Why bother having ?

Question

What is the significance of the 10 commandments? why did God bother to create them if you can be exhonourated so easily? eg you commit murder admit it to a Catholic priest he tells you to say 10 hail mary's and you are clear of your sin, so why bother imposing the 10 com's whats the point?why would he do it when there is no obvious reason.

Answer 1

Just another one of the inconsistencies found within organized religion. Do yourself a favor, don't bother asking about it, you will never get a real, straight satisfying answer. I have tried again and again.. not only on here but in person with religious people I know. I have never gotten an answer that wasn't circular.. I have never recieved a convincing argument. It's best just to accept that some people believe that stuff, you dont have to and leave it at that otherwise it will drive you crazy trying to speak logically to the illogical.

PS See what I mean? Its better by far to live by the rule.. "Don't be sorry, don't do it!"

Answer 2

This is an interesting question to which we might approach from several angles.

For a believer's perspective, there is a need to come to an appropriate relationship with God, and part of that is a recognition of the inadequacy of one's own efforts, a humbling before God. To recognize the standards to which one has fallen short is an important part of that. And the Hail Mary (I'm not a Catholic, but I suspect murder gets you more than 10 hail Marys) is to focus one's mind and will on one's sinfulness and one's need for grace, rather than just some magic ritual to clear things with God. It's about reorienting one's perspective, one's attitude.

But then, we might also be asking why God does it this way. And the answer may not be the same as the significance of the doctrine for the believer. One might say that it is arrogance and folly to even suppose we might know God's motives, God's reasons. (And recognizing that again plays into the importance of humility.)

I'm not a believer, but I do try to make sense of such things as a believer might, before leaping to an historical, anthropological, psychological, sociological, economic, or evolutionary explanation. But let's look at this historically.

The Jews had the Ten Commandments, but they also had the sacrifice and various rituals of atonement, though not the notion than sin was erased through Christ. Any society needs mechanisms to coordinate behavior and to sanction behavior that is detrimental to the functioning of the whole, whether it be religious or civil law or just agreed upon norms of conduct. But religious minds have wanted to emphasize something deeper than this. In part, this is because legalism leads too easily to hypocrisy, corruption, hollow pieties (the sorts of behavior Jesus criticized in the Gospels). But the point of religion, to such people, is not the good order of society (though naturally, that matters too), but personal transformation and a transformation of one's attitude toward the universe, a sense of God's presence.

Rather than by-pass the law, withdrawing from such concerns, as mystics are prone to do, the approach of the Catholic Church has been to use the law as an incentive to cultivate those attitudes that might lead to a deeper psychological change.

That's my impression anyway.

Answer 3

I see your point and here it is ....
In the Christian bible, it says to confess your sins and transgressions to one another. Does not say anywhere that if you confess your sins to a priest of the "Holy Order" will you be cleansed of your sins. The Catholic confessional was introduced during the 1400's by High priests of the Catholic Clergy themselves. Back then, the best way to get news and info was from word of mouth - since many did not read or write except the wealthy or the few that snuck around to learn. The "Church" at that time was very influential with the monarchy and to get to hear the "real dirt" on what they were doing the confessional was born.
Many people turned to the confessional as a way to tell on people about being a "witch" without public scrutiny. The person that told would usually get that persons land, home, ect. in repayment for saving the town from evil. But yet a portion of the holdings were to be given to the Church to save the accuser of evil and insure church protection.
The Church began to add local ritual customs to their daily routine from local "pagans" to convert more. The hail marys or pentance to "cleanse" yourself (pagan usage) of your sin was thought up to releive the confessor and to acknowledge their proof of faith in the Chrisitian God. To be true to the 10 commandments was even difficult to the devoute back then. Those 10 commandments are the same rules that apply in every religion - Be kind to others, be honest, honor those that have gone before you, don't get jealous, and focus on good, that is it in general. But, since there are rules for the Church and rules for the rest of us that is why I avoid "organized religion" and have decided to follow my own path. Yes, I am an eclectic pagan and proud of who I am. My beliefs do not define me and I do not judge those that believe in something else. Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it - George Santayana.
Confess your sins if you must but only you know what you must do to make your transgressions righted - Me
Blessed be

Answer 4

Exhoneration is not necessarily going to happen. Most christian religions believe that you have to truly be sorry for what you've done and want atonement. Its not the fact that you say hail marys, its the fact that you regret your sins and would like to do something about them. That being the case, you don't get to go to heaven by killing people and then saying hail marys. The reason god forgives sins (supposedly, again according to christians) is because humans are born with initial sin (check out Adam and Eve) and must be forgiven right from the get go in order to make it to heaven.

Answer 5

The 10 Commandments were not written by Catholics, but by Jews. At the time when stoning, ostracising, etc. were remarkably popular.
Stoning has it's obvious outcome, being exiled could mean starving to death, etc.
They were set down for a group of tribes who still had many pagan practises. It is not a bad set of rules when you consider they were set down many thousands of years ago.
How the Catholics chose to use them at a much later date is for their conscience's. But to be fair, a few Hail Marys' would seem remarkably humane from a Church with quite a violent history.

Answer 6

It actually doesn't say anywhere in the Bible that confessing to a priest and saying Hail Marys will clean your slate.
What the Bible *does* say is that the wages of (payment for)sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Try to look at it the same way you look at civil law. Say you were on trial, found guilty, sentenced with some exhorbitant fine you could never pay....and then someone else stepped in and paid it on your behalf. That's what Jesus did. And it's the only way to be forgiven. Just like in the courthouse, you can't just confess your crime and go free....someone has to pay the fine.

When you accept the payment made on your behalf, and submit yourself to God....only then can you be forgiven.

Oh, and the law given to us in scripture is to show us what is right and what is wrong, of course.

Answer 7

The Catholic Church teaches that absolution is conditional on the sincerity of the confession. Part of repentance is making amends. It's hard to argue that one has truly renounced a sin if one makes no effort to set the damage right. Perhaps on paper, the absolution would be effective for someone who disconnects their actions from their feelings. I'm not sure God would be fooled though.

Answer 8

God believed the 10 Commandments would make good Community Guidelines in much the way Yahoo believed theirs were. Nobody pays much attention to either of them

Answer 9

So from your perspective - what's the purpose of making any laws at all then?

If I litter, I pay a $200 fine and am free to go litter again.
Speeding, same thing.
Something more serious? Just do some jail time and I'm out!

Answer 10

The purpose of the Law (such as the Ten Commandments) is to convict us of our sins and make us aware of how unable we are to meet God's high standards through our own efforts.

The price for sin is very high; in fact, it causes spiritual death. The price was paid in full by Jesus on the cross, because we were unable to pay the price ourselves without dying. Jesus conquered death because He was fully God and fully man and without sin. He rose from the grave and ascended into heaven.

Now anyone who receives Him by accepting His payment for our sins can have eternal life.

For more understanding, take this test:
http://www.livingwaters.com/good/