Just a note that the Catholic Church also holds the Ten Commandments in high regard, so much so that an entire section--several chapters--of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is devoted to them.
So it's not just Reformed churches they're important. :)
2072: Since they express man's fundamental duties towards God and towards his neighbor, the Ten Commandments reveal, in their primordial content, grave obligations. They are fundamentally immutable, and they oblige always and everywhere. No one can dispense from them. the Ten Commandments are engraved by God in the human heart.
This response is from a Catholic person on a post in ljchristians concerning the Ten Commandments. When I decided to look up the Catholic Ten Commandments, I noticed a difference in the way Catholic tradition lists them and the way they are listed in scripture. Big surprise there....
The Catholic tradition uses the division of the Commandments established by St. Augustine. (The Lutheran confessions also use this numbering, while some other confessions & traditions use slightly different numberings.)
Here are the Catholic Ten Commandments:
1. I am the LORD your God. You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.
Curious....if these are indeed the ten commandments (according to catholic tradition) why is the second commandment not listed? (Exodus 20:4) And I may be mistaken but it seems as though the tenth commandment has been divided into two commandments to make up for the loss of one. (Exodus 20:17) So I asked for clarification from a Catholic point of view. Needless to say, I was directed to a Catholic site that gave a very complicated and hard to follow answer. But as much as I could follow, the site never answered my question. Why is the second commandment not listed? The site, and the Catholic responder's explanation revolves around the second commandment being part of the first, and thus is not numbered. But that only means that the Catholics don't list the entire first commandment as it pertains to graven images. I didn't ask about the numbering, I asked why it isn't even listed as a commandment. And the last part of my response where I asked about what seemed to be the dividing of the tenth commandment into two to make up for the loss of one.....not even addressed. Further more, as if to lessen the heat from the spot light shined on this issue, the Catholic responder tried to divert attention to what they see as discrepancies in the Protestant listing. Not only do I not care, but it had nothing to do with my question. You don't try to justify your own discrepancies by pointing to others. It is my personal belief that Catholic tradition so lists the ten commandments because it is easier to justify idolatry and graven images. But rather than start a massive flame war with me and the scriptures one side, and tons of Catholic responders that would without a doubt, ban together against me.....I just decided to leave things as they were. This is another reason why I am not, nor could I ever be Catholic.
Current Mood: not surprised