More Active Posts
Front Page
A Bible 101 quiz
 |
 49 Comments |
A recent study that was commissioned ahead of the Oct. 19 release of the animated movie “The Ten Commandments” found that people are more familiar with the ingredients in a Big Mac than they are with the commandments.
OK, so in our society that’s no big surprise. But I’m curious among our Bible-believing readers, if you were randomly surveyed and asked to name the 10 Commandments, would you receive an A+? (Be honest now.)
 |
Topic: Featured, WorldMagBlog |  |
Email a friend |
 |
Keywords: Bible, Ten-Commandments |  |
RSS 2.0 |
 |
Both comments and pings are currently closed. |  |
Share this: |
One more diversion
How many can I miss and still get an A+?
I know all the Ten Commandments and I know all the Beatitudes. But not in order. I didn’t go to Sunday School much as a kid, and never went to Vacation Bible School. That’s where you learn to recite those things. But I don’t know which commandment “Thou shalt not kill” is. I think, “Thou shalt not covet” is the last one. I know the three, dealing with our relationship to God.
Hmmm
Paraphrased and in no particular order:
1) Do not lie
Do not take the name of the Lord in vain
2) Do not steal
3) Do not commit adultry
4) Honor the sabath, keep it holy
5) Honor your mother and father
6) Do not covet your neighbors wife
7) Make no graven image
9) Do not covet your neighbors stuff??
grr…
I’m out of ideas
OK, I didn’t stop to read Kara’s, so this should still count:
1.) No other gods before YHWH.
2.) No graven images.
3.) No vain uses of God’s name.
4.) Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.
5.) Honor your father and mother.
6.) You shall not murder.
7.) You shall not commit adultery.
8.) You shall not steal.
9.) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10.)You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, wife, servants, possessions, etc.
Yeah! (I’m also a catechism teacher, which helps).
Now, for the obedience part …
Kara, something about lying, eh?
I have no trouble naming all ten, but I have a little more trouble remembering the order. I got 1 through 6 correct and number 10, but I got mixed up on the order of the other three.
I don’t have a problem naming them, but I put them in my own order. The ones I have difficulty keeping, or contemplate breaking are first.
Four of my seven children are teenagers so “Thou shalt not murder” is currently #1.
My Sunday school teacher, a convert from Judaism, taught us a little trick using the position of your fingers as a memory aid. It is hard to describe here, but it works. Now it is easy. I already knew them, but now I can name them in order.
Which version of the ten commandements? Exodus or Deuteronomy?
Yes. I can rattle off all ten commandments on command.
Which version of commandments - Protestant or Catholic? Do they need to be in order or just list all of them?
Tough to know how it’s going to be graded without accurate criterion.
To answer the question though, I would have scored rather badly if asked to name them in order… And maybe I wouldn’t be able to do it now… I probably would have been able to name most of them.
However, recently I have been studying them as part of a class I’m attending, and I’m sure I’d be able to list all of them, and maybe in order. It’s been a very profitable study. I’m surprised and gratified, but also dismayed because I’ve attended church all my life, and some of this information was a revelation…
So my experience would confirm that most of us would get failing grades…
I heartily recommend this study:
http://doulomen.tripod.com/sermons/sermons_10command.htm
When I taught school, The Crucible was part of the eleventh-grade curriculum. I always introduced the play by having the class name the commandments (forgetting/breaking one is integral to the plot). It took the whole class, usually, and this was in Greenville, SC, which hardly lacks churches or nominal attendees.
I can list them all, though not always perfect on the order. I tend to get 3 and 4 backwards, as well as 8 and 9.
The following is perhaps interesting here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments
Note the difference between Deuteronomy and Exodus as well as the differences between the various traditions.
Musing,
I believe our use of the words “Which version…?” to be somewhat misleading. There is no substantial difference between the two passages which would change the meaning.
Even the “difference” between the Protestant and Catholic decalogue isn’t substantially different…
Even I get 8 of 10 consistently and recall the other 2 when I concentrate. You know Burger King and Mickey D’s have songs and such … Maybe y’all need a 10 commandments song.
Two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun!
I get them all (but I sometimes stumble by somewhat mentally conflating #2 and #3 to some).
I end up with them by remembering them a 4 God, 1 Family, 5 Personal - that way I disentangle #2 and #3 in my mind.
