I've always had a beef with one of the Ten Commandments..

[NNadir]

22. I'm the veteran of a profoundly religious upbringing who's morphed into an atheist.

I never heard that interpretation of that "commandment" but it makes sense. As such, we can add it to the list of "commandments" that the orange pedophile in the White House violates.

Of course there is the issue, often ignored by fundies, of translation from one language to another. The Bible in English has been translated, a the act of translation is an act of change..

When my oldest son was born, to keep family peace, I had him baptized in the Episcopal church. This involved a number of Sundays where I had to make an appearance in church, something I didn't do much in my adult life other than for special events.

The Priest there, a young woman, offered a similarly novel interpretation of a scriptural injunction, "Spare the rod, spoil the child." Many people, including my father, interpreted this as an endorsement of corporal punishment, which is not to imply my father was abusive, but on the other hand I was subject to a smack or slap as was common in those times, something my sons never experienced. The Episcopal priest indicated that the authors of the Bible's Old Testament were in a culture of sheep herders (which says something about the breadth of their worldview) and that a "rod" was a stick used by shepherds not to beat sheep over the head, but rather to guide them on a path by gentle touches to their shoulders. This interpretation certainly didn't convert me back to Christianity but it did offer an alternative to what I see as a religion that talks peace but practices violence.