Chapter 8: The Decalogue

1. Chapter 8: The Decalogue Taking Care of Our Relationship with God

2. I. The Ten Commandments • Moses was called to liberate those enslaved in Egypt • Once freed, they set out in search of ancestral lands • They had no rules or guidelines only stories of a covenant God had with their ancestors • Leaders realized that they must adhere to the covenant once made with God

3. The Ten Commandments • Without a covenant, they could neither thrive or survive • Only divine intervention could • Fashion them as a people • Guide them on the right path • Clarify proper relations among them, • Preserve their covenant faithfulness to God

4. The Ten Commandments • Moses asked God to provide laws • His prayers were answered and he received two stone tablets on which were written God’s laws • The Decalogue (ten words) or the Ten Commandments

5. The Ten Commandments • The Israelites had only known slavery • With their new freedom came responsibility • The “Law of Moses” is summed up in the Ten Commandments • Jesus tells us that love is the way to live the commandments – (which is the greatest?) • ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, and with all your mind.’ • ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’

6. The Ten Commandments and the Kingdom of God • The kingdom of God is not a place but a relationship with God • Jesus likens the kingdom to a ‘pearl of great value’ – you would sell all you have to obtain • The Ten Commandments are an expression of natural law, God’s voice within us • Jesus, church, sacraments, & commandments – Jesus comes alive in us by the grace of the Holy Spirit (“I am the vine, you are the branches….”)

7. II. The First Commandment • 1. I am the Lord your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me • The first commandment is a call “to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him above all else” (Catechism #2134) • God is all-powerful, loving and liberating, as well as kind, merciful, trustworthy, faithful and unchanging.

8. II. The First Commandment • ALL- POWERFUL • Created the universe • Sent his only Son into the world to vanquish evil • We are not in charge; he is. “Nothing will beimpossible with God” (Luke 1:37)

9. II. The First Commandment • LOVING • God as a “Loving” and “all-powerful” seems contradictory • God endlessly demonstrates his love for us and awaits a response • God created the world and the human race • God sent his son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins

10. II. The First Commandment

11. II. The First Commandment • LIBERATING • God creates us to be free from all forms of slavery • Jesus frees all people from slavery and sin • We need to be attentive to forms of enslavement that keep us in chains as well as the false gods that lure us and try to control our lives

12. A. How Can We Stray from the First Commandment • There are two major ways to stray • We can minimize God’s importance • Indifferent too him • Deny his power • Ignore his invitations to love him and others • We can give ourselves over to distortions of God • False practices and false gods • superstitions

13. A. How Can We Stray from the First Commandment • We sin against this commandment by violating God’s love • Indifference – we ignore God • Ingratitude – we refuse to thank God • Hatred of God – we curse him for our problems or for the state of the world

14. A. How Can We Stray from the First Commandment • Acedia – not caring, apathy, boredom

15. B. The Distortion of Religious Practice • We step over the line into superstition and magic when we attribute divine power to external actions and not to God • Lighting a candle is a ritual accompanying prayer/ it does not bring about a cure

16. C. Atheism and False GodsWe offend against the 1st Commandment when: • We tempt God • When we ask him to prove his power and/or his love as a condition for believing • We commit sacrilege • When we profane or treat with disrespect sacred things • We commit simony • When we buy or sell spiritual things/ like God’s forgiveness

17. C. Atheism and False GodsWe offend against the 1st Commandment when: • We reject or deny God’s existence • Practical materialism; that the material world is all that exists • Atheistic humanism; that man is an “an end to himself…with supreme control, of his own history.” • Social atheism; that religion deceives people and gives them false hope and discourages them from working for a better life

18. The Second Commandment • “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” • This commandment requires that we have respect for God’s name • Our speech reflects whether or not we have a sense of the sacred • Blasphemy – using the name of God, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary or the saints in an offensive way

19. The Second Commandment • Speaking the Truth • Perjury = we make a promise under oath and either do not intend to keep it or fail to do so • When we testify or speak / God is our witness

20. The Third Commandment • “Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day” • Be attentive to our worship and our leisure • Participate in Mass

21. The Third Commandment • Holy Leisure • St. Augustine spoke of “holy leisure” • Taking time out to enjoy life • We keep the Lord’s Day holy by having time for cultural, social, spiritual, & family lives