Importance Of Instruction On The Commandments.

[MoreCoffee]

Importance Of Instruction On The Commandments

St. Augustine in his writings remarks that the Decalogue is the summary and epitome of all laws: Although the Lord had spoken many things, He gave to Moses only two stone tablets, called "tables of testimony," to be placed in the Ark. For if carefully examined and well understood, whatever else is commanded by God will be found to depend on the Ten Commandments which were engraved on those two tables, just as these Ten Commandments, in turn, are reducible to two, the love of God and of our neighbour, on which "depend the whole law and the prophets."

Since, then, the Decalogue is a summary of the whole Law, the pastor should give his days and nights to its consideration, that he may be able not only to regulate his own life by its precepts, but also to instruct in the law of God the people committed to his care. The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth, because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts. To the priests of the New Law this injunction applies in a special manner; they are nearer to God, and should be transformed from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. Since Christ our Lord has called them light, it is their special duty to be a light to them that are in darkness, the instructors of the foolish, the teachers of infants; and if a man be overtaken in any fault, they who are spiritual should instruct such a one.

In the tribunal of penance the priest holds the place of a judge, and pronounces sentence according to the nature and gravity of the offence. Unless, therefore, he is desirous that his ignorance should prove an injury to himself and to others, he must bring with him to the discharge of this duty the greatest vigilance and the most practiced acquaintance with the interpretation of the law, in order to be able to pronounce, according to this divine rule, on every act and omission; and, as the Apostle says, to teach sound doctrine, free from error, and heal the diseases of the soul, which are sins, in order that the people may be acceptable to God, pursuers of good works.

Catechism of the Council of Trent.

In this thread I intend to discuss the Ten Commandments in Christian faith and life.

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

God be gracious to me a sinner.

 

[Tangible]

Mel Brooks as Moses - YouTube

 

[Stryder06]

Don't you mean you plan on discussing the 9?

 

[Frogster]

2 cor 3 ministry of death and condemnation on stones.

 

[Tangible]

Don't you mean you plan on discussing the 9?

The Nine left Minas Morgul and crossed the river Isen on Midsummer Night's eve.

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

The Nine left Minas Morgul and crossed the river Isen on Midsummer Night's eve.

God be gracious to me a sinner.

 

[Tangible]

OK, are we gonna do this or not?

Numero uno ... from LSC

The First Commandment.​

Thou shalt have no other gods.​

What does this mean?--Answer.
We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.

 

[Yab Yum]

One of the meanings of the first commandment—"Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Exodus xx, 3) —is that one should not substitute an intellectual abstraction of God for the spiritual reality of God. One therefore sins against the first commandment when one substitutes for the fiery, luminous and vibrant Being of life the abstractions of a "principle" or "idea"—be it the "First Cause", or the "Absolute"—which are, truth to tell, only mentally "graven images" or mental idols created by the human intellect.
Anonymous

 

[Gregory Thompson]

OK, are we gonna do this or not?

Numero uno ... from LSC

The First Commandment.​

Thou shalt have no other gods.​

What does this mean?--Answer.
We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.

This also applies when interpreting the bible idolizing the bible is a no-no

but how does one do that?

It is taught in the bible that God is love insomuch that when this characteristic matures in us .. we have confidence on the day of judgment .. . . . . . . . ... sink in yet? ..

the bible when read as a book of law . ignores God . inspires fear .. and gives no such confidence. even causes one to fall from grace. i.e. being under the law .. i.e. the bible ..

good example is .. the Holy Spirit cannot say anything not in the bible ..

in this case we are putting the bible before God .. when it is written of the use of scripture .. that it is to come back as remembrance as God leads us .

 

[MoreCoffee]

Don't you mean you plan on discussing the 9?

Ten

Let me continue from what the OP halted.

Motives for Observing the Commandments

In these instructions the pastor should propose to himself and to others motives for keeping the Commandments

God Is The Giver Of The Commandments

Now among all the motives which induce men to obey this law the strongest is that God is its author. True, it is said to have been delivered by angels, but no one can doubt that its author is God. This is most clear not only from the words of the Legislator Himself, which we shall shortly explain, but also from innumerable other passages of Scripture that will readily occur to pastors.

Who is not conscious that a law is inscribed on his heart by God, teaching him to distinguish good from evil, vice from virtue, justice from injustice? The force and import of this unwritten law do not conflict with that which is written. Who is there, then, who will dare to deny that God is the author of the written, as He is of the unwritten law ?

