Do the Ten Commandments Simply Symbolize DNA?

Having recently read a little about the Ten Commandments handed to Moses, my mind has begun speculating rather wildly - so much so that I developed two conflicting theories as to what the Ten Commandments could actually be. One I'll explain in this thread, the other is detailed here.

Firstly, I'll explain why I'm keen to read between the lines when it comes to Biblical text, thereby looking for hidden clues rather than taking the words at face value. It is my belief that true wisdom is reserved for those who seek it, and is rarely displayed in a crude, obvious manner. Zeitgeist demonstrates numerous examples of Biblical symbolism (please lets not discuss the credibility of Zeitgeist's claims here).

Ok, so on to the topic at hand.

"He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets." Deuteronomy 4:13

The 'two stone tablets' bit is a key point that led me to compare the ten commandments with DNA. In their 1953 article Molecular structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid, James D. Watson and Francis Crick described the double helix structure of DNA. So both the Commandments and DNA are essentially subject to two complimentary pieces. That's one similarity.

In The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge, Jeremy Narby explores the incredible similarities between human language and the genetic code within DNA. I'm afraid I don't have the book to hand in order to quote it, but I'll dig it out later. Nevertheless, there are plenty of articles, like this one which explain findings in the area. So another similarity - both are written in some form of language.

In the same book, Jeremy Narby notes the belief of many Meso-American cultures that life arrived from the heavens, carried by great winged serpents. If I remember correctly, he postulates that this could cimply be a metaphor for meteors carrying DNA from elsewhere in our galaxy. This idea of extra-terrestrial gods extends to the Annunaki of Sumerian mythology who came from some mysterious planet and genetically modified us. Indeed, according to the Bible:

God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..." Genesis 1:25-27

So we have DNA coming down from the 'heavens', and we have the Ten Commandments coming down from God who is in 'Heaven'.

Compare:
- The ten commandments are a set of instructions on how life should be lived, written in a human language by God in Heaven on two tablets.
- DNA is a set of instructions on how life shall be formed, written in a genetic language, encoded in two spiral structures, that may have come down from the heavens.

No, they do not represent DNA.

They are laws to live by that Moses brought with him (in his head) from the Egyptian religions and which he said 'God wrote' when he did the dramatic climb up the mountain.

They are ripped off from the pagan Egyptian Gods whom Moses knew well. He was a well educated prince of Egypt. The Jews were uneducated slaves or poorly paid lower class employees and didn't have the education into the Egyptian Gods like Moses did so they didn't recognize the plagerism.

Well, I was hoping for a little more open-minded discussion than that, but thank you for your reply anyway. Obviously, it's somewhat of a radical theory but surely still worthy of some debate.

It seems you might be rather more interested in my other Ten Commandments related thread which discusses the link between Moses and Ancient Egypt, and suggests that the Ark is the codex which the Ancients used to construct the Pyramids. The link is at the very top of my OP if you care to take a look.

reply to post by Cythraul


I'd need to see something more concrete than reading between the lines in a bronze-age book of superstition

You're making a lot of assumptions, each of which has to be true for the following assumptions to be possible, let alone true. If that's the case you need to slow down and answer each point one by one, giving supporting evidence as you go.

hey there,

10 commandments? technically would there be more commandments now because the church has decided to "Rewrite" one of the primary foundations of the bible that being the Sins. They have added more now so would that affect the commandments in anyway?
In turn would this affect the thread subject? curious .


Omega

[edit on 11/3/2008 by Omega85]

reply to post by Cythraul


I think this Narby fellow needs to re-research Mesoamericna belief. Pretty much all of them believed they came from the navel of the world.

More David Icke than Zechariah Sitchen, in other words.

reply to post by Cythraul


I read language and DNA on the link you provided. I will need to come back to this.

I loved the read..A pattern is not a design.....A design is a pattern...very good

wr

@ Omega85:

Valid point, but I feel it's one for a different discussion. I don't think the fact there are ten commandments has any baring on the comparisons with DNA.

@ TheWalkingFox:

Please don't quote me on this. I forgot to update my post with actual quotations from Jeremy Narby's book (probably because it seemed like another thread of mine was destined for fast, response-less obscurity ) but I will do so later today. Narby is a learned fellow and I'm sure that if anything of his I quoted is incorrect, that it is because I misquoted it.

I realise the outrageousness of this little theory, but ATS for me is a place where I can indulge all those crazy little ideas that well up inside my head and have no place elsewhere in this modern world. It is quite obvious by the title of Narby's book The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge that the ultimate focus is in comparing the serpent (and ancient serpent-worship) with the double helix structure of DNA. I don't see that it's ridiculously more far-fetched than this to identify other possible esoteric symbols representing DNA. It just so happened I was able to find a couple of crude similarities between the Ten Commandment tablets and the nature and structure of DNA that I thought were worth sharing. Evidently not.

