Transcript THE TEN CMMANDMENTS - Christian Brothers High School

THE TEN
CMMANDMENTS
THE EIGHT
BEATITUDES
• Are these ancient codes of moral conduct
still relevant guides for life in the modern
world?
• How do the Ten Commandments guide us
in forming and fulfilling the dictates of
conscience?
John 14: 15
“If you love me keep my
commandments”
The Ten Commandments
• Who were they given to?
Moses / Israelites
• Where were they given to him?
Mount Sinai
• When were they Given?
At the time of exodus from Egypt
The First Commandment
I. I am the Lord your God,
you shall not have
strange gods before me.
Why Does God Give This
Command?
• What was the culture of this period?
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Polytheistic
Henotheistic
Monotheistic
The precept of the first commandment
demands the proper monotheism
• Without an awareness of God, we are
confined to an existence that lacks
meaning
• God’s intention is to save people from their
sin. We cannot remain passive before his
Holy Spirit, but must respond appropriately.
The response must be to believe in him, to
trust in his aid, and to love him. When this
threefold intention is maintained before
God, we are exercising the three
theological virtues:
Faith, Hope, Charity
Faith
• The theological virtue by which we believe
in God and believe all that he has said and
revealed to us
• Faith widens the capacity of human
knowledge. It enables the recipient to
accept all the truths revealed by God even
though they cannot be proven
• Believing is a free human act, consciously
done in accordance with human dignity
Mt 10: 32-33
• 32"Whoever acknowledges me before
men, I will also acknowledge him before
my Father in heaven. 33But whoever
disowns me before men, I will deny him
before my Father in heaven.”
What is Jesus telling us in this statement?
How Do We Deny the First
Commandment By Lack Of Faith?
• Voluntary doubt: refuse to hold what God
has revealed as true
• Involuntary doubt: hesitant in belief
connected with the faith and fails to
attempt to dispel them
• Atheism: refusal to accept God’s existence
• Apostasy: Total repudiation of the
Christian faith
Hope
• Hope is the theological virtue by which we
desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal
life as our happiness, placing our trust in
Christ’s promises and relying not on our
own strength, but on the help and grace of
the Holy Spirit
• It keeps us from discouragement; sustains
us during times of abandonment
• The first commandment infers that the
Christian should have trust in God and
foster hope in eternal life. That hope also
includes the hope of salvation for all.
• A sin against this commandment can
occur either by defect or excess
Charity
• Charity is the theological virtue by which
we love God above all things for his own
sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for
the love of God
• We ought to love God because he is our
Creator, our Father, and our Savior
• Our love for God should reflect God’s love
for us
How Do We Sin Against God’s
Love?
• Indifference
Refusing to reflect on the prior goodness and
power of divine charity
• Ingratitude
Refusal to acknowledge or return God’s love
• Lukewarm
Failure/hesitation to respond to divine love; also
refuse to obey the prompting of charity
• Acedia
To refuse the joy God gives. It is a form of
depression that leads to discouragement
• Hatred of God
Opposes the love of God; it denies his
goodness. It is a result of pride
Because our bodies, as well
as our souls, were created
for eternal glory, this
commandment asks that we
care for both
• It is a great insult when a
person turns from God to
creatures and pleasures of
limited value
Do I Have False Gods in My Life?
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Power, Money
Success
T.V., Radio
Food, Drugs, Alcohol
Sex, Sleep, Privacy
Popularity, Winning
Appearance, Music, etc.
The Second Commandment
You shall not take the
name of the Lord your
God in vein.
II.
What’s In A Name?
• “That which we call a rose by any other
name would smell as sweet.”
- Shakespeare –
• These words are only half true. A name
gathers many emotional overtones by
constant use. It ceases to be a group of
letters taken from the alphabet; a name
comes to represent the person of thing
which bears the name.
