The Bible that some Christians use as a guideline for their moral conduct teaches that the Ten Commandments are extremely important to God and are thereby invaluable to us.

But throughout the centuries and cultural revolutions these scriptural precepts have been mostly redefined to suit our personal ideology and needs.

So what is your literal or conceptual understandings of their original meaning?



We all have our own thoughts and beliefs, so let's try not to get argumentative when discussing this topic that can be interpreted to suit everybody's preferences as is.

Exodus 20:1-3

Commandment #1

And God spoke all these words, saying:

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

"You shall have no other gods before me."

Exodus 20:4-6

Commandment #2


"You shall not make for yourself a carved image - any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them."

"For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments."

Exodus 20:7

Commandment #3

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who takes His name in vain."

Exodus 20:8-11

Commandment #4

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work; you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates."

For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Exodus 20:12

Commandment #5

"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you."

Exodus 20:13

Commandment #6

"You shall not murder."

Exodus 20:14

Commandment #7

"You shall not commit adultery."

Exodus 20:15

Commandment #8

"You shall not steal."

Exodus 20:16

Commandment #9

"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."

Exodus 20:17

Commandment #10

"You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."

I think it's very telling of the times when the first commandment God gave the Children of Israel after He rescued them from their oppressors was "NOT" to have any other gods to worship in place of Him.

God wanted His children to address Him directly. But feeling the weight of the guilt of sin and rebellion they preferred to have a human intermediary speak for and to them.

By this stage of their journey out of sin and degradation back to the intimate closeness with the Creator, they'd seen what the God of heaven and their forefathers could do to His enemies the Egyptians for turning their hearts and minds away from Him and His innate authority.

So having been psychology broken and scarred by the harsh taskmasters and will of the Pharaohs the Isrealites lacked all faith in His love and tender mercy and instead equally feared Him too.

Definitions of god =
- a person or thing of supreme value
- a powerful ruler

Thus also why we are told "know ye not that ye are gods..." then we have "There is but one god..."

Even money can be someone's god. And is why Jesus is our god yet while he was on the cross he cried out to his father "my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me".

Jesus was telling us with that commandment not to put anything before him, not to listen to anything or anyone else before him, because he is our God, he is our powerful ruler, he is our supreme being. And again still how it can be said "know ye not that ye are gods". Rulers of our counrties and things of that nature would also be in reference to a "god", for they are our rulers on Earth eg., the one's that rule the countries.

And also why Jesus said "The father and I are one". They are one God to us. It's not like one has more authority over us then the other. Their wills, desires, ideas, ect are all one with each other, thus they are one God yet two different beings.

Trust God, clean house and help others... Generally speaking..

"do the right thing"

God doesn't want us worshiping idols. First I just want to say I'm not bashing any beliefs/religions, or anything along those lines, but certain ones will be used as examples throughout the different discussions on the different commandments.

Exodus 20:4-6 (KJV)

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for 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

1. We aren't suppose to make any images of things in Heaven or beneath the Earth eg., hell. Because there is no possible way for us to know what either places are to look like.

2. We aren't to worship these images and or statues and or whatever may be the scenerio because God is a jealous God and he only wants us to worship him.

A prime example of this would be Catholics with Marry. They worship Marry before they worship Jesus or the Father.

Vain =
- Lacking substance or worth
- Not yielding the desired outcome; fruitless

If we take the name of the Lord and or the things which our God has done for us, we are being thankless and not appreciative of God's love for us and what he does for us. Would be putting it on a lower level then it truly is. And God being great and wonderful, his name shall also be called and or the things which God has done for us.

Now this one is kind of touchy/strange. As MOST "Christian" groups celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday which by all technicalities would be incorrect. As the verse says God made the Earth in 6 days and rested on the 7th. And besides the standard culture of how it is today, Sunday is actually the first day of the week and Saturday is the 7th.

They are the one's that brought us into this world. Of course God would come first in the thanks, but if it weren't for your parents, you wouldn't be here. They gave you life, they raised you, and so on. So it only makes sense to honor them in what you do in your life, as they are the one's that taught you how to live so to speak and brought you up to where you can take the knowledge you gained from them and live your life fruitful.

We are not the judge, we are the one's judged. So we have no righteous judgement on if someone deserves to live or not. Plus it's not our job to take someone out, for their purpose or God's plans for them may not be finished. God will let us die when it's time. If it's as a child/infant or an elder, it is God's choice not ours.