Stuart, a lot of us were given a list of “shalt nots” while growing up; we were taught in black and white. As we matured, we began to see all the shades of grey that lay between the black and white. This can present us with moral dilemmas. Can we or can we not follow the 10 Commandments exactly? This is where we have to decide 1) what the Decalog means to us in our world, and 2) are we obligated to follow them?
It depends on you. The first three Commandments have to do with God and how He’s to be recognized and worshiped; but what if you don’t believe in a Biblical God? At the same time, you may not be able to rid yourself of a God-concept completely, since it’s led to an internalized system of morals and ethics that might lead to ‘good.’ The Commandments are guidelines; only later did religions prescribe punishment for actively ‘disobeying’ those guidelines.
The following seven Commandments have to do with how to live in a social world.
Honor your father and mother. Is that possible if they’re abusive or if they flaut the law?
Don’t lie. Actually, the Commandment reads, don’t bear false witness against your neighbor–don’t accuse him falsely.
Don’t steal, don’t even want what your neighbor has, or his wife, because that might lead you to steal from him.
And so on. These are moral precepts. But they’re quasi-religion-based. You can get rid of religion without getting rid of morals and ethics.
I think that’s what Nietzsche was saying when he wrote about the ‘free-spirit’–I interpret that as meaning a spirit freed from the restrictions of strictly interpreted religious values(?) and able to think on his own. IOW, don’t throw the baby out with the bath-water.