I'm also going with "no". Any connection you make between the two is going to be a stretch. I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I don't foresee you getting too many replies that you would deem helpful or constructive.

Jeremy Narby explores the incredible similarities between human language and the genetic code within DNA.

I fail to see how there could be any "similarities" between language and DNA. the closest relation you have is that they both are "encoding" mediums. DNA encodes traits chemically. Language encodes ideas and feelings as sound. To me that's not even a link.

So we have DNA coming down from the 'heavens'

ok i'll put my beliefs aside for a moment...

and we have the Ten Commandments coming down from God who is in 'Heaven'.

again i'll accept this as fact for now...

Compare:
- The ten commandments are a set of instructions on how life should be lived, written in a human language by God in Heaven on two tablets.
- DNA is a set of instructions on how life shall be formed, written in a genetic language, encoded in two spiral structures, that may have come down from the heavens.

still don't see the connection. the problem is your taking two similar statements that have similar structure and treating them as though the content of those statements are also similar:

"...how life should be lived..." vs "...how life shall be formed..." while there may be some other connection, such as the mechanics of life determining how it will behave, there is no simile between the two. I would shoot at this from a cause & effect perspective, not a comparison.

[edit on 11-3-2008 by an0maly33]

Thanks for your reply an0maly33. I'm not looking for approval. Actually, at the very start I mentioned that I had two completely conflicting ideas about the Ten Commandments that actually became two different threads here on ATS. Trying to gain credibility for one or the other isn't my intention. I merely felt that the similarities I managed to identify, in my mind, were worth typing up and posting. I have found all of the responses valuable.

As for putting your beliefs aside. Perhaps you can bring them back to centre? I'm guessing you have some interesting ideas about Moses and the commandments that might be vaguely related to this thread. I follow none of the major religions either and give little credence to the Bible - hence the wild interpretation of it.

well concerning us being created by supreme being - in a conventional sense of "god made man", i'm not sure i buy it. i'll just say i haven't settled on an explanation of our origin. as for moses, i generally think of him as a wiseman or a "wizard". aside from moses coming down from a mountain with some engraved rocks, what evidence do we have that the commandments came from god? my opinion is that he took advantage of his status as a leader and wiseman, chiseled some rocks with some good moral guidelines, and told people it came from god so they would be more inclined to abide by them. the reason i suggested he was a wizard? well who else could make water spew from a rock? =)

i tend to think of the bible as a form of documented mythology. i know that's going to rub some people the wrong way, but if you think about it objectively, what is told in the bible is no less ridiculous than greek mythology/theology. in the end all religion has the same core goals. give people something to live for and keep them busy. give them a fear of god so they will behave in a civilized manner. give them an understanding of the nature of their universe (even if it's a complete fabrication.) as a whole, i tend to avoid religion in general because it's built around wild conjecture at best, and downright deceit at it's worst.

i hope that wasn't too off-topic, but you asked. =)


[edit on 11-3-2008 by an0maly33]

reply to post by an0maly33

Not at all! Thanks for sharing. I actually agree with everything you said, and have generally come to the same conclusions myself. Like I said before, this thread isn't necessarily what I believe - it's just postulation.

Regarding Moses, I think you might find my other thread interesting. It's basically a summation of ideas presented by Graham Hancock in his book The Sign and the Seal - linking Moses to other great (earlier and later) figures privy to secret wisdoms. I just took those ideas and related them to the codex Scott Creighton often mentions. Indeed, I think it's likely that Moses was a wizard of sorts, and was likely misinterpreted by the Bible.

It is my personal belief that this existence is a veritable spider's web of esoteric symbolism, overlapping and mutating. So while my DNA/Commandments idea might have a few holes, I think there are clues therein, and much to be gained by following numerous wild avenues of symbolism and metaphor. So much is interconnected and I enjoy finding those little threads that link two seemingly unrelated things.

well i have to say thanks for making this a pleasant discussion. i actually expected a nasty reply to my first post, but it seems some of us around here really are still civil. sometimes when trying to be analytical or objective, people take it as an affront to their perspective. =)

I am curious about this now.Dna could be a language inside of us. That could explain our sub-concious thought.its our dna talking to us.


just an idea

reply to post by an0maly33

I have not read all of the links given as of yet but his theory or I should I say hypothesis reminds me of Prof. Chomsky... Quote "Language is innate"

This is a pivot with which many ideas can be placed. The "pattern is not a design" is also a pivot.
As is "A design is a pattern".....very, very good. I see this. I need to really look at this.

It seems to be a law that could exist beside entropy...it can coexest beside entropy because I think it can be observed.



