Friday, July 18, 2014

What's Different in the Ten Commandments of the Catholic Church?

Did you know that the Roman Catholic Church has a different set of the Ten Commandments than the Holy Bible has?  It is true.  The normal person will never find this out unless they open their Bible and place it beside the Catholic book, "A Catechism for Adults".  As you read through the following list of the Ten Commandments of the Roman Catholic Church, see if you can find where the difference is:

1.  I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt not have strange gods before Me.  (Exodus 20:2,3)

2.  Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain. (Exodus 20:7)

3.  Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath Day.  (Exodus 20:8)

4.  Honor thy father and thy mother.  (Exodus 20:12)

5.  Thou shalt not kill.  (Exodus 20:13)

6.  Thou shalt not commit adultery.  (Exodus 20:14)

7.  Thou shalt not steal.  (Exodus 20:15)

8.  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.  (Exodus 20:16)

9.  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.  (Exodus 20:17)

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.  (Exodus 20:17)

If you look closely at the first two commandments above, you will see a rather large gap between Exodus 20:2 & 3 and Exodus 20:7.  When you look in the Holy Bible, you will see that the Roman Catholic Church has "conveniently" left out, Exodus 20:4 & 5 which says, "You shall not make for yourself a carved image - 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; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.  For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God..."

Why would the Catholic Church make these changes?  The Catholic Church has through the centuries practiced idolatry by making "carved images" of Mary and Jesus Christ, and instructing their followers to "bow down" to them.  Unfortunately, unless the person who is a practicing Catholic really studies their Bible - they will never find this "false teaching" being taught by their church.

So, when I found this out, I still had a problem because even though they removed the 2nd Commandment, they were still able to have ten Commandments.  How was this possible?  Again, you must look at Exodus in your Bible and then look at their list of the Ten Commandments in order to find this error.  Look closely at the 9th Commandment and the 10th Commandment above.  You will find that the Roman Catholic Church has taken the 10th Commandment and divided it into two parts - thus creating their own "Ten Commandments".

For those of you who don't know what the correct list of the Ten Commandments is, here they are taken directly from the Holy Bible:

1.  I am the Lord your God.  You shall have no other gods before Me.  (Exodus 20:2,3)

2.  You shall not make for yourself a carved image - 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;  you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.  For I, the Lord your God, is a jealous God.  (Exodus 20:4,5)

3.  You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.  (Exodus 20:7)

4.  Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God, in it you shall do no work. (Exodus 20:8-11)

5.  Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.  (Exodus 20:12)

6.  You shall not murder.  (Exodus 20:13)

7.  You shall not commit adultery.  (Exodus 20:14)

8.  You shall not steal.  (Exodus 20:15)

9.  You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.  (Exodus 20:16)

10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.
(Exodus 20:17)

One other thing to note is the 4th Commandment regarding the 7th day Sabbath Day.  If you take some time to look back in history, you will find that again it was the Romans who moved the Lord's holy Sabbath Day from Saturday to Sunday. 

The Roman Catholics will even take credit for this change today!  In their book, "A Catechism for Adults" on page 115 under "Note #1" it states, "The Church (meaning the Roman Catholic Church) changed the Lord's Day from Saturday to Sunday because our Lord rose from the dead on Sunday and the Holy Spirit came down upon the Apostles on Pentecost Sunday."  Unfortunately, they fail to see that Jesus Christ RESTED in the grave on HIS Sabbath Day!  And, as soon as the Sabbath was over, HE AROSE!!  As His followers, we are to also rest on HIS HOLY DAY - Saturday, the seventh day of the week.  Jesus called Himself, "the Lord of the Sabbath".  It belongs to Him (not the Roman Catholic Church or any other denomination), and therefore, we have no authority to move it to another day.

In closing, ALWAYS be diligent to study the accuracy of what your spiritual leaders are teaching you.  As I have just shown above, it is easy for a person to be deceived and to believe false teachings unless that person stays in God's Word, the Bible, on a daily basis. 

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