MIDTERM PERIOD10 COMMANDMENTS

FERDINAND D. SALAGAN, MA,MPA

Assistant Prof. II -FCL

RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS DEP’T

INSTITUTE OF RELIGION, UPHSD

What is the Ten Commandments?

• The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, are a list of religious and moral imperatives that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were spoken by God (referred to in several names) to the people of Israel from the mountain referred to as Mount Sinai or Horeb and later authored by God and given to Moses in the form of two stone tablets. They are recognized as a moral foundation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

INTRODUCTION on the Ten Commadments/ Decalogue

• The word “Decalogue” literally means “Ten Words”, the words God revealed to his people on that holy mountain of Sinai.

• As a mature & responsible Christians, we should understand these “Words” in the context of being in a COVENANT with God.

We define covenant as a “solemn agreement between parties to do or not do something specific”.

Introduction on the Commandments/ Decalogue

• Here, you have an understanding with your God that you are supposed to do something.

• God is there to bless and protect you, to provide for your needs (not wants!). On the other hand, you are to be faithful to Him, by loving Him and following His commands.

• The choice is always yours for you have been gifted with the will and freedom to do as you please. It is greatly hoped, therefore, that what pleases you is what is also pleasing with your God.

Introduction on the Commandments/ Decalogue

• The proper understanding of these commandments is hereby summed up to the two greatest commandments enunciated by Jesus Christ: first, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind.” 1This corresponds to the first three commandment which sums up man duties towards God. But we do not relate only to God as we relate also with other people, hence Jesus tells further of the second great commandment, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

• 1. I am the Lord your God; you shall not have strange gods before me. (Ex20:3)

• The First Commandment: The Worship of God

•  By the first commandment, we are obliged to offer to God alone the supreme worship that is due him. We worship God by acts of faith, hope and charity, and by adoring him and praying to Him. (CCC # 2084)

Sins against the first commandment:

• 1.Atheism – One does not all perceive, or explicitly reject, this intimate and vital bond of man to God.

• 2.Divination – (Horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomenon of clairvoyance)

• 3.Idolatry – The worship of many gods, also know as polytheism. It also refers to false pagan worship where ones divinizes what is not God whether this be god of demons, power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc.

• 4.Superstition – a person sins by superstition when he attributes to a creature a power that belongs to God alone, as when he makes use of charms or spells, believes in dreams or fortune-telling, or goes to spiritists.

• 5.Sacrilege – a person sins by sacrilege when he mistreats/disrespects sacred persons, places or things.

• 6.Simony – It is defined as the buying or selling of spiritual things.

Faith obliges us:

• First, to sincerely find out what God revealed;

• Second, to believe firmly what God has revealed;

• Third, to profess our faith openly whenever necessary.

Sins against Faith:

• 1.Apostasy – The total repudiation of the Christian faith.

• 2.Heresy – The obstinate post-baptismal denial or doubt of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith.

• 3.Incredulity – The neglect of revealed truth of the willful refusal to assent to it.

• 4.Religious Indifferentism – The mistaken understanding that one religion is as god as any other religion as such one is no longer compelled to seek out the truth about what God has revealed.

• 5.Taking part in non-Catholic worship – The act itself is not sinful but a person places his faith in great danger when he is not well acquainted with his belief due to lack of proper understanding of those who go to other places of worship sufficient reason or proper authorization.

• 6.Voluntary Doubt – One disregards or refuses to hold as true what God has revealed and the Church proposes for belief.

• 7.Involuntary Doubt – It refers to the hesitation in believing, difficult in overcoming objections connected with the faith, and also anxiety aroused by its obscurity. If deliberately cultivated, doubt can lead to spiritual blindness.

• 8.Schism – The refusal of submission to the Roman of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.

• Hope obliges us to trust firmly that God will give us eternal life and the means to obtain it.

• Sins against Hope: • 1.Presumption – a person sins by presumption

when he trust that he can be saved by his own effort without God’s help, or by God’s help without his own effort.

• 2.Despair – a person sins by despair when he deliberately refuses to trust that God will give him necessary help to save his soul.

• Charity obliges us to love God above all things because he is infinitely good, and to love out neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.

• Sins against Charity:– 1. Indifference - One neglects or refuses to

reflect on divine charity; it fails to consider its prevenient goodness and denies its power.

– 2. Ingratitude – One fails or refuses to acknowledge divine charity and to return him love for love.

– 3. Lukewarmness - The hesitation or negligence on responding to divine love; it can imply refusal to give oneself over to the prompting of charity.

– 4. Acedia (Spiritual Sloth) – One goes so far as to refuse the jot that comes from God and to be repelled by divine goodness.

– 5. Hatred of God – It comes from pride and is contrary to love God, whose goodness denies, and presumes to curse as the one who forbids sins and inflicts punishment.

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Honoring Mary, the Angels and Saints, their Relics and Images

• The first commandment does not forbid us to honor the angels and the saints in heaven, provided we do not give them the honor that belongs to God alone. We honor the saints in heaven because they practiced great virtue when they were on earth, and because in honoring the saints by imitating their holy lives, by asking them to intercede with God for us and by showing respect to their relics and images.

• When we appeal to the intercession of the Angels and saints, we ask them to offer or prayers to God for us. We know that the angels and saints will intercede with God for us because they are with God and have great love for us. (CCC # 828,956-957, 1173, 2683)

Two (2) Kinds of Worship:

• LATRIA or Adoration – It refers to the worship that is accorded to God only.

• DULIA or Veneration – It refers to the honor and respect accorded to Mary, the Angels and the Saints

• Two Kinds of DULIA or Veneration: • Absolute Dulia – The honor and

respect to the person of Mary and the Saints, and the Angels. This concept refers to DULIA itself. 

Two Kinds of Absolute Dulia:• A. Hyperdulia - The special veneration that is given to

Mary in view of her dignity as the Mother of God and her fullness of grace.

• Scriptural Sources of this special veneration for Mary:• Luke 1:28 – “Hail, full of grace the Lord is with you.”• Luke 1:42 – “Blessed are you among women, filled with

the Holy Spirit.”• Luke 1:48 – “Behold, from now on all generations shall

call me blessed.”

• B. Dulia – The veneration rendered to the saints and angels. Relative Dulia –

• The honor shown to the relics of the saints 

• RELICS these are remains from the bodies (e.g. hair) of the saints or objects (e.g. clothes) connected with the saints or with our Lord.

 

• It is right to show respect to the statues and pictures of Christ and of the saints, just as it is right to show respect to the images of those whom we honor or love on earth. We honor Christ and the saints when we pray before the crucifix, relics and sacred images because we honor the persons they represent; we adore Christ and venerate the saints.  

• But we need to understand that we do not pray directly to the crucifix of the images and relics of the saints, but to the persons they represent. (CCC # 1674, 2132, 2141)

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