We Asked Christians: Is it Okay to Break the Ten Commandments?

Oh, wow. Do you believe that there is a heaven?

There's definitely heaven.

Yes, there is.

Okay, and how do you know you're gonna make it in?

Because there's a thing called the Bible and it says that.

Okay.

Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

Okay.

And I believe it.

What about people who say they believe, who say, I'm a Christian, I believe in Jesus, But they live wicked lives?

Yo, maybe they haven't truly repented and turned towards the Lord.

I think Christianity isn't a religion. Christianity is a relationship. So I would say they haven't built a relationship with Jesus yet. They haven't actually truly discovered and they don't really know who he is.

Okay, cool.

So what role does our works play in our relationship with Jesus? You know, like the things we do, doing good things, loving people, and whatever else the Bible tells us to do.

I think with being saved, like all of that, it's not that you have to do works or do things to get to Jesus and get into heaven, but with accepting him into your life, It almost changes your heart that you start wanting to do. Like it's a fruit of believing in him is you start to do good works in a sense. But that doesn't mean you because of your good works you'll get into heaven or you believe. Yeah.

I agree.

Cool. Okay, awesome. So tell me what do you think about the commandments in the Bible?

Yo, that's a tricky one.

So Jesus said. If you love me, you'll keep my commandments, for example. We say— we also see in 1 John 2:6, the one who says he abides in him ought to walk as he walked. And we know how Jesus walked, right? He obeyed his Father's commandments, right? He was without sin, right? We know that he never sinned. And what is sin? Sin is 1 John 3:4, the transgression of the law.

Yeah.

So basically the law says, do not murder. We're like, yeah, that's a good idea. And that's how we do. And then when we do not murder, we don't sin, right? So what role does, like I said, the commandments play in the life of a believer in context of like what we're talking about now?

I think most of our faith is built around it. I think loving your neighbor as you love yourself, you know, don't murder, don't steal, don't do all those things. I think it is difficult. And also the Bible says it's not going to be easy. It's going to be like the worst thing ever. But there's a lot more that comes out of that than the worst stuff. So I think, yeah.

Well, I mean, the commandments are Old Testament, but they are mentioned in the New Testament as well. But I think also again with accepting Jesus into your life, It changes your heart and you automatically love God. And one of the commandments, love God with all your heart. And after that, almost all of the other commandments will kind of follow automatically.

I love it. So Jeremiah 31:31, it talks about the New Covenant. You guys heard about the New Covenant, I guess, right? And it says that the New Covenant will come where God will write his law on our hearts and he will also give us his Holy Spirit, right? Now, When we think about that, and do you know about the Ten Commandments, right? For example, do you believe that Christians should keep the Ten Commandments?

Yeah, but not like you have to, it's a law.

Okay, what do you mean by— what do you mean by yes, but you don't have to?

I think with Jesus dying on the cross, he kind of cut that off, that we're bound to a law. But then again, accepting him will—

I'm just gonna— what do you mean by not being bound to a law? I just want to understand what you mean exactly.

Well, in the Old Testament, they fell under the Ten Commandments, the law. And if you didn't hold to that standard, then it was kind of like you're doomed and you're a sinner. Where Jesus died and he kind of set us free from being bound to the law. And now it's almost just a guideline as How to live in a sense, if that makes sense.

Okay, so under the law, Paul talks about that a lot, right? And that's what you're talking about, right? And being under the law is like, it's unlike when a stop street, right? Like you're driving, you stop at the stop street and then you're fine, you're keeping it, right? When you run over the stop street, a cop pulls you over, he's like, you broke the law, you disobeyed the road sign. And now he drags you to court, he puts you before the judge. And now you're under the law. Like the judge is going to be like, you broke the law, you need to be punished. Right? And so yes, you're right in that. Like Jesus comes, he lives a perfect life. We believe in him. He saves us from the punishment that the law brings when we break the law. Right, right, right. But does that mean like I can drive through every stop street?

No.

I'm just— because you mentioned, we talked about this, you mentioned we're not We are not— when I talked about the Ten Commandments, how do you see that then in light of this, what I mentioned? Like, how do you see the Ten Commandments for Christians?