• Emotions are aroused in us by the use of
words
• A young man in love, only has to hear his
sweetheart’s name mentioned to make his
pulse rate rise
• A man who has suffered great injury at the
hands of a person named George will have
great distaste for the name “George”
• Men have killed – and been killed – in
defense of their good name
• Families have grieved because some
member of the family “brought disgrace on
the family name”
• In short, a name stands for the one who
bears the name — and our attitude towards
the name reflects our attitude toward the
person whose name it is
• Why does Moses ask God for his name?
• Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the
Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your
fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me,
'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell
them?“ Exodus 3:13
• A persons name was part of their
personality/character
• To know someone's name inferred a
relationship with that person
• This serves to recall to mind why it is a sin
to misuse God’s name – to use it carelessly
or irreverently.
• If we love God, we love his name
• Indeed, our love for God’s name extends to
those of his mother, and his friends and
saints, and to all things which belong to
God.
• God gave us the second commandment so
we may never forget this aspect of our love
for him
Blasphemy
• Blasphemy: Speaking contemptuously of
God or his perfections
• The Jews try to stone Jesus , not for" no
good works but for blasphemy” (Jn 10: 33)
• Blasphemy extends to make use of God’s
name to cover up criminal practices, to
reduce people to servitude, to torture
persons or put them to death
Do I Use Profanity?
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Do I make a habit of using profanity?
Do I swear oaths?
Do I swear in front of children or parents?
Do I swear in public places that may offend
strangers?
• Do I swear to gain acceptance?
• Do I simply not have command of the English
language?
• Stories on pp 200-01 L-i-C book
The Third Commandment
III. Remember to keep holy
the Lord’s Day (Sabbath).
• When is the Jewish Sabbath?
Friday sunset to Saturday sunset
• Why do they not worship on Sunday?
It is the first day of the week—God rested
on the seventh day
• Why do Christians use Sunday as their day
of worship?
Christ rose on Sunday
• By a tradition handed down from the
apostles, which took its origin from the very
day of Christ’s resurrection, the Church
celebrates the paschal mystery every
seventh day. On this day Christ’s faithful
are bound to come together into one place.
They listen to the word of God and take
part in the Eucharist, calling to mind the
passion, resurrection, and glory of the Lord
Jesus.
Why Go To Church?
• One cannot avoid this moral duty and go
on unaffected. When one stops
participating in Sunday service:
• He loses the gifts of the Holy Spirit
• His conscience soon becomes deadened
• This leads to a deterioration in attitudes
and conduct
• Do I go to mass (church) on Sundays and
holy days / to Temple on the Sabbath?
• Am I involved in my Church / Temple/
Mosque community?
• Do I take time out to devote strictly to God
with the community in which I live?
The first three
commandments deal with
our relationship to God.
Commandments number
4-10 deal with our
relationship to our fellow
man
The Fourth Commandment
• IV. Honor your Father and
Mother.
• God intended that life begin in a family.
The fourth commandment regulates the
moral link in family life
• This commandment includes the
relationship between husband and wife,
parents and children, and children and
their siblings.
• It also includes duties to grandparents, and
other relatives, as well as other
relationships
Love: The Foundation Of The
Family
• Love is demanding. Love is the firm
foundation of the family, a foundation able
to “endure” all things
• Good moral conduct between parents and
children (and vice versa) and among
brothers and sisters is absolutely required
• Christian morality is a morality of charity
(love). This love begins and grows in the
family life
• It is reflected in the most intimate bonds of
matrimony
• The love between a husband and wife
gives origin to children, and also joins
brothers and sisters together
• The family should live in such a way that
its members care and take responsibility
for the young, old, sick, handicapped, and
poor
Ephesians 6: 1-3
• “Children, obey your parents in the Lord
for it is right. ‘Honor your father and
mother’ (this is the first commandment
with a promise), that it may be well with
you and that you may live long on the
earth
The Families Influence On Society
• The success of all societies is based on
the success of the family.
• As each organ of the body is crucial to the
functioning of the whole body, so does the
health of particular families contribute to
the functioning of the body of society.
• By promoting the well being of the family,
we are promoting the well being of the
society.
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Do I give love and honor to my parents?
Am I disrespectful?
Do I obey, help out?
Do I shame them by my actions?