[edit on 11-3-2008 by whiteraven]

reply to post by Cythraul


I think the hurdle that many have is the "language" idea. Most people think of language as a learned, taught behavior. Persons who study linguistics think of language as a innate human trait. (some)

This is a very cool idea and I need to look into it. I will read more in the next hour or so and I will post again.



[edit on 11-3-2008 by whiteraven]

I would think that if anything, the Tetragrammaton, the secret and holy name of God...



... or in PaleoHebrew...



... would be represented in DNA, since DNA has is built on the four bases:

Adenine
Cytosine
Guanine
Thymine

Then to find the true, complete, and powerful name of God, all you'd have to do is figure out which letter of the Tetragrammaton goes with each base, then read it out. Simple!

P.S. -- I should note that because two of the letters are repeated, it would be a good idea to use the pronunciation (vocalization), rather than the letters simply by themselves.

[edit on 11-3-2008 by Nohup]

I opened my Bible to read the 10 commandments in Exodus. I did not get my Hebrew Bible…just NKJV.

First Exodus 19:16 “Then it came to pass on the third day…thunderings and lightings”

Could this be a form of a “spaceship”? How would you record a landing, being nothing to compare it to in the ancient mind if there was a loud sound and bright flashes?


…Exodus 19:19. “Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai..” Exodus 19:23 “set bounds around the mountain” You could not approach the mountain unless you knew how to approach it?

Exodus 20 then lists the 10 commandments….then it goes into the list of laws given by God to Moses. This list is contained in the rest of the 5 books of the law.

DNA, being a double helix seems to compliment the two tablets but the two tablets were not given until when? Until Exodus 34: 1. Then God rewrote the tablets…but Moses cut the tablets. It seems that earlier God both cut and wrote on the tablets.

Exodus 32:15 “The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets”.

SO the first set was cut by God...second set by Moses. But the 10 commandments were only a small part of the testimony in stone.

I find it very interesting that in Exodus 34:5 that the" Lord stood beside" Moses. Did he look human? Many scholars believe he did!

Anyways as you read through Exodus I find nowhere where the 10 commandments are the only thing written on the tablets. It seems that the whole of the law may have been written on the tablets. How big where the tablets? As big or bigger then the Rossetta?

The only thing I see in common with your hypothesis is the fact that there were "two" tablets with the law, with the whole of the Torah, and the testimony of God upon them...two matching the DNA double helix.

If you can link the “testimony of God” to DNA sequence then your Hypothesis could move forward.

The idea of language, code and DNA is very cool. After all DNA is simply code.

Is the bible a from of code for the human race?

So, no 10 commandments cannot by itself become a type for DNA. (Type used in the Carl Jung sense.) The whole of the law, being a sequence of numbers may relate...this is interesting. (Hebrew "alphabet" is both numerical as well as "alphabetical")

Thank you all for your replies. Some very useful info. It's good to see such open-minded consideration of wild ideas.

Originally posted by whiteraven
If you can link the “testimony of God” to DNA sequence then your Hypothesis could move forward.

Ok here goes:

The two books I have read which present evidence of similarities between DNA code and language are Jeremy Narby's The Cosmic Serpent and Graham Hancock's Supernatural. I've leant The Cosmic Serpent to someone so am unable to pull quotes from it, but Supernatural contains the following passage:

All human languages have a very strange and most unexpected secret in common. It is called Zipf's Law, after the linguist George Zipf, who discovered it in 1939. He studied texts in many different languages and ranked the words in order of frequency. What he found, which has since proven to be true whether the language is English or Inuit, Japanese or Xhosa, Arabic or Urdu is that a direct, exact, unvarying and utterly counter-intuitive mathematical relationship exists between the rank of a word and the acual frequency of occurance of that word...

...in every case where non-coding regions of DNA had been evaluated, they turned out to demonstrate a perfect Zipf Law linear plot.

Zipf's Law

So incredibly, the non-coding, apparently useless regions of our DNA adhere to Zipf's Law - a law which unites all the world's languages.

Furthermore, one of the co-discoverers of the DNA molecule in 1953 was Francis Crick. Initially aligned more or less with Atheism, Crick changed his tune towards later life, convinced that life couldn't have originated by chance and that most likely, life-giving DNA came from elsewhere in space.

So if you believe in a higher creative force (as I do), then it could be said that DNA is the word of God (or a god). It is a creative force handed down by a creator, where 97% of its coding appears to be useless. That is, useless until we find hidden meaning or language within that 'junk' DNA. DNA resembles a language, DNA is the most awesome creative force in the universe, and therefore DNA is the word of 'God'*... just as the Ten Commandments given to Moses were the word of God.

*Note: I'm niether atheist, nor do I subscribe to the concept of the Christian God.

Maybe something to do with the sephiroths in kabala?

I'm not an expert, but i've had conversations with people who have mentioned something about dna codes and things being connected...

I'm not too sure, maybe someone can elaborate?