A Checklist for life? —The Ten COMMANDments

So, I was talking to my husband yesterday about the Ten Commandments and how they still apply to us today as we are living in a grace filled non-religious relationship with Father. However, I just can’t seem to look at the Ten Commandments differently then from a religious point of view. Particularly resting on the Sabbath. It goes into great detail as to how you’re basically not allowed to lift a finger during the Sabbath. Some people I know live by this law so religiously that they will hardly leave their house from Friday evening until Sunday morning and do all of the traditional Jewish stuff during the Sabbath. I just can't see living like that would make anyone more righteous than anyone else. However, if I am supposed to embrace the law and ‘do’ what the ‘commands’ say to do, I want to have a full understanding of it all from a non-religious view. I realize that Joel and others in our blog community talk about the old laws and stuff, and I just want to see if the Ten Commandments go along with the old laws and I want to know if they still apply or not in our freedom with Father now. They were written in the Old Testament so do they still exist today? This may be a no brainer to some and I am sorry if I sound like a complete idiot, but I just can’t seem to wrap my brain around this. Are we supposed to treat this as a checklist and mark the ones that we fail on a daily bases?

I understand that some of the laws were to protect us from harming ourselves, but some just don’t make a whole lot of sense to me now!

Exodus 20
The Ten Commandments

1 And God spoke all these words:

2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

3 (1)"You shall have no other gods before [a] me.

4 (2) "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 (3)"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

8 (4)"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 (5)"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

13 (6)"You shall not murder.

14 (7)"You shall not commit adultery.

15 (8)"You shall not steal.

16 (9)"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

17 (10)"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

Why are there a lot of ‘do not’ commands? And how is it that Father is behind this still today?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!