Featured There Are Only Nine Commandments

I never seen such a collection of Christians so bent over backward to avoid the plain reading of scripture in my entire life.

What possible motive anyone could have for arguing with Moses himself about the number of commandments, I cannot even begin to guess about!

One thing's for sure, it isn't worth my time to even discuss. You guys go on believing whatever you want and just ignore the bible all you like. I won't be granting you the validity that the sanction of my time implies any longer.

 

False dichotomy.

Accepting the gift is our act of faith!

 

Also

Deu 4:13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

 

Rom 9:20 first sentence, Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?

Exodus 34:28 So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Deuteronomy 4:13 So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.

Deuteronomy 10:4 And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the Lord had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me.

 

@Van

I admit, I am stirring the pot.

 

You have your noses in the bible until you get to something that openly, blatantly, directly and irrefutably contradicts your position and then all bets are off!

If someone thinks they they only see 9 commandments or that they see 11 or any number other then ten, they are flatly wrong - period. It isn't because of tradition or because of any sort of doctrine but because the same guy who wrote the book that you read the commandment in also states explicitly that there are ten of them in the exact same book!

It's flat out insanity to suggest seriously that there were anything other than ten commandments that Moses came down that mountain with and I won't entertain the subject as though it were anything else.

 

Yes it is. Hebrews 4:9

 

Your answer offers an actual false dichotomy! Consider that we accept the gift by putting our faith in Christ. If so, what is the reason for God to credit our faith in Christ as righteousness?

 

Does scripture say "commandments" or "statements" - "dabar?"

 

No need to stir the pot, the issue is: Does God's word say ten commandments or ten statements. If we can understand it says statements, then they might address more than one command.

 

The phrase "ten commandments" appears 3 times in the Old Testament, but rather than "misva" (H4687) which usually is translated commandments (over 170 times) we find "dabar" which is usually translated word or words.

The idea is a reference to the ten "words = statements" contained on the stone tablets. See Exodus 34:1, Deuteronomy 4:10, Deuteronomy 9:10, and Deuteronomy 10:2.

 

It isn't the number of commandments that I feel so strongly about, it's one's willingness to submit themselves to scripture instead of suggesting that Moses (and, by implication, God) can't count that I have a problem with.

Had someone responded to the quoting the passages in Exodus and Deuteronomy with the respect they deserve and asked how they are reconciled with Exodus 20, then your question might be worth answering. As it is and as I said, I will not grant to such a discussion the sanction of my time - except to point out the ridiculousness of it's premise.

 

Saying it doesn't make it so.

I do not know. We are not told the answer to this question. I have no doubt that there is a reason but I do not need to know what that reason is in order to accept God at His word that it is so.

Romans 4:5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:​

 

In order to receive the gift through faith, the faith MUST be credited as righteousness by God. It is God who decides whether our faith is deeply rooted or superficial, and whether our commitment to Christ is full blown or just one among many competing priorities

 

You do not need to be a Hebrew scholar to use lexicons ( meanings of the Hebrew "dabar") and an exhaustive concordances (all the places where "commandments" appear in our translation.) See post #53

 

I'm perfectly happy to have rationally sound conversation with Christians who aren't bent over backward trying to figure out ways to disagree with the clearest possible passages of scripture.

Do you mean like what you are doing now?

That was my intention but people keep asking me questions.

No, I'm not. I'm standing up for the integrity of the writings of Moses himself! Anyone who wants to debate with Moses about how many commandments he came down the mountain with is the one wasting everyone's time. That's my entire point!

I don't remember who it was but someone here responded to several of us pointing out three different places where Moses himself records that there are ten commandments with a post that said he'd changed his mind and that instead of 9 there were 11.

He was, at the very least ignoring the scripture and at worst he was mocking it. It was at that point I was too flabbergasted at the hubris to continue with the discussion.

I'm doing the opposite. If I have an endgame, it is to get people to adopt a willingness to conform their beliefs to the plain reading of scripture.

Well, it does claim to be.

And your counting trumps the scriptures does it?

Here's a hint. If the bible says there's ten and your counting says there any other number than ten then your counting is wrong.

It is not a matter of opinion! There ARE ten - period. That is a statement of fact as testified to by the Divinely inspired writings of Moses!

It isn't merely "fine"! That's just the exact point! As you say, this is a Christian website! If the bible isn't authoritative enough for us to acknowledge that there are IN FACT ten commandments then just what does it mean to call ourselves "Christians"? If Moses can't count to ten and God is incapable of getting the correct number into the scripture then why do we believe that Christ ever even existed?

It isn't the topic, it's the attitude toward the scripture that's the issue.

As I said, that is precisely my intention but people keep dragging me back here because they think I'm such a mean guy for calling it out when someone is making fun of the scripture.