But, lest the people, aware of the abrogation of the Mosaic Law, may imagine that the precepts of the Decalogue are no longer obligatory, it should be taught that when God gave the Law to Moses, He did not so much establish a new code, as render more luminous that divine light b which the depraved morals and long continued perversity of man had at that time almost obscured. It is most certain that we are not bound to obey the Commandments because they were delivered by Moses, but because they are implanted in the hearts of all, and have been explained and confirmed by Christ our Lord.

The reflection that God is the author of the law is highly useful, and exercises great influence in persuading (to its observance); for we cannot doubt His wisdom and justice, nor can we escape His infinite power and might. Hence, when by His Prophets He commands the law to be observed, He proclaims that He is the Lord God; and the Decalogue itself opens: I am the Lord thy God; and elsewhere (we read): If I am a master, where is my fear?

That God has deigned to make clear to us His holy will on which depends our eternal salvation (is a consideration) which, besides animating the faithful to the observance of His Commandments, must call forth their gratitude Hence Scripture, in more passages than one, recalling this great blessing, admonishes the people to recognise their own dignity and the bounty of the Lord Thus in Deuteronomy it is said: This is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of nations, that hearing all these precepts they may say: Behold a wise and understanding people, a great nation; again, in the Psalm (we read): He hath not done in like manner to every nation, and his judgments he hath not made manifest to them.

Catechism of the Council of Trent.

 

[Tangible]

What Does God Say of All These Commandments?​

Answer.​

He says thus (Exod. 20:5f): 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, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.​

What does this mean?--Answer.
God threatens to punish all that transgress these commandments. Therefore we should dread His wrath and not act contrary to these commandments. But He promises grace and every blessing to all that keep these commandments. Therefore we should also love and trust in Him, and gladly do according to His commandments.


LSC

 

[MoreCoffee]

Many object to the notion that Christians ought to do good works and that the good to which Christians are called has anything to do with the ten commandments. I do not make such an objection. It is important, however, not to confuse the good works of Christians with an attempt to do good in order to gain or in order to maintain God's favour. God's grace is given as a gift without a prerequisite of good works, nevertheless doing good is pleasing to God and he does promise to reward those who persist in well doing.

The Commandments Were Proclaimed With Great Solemnity

If the pastor explain the circumstances which accompanied the promulgation of the Law, as recorded in Scripture, the faithful will easily understand with what piety and humility they should receive and reverence the Law received from God.

All were commanded by God that for three days before the promulgation of the Law they should wash their garments and abstain from conjugal intercourse, in order that they might be more holy and better prepared to receive the Law, and that on the third day they should be in readiness When they had reached the mountain from which the Lord was to deliver the Law by Moses, Moses alone was commanded to ascend the mountain.

Thither came God with great majesty, filling the place with thunder and lightning, with fire and dense clouds, and began to speak to Moses, and delivered to him the Commandments In this the divine wisdom had solely for object to admonish us that the law of the Lord should be received with pure and humble minds, and that over the neglect of His commands impend the heaviest chastisements of the divine justice.

Catechism of the Council of Trent.

 

[Yarddog]

In this thread I intend to discuss the Ten Commandments in Christian faith and life.

Anyone who needs the 10 Commandments is not a very good Christian.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Naughty Yarddog!!!

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Anyone who needs the 10 Commandments is not a very good Christians.

Naughty Yarddog!!!

 

[Tangible]

The Second Commandment.​

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain.​

What does this mean?--Answer.
We should fear and love God that we may not curse, swear, use witchcraft, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.


LSC

 

[MoreCoffee]

from the Catechism of the Council of Trent.
The Observance Of The Commandments Is Not Difficult

The pastor should also teach that the Commandments of God are not difficult, as these words of St Augustine are alone sufficient to show: How, I ask, is it said to be impossible for man to love, to love, I say, a beneficent Creator, a most loving Father, and also, in the persons of his , brethren to love his own flesh? Yet, "he who loveth has fulfilled the law." Hence the Apostle St. John expressly says that the commandments of God are not heavy; for as St. Bernard observes, nothing more just could be exacted from man, nothing that could confer on him a more exalted dignity, nothing more advantageous. Hence St. Augustine, filled with admiration of God's infinite goodness, thus addresses God : What is man that Thou wouldst be loved by him ? And if he loves Thee not, Thou threatenest t him with heavy punishment. Is it not punishment enough that I love Thee not ?


But should anyone plead human infirmity to excuse himself for not loving God, it should be explained that He who demands our love pours into our hearts by the Holy Ghost the fervour of His love; and this good Spirit our heavenly Father gives to those that ask him with reason, therefore, did St. Augustine pray: Give what thou commandest and command what thou pleasest. As, then, God is ever ready to help us, especially since the death of Christ the Lord, by which the prince of this world was cast out, there is no reason why anyone should be disheartened by the difficulty of the undertaking. To him who loves, nothing is difficult.