Commandment question: 1 vs 10?

Question

Another question on this board got me thinking...Based on the christian teachings...

If God only gave Adam and Eve ONE commandment of "Don't eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge" and they FAILED... Why would he give mankind 10 commandments and expect us to succeed?? Adam and Eve were free of all sin when they disobeyed. We have sin working against us. If this is the case, isn't god setting us up to fail?

Isn't he saying "Yeah, well, they were perfect in my image and they messed up with ONE rule. You all are already flawed.... let's see how badly you all mess up with 10 rules!"

My question is: Why would he give us stronger rules when we are 'burdened' with original sin?

This is not a question for you to preach to me and 'convert' me. This is an honest question about the text as I have understood them. I am not questioning your faith- just my understanding of it. Please don't be rude.

Here's what I mean: If I had a brilliant child who could execute 1 rule perfectly, I would then give him 10 more. If that brilliant/perfect child broke the first rule, I would hesitate to increase the rules.
If I had a child with a learning disorder from birth, I certainly wouldn't hold that child to the same expectations as the one WITHOUT the disorder. I would have lower expectations & less rules. Why is it backwards in the biblical legends?

If you could, when giving me an answer, I'd love more info than a generic chapter/verse. If you could give detail, it would help me understand your comments better.

Answer 1

You are right he set us up to fail, that way we could not and would not rely on ourselves for salvation, but instead we would have to rely on Jesus' sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins and our salvation.

Answer 2

The 10 commandments aren't a test. There are over 600 commandments in the first 5 books of the bible, and the more there are the more they proved man's need for our savior. That's the purpose of the law, to bring us to the point where we drop all hope of being good enough to please God on our own and surrender our will to him in repentance and believe him for salvation through the sacrifice Jesus made for our sin on the cross. Bringing us to the point of repentance from sin and faith in God is the reason for the law.

Answer 3

John 5:18 (NIV) 18 for this reason the Jews tried each and every of the greater durable to kill him; no longer basically replaced into he breaking the Sabbath, yet he replaced into even calling God his very own Father, making himself equivalent with God. Colossians 2:sixteen as a result no one is to act as your choose in regard to nutrition or drink or in understand to a competition or a clean moon or a Sabbath day-- (NASB ©1995) a million. Why do NO Christians save the Sabbath interior the recent testomony? 2. Why does Paul thrice let us know that we want no longer save the Sabbath? 3. Why does Hebrews let us know that the day we save is "yet another" day? 4. Why does the Bible let us know that the Sabbath is a demonstration of the covenant made with Israel? and then why does the Bible let us know that this covenant does not prepare to Christians? 5. Why are there NO instructions for Christians to maintain the Sabbath interior the excellent Bible? 6. Why does Adventism prepare that Adam saved the Sabbath, while the Bible teaches that no one earlier the time of Moses knew regarding the Sabbath? 7. Why does the Bible say that the Sabbath is a demonstration for Israel, and in no way applies it to mankind as an entire? 8. Why does Adventism collect weekly on Saturday, while interior the recent testomony and interior the 1st, 2nd, and third centuries, Christians accumulated on Sunday?

Answer 4

Because the purpose of the law is to show us that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

The Jewish people tried to be righteous and created MANY laws, more than the original 10. They tried very hard to be righteous on their own, but failed miserably. That paved the way for Jesus to come as the one true sacrifice and the only way to God.

By the way, Jesus Himself said there are really only 2 commandments. Read Matthew 22:37-40.

So, the hope is in Jesus. We have all sinned, even if you use only the 10 commandments as your guidelines. But, if you put your trust in Jesus and confess that sin, you will have eternal life. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

Answer 5

Well, Adam & Eve were not given one commandment. Evidence?
The ten were given to Moses for the Israelites to relieve them from observing the many pagan rituals of those around them.
Remember the eleventh commandment also Thou shalt have free will.

Answer 6

Don't like rules huh? I can live very easily without breaking any of the 10 commandments, have you read them? So easy.
Original sin is nothing, the blood of my Lord has washed it away.
If original sin is a stumblingblock to you or any of the 10 commandments, you just aren't realistic enough. You just have to say you are better than that.

Answer 7

sorry, i just dont buy that whole story,,, how could they be created in Gods image, yet not know they were naked?,,,,, was that the tree of knowledge, or just the tree of dirty knowledge? as to the other, its like most things, if you tell a child not to do /touch one thing,,,, they probably will,,,,, so of course God would of known they would,,,,,,, if you tell a child not to do 10 things, most likely they will do one or two, that will satisfy them, and they wont do the other 8, maybe that is what God was thinking then, who knows,,,,,,, i think people ignore the main messages, and get so caught up in the minute details,,,,, of the Bible,,,,,
ps: i think your additional details touched on an important thing, you spoke of how you would treat your different children, what you would offer/expect of them,,,,,, i truely think God would view us in that way,, the main two things i remember always from the Bible is Jesus being quoted as saying "i have other sheep not of this flock" and "if you can do nothing else, then love" ,,,,,,,, we are not all the same, nor will we read the exact same words in the Bible and interpret it the same,,,,,,, that is how God made us

Answer 8

Well, first, he didn't give US the commandments, but the Jews. Second, he didn't expect us to succeed. Read Paul's interpretation of these rules in Rom.

Answer 9

Since you are comparing God to parents with children, let me put it this way:

Mommy looked at the little fellow and said "when I tell you something I want you to listen. You are never to disobey or disrespect me."

5 minutes later the little boy lies to his mom (thou shalt not lie).
10 minutes later he steals his sister's cookie (thou shalt not steal).
15 min. later he tells his dad that he hates him (thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother)
20 min. later he takes the toys of the little guy next door (thou shalt not covet what belongs to someone else)
25 min. later the sweet little imp kills the little guy next door because he doesn't want to give the toys back. (thou shalt not commit murder)
30 min. later he is cursing God. (thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain)

In any of this do you feel that perhaps the little boy was going against the wishes of his mother, was he showing her disrespect?
Actually it all comes back to the original sin which is disobedience against the will of God.
Every commandment in the Bible is showing us what God wants and doesn't want and when we go against what he wants we are committing the original sin each and every time, and that is disobedience to his word.
The primary rule is really "Do Not Disobey" and then the breakdown is given of what God does not want to see in us.

Actually he wants us to be the best that we can be.

If you take time to look at the 10 commandments you will see that all of them fall into one of two categories: 1) showing respect toward God 2) showing respect toward other people. It is wrong and goes directly against God's wishes to show a lack of respect towards him or towards other people.

Answer 10

Very nice analysis. Have you seen the film Seven Samurai by Akira Kurusawa? There is a scene involving recruitment of a number of samurai. They were to recruit 4, but instead recruited 6. The elder stated that if he had said 10, they would've brought 15... etc.

I am a fan of the decad, especially in reference to the schematic representation of the Sepher Yetzirah.