Yes, even my entire family can quote the 10 commandments… I used to teach churches how to learn the 10 commandments in 10 minutes. It is really easy and the technique has been translated in several languages. Probably the only thing I have done worthy of teaching others
CB, there probably is one, somewhere. One class at our church had a ditty for all 66 books of the Bible.
And of course… (everybody join in!)
Zaccheus was a wee little man
And a wee little man was he!
He climbed up in
A sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see! (For the Lord he wanted to see!)
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John….songs for knowing the books of the Bible. Many Scriptures are set to music. It does work!
I know the 10 but like alot of others, don’t always get them in proper order!
Listing them is easy, it’s keeping all of them that’s hard.
10 Cs (not having looked; protestant version)
1) Thou shalt have no other Gods before me
Thou shalt not steal
2) Thou shalt have no graven images
3) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain
4) Thou shalt honor the sabbath and keep it holy
5) Thou shalt honor they father and mother
6) Thou shalt not murder
7) Thou shalt not commit adultery
9) Thou shalt not bear false testimony
10) Thou shalt not covet
I also know the beatitudes, books of the Bible in order, etc. - however that doesn’t automatically make me a better Christian than anyone.
DR,
That’ll teach you to use periods after numbers rather than parentheses!
To the tune of Meet the Flintstones:
Learn the 10 Commandments
They’re there to teach you how to _____
_____ _______ __________ _______ (sorry, this was years ago)
God’s first, no graven idols, do not swear,
Keep the Sabbath, show your folks you care.
Don’t kill, cheat, steal or lie
And don’t envy what belongs to
Your friends or neighbors
Be faithful unto GOD.
Is this going to be on the mid-term?
Will it be an open-book exam?
Will you grade on a curve?
Ok, I’m not a Christian, but I’m going to take a stab at it. I have not read any of the above responses nor have I cheated and looked at the 10-C’s.
1. Don’t lie
2. Don’t swear
3. No other God
4. Keep the Sabbath
5. Don’t covet
6. No adultery
7. Don’t steal
8. Honor your parents
9. Don’t murder
That’s all I can think of. How did I do?
From reading the above, it looks like I missed the “no graven image”. I have no idea if they’re in the correct order or not.
Something that comes up is the misunderstanding of at least two of these commandments.
1. “Thou shalt not kill” does not refer to self-defense, capital punishment, or warfare. It forbids murder.
2. “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” does not specifically refer to lying in general but to giving false testimony or to what we call slander. (Other parts of the Bible enjoin honesty in general.)
Thanks Kyle, those are both very good points.
Some other illuminating points are these;
Jesus was once asked a tough question by a bunch of Lawyers “What is the greatest commandment?”
Having been privy to the purpose of them (for some reason) and knowing the hearts of men, he answered that the greatest was Loving God with all your heart soul and mind. The second was similar - Love your neighbor as yourself. In this simple incisive observation, he at once nailed the Lawyers question, skewered the Lawyers where they lived, and summed up the purpose of the whole Law and commandments.
The first half of the commandments refers to love for God, and the second half refers to love for fellow man (which flows from the first - break the second half, automatically break the first commandment).
The last commandment about coveting pretty much covers it. Externals actions are not enough, even our thoughts and motivation will be judged.
A rhyme I taught my Awana Sparks so they could remember the them (also has motions so they can recall the correct # associated with the commandment.
I am the only God
Put nothing above Me
Do not misuse My Name
And keep My day holy
Obey your mom and dad
And do not take a life
Remember to be faithful to your husband or your wife
It is wrong to steal
It is wrong to lie
It’s wrong to look at other’s things and think “They should be mine”
Deb # 25 - I know that song! It was on a kid’s video our niece watched - I can’t remember the name of the video - something about The Top Ten, right?
I can name them all, I just forget the exact order.
It’s no contest really. The Big Mac has an annoyingly catchy song to go with it. Two all beef patties … Sorry to everyone who now has that song stuck in their heads.
Xion,
I thought it was no contest also. I had absolutely no idea what went into a Big Mac besides the burger itself, bun, and probably some ketchup, mustard, and pickle like most fast food burgers get.
Can you tell I don’t watch TV? The only commercials I know are the ones from the 60’s when I was a kid, and whatever commercial McDonald’s ran back then it didn’t have a jingle that I remember.
