At least I follow one of the Commandments

It is not uncommon to hear a person say "I don't necessarily believe in God, but I am a good person, and I follow the 10 Commandments", or something like that.

That's a nice attempt to have it both ways, and allows the intellectual to feel "superior" to the God who he or she might or might not believe in, that they don't have to believe in Him to meet the standard.

Trouble is, of course, is that the first 4 commandments demand an adherence to the belief in the God they claim to not necessarily believe in, so, it might be more accurate to say "...I follow the last 6 of the 10 Commandments".

Trouble with that is, of course, that number 5 is "Honor your father and mother", which, in the Biblical context, means to address them in the traditional position of authority, honor, and respect as "elders" versus "old people".  When we look at our culture's warehousing of older folks, our pejorative view of them as "cute", and our scoffing at their old fashioned ways, number 5 is, at best, weakly adhered to.

Number 6, "shalt not kill" is pretty easy.  As long as we ignore the 5 or 6 million babies killed in their mother's womb in America every year, most modern Americans can easily obey this admonishment.

Number 7, the prohibition against adultery, is easier to maintain in a society that has diminished marriage to a convenient tax advantage rather than a Holy Covenant.  In fact, since we have defined marriage as a civil affair that people "fall" into, and ignore that those who sleep together in the same bed together might be "married" in what God meant, it is a little hard to define adultery...

8 and 9 are similar.  Not stealing or lying is easy on the surface, most don't rob 7-11s or shoplift. However, the "white lies" of our casual public often include "estimates" on our taxes that favor us, taking advantage of mistakes on bills, and not giving to God what is His.  We lie to our children as a matter of course in the "common sense" of our child rearing.

Funny 8 and 9 are together on the list, they are often interwoven in their commission in our society of self.

Finally, 10, not coveting...Maybe that'd one most people can claim adherence to.  Coveting our neighbor's stuff might not be as direct as declared, unless you notice that everyone's house, car, and stuff looks like their neighbor's.  Not sure who the first guy was, but our measure of success is less determining the consistent obedience of the God who Loves us and more the adherence to the standards declared in our neighbor's driveway.

So, in the end, the declaration "I follow the 10 Commandments" is more truthfully  "Well, I don't kill people, which is one of the 10 Commandments", depending on your position on abortion.  No wonder Jesus had to boil it down for the religious people in His day "The most important one (commandment) is this:  'Listen, Israel!  The Lord our God is the only Lord.  Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  The second most important commandment is this"  'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.'"  (Mark ch 12, Good News)