlock, the word is often used as a catch-all term for any sexual immorality. So adultery is merely one of many kinds of fornication, including (according to the Torah, at least) homosexuality, bestiality, certain flavors of incest, etc. [[cite](http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/fornication.html)] ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/31 "2009-02-20T08:50:42Z")
> [@seodoa](#): > > Who says I didn’t bring pie? I’ve got cinnamon-apple, elderberry, pumpkin, and lemon meringue. > > We’re pie people in this house. Lemon meringue pie please, cheers babe. Can I be the voice of dissent and say that some of my best times have been had breaking some of the ten commandments? Only the silly ones, mind, like taking the LORD’s name in vain, honouring your parents (mum fine, my father’s a dick, so no), and adultery if you choose for that to include sexual immorality (which is the best kind or immorality!). Technically I’m not breaking the first one as I don’t have any god at all, and I don’t think absence of a god counts in these terms. I’ve never understood the continued insistence that the 10 commandments form the solid foundation for a system of morals given that some of them are so totally self evident as to not be necessary, whilst others are just plain stupid (even more so when you consider the wider context of the old testament - apparently not murder just means “don’t kill any other Jews”). ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/32 "2009-02-20T08:59:53Z")
> [@](#): > > You shall not commit adultery. I don’t think God really gives a damn who I do it with, as long as I’m not doing it with someone else’s partner. Oh, and I’ll have a slice of pumpkin, if there’s any left. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/33 "2009-02-20T09:08:22Z")
> [@Mudshark](#): > > I don’t think God really gives a damn who I do it with, as long as I’m not doing it with someone else’s partner. > > Oh, and I’ll have a slice of pumpkin, if there’s any left. You clearly haven’t read that bit where he said lying with another man as with a woman is an abomination (believe me I’ve had that particular bit quoted to me often enough to not forget it). Obviously that isn’t in the original 10, but consensus is that the 10 on their own aren’t enough, you need the rest of the bible. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/34 "2009-02-20T09:17:08Z")
> [@Khampelf](#): > > Just don’t be thinking of thy neighbor’s ox while doing any of the above. Well, in my defense, my neighbor’s ox is totally awesome. I mean, that’s one cool ox. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/35 "2009-02-20T09:22:26Z")
You can hate your parents, so long as you don’t tell them to their faces. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/36 "2009-02-20T09:29:38Z")
> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#): > > This _is_ kind of silly. They’re not meant to be an exhaustive list; that’s what the rest of the Torah is for (and even then they have the “Don’t be a jerk rule” ;)). > > Valete, > Vox Imperatoris Yeah, I always thought of the Ten Commandments sort of as the Bill of Rights, except they tell you what you can’t do instead of what you’re free to do. And then the rest of the book (Torah, or the extended Bible if you go that way) is the legislation. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/37 "2009-02-20T09:33:38Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > You can hate your parents, so long as you don’t tell them to their faces. Oh, phew - I get a pass on that one then (telling my father I can’t stand him would require talking to him). ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/38 "2009-02-21T10:51:46Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > You clearly haven’t read that bit where he said lying with another man as with a woman is an abomination (believe me I’ve had that particular bit quoted to me often enough to not forget it). Obviously that isn’t in the original 10, but consensus is that the 10 on their own aren’t enough, you need the rest of the bible. Well, in that case, God is probably pretty pissed at me. I’ve had that quoted at me many times, also. For some reason, I forget it exists. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/39 "2009-02-21T10:54:33Z")
> [@Mudshark](#): > > Well, in that case, God is probably pretty pissed at me. I’ve had that quoted at me many times, also. For some reason, I forget it exists. It’s okay - we can be damned to hell fire for eternity together. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566/40 "2009-02-21T11:50:20Z")
It’s more fun breaking the rules than it is following them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-list-of-things-you-can-do-without-breaking-any-of-the-10-commandments/486566.md?page=3)