Should they—

can they break them? Is it okay to break them? Should they try and obey them? We understand salvation. I think we discussed that, but yeah.

I think it's a bit of a difficult concept because obviously in the Bible it's doesn't say if you speed, you're gonna get a ticket.

Oh yeah, I'm talking metaphorically.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I know, but I'm just saying, I think it also comes with a thing of if the Lord lays it on your heart as well. Like, let's say for an example now, smoking. It doesn't mention in the Bible that smoking is sinful, but if it becomes an addiction, then it's sinning.

Bible. So what if I have something that, uh, I do that God doesn't convict me of, but the Bible and the Ten Commandments says it's wrong?

I think also that's— so a lot of the times also why people don't want to be— not necessarily be Christians, but it's because the thing is with Christianity, it's such an open life. You live your life openly, called fellowship, you open with your finances, you open with a lot of things in your life, the sinful stuff you struggle with, the things that happen in your life. So I think that's also, you can go back to your elders and your deacons and community leaders and be like, hey, what do you think?

Sure.

Because obviously they've been put in that positions because they've seen, or elders and God has seen a gifting on their lives. I think it also—

yeah.

I agree.

So I—

To a certain extent, yeah.

Yeah, so I agree with you in that, you know, God has given us leaders, apostles, prophets, teachers, all these, absolutely. Something just I would put out there is if I stood before God and let's just say I believe something that wasn't right and I say my pastor told me, and what is God gonna say? Obviously the pastor is gonna receive greater judgment because he was the pastor, but You had the same Bible on your desk that he had. So here's what I want to. Can I share a little bit of what I think? Is that okay? Thank you, guys. You've been so awesome, and I love what you've been sharing. Like, so I think that the commandments of God, right? Like, because we talked about salvation. We agree on that. We're saved by grace, by faith through grace, right? His grace. And yet a lot of Christians, right? They consider when we talk about the law and the commandments, they get really uncomfortable. It's kind of like, but Paul, but say this, Galatians that, right? Absolutely, 100%. Paul was dealing with a culture where the Pharisees, who are Jewish people, Orthodox Jews, like Orthodox Jewish people today, were believing that the way that you get saved is by keeping commandments, right? Like circumcision, get circumcised, you get saved. They even believe that by the blood of your own circumcision, that blood cleanses you of your sin. It's crazy.

Yeah.

So he's dealing with all that and he writes these letters about the law. But Paul himself kept the law. Did you know that?

Yeah.

He even says, how would I know how not to covet except if the Lord told me, do not covet? He says, we know he kept the biblical Sabbath, the 4th commandment, which is part of the 10 Commandments. Every Shabbat he went into the synagogues, he spoke, he had fellowship and things like that. I know, like, you know, I grew up Dutch Reformed. So this is strange, I know, if you've never heard this before. And you don't have to believe me. I'm just sharing some things for you to think about. And what I found is that, like, when I start seeing the commandments of God not as— sure, they're not there to save me, I'm not saving myself, never. But I see the blessing, God gave them as a blessing. Like, he made us, he made this world, he made our bodies. And so he's giving these instructions as, this is how you— I want you to live, to prosper, to be a blessing to others, how to love others. He says, you know, love— the commandments are summed up in love. In other words, the best way to love is by walking out his commandments. Do not murder. That's, that's an act of love in a simple way. Do not steal is an act of love in a simple way. Help your neighbor's ox out of a ditch is love in a simple way. But also think about this, and I'm finishing here. In Genesis, God makes heaven and earth, and he makes— he comes to the 7th day, and he says he creates the Sabbath day. Forget about Moses for a sec. Forget about the law, Israel, forget about all that. He just makes heaven and earth, and he makes the Sabbath. And today, I'm just gonna ask a question. Do Christians, the followers of Jesus, of whom it says all things were made through him, right?

Yeah.

All things were made through him. Do Christians honor the Sabbath day today? Just think. No, they do not. Typically, some people do, some people don't. But I want to give you something today to chew on, to think about. Now you don't have to. You can if you have any additional thoughts you can share with me. If not, it's fine. Anything you want to add?