On second thought, I vaguely remember bits of a song from a commercial, I think for McDonald’s that used the tune from “Down by the Riverside.” “McDonald’s is your kind of place, it’s such a happy place, a hap-hap-happy place…” But I only remember it because the other girls in my Brownie troop liked to sing a parody of it, with phrases about “French fries up your nose” and other typical young-kid delight in grossness. I had never been to McDonald’s (such unhealthy food was not allowed in our family, aside from the outrageous prices), so I had no idea whether the parody or the original was more truthful.
I took the 10 C challenge and scored 100% but I must admit they made it easy by listing 30 commandments and asking you to choose the correct 10
To the tune of Do-Ra-Mi:
One, don’t worship other gods
Two, no graven images
Three, don’t take God’s name in vain
Four, the Sabbath is for rest
Five, respect your family
Six, don’t ever ever kill
Seven, be faithful to your spouse
And don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t wish for things that others have.
Another observation is that although the commandments are all stated in the negative, it’s apparent after a bit of thought, that a positive effect is intended.
For example:
If it’s wrong to steal, your property ownership is protected.
If it’s wrong to slander, your reputation and good name are protected.
If it’s wrong to murder, your life is protected.
The tricky bit is explaining to the non-believer how those flow from the first commandment.
I am glad that Jesus narrowed it to two. Coincidentally two tablets were handed to Moses. Loving God and others satisfies all of the commandments. If you love God, you won’t worship other gods. If you love others, you won’t steal from them, etc.
Some days I try a little experiment. I try to concentrate on these two commandments all day and keep them. Too bad I don’t do that every day. I need to concentrate harder.
“6.) You shall not murder.”
Unless of course the victims are Jews, and there’s a good pogrom going on. No good Christian would want to miss out on the fun of a pogrom.
pogrom: An organized, often officially encouraged massacre or persecution of a minority group, especially one conducted against Jews.
Of course these days Christians are slightly more civilized. Instead of throwing Jewish women and children into gas chambers like in the good old days, now Christians just chase Jewish families out of town.
“7) Make no graven image”
Whoever wrote the 10 Commandments was an idiot.
Yeah, make no graven image, whatever that is, but it’s perfectly OK for a Christian to yell at, harass, and threaten science teachers.
CoyoteBlue,
I know them all, and I know them because of a song!
Yes, I used the song to teach them when I was teaching in a Christian school, and also to teach them in the Christian scouting group of which I am chairperson.
http://tinyurl.com/23xhut
It’s really a very nice CD, and kids love it. Plus, it provides that all important song for memory.
Isn’t there a commandment listed someplace about not repeating the same nonsense over and over and over?????????? (42)
Oh, I thought I’d Hamachi in an error, but I went and looked it up and he was right. I had the pickles and the lettuce reversed.
I may not get the commandments in order, but I do know them.
I know all of the commandments because I had to learn the Westminster Shorter Catechism. That means I had to learn all of the commandments, in KJV-style English, including the “instructional parts” (e.g., “Six day shall thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God” etc.)
Most of the commandments appear to be unconstitutional. Perhaps posting the sentencing guidelines would be more salutary.
for Qwerty 41:
“Of course these days Christians are slightly more civilized. Instead of throwing Jewish women and children into gas chambers like in the good old days, now Christians just chase Jewish families out of town.”
Hitler was not a Christian, His religion was Evolution, as was that of the other MASS-murderers (Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Pol Pot etc. That is why Billy Graham could say that more Christians were martyred in the 20th Century than all other centuries combined.
While Hitler murdered 6 million Jews, why don’t they mention he murdered at least that many non-Jews also, many of whom were Christians? “The Hiding Place” tells of Christians rescuing Jews.
A side issue is: why didn’t we step in earlier - to save some of 60 million lives lost in WW2? Now Bush is criticized by the Party which waited too long then - for interceding too soon!
Yes, Christians - albiet mostly Catholic Christians - did murder some Jews - but I believe I wouldn’t have stayed in a church which I
Exodus 34:28 tells us that Moses wrote down the ten commandments. But the church has argued about how to number them ever since. In fact the version in Exodus 20 is a bit different than Deut 5. As I recall there are basically 3 different numberings. Some say “I am the Lord your God” is #1 Muslims say “you shall make no graven image” is it’s own commandment. And the third split is the coveting of possessions and affections. I suspect Dr. Luther split the table 3 & 7 for the Trinity and Creation.