The First
Commandment |
“I am the Lord
thy God, thou shalt not have any strange gods before Me.” |
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This commandment forbids idolatry, the worship of false gods and
goddesses, and it excludes polytheism, the belief in many gods, insisting
instead on monotheism, the belief in one God. This commandment forbids making
golden calves, building temples to Isis, and worshipping statues of Caesar,
for example. |
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The Second
Commandment |
“Thou shalt not
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” |
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The faithful are required to honor the name of God. It makes
sense that if you’re to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and
strength, then you’re naturally to respect the name of God with equal passion
and vigor. |
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The Third
Commandment |
“Remember to keep
holy the Sabbath day.” |
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The Jewish celebration of Sabbath (Shabbat) begins at sundown on
Friday evening and lasts until sundown on Saturday. Catholic, Protestant, and
Orthodox Christians go to church on Sunday, treating it as the Lord’s Day
instead of Saturday to honor the day Christ rose from the dead. |
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The Fourth
Commandment |
“Honor thy father
and mother.” |
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This commandment obliges the faithful to show respect for their
parents — as children and adults. Children must obey their parents, and
adults must respect and see to the care of their parents, when they become
old and infirm. |
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The Fifth
Commandment |
“Thou shalt not
kill.” |
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The better translation from the Hebrew would be “Thou shalt not
murder” — a subtle distinction but an important one to the Church. Killing an
innocent person is considered murder. Killing an unjust aggressor to preserve
your own life is still killing, but it isn’t considered murder or immoral.
The fifth commandment forbids: Murder, suicide, criminal neglect that might
cause serious injury or death to another, serious anger and hatred, abortion,
mercy killing, the use of narcotics, sterilization, drunkenness, help
extended to another to commit a mortal sin, fighting, anger, hatred and
revenge. |
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The Sixth & Ninth
Commandments |
“Thou shalt not
commit adultery.” |
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The sixth and ninth commandments honor human sexuality. This
commandment forbids the actual, physical act of having immoral sexual
activity, specifically adultery, which is sex with someone else’s spouse or a
spouse cheating on their partner. This commandment also includes fornication,
which is sex between unmarried people, prostitution, pornography, homosexual
activity, masturbation, group sex, rape, incest, pedophilia, bestiality, and
necrophilia. These two commandments demand purity and modesty in our life: in
our thoughts, words, and actions, whether alone or with others. In general,
these commandments forbid: adultery, fornication, self-abuse, indecent dressing,
necking, impure kisses, impure dancing, impure talk, sins against nature,
birth control, impure touches, petting, looking at impure pictures, dances,
floor shows, movies, or reading impure books or magazines. |
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The Seventh &
Tenth Commandments |
“Thou shalt not
steal.” |
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The seventh and tenth commandments focus on respecting and
honoring the possessions of others. This commandment forbids the act of
taking someone else’s property. The Catholic Church believes that this
commandment also denounces cheating people of their money or property,
depriving workers of their just wage, or not giving employers a full day’s
work for a full day’s pay. Embezzlement, fraud, tax evasion, and vandalism
are all considered extensions of violations of the Seventh Commandment. These
commandments forbid: robbery and burglary, graft, bribes, stealing and
damaging the property of others. These commandments forbid not merely
stealing but every type of dishonest dealing, such as, cheating, unjust
keeping of what belongs to others, unjust damage to property of others, graft
on the part of public officials. These commandments are also violated by
merchants who use false weights, measures, who make exorbitant profits or lie
about the essential qualities of their goods; by those who obtain money from
others by persuading them to make unsound investments with the assurance of gain;
by those who knowingly pass counterfeit money, or take undue advantage of the
ignorance or necessity of another; by employers who defraud laborers; by
employees who waste time during working hours, perform careless work or
neglect to take reasonable care of the property of their employers; by
employers who charge customers exorbitant prices; by those who do not return
what they borrowed; by running up a charge account and not paying it; not
returning found articles; selling articles with hidden defects for the usual
price; not paying one's bills; by depriving one's family of necessities by
gambling, drinking or foolish spending. |
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The Eighth
Commandment |
“Thou shalt not
bear false witness against thy neighbor.” |
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The Eighth Commandment condemns lying. Because God is regarded
as the author of all truth, the Church believes that humans are obligated to
honor the truth. The most obvious way to fulfill this commandment is not to
lie — intentionally deceive another by speaking a falsehood. So a good
Catholic is who you want to buy a used car from. This commandment forbids:
lies, calumny, detraction, perjury, unjust and unnecessary criticism,
fault-finding, gossip, backbiting, insults, rash judgment, the telling of
secrets one is bound to keep, cheating, tale-bearing. |
Afterward |