Can I ask?

Yeah, last question.

But what do you Do you believe we should celebrate the Sabbath day, or what are your beliefs about that?

So I believe— so the Sabbath is the commandment. The 4th commandment goes like this, right? It says, you shall on the Sabbath day, you shall keep the Sabbath to the Lord your God. You will labor for 6 days, and on the 7th day you will rest. You will rest. You will not make anyone work, your servants. Like, you know, you will basically let it be a day of rest. Basically, I like to say it's like a 24-hour date with Jesus because you're busy for 6 days. You know how life is. And God says, I want to come and put a pause in this whole world, not actually like supposed to be in the world, so that my people can come and worship, spend time with me, fellowship, family time, peace in the midst of the storm. So, so yes, personally, I, I, I did. I wasn't raised this way, but I read my Bible and asked a lot of questions, and, um, and I started keeping the Sabbath, and my relationship with God was just like blessed so much. My work was blessed so much. Like, imagine this, I'm a student at University of Pretoria, by the way, and yeah, and, uh, information design back then, and, uh, I have exams, I have all this stuff, all my friends are working on On the seventh day, right? And the Father convicts me in the middle of this, and I'm like, okay, I'm not going to study. I have an exam, but I'm not going to do. I'm not going to do it. I'm even. I was even behind at this one exam, and I was like, man, I'm going to fail this. God has always blessed me in that in that if I rest and I honor Him, even if I if it feels like I can't, He comes and He blesses abundantly. I ended up like. one of the top students of my class. I started at one at the bottom of the barrel my first year, ended one of the top. And this is not me, this is all God. I'm resting in his finished work on the cross, which includes him blessing me when I obey him in the little things that he asked me to do. So I'm just, I'm sharing this because I love you guys. There's nothing for me to gain, you know.

That's amazing.

But, uh, think about it. That's all. Yeah. Cool. Any other questions you had?

Every day should have a time that is given to the Lord. I don't think it should only be one day.

I agree with you. I don't, I don't, but I also don't, I also think that, I don't think I know that there isn't like a specific time that you should set for the Lord. It's like throughout your day. Yes.

I agree with you.

Every second of every day.

I agree with you.

You should build a relationship with the Lord.

I agree with you.

You should seek his face.

I agree with you.

I also think it's—

So that's not, that's not what—

It's not the same thing.

No, that's not what you, we're not saying.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So yeah, so I agree 100%.

We should pray.

continuously and so on. But the Sabbath is not about that.

Yeah, it's not.

It's about ceasing from labor. Because you can pray and build your relationship with God, but you're still working. You're still doing this, doing that. You're distracted. But God says rest from labor. That's a big deal as well. Stop working.

I haven't actually read about that a lot.

Oh, no.

Most people don't know.

That's why I just shared it.

Yeah, that's good.

So if you just stop working for a bit, it's like challenging in the beginning. And people are like, no, that's a burden. Dude, it's not a burden.

It's like a blessing.

It's peaceful. So again, this is not like salvation. It's not about— it's just a blessing.

Yeah, that's awesome.

God's people is in an interesting place. 2,000 years after Yeshua rose from the dead and to sit at the right hand of His Father, His church has been going to and fro, bringing healing to this world. But at the same time, there are things that He is restoring in this time to His people. He is restoring His commandments again for us to be a holy people. To walk as He walked. As His disciples walked. And keeping the Sabbath day holy. Bringing a day of rest back to the world as a picture of the millennial. The rest that Christ is bringing upon the earth. When He is going to come and set up His kingdom, brothers and sisters, we are in a place right now where God is saying, "Who is going to step forward and dig a little deeper?" We have come to terms with salvation. We have come to terms with the elementary principles of our faith, and those are the most glorious and precious parts of what He has done for us. But now, now is the time where He calls. the worshipers of Spirit and truth, who will worship Him in the way that He worshiped His Father, who will walk as He walked. And this is His call for us all to dig deeper, for us all to look towards His Word and to see what did He do so I can do what He did.

Amen.