Am I a reflection of what they want me to
be?
The Fifth Commandment
V. You shall not kill.
• Life here is a preparation for life in the
hereafter
• As human beings we do not have absolute
dominion over our lives, but rather a duty
of guarding our lives and the lives of those
around us
• Every human life, from the moment of
conception until death, is sacred
God, The Master Of Our Life
• Christianity, in regarding the complete
fulfillment of human life, rejects
• AUTONOMY:
• (Dependence on one’s self)
• And HETERONOMY:
• (Dependence on someone else)
• And accepts THEONOMY:
• (Dependence on God)
The human person can find the fullness of
his being only in union with the Trinity; the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Matthew 5: 21-24
• “You have heard it said to the men of old,
‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall
be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you,
everyone who is angry with his brother
shall be liable to judgment; whoever
insults his brother shall be liable to the
council….
• Not only are we required to respect the life
of another, but we also must value the
dignity of every person in such a way that
any offense that violates a person’s dignity
is condemned
• The commandment of charity given to us by
Jesus (love one another as I have loved
you enriches the formulation of the fifth
commandment of the Mosaic law
Conservation of Life
+ Duty to conserve one’s own life:
Only God is the absolute owner of human
life. We are obliged to take care of life as a
good steward whose life is on loan from
God. Self defense is morally acceptable,
however, suicide is not.
+ Respect for the life of others:
If we are not the owners of our own life,
we cannot dispose of the life of others.
Kidnapping, torture, and terrorism fall
under this category
+ Abortion and rights of the unborn:
All induced abortions are gravely sinful
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Have I hurt others physically or mentally?
Suicide
Abortion
Mutilation
Euthanasia
Name calling
Abusing my body with alcohol, drugs, or
food
• sloth.
The Sixth Commandment
VI. You shall not
commit adultery.
• Marriage is a fundamental and natural part
of human life
• One’s gender describes not only one’s
body, but also one’s very identity
• Sexuality effects us at the most elementary
level of personhood.
• God created man and woman with a strong
attraction to each other to insure the
continuation of the race.
The 2 Creation Stories
Gn 1: 26-28; 2: 18-25
• Man and woman are equal in dignity. Both
are created in God’s image
• Man and woman form a new social unit.
Man leaves father and mother and become
a new family
• The union is so intimate the two become
one. They form “one flesh”
• Marriage has a procreative end. God
directed his blessing precisely to this end
Purposes of Marriage
+ Good of the spouses
The sexual union fosters complete selfgiving and deepens the love for one
another. It is both a sign and a cause of
the perfect union with one another which
the Holy Spirit calls them
+ Procreation
Conjugal love is a participation in the great
mystery that results in procreation of new
life.
The couple is cooperating with God in the
creation of their children. This is
fundamentally different from simple
reproduction
+ Joy
The marital act, when done as God wills,
gives glory to God, and is needed to
achieve the perfect union between the
souses
Properties of Marriage
• Matrimony is characterized by two
essential properties”
• 1. EXCLUSIVITY
• Since marriage involves a tota self giving
from each spouse, it follows that this gift
cannot be shared with a third party. One
cannot give one’s self totally to more than
one person in the same way
• 2. INDISSOLUBILITY
• The stability of marriage is permanent. The
unit created through the matrimonial bond
cannot be divided.
• The totality of giving ones self to their
spouse is not complete if it is not life long
• In what ways do we disregard the sixth
commandment?
• Bestiality
• Onanism
• Fornication
• Obscene stories or gestures
• Pornography
• Masturbation
• Oral sex
The Seventh Commandment
• VII. You shall not steal.
Respect For Private Property
• Theft is taking another's goods against his
reasonable wishes
• Doing unjust damage to property
• Spray-paint property
• Cheating
• Unfair pricing
• Charge excessive interest
• Copying
• Not repaying or retuning something
borrowed
• Vandalism
• Wasting food and resources
• Stealing someone’s good name or
reputation.
The Eighth Commandment
• VIII. You shall not bear
false witness.
