Why the Catholic's 10 Commandments doesn't correspond with the ones found in the Exodus book?

Question

Exodus 20:4 says "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." Why the Catholic Catechism didn't include this commandment in its list? Maybe because there is a prolific business around the religious symbols?

Jon M, I'm getting my "anti-Catholic information" from the Bible.

If the Ten Commandments where given to us directly from the finger of God, then the Catholic's Ten Commandments list should be the same that appears in the Bible, or do they have some kind of authority to change the Lord's words?

Jon M, the differences between the Decalogue in Exodus and Deuteronomy are another issue, and they deserve another question, because both of them refers to the two tables that God gave to Moises in the Sinaí mount, but extrangely they consigned different commandments.

Answer 1

There are a lot of things in Catholicism that don't mesh with Scripture.

Answer 2

The Bible does not number the Ten Words( ten Commandments) and theusual listings are summaries rather than all the verses and phrases
.
Joining "no gods" and "no idols"makes nore sense than
joining"no coveting neighbor's goods" and "No coveting neighbors spouse" into one commandment( Otherwise there are 11 Commandments or even 12)

You are wrong about the Catechism :read paragraphs2129-2141 about the "no idols" part of the !st Commandment.

Also read Exodus 25 whjere God commands the making
and honoring of angel statues and other religious symbols.

Do you interpret the"no idol" ban to prohibit any photos,coins,dolls,paintings,art work.etc'of anything..."?

Answer 3

There are actually three versions of the Ten Commandments, Jewish, Catholic (and Lutheran), and Protestant taken from Exodus Chapter 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy Chapter 5:6-21.

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 B.C.E.)

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 C.E.)

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 C.E.)

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 4

You are incorrect. Following is what the catechism of the catholic Church, the official Catholic church teaches what the first commandment is:

ARTICLE 1
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT

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.

Following is a link so you can read it yourself - http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c1a1.htm

Answer 5

Or, it could be that symbols aren't nearly as idolatrous as you believe:

Images and Statues
Deut. 4:15 - from this verse, Protestants say that since we saw "no form" of the Lord, we should not make graven images of Him.

Deut. 4:16 - of course, in early history Israel was forbidden to make images of God because God didn't yet reveal himself visibly "in the form of any figure."

Deut. 4:17-19 - hence, had the Israelites depicted God not yet revealed, they might be tempted to worship Him in the form of a beast, bird, reptile or fish, which was a common error of the times.

Exodus 3:2-3; Dan 7:9; Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32; Acts 2:3- later on, however, we see that God did reveal himself in visible form (as a dove, fire, etc).

Deut. 5:8 - God's commandment "thou shall not make a graven image" is entirely connected to the worship of false gods. God does not prohibit images to be used in worship, but He prohibits the images themselves to be worshiped.

Exodus 25:18-22; 26:1,31 - for example, God commands the making of the image of a golden cherubim. This heavenly image, of course, is not worshiped by the Israelites. Instead, the image disposes their minds to the supernatural and draws them to God.

Num. 21:8-9 - God also commands the making of the bronze serpent. The image of the bronze serpent is not an idol to be worshiped, but an article that lifts the mind to the supernatural.

I Kings 6:23-36; 7:27-39; 8:6-67 - Solomon's temple contains statues of cherubim and images of cherubim, oxen and lions. God did not condemn these images that were used in worship.

2 Kings 18:4 - it was only when the people began to worship the statue did they incur God's wrath, and the king destroyed it. The command prohibiting the use of graven images deals exclusively with the false worship of those images.

1 Chron. 28:18-19 - David gives Solomon the plan for the altar made of refined gold with a golden cherubim images. These images were used in the Jews' most solemn place of worship.

2 Chron. 3:7-14 - the house was lined with gold with elaborate cherubim carved in wood and overlaid with gold.

Ezek. 41:15 - Ezekiel describes graven images in the temple consisting of carved likenesses of cherubim. These are similar to the images of the angels and saints in many Catholic churches.

Col. 1:15 - the only image of God that Catholics worship is Jesus Christ, who is the "image" (Greek "eikon") of the invisible God.

Answer 6

Strange...God in many places in the Bible told man to make idols such as He told Moses to make an idol (serpent on a staff). Another example is in Samuel 7:12 . But we still don't worship idols.

Answer 7

What about Deuteronomy 5:6?

And I'm Catholic. I was taught from an early age that "I am the Lord Thy God. Thou shalt have no graven images before me."

So I don't know where you're getting your anti-Catholic information from, but it's whack.

Answer 8

Bingo

Answer 9

Jesus will straighten all this out when He returns to Earth.

Answer 10

I Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:
II For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.
III Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.
IV The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.
V All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. But the firstling of an donkey thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.
VI Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
VII And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.
VIII Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.
IX The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God.
X Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.

Exodus 34:12-27, King James Bible

Answer 11

The protestant one is phoney