The Catholic and Lutheran count is most consistent with the version in Deut 5:6-21. It is the complete version, which includes the words against idolatry, and not the shorthand or numbering, that is binding on humanity.
The key issue in "changing" the Commandments is the understanding of the First Commandment, which reads in full:
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
To summarize this crucial commandment: Worship God and him alone.
Fundamentalists who equate stained glass, paintings, and sculpture with idols don't seem to understand what an idol is. An idol is a created thing worshiped as a god. The same Hebrews who received the Ten Comandments recognized that God encouraged the making of images that pointed symbolically toward salvation, including the bronze serpent, the ark of the covenant, and the cherubim.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2110-2128) explains the many ways men violate the First Commandment: superstition, polytheism, satanism, worship of money, power, race, or worldly goods; divination, magic, tempting God, sacrilege, simony (selling spiritual help), atheism, and agnosticism. These sins, and not religious artwork, are the dangers addressed in the First Commandment.
Cheers,
Bruce
2007-11-08 05:50:18
·
answer #1
·
answered by Bruce 7
·
1⤊
0⤋
Again, here is that ridiculous quote we got from that Seventh Day Adventist:
"NIV, KJV, NKJV, RSV etc. have all Gods Commandments intact. HOWEVER, the Catholic Catechism has totally deleted the 2nd commandment, and split the 10th into 2 to make up 10 commandments. They CHANGED Gods Law!!!!"
Actually, that is far from true. The 2nd commandment was not deleted - it's still very much there. The words that the Protestants call the 2nd commandment, are found in the first commandment of the Catholics. Let me go into a bit more detail here. A quick word before that - go and look at your 1st commandment - it says "I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me." That command to have no other gods includes, obviously, carved gods, painted gods. Why must Protestants split this up into 2 commandments ? I'll tell you why.
If you want to split up the commandments into the smallest commandments possible, there are 11 commandments:
1. No other gods.
2. No idols.
3. No blasphemy.
4. Keep the Sabbath holy.
5. Honour your parents.
6. Do not kill.
7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Do not steal.
9. Do not lie.
10. Do not covet your neighbour's wife.
11. Do not cover your neighbour's goods.
Logically 10 and 11 can be fused into one commandment - "Do not covet." Logically 1 and 2 can be fused into one commantment - "no false gods, including idol gods which are also false gods."
(10 and 11 are one mixed together in Exodus, but listed separately in Deuteronomy.)
Here is a quotation from the KJV showing exactly how Catholics divide up the commandments:
Commandment #1
Exod 20:2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Exod 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exod 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exod 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Exod 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Commandment #2
Exod 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Commandment #3
Exod 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
So we can also have 11 commandments, or 9 commandments. It is interesting to note that the number 10 was given in the Bible, but not precisely which words went with each number. The Jews used a version of the commandments that listed 10 and 11 together, while the early Christians chose to use a different list used by another Jewish minority. Both lists came from Judaism, the one was just more popular than the other. Both, however, contained the full text of the commandments, not leaving any out.
Later the Catholic Church was divided on the issue. Origen used the "Protestant" set, while Augustine favoured the "Catholic" set. Mainstream Judaism adopted the Protestant set. Everyone kept the same commandments, though.
Later, the Catholic Church decided to adopt BOTH versions as official versions, and that is still the case today ... something not many people know, but which can be verified by doing research into the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches. To simplify things, it is the western (latin) part of the Catholic Church that uses the "Catholic" or "Western" ten commandments, and the eastern part of the Catholic Church that uses the "Protestant" or "Eastern" ten commandments ... long before any Protestants came along. Both parts of the Catholic Church - east and west - fall under the authority of the pope - they are one denomination, although different patriarchates. It is thus only in the west that Protestants have become upset by the different order of the ten commandments. In the east, Catholics and Protestants and Orthodox use exactly the same sequence of commandments !!!
So, no, we did not change God's law, we just list the wording differently to what you do. And also, not all Catholics do that. Many Catholics use EXACTLY the same ten commandments as you Adventists and Protestants do !
Not one of the ten commandments has been edited, rejected, or changed by the Catholic Church. However, for the sake of making memorisation of the crux of the commandment easier, the longer ones have been abbreviated. I have seen SDA listings of the 10 commandments, including the 4th one - most of them read "Keep the Sabbath day holy" or something like that. They do NOT list the full 4th commandment, so it is very unfair and hypocritical to expect the RCC to do what is not expected of the SDA Church.
