Free Republic

Part Three:  The Will of God Eighth Commandment Table of Contents     In both versions of the Decalogue, the wording of the Eighth Commandment is the same: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Exodus 20:16; Deuteronomy 5:20). Throughout the Old Testament, the full meaning of this commandment includes both the prohibition against telling a lie and the precept of telling the truth. Thus, “Lips that tell the truth abide firm forever; the tongue that lies lasts only for a moment. Lips that lie are abhorrent to Yahweh; dear to Him those who speak the truth” (Proverbs 12:19, 19:22).The...

Part Three:  The Will of God Seventh and Tenth Commandments Table of Contents     The biblical precept of the Seventh Commandment, like the Sixth, is a short imperative, “You shall not steal.” It is the same in both versions of the Decalogue. The Tenth Commandment, as already seen, is that part of the Ten Commandments which forbids coveting what belongs to someone else, whether his house, servant, ox, donkey, or anything else. Deuteronomy distinguishes between coveting “your neighbor’s wife,” and “setting your heart” on other possessions, including the neighbor’s field (Exodus 20:15; Deuteronomy 5:19). Like the Sixth and Ninth Commandments, the...

Part Three:  The Will of God Sixth and Ninth Commandments Table of Contents     In the Catholic version of the Decalogue, the Sixth and Ninth Commandments are coupled together. They both prescribe the practice of chastity. The biblical text for the Sixth Commandment is simply “You shall not commit adultery” in both Exodus 20:14 and Deuteronomy 5:18. But the Ninth Commandment is part of a longer prohibition of covetousness. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his servant, man or woman, or his ox or his donkey, or anything that is his (Exodus...

Part Three:  The Will of God Fifth Commandment Table of Contents     The wording of the Fifth Commandment is identical in the two biblical texts of the Decalogue, “You shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 20:5-17). Already in the Old Testament the prohibition was understood to mean “You shall not murder.” Always understood was that it was forbidden to kill an innocent person.The first recorded crime in the moral degradation after the Fall was the murder of Abel by his envious brother Cain (Genesis 4:1-16). Cain’s punishment by God reveals the gravity of the sin of murder. Several times, the prophets...

Part Three:  The Will of God Fourth Commandment Table of Contents     The first three commandments pertain to our relationship with God. They oblige us to recognize God as our Lord and Master, to honor His Name in language and song, and to pay Him public homage as a people whom He has called to be His own. With the Fourth Commandment, we enter on a new relationship with God. If the first three commandments summarize what may be called “religion,” the last seven synthesize “morality.” From the fourth through the tenth precepts, our duties toward others are identified as the...

Part Three:  The Will of God Third Commandment Table of Contents     The longest biblical text in the Decalogue is for the Third Commandment. While both Exodus and Deuteronomy prescribe the Sabbath, the motive and the manner of its observance are different. Both passages, though lengthy, should be quoted in full.In Exodus, the Sabbath is a weekly commemoration of God’s creation. Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. For six days you shall labor and do your work, but the seventh is a sabbath for Yahweh, your God. You shall do no work that day, neither you nor your son...

Part Three:  The Will of God Second Commandment Table of Contents     In both Exodus and Deuteronomy, the wording of the Second Commandment is the same. You shall not utter the name of Yahweh, your God, to misuse it, for Yahweh will not leave unpunished the man who utters His name to misuse it (Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11). The Second Commandment is really an expression of the preceding. It prescribes the respectful use of God’s name and forbids using the Divine Name irreverently. Implied in this precept is the duty to profess by verbal communication our belief in the one true...

Part Three:  The Will of God First Commandment Table of Contents     The wording of the First Commandment is exactly the same in Exodus and in Deuteronomy. I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no gods except me (Exodus 20:1-3; Deuteronomy 5:6-7). There follow after this statement of the First Commandment, several verses of prohibition against carved images. The Latin Rite of the Catholic Church considers these verses an explanation of the first precept. You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness...

Part Three:  The Will of God The Ten Commandments Table of Contents     The Ten Commandments are also called the Decalogue, from the Greek deka, ten, and logos, word. They are therefore the Ten Words of God which synthesize God’s covenant with His chosen people. They were divinely revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai and engraved on two tablets of stone. Moses broke the stone tablets in anger when he came down from the mountain and saw the people practicing idolatry. However, the tablets were later replaced and placed in the Ark of the Covenant.There are two versions of the Ten...