• Truthfulness is the virtue which consist in
showing oneself true in deeds and truthful
in words, and regarding against duplicity,
dissimulation, and hypocrisy
• Social life would be impossible if truth is
not respected as the foundation of social
communication
LIES
• Lying is an evil in itself.— it is evil by its
very nature
• When a person lies, he betrays himself in
thought and word.
• Therefore, a lie connotes a weakness in
one’s personality if he lies because he
lacks the fortitude to tell the truth and the
responsibility to assume the consequences
of professing the truth, whatever the cost
• When a person lies to a neighbor, he
induces him into error and sows doubt and
suspicion in social relations
• A lie affects the ability to know, which is a
condition of every judgment and decision
• Lying undermines the trust among men
and tears apart the fabric of social
relationships
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Do I lie?
Habitually exaggerate?
Break promises?
Gossip?
Slander? –hurting another’s reputation
Detraction?
Lie by omission?
Explain things non-objectively?
Break someone's confidence?
The Ninth Commandment
• IX. You shall not covet
your neighbor’s wife
(spouse).
Covetousness
• To covet is a sinful desire
• A married couple has the right to enjoy
considerations of their most intimate
actions
• “Every one who looks at a woman lustfully
has already committed adultery with her in
his heart” (Mt 5: 28)
• The struggle against carnal covetousness
entails purifying the heart and practicing
temperance
How do we disregard the ninth
commandment?
• Excessive desire for another’s spouse,
• Excessive desire for another’s friends
or family.
The Tenth Commandment
• X. You shall not covet
your neighbor’s goods.
• Our appetite leads us to desire things that
are good in themselves, but excessive
desire leads to sin
• This commandment forbids greed, avarice,
and envy
Greed
• The desire for earthly things without limit.
It means buying things solely to look rich
and powerful in the eyes of your neighbor
Avarice
• The passionate desire for riches that leads
one to use money to control others. They
become hardhearted, unjust, and deceitful
people. (Ebenezer Scroog)
Envy
• Unhappiness at the sight of another’s
good fortune. It also leads to the sinful
desire to acquire them by whatever means
available
Excessive desire for another’s
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possessions
successes
abilities / physical or mental
popularity
personality
Physical appearance
With the Ten Commandments we have a
basic code of conduct. They do not offer a
complete ethical program but are general
and basic principles of conduct. God could
only require so much from the Israelites
because of their unsophisticated culture.
The Commandments are enriched by the
life and teachings of Jesus. The Sermon
on the Mount gives us the example of how
to live the moral life at the highest level.
Beatitudes
• The word “beatitude” comes from the Latin
meaning “blessed”
The Beatitudes
• The beatitudes fulfill the Ten
Commandments
• They present attitudes that ensure
holiness when lived in conjunction with the
Ten Commandments
• The Beatitudes allow us to go beyond the
minimum requirements of the
Commandments
Called to Imitate Christ
• Identifying with Christ means accepting a
life of sacrifice for the salvation of others,
just as Jesus did.
• We can accomplish this by living the
Beatitudes.
• They take us beyond the commandments
and lead to a life of perfection.
The Beatitudes from Matthew’s
Gospel
+ Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven
+ Blessed are those who morn, for they shall
be comforted
+ Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit
the earth
+ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, for they will be satisfied
+ Blessed are the merciful, for they shall
obtain mercy
+ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall
see God
+ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they
shall be called sons of God
+ Blessed are those who are persecuted for
righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven
+ Blessed are you when men revile you and
persecute you and utter all kinds of evil
against you falsely on my account. Rejoice
and be glad, for your reward is great in
heaven (Mt. 5:3-12)
• The Sermon on the Mount demonstrates
the openness of the commandments and
their orientation toward the perfection
proper to the Beatitudes
• The Beatitudes are a sort of self-portrait of
Christ
• For this reason we are invited to
discipleship
• People of all ages should be reminded that
simply avoiding evil and satisfying our
minimal duties to our neighbors in a
minimalistic way can never be acceptable is
we wish to have a truly just society.
• This is the importance of the Beatitudes.
They point the way to a truly free and
human existence