2007-11-08 00:52:29
·
answer #2
·
answered by Anonymous
·
6⤊
0⤋
Going back to the Old Testament there are actually 613 commandments given to the Israelites. Not all would apply to every person. For example the ones involving the priests.
Jesus said the whole law was summed up in two commandments.
Love the LORD your God who is One with all your heart, mind and soul having no other before Him and love your neighbor as yourself.
2007-11-08 00:12:46
·
answer #3
·
answered by urallnutballs 4
·
1⤊
1⤋
Read your bible, there are 14 commandments in the specific section mentioned. Both Protestants and Catholics choose 10 out of the 14 for numerical purposes. Apparently, God's heavily into numerology.
2007-11-08 00:04:55
·
answer #4
·
answered by Anonymous
·
1⤊
3⤋
Well, since the Catholics were around long before Protestants, I think logic would tell you it was the Protestants who changed it.
But the whole question is meaningless, since they both have all the words, just divided up in a different way.
2007-11-08 00:05:23
·
answer #5
·
answered by Anonymous
·
6⤊
0⤋
NO
The Old Testament was around long before the time of the Apostles, and the Decalogue, which is found in three different places in the Bible (Exodus 20 and Exodous 34 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21), has not been changed by the Catholic Church. Chapter and verse divisions are a medieval invention, however, and numbering systems of the Ten Words (Commandments), the manner in which they are grouped, and the "short-hand" used for them, vary among various religious groups. Exodus 20 is the version most often referred to when one speaks of the Ten Commandments.
Most common Protestant listing:
Thou shalt have no other gods before me
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy
Honour thy father and thy mother
Thou shalt not kill
Thou shalt not commit adultery
Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour
Thou shalt not covet
Latin Catholic listing:
Thou shalt not have other gods besides Me
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain
Remember to keep holy the Lord’s day
Honor thy father and thy mother
Thou shalt not murder
Thou shalt not commit adultery
Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods
The Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate (the official Scripture of the Church), and the original Douay-Reims phrase the Fifth Word as "Thou shalt not murder"; later Douay-Reims versions, such as the Challoner, and the King James Bible, etc., phrase it as "Thou shalt not kill." "Thou shalt not murder," however, is the original intent and the meaning of the earliest texts. Catholics, of course, have 2,000 years of Church teaching and the Magisterium to interpret Scripture, and the meaning of the Fifth Commandment is that one is not to take innocent life. It doesn't entail pacifism, ignoring the needs of self-defense and justice, worrying about squashing bugs, etc
2007-11-08 05:55:15
·
answer #6
·
answered by Isabella 6
·
0⤊
0⤋
Yes, they changed them! But, you already know that! I'd like to present a version that you might enjoy. It's called The PickieChickie version: I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no strange Gods before me. Since the Catholics have decided the Pope is not strange, he can be God for me on earth. (original 2nd omitted. We didn't like the way God wrote this one on Moses's tablet so we've changed it for you.) 2nd. Commandment; Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. 3rd. Commandment; Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. (***Please note that we have changed it from the 7th day to the 1st day so it will coincide with the pagans who worship the sun so we can get along better. Get it: SUN + DAY = SUNDAY!!!) 4th. Commandment; Honour your father and mother. 5th. Commandment; Thou shalt not kill. 6th Commandment; Thou shalt not commit adultery. 7th. Commandment; Thou shalt not steal. 8th. Commandment; Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. 9th. Commandment; (actually the 10th devided) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. 10th. Commandment; (see above) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods. **Please note that if you decide you want to break any of God's laws above, all you have to do is come down to our erase-a-sin booth and it's all good!** (P.S. Moses over reacted when he threw the first set of tablets on which God wrote the TEN COMMANDMENTS with his own finger............. seriously! We've decided it's okay to pray to images and have a large selection available of them for sale in most of our church lobbies!)
2016-04-03 01:43:41
·
answer #7
·
answered by Anonymous
·
0⤊
0⤋
Can you believe this person named Chris??? Catholics changed the 10 commandments to hide their idolatry...LMAO.
Where do these stupid fundies come from?
2007-11-08 03:23:12
·
answer #8
·
answered by Anonymous
·
1⤊
1⤋
Probably the best idea should be to go to the source and read in your Bible. Perhaps view different translations or use a Strongs Concordance for more insight.
2007-11-08 00:14:49
·
answer #9
·
answered by JSn 1
·
2⤊
0⤋
No they did not. This is one of those accusations that gets thrown around and is worth nothing. I own 3 different Catholic versions of the bible, and the Decalogue is intact in all of them.
2007-11-08 02:19:46
·
answer #10
·
answered by Anonymous
·
6⤊
0⤋