Why Is The Ten Commandments Also The Ten Promises Essay, Research Paper

Why are the Ten Commandments also the Ten Promises? Christians see the Ten Commandments as the Laws of God. They regard the Ten Commandments as the basic moral code of mankind. Christians see it as a guideline of how God wants our life to be lived. Each one of the Ten Commandments is a demand from God. God is telling us how to live our life. God wants us to obtain a closer relationship with him. In doing this we will be more like God. A promise is implied in every one of the ten demands. Christians believe that God wants us to keep each one of the Ten Commandments as promises, to show our faith and love for him. The Ten Commandments promise a life of integrity, loyalty, reverence, rest, stability, life, faithfulness, generosity, truthfulness, and contentment. The Ten Commandments can be split into two groups of promises. Commandments one to four, tells us to promise to love and honor God. Commandments five to ten, tell us to promise to love and respect our fellow man.

Personally, I think the first promise of “integrity” is the most important one out of the ten. It would be difficult to promise to keep the other nine promises, while breaking the first promise of integrity. We promise to have integrity by serving no other gods but God. God wants us to our lives in his hands so he can guide us. We as Christians must devote ourselves to God. We must have faith in God. God wants us to put him first in our lives and not let any other gods or idols block our relationship with him. God wants to be the focus of our lives. For me, this promise is the hardest one for me to fulfill. Being a college student, there are a lot of distractions and things that get in the way with my relationship with God. For example, it is hard sometimes to put God first when an exam or finals come around. Sometimes I would put school work ahead of God and not go to church and stay home and study. I know that doing well in school is nothing without God. But lately I have been putting school work aside and attending church when exams are around because I realize that God must come first in my life and then other things.

The promise of “truthfulness” is also of major importance to Christians. The Ninth Commandment teaches us not to bear false witness against our neighbor. Basically if someone breaks the promise of not killing, not committing adultery, not stealing and not coveting ones neighbor’s house, they are disrespecting not only ones neighbor but God. We must love and respect our enemies. God created every one of us so if we do wrong to someone, we are doing wrong to God.

To me, these two promises of “integrity” and “truthfulness” are the most promises to God. We are called Christians because believe in God and we love and respect his creation. We try to keep the Ten Commandments as ten promises of how we should live our life.