Go Down to the Discussion
FROM THE KING JAMES VERSION: EXODUS 20:1-17
AND DEUTERONOMY 5:1-21
Exodus 20:1-17
1 And God spake all these words, saying,
FIRST COMMANDMENT
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
SECOND COMMANDMENT
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
THIRD COMMANDMENT
7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
FOURTH COMMANDMENT
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
FIFTH COMMANDMENT
12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
SIXTH COMMANDMENT
13 Thou shalt not kill.
SEVENTH COMMANDMENT
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
EIGHTH COMMANDMENT
15 Thou shalt not steal.
NINTH COMMANDMENT
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
TENTH COMMANDMENT
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Deuteronomy 5:1-21
1 And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.
2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
3 The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.
4 The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,
5 (I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,
FIRST COMMANDMENT
6 I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
SECOND COMMANDMENT
8 Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,
10 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
THIRD COMMANDMENT
11 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
FOURTH COMMANDMENT
12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.
13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:
14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.
15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
FIFTH COMMANDMENT
16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
SIXTH COMMANDMENT
17 Thou shalt not kill.
SEVENTH COMMANDMENT
18 Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
EIGHTH COMMANDMENT
19 Neither shalt thou steal.
NINTH COMMANDMENT
20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
TENTH COMMANDMENT
21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Back to the Top
DISCUSSION
In July of 2001, Roy Moore, Chief Justice of the State of Alabama, ordered that a two-ton granite sculpture of the Ten Commandments be displayed in the lobby of the State Judicial Building in Montgomery, Alabama. In November of 2002, U.S. District Judge Myron H. Thompson ordered it to be removed. Justice Moore refused. In November of 2003, the nine-member State Court of the Judiciary removed him from office by unanimous vote.
This renewed the Church vs. State controversy which has ebbed and flowed since before the founding fathers began work on writing the U.S. Constitution.
More recently:
2006/02/13 - Lost Bridge Village, AR: Dean Pride posted the Ten Commandments in his yard, highlighting the Eighth Commandment (Thou shalt not steal) to discourage burglars after some of his neighbors' houses were broken into. But some residents complained on the grounds of a village covenant prohibiting yard signs. Pride said he photographed signs in other yards and charged that the covenant is not being equally enforced. See The Arizona Republic.
2006/02/10 - Anderson, IN: The Lone Oak Wesleyan Church dropped its plan (approved by the City Council) to post a Ten Commandments monument on the city building's front lawn. The plan came after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (Van Orden v. Perry) the Ten Commandments could be displayed outside the Texas state Capitol. But when Ronda Parks, a practicing Wiccan, complained the monument would violate her constitutional rights, the church decided to move the monument to avoid dividing the community. See The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel.
At this website, we will explore what the Ten Commandments actually say; what relevance they have to our lives as Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others in America today; and how they should be incorporated into or excluded from our systems of laws.
Before continuing, I suppose if I expect you to spend your valuable time reading all this, it's only fair to tell you a little bit about Who I Am, What I Believe, and My View of Scripture.
D.L. Moody wrote,"If I could only make men understand the real meaning of the words of the apostle John - 'God is love,' I would take that single text, and would go up and down the world proclaiming this glorious truth. If you can convince a man that you love him you have won his heart. If we really make people believe that God loves them, how we should find them crowding into the kingdom of heaven! The trouble is that men think God hates them; and so they are all the time running away from Him." (TWTG - p.7).
For Christians today:
Romans 8:2 teaches, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."
And Galatians 5:1 tells us, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
But Romans 6:18 says, "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness."
Thus, while we are saved by grace and not by works (Ephesians 2:8), the Ten Commandments are still our Lord's guideline for how He would like us to live.
At various locations in the New Testament, every one of the Ten Commandments (except the fourth) are clearly reconfirmed for this purpose.
[This is a work in progress.]
[Additional content will be added as it becomes available.]
|
