Did catholics really change the ten commandments?

Question

ive read that catholics omit the second commandment and make the last one into two. at first this seems wrong but why did they do it does this make them a false religion they also belive in praying to the virgin mary purgatory and annulment of marriage among other things

im refering to the second commandment of dont make any graven immages and dont bow down to them. do catholics obey this commandment

Answer 1

There are actually three versions of the Ten Commandments, Jewish, Catholic (and Lutheran), and Protestant.

With the new revelations of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the early Catholic Church, a slightly different emphasis was placed on different commandments.

Then 1500 years later, the Protestant in objecting to certain Catholic practices, once again changed the emphasis of the Ten Commandments.

+ Jewish Ten Commandments (before 1000 BC)

1. I am the Lord your G-d who has taken you out of the land of Egypt.
2. You shall have no other gods but me.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your G-d in vain.
4. You shall remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy.
5. Honor you mother and father.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness.
10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Source: http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/Torah/Ten_Cmds/ten_cmds.html

+ Catholic (and Lutheran) Ten Commandments (about 100 AD)

1. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
3. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it, you shall not do any work.
4. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
10. You shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ***, or anything that is your neighbor's.

Source: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect2chpt1ind.htm

+ Protestant Ten Commandments (about 1600 AD)

1. You shall have no other gods but me.
2. You shall not make unto you any graven images
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
4. You shall remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
5. Honor your mother and father
6. You shall not murder
7. You shall not commit adultery
8. You shall not steal
9. You shall not bear false witness
10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor

Source: http://www.biblicalheritage.org/Bible%20Studies/10%20Commandments.htm

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

I describe myself as a Catholic, but I will say that I am not very religious. Catholics most certainly did NOT change the Ten Commandments. Our commandments are the same as all other Christians. Though shalt eat fish on Friday is not really a commandment, just a poor attempt at humor.

As to your other points: Catholics do pray to the Virgin Mary and to Saints, you aren't the only one to think this is inconsistent with Thou shalt have no other God before me.

Official church teaching does not include purgatory. I think this was a pre Vatican II tenet, as many older people still talk about working off their sins in purgatory. I am not old enough to remember.

The church's stance on annulment is screwy to say the least. Please don't ask me to explain it because I can't.

Answer 3

--Is Catholic--

The Traditional Protestant 10 Commandments are
1.I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2.Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
3.Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
4.Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.
5.Honor thy father and thy mother.
6.Thou shalt not kill.
7.Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8.Thou shalt not steal.
9.Thou shalt not bear false witness.
10.Thou shalt not covet your neighbor's wif or his goods.

The Traditional Catholic 10 Commandments are
1.I am the Lord your God: You shall not have strange Gods before me.
2.You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3.Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.
4.Honor your father and mother.
5.You shall not kill.
6.You shall not commit adultery.
7.You shall not steal.
8.You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9.You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
10.You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.

The early Christians used the Catholic version. This can be seen in the writings of the Church fathers especially in Augustine who pulls his numbering from Deuteronomy 5. This was standardized and always taught. Even in the early reformation, the Lutherans used the Catholic numbering.

Calvin and other Reformers, relying more on Exodus 20 and its presentation of the Decalogue, and wanting to make a strike against the statuary and icons in the Catholic Church, enumerated the commandments in a different way. This is the origin of the Protestant numbering.

That is the basic history.

Catholics do pray to Mary. What you are missing is that in Protestantism there is no difference between "pray" and "worship". In Catholicism, "pray" and "worship" are miles apart. They are not related at all both in terms of the definitions and in the actual activities.

Let me tell you something, if you think we "worship Mary" by praying to her, what do you think about how we worship God? Have you ever experienced a properly done Catholic worship of God, or have you even read about it? If you have, then you would think Catholics worship Mary. We may think she is really cool and it may be over the top, but it is very far and very small compared to the way we worship God.

Purgatory is actually scriptural, and not just from the books that Protestants threw out (did you know that that OT Hebrew only Canon was canonized in 90 AD as a response to Christianity?)
http://www.scripturecatholic.com/purgatory.html

Annulment of marriage is not a divorce. It is simply saying that the marriage was not a sacramental marriage because there was something that precluded the man and the woman from entering into a sacramental marriage.

Answer 4

Of course we can never be certain until we find the original commandments, but I think the roman catholics didn't change the ten commandments.

After all, the jews also believe in that part of the bible, and they seem to use the same ten commandments. If the catholics changed them, do you think the jews would follow this? After all, they also didn't follow that Jesus was the announced saviour. Besides, the early jews were very keen on saving their original religion. The Chrisitans changed the sabbath to sunday, the jews kept theirs to saturday (= sabato in Italian)

Answer 5

YOU HEARD WRONG.
(1) The ist and 2nd commandments are exclusive so are the 9th and 10th .They never have and will be conjoined by the catholic church
(2) We do not Worship Mary, we HONOR Her for the simple reason that she is the only female in the world (at that time) worthy enuff to bring Jesus into the world. so she deserves some Honour.......Paris Hilton on the other hand is Worshipped by teenagers today.
(3)Roman Catholicism is not a false religion rather it is the first church which was bulit by Christ himself when he told Peter ( Who Proceeded to become the first pope) "You are my Rock and upon this rock i shall build my church " and our doctrines have always been the same.
:)

Answer 6

Catholics were basically the ONLY kind of Christians for 1500 years after Christ, until Martin Luther invented the kind of Christian you probably are! While I personally believe Catholicism AND Protestantism are both bogus, Catholics have a much better case for arguing Protestantism is a "false religion" than you have to argue Catholicism is false!

Read a little history!

Answer 7

The Ten Commandments are part of the Old Testament, which is part of the Christian Bible.

The only reason we have a Christian Bible is because of the Catholic Church. In other words, no.

The Catholic Church gave birth to the Bible; the Bible did not give birth to the Catholic Church.

H

Answer 8

all In have to say is that purgatory is not in the Bible,Praying to mary is not in the Bible either one of Gods commandments is "You shall have no other Gods before me.""you shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above,or that is in the earth beneath,or that is in the water under the earth,You shall not bow down to them nor serve them For I the Lord your God am a jealous God...Exodus 20 :1-26 ..I KNOW THE THE CATHOLICS changed the sabbath day to Sunday but Exodus 20:8 says"Reamber the Sabbath day,to keep it Holy,six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is Sabbath of the Lord your God".....

Answer 9

If you're really serious about your question, click the link to see exactly what the Catholic church has always believed and taught about the ten commandments.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect2chpt1.htm#2084

While you're viewing the catechism, you may also want to take a moment to look up the truth about your other claims, too.

It's all in there.

But perhaps you would prefer to believe the false nonsense that other people continue to post here about many Catholic beliefs.

Answer 10

Yes, they do believe in praying to Mary, and they believe in purgatory. I can send you info about a lot of other untrue things they teach. Because they teach things that are contrary to the Word of God, they are a false religion.