Part Three:  The Will of God Christian Morality Table of Contents     In order to reach heaven, we must have the grace of God. Beyond what we have when we enter this world, we need divine grace in order to reach everlasting life in the world to come. The main source of this grace is the sacraments, beginning with Baptism. And the most important of the sacraments to keep us spiritually alive and well is the Holy Eucharist.But the sacraments alone are not enough. We must cooperate with the graces we receive. God keeps giving us constant illuminations of the mind...

Perhaps critical events of the third century may offer a few answers. Secular historical data, backed by biblical writings suggests that up to this point every religious institution honored the Seventh Day Sabbath – except Roman and Hellenistic Pagans. During the mid to latter part of the third century the Christian movement was spreading rapidly across the Roman Empire and Christians began to out number Pagans forcing certain pagan rituals, temples, and synagogues to become obsolete putting them in jeopardy of being destroyed. It was at this critical juncture that The Roman Emperor Constantine The Great, converted from Paganism to...

What does "fear the Lord" mean? Richard Rives explains that it is the acknowledgment that God's laws are still in effect and are to be followed.

The Essentials of the Catholic Faith   Introduction As we begin our inquiry into the Catholic religion, it is important to explain briefly what we are about. Our purpose is very simple. We want to learn what the Catholic Church teaches her members should believe, where to obtain the help they need from God to live as faithful Christians, how He wants them to serve Him, and how they are to pray. These four dimensions of the Catholic religion are as old as Christianity. They may be expressed in four words: faith, sacraments, commandments, and prayer. They are, in...

Seeking Lord, Our God, with Our Heart and Being by Ari Bussel “And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore unto thy fathers.” Deuteronomy 6:18 To Journey We Go How often do you read the Bible? Many of my Christian friends carry a well-annotated Bible with them at all times. Reference a verse, and they immediately flip through the pages to the correct citation. For the Jews, the Bible is...

The principle is really quite simple. G-d lays it out clearly in this week's Torah portion, Bechukotai (Leviticus 26: 3-12). First, we have the condition: If you walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them;Second, the economic reward: Then I will give your rains in their season, and the land shall yield her produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time; and you shall eat your bread until you have enough,Third, the security reward: And you will...

Did the Ten Commandments Exist Before Moses? Many people assume that the Ten Commandments and the covenant God established with ancient Israel are identical—and that both were abolished by Jesus Christ's death. They believe that the Sinai Covenant and God's commandments came into existence together and went out of existence together. But is such reasoning biblical? The facts show it is not. A close look at the Scriptures reveals that breaking the Ten Commandments was a sin before the covenant at Mt. Sinai, so arguments that they came into existence with that covenant and were terminated with it cannot be...

As we come to the Ninth Commandment, we again arrive in disputed territory. As you will recall, the Ten Commandments can be and have been split up differently so as to yield ten and not eleven commandments. Some Protestants break apart the First Commandment (yielding what I call the 1.5 Commandment against graven images). The Catholic tradition, in contrast, leaves the First Commandment whole and breaks apart the following text:   You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that...

  "You shall not steal," says Exodus 20:15. Once again, the Decalogue faces us with an injunction that seems like common sense (and is), but which is also fraught with all sorts of difficulties and distinctions.   Consider, for instance, the fact that a Catholic writer like me has the obligation to never write an original thought in my life. Indeed, one of the few earthly perks of being a Catholic writer is that you get to plagiarize all the time and call it "being faithful to the Tradition." The Catholic Faith consists of a huge body of ideas that...

  "Exodus" is the Greek name for the second book of the Bible. In Hebrew, it is called the Book of Names. That's because, like Catholic encyclicals, the Hebrew books of the Bible are titled by the opening words of the book: "These are the names . . . ."   It is fitting that this title be given to Exodus, since Exodus is a book in which names play a huge role, both in the way they are emphasized and the way they are strategically de-emphasized. Exodus pauses to tell us the names of the two earliest pro-life...

 Catholic Morality: Life in Christ Catholic morality is about life: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10) Faith & baptism give us new life in Christ. That life involves far more than simply following a set of rules. This article provides an overview of basic principles of Catholic morality. It is essential to know these principles: they are the how-to manual for living fully your new life, for obtaining that abundant life Christ has promised you. The Catholic Catechism starts its section on Catholic morality with St. Leo the Great's beautiful words: Christian, recognize...