Is following only five of the Commandments acceptable?

Question

Is making up my own cool, too?

I ask because I was reading the Bible and came across Matt 19:17-19

"...if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father ad thy mother and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"

If Jesus can do it, and we're to strive to be like Jesus, can I pick and choose, too, or do I have to use his five?

"What part of 10 don't you get" - The part where Jesus told me to only follow five of them, and one that he decided was probably a commandment, but wasn't.

Answer 1

Actually, if you use your fingers and list the ones you have you should come up with six. Now, if you consider the last one about your neighbor you will also not covet their possessions. If you are going to all of this trouble you obviously love God and if you love God you will keep the remaining laws.

Funny, but sad is the rest of the story. The young man said he had followed these laws but felt like he was lacking something and Jesus gave him one more...and he could not do it. So, did he really want one more or did he want Jesus to pat him on the back and say good job?

Oh, and for the record Jesus said that if you Loved the Lord with all of your heart, mind, and body and love your neighbor as your self you would keep ALL the commandments. So, you can shorten the list to two and keep ten! God math...it is so cool.

Answer 2

When you can walk on water and turn water into wine, then I guess you can pick and choose.

Jesus wasn't ignoring any of the commandments. He was pointing out the horizontal commands between people. The vertical commands between man and God is rather obvious. For instance, how do you expect God to bless you if you have false gods in your life? That's such a "DUH!" idea that Jesus didn't even HAVE to mention them!

The point to the 10 commandments, and its weakness, is that it can only condemn. If you break the Law, you are guilty and will go to hell. Whether you break all 10, or only 1.

Jesus said "I came that they may have life, and that in abundance", and "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved by Him."

Yeah - go ahead and pick and choose. You're already guilty, anyway, so what difference does it make if you break only 5 of the 10 commandments? You're still guilty, anyway. I mean, go ahead and pick which commandments you plan on breaking!

Answer 3

I think that you should live the way you have made up your mind to live. Eventually, you will come to understand the truth, everyone will. In the mean time you can focus on asking questions that are less nonsensical.

However, I think it is worth a try to see what happens if you keep just those five perfectly. Oops, taking Jesus' words out of context is breaking the false witness one. Oh no! You can't provoke, smear, slander or discriminate against Christians anymore either (see the love thy neighbor one...). Sorry you lose. Next contestant...

Answer 4

You're not understanding the context of the passage. This was a rich man that was asking about how to have eternal life. Jesus named the six (not five) that deal with relationships with others. He knew this man's heart was not right. After the man said he had obeyed these commandments and asked what else must he do, Jesus told him to sell everything he owned and give the money to the poor. Jesus exposed his weakness - the man's wealth was his god, his idol and he didn't want to let it go. So, he had violated the first and most important commandment..."I am the Lord your God. Do not worship any gods besides me." Money was this man's god. People often misquote the Bible and say "Money is the root of all evil." What the Bible says is "LOVE of money is the root of all evil." God wants us to have the things that our heart desires. He wants us to prosper in this life. But we have to keep it in perspective and not begin to make it the center of our lives - the thing we live for.

Answer 5

Count again, that's six commandments.

Do you think Christ was saying that it was all right to take God's name casually (in vain), or to worship idols, or defile his holy days?

Jesus didn't do these things. The Apostles didn't do those things, neither did they teach such.

Rather, if Jesus knew who he was talking to when he iterated those commands -- knowing that he was a keeper of the others -- then he would have only listed those he needed to get his point across.

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is consistent about the need for us to keep the commandments of God. And it never says that only some will do, but it does say:
James 2:10 -- For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
And:
Matthew 5:19 -- Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Answer 6

Not trying to be nitpicky but there are 6 commandments.
No it is not acceptable to pick and choose.
1. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
3. Thou shalt not make unto thee any 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. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
*5. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long.
*6. Thou shalt not kill.
*7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
*8. Thou shalt not steal.
*9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
*10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ***, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

The four Jesus left out regard the way we act towards God. Jesus took care of that in verse 21
21Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
Basically he is saying place me before yourself and the world and then you will go to heaven.
I think this passage is more in keeping with the example Jesus set.
Matthew 22
35Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38This is the first and great commandment.
39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

If you always put God first others second and yourself last the rest of the commandments will fall into place. Easy to say not so easy to do.

Answer 7

Yes, it is acceptable, but you need to read, learn and follow all Ten Commandments. There are Ten and not just Five. You can make up whatever you do to live a good life, but don't try to change the Commandments written by God.
Anyone who changes the word of God to his/her own liking is sin. You are not suppose to change the word of God to your own liking. Same goes for the Holy Bible. Man can not write a Bible for his own liking.

Answer 8

The last is indeed a commandment found in the law; it just isn't listed with the ten.

But you failed to finish the chapter, for the end of the matter was that, even though the man had kept them from his youth, he was not destined for eternal life after all. He was destined to condemnation.

The whole point was that no one can keep the law, perfectly, as required. The law was there to convict all of sin, and show the need of God to intervene on our behalf for the sake of our salvation. "With God, all things are possible" as contrasted to it being impossible for man on his own, keeping the commandments.

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Answer 9

Following any of the 10 commandments as spoken by Moses is not acceptable to God the Father who art in heaven.
This is why God the Father cast His Words down to the earth and made them flesh, so that we would know the truth, concerning the God of Moses. Jesus, the living Word of God gave us 75 commandments.

Answer 10

By modern civil law only breaking three of the commandments is illegal (murder theft & perjury). Common sense and basic personal development however would mean that most adults woould follow most of the commandments, even if it was inadvertently so (as in the case of non believers and people of non Christian or Judaic faith).