That is a good question. Some will tell you they don't. They will tell you that they are out dated, old fashioned, they don't apply to our times or that things are different today. So what do we believe? Lets do a quick overview of them and then decide what we think.
EX 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before me.
God wants to be #1. Should he be? If you look at everything God has done and everything that he still does, that should make him #1. Just keeping the Universe together and making it work is enough to make him #1, then look at what he has done for us to allow us to have a never ending future. If the first is not enough, the second should definitely be.
EX 20:4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them;
Why not? Because it leads you away from God being #1. Anytime you start worshipping something besides what is #1, it will lead you away from #1. In other words it will lead you away from God. We have established that God deserves to be #1, so this makes sense, because that is what it will take to keep him #1.
EX 20:7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
Let me ask you, would you use the presidents name to cuss someone out? Sounds kind of dumb doesn't it? So why would we do it with God's name? Someone in a high position deserves our respect and should be treated and talked about respectfully. I don't think you could get a higher position then God he deserves our respect.
EX 20:8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Beside the fact that because of who God is he deserves our worship, it is also plain common sense that we need time for rest or you get burnout. Your body needs rest. Even God rested on the seventh day. So it makes sense that God would establish the Sabbath. Two reasons: One to worship him and two to rest.
If we don't rest, we get too busy to worship God. So that is another reason for the Sabbath.
EX 20:12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
This command has a promise attached to it. It actually says that we will live longer if we do this. What about a Mom and Dad that are worthless? They are still your Mom and Dad and should be honored. I don't think that means we should let them run all over us, it just means we need to remember who they are and treat them accordingly.
EX 20:13 "You shall not murder.
EX 20:14 "You shall not commit adultery.
EX 20:15 "You shall not steal.
The last three commandments actually protect us from each other. Real common sense: Don't do to others what you don't want done to yourself. EX 20:16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. This is to protect a persons name and reputation. Today they call this slander. This is to protect another person, to keep them from being made look bad are lied about. Just think how bad a person can be hurt with this.
EX 20:17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
The mind will run away with thoughts if you don't watch it. If you do this it could lead you to do all kinds of things that you should not do. Again God is protecting us from each other.
So what do we think, does any of this apply to today? I certainly think so. God made it easy for us, he actually summed all of this up in two commandments.
MT 22:37 Jesus replied: " `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
If you truly think about it, all of the commandments make sense. The only reason a person would not want to worship God, is because it would mean to put him in charge of our life. This would mean that we do what he wants rather then ourselves. There are many people that don't want this. We like to be in charge.
The rest of the commandments protect us from each other. That makes sense also. Should we not treat others like we want to be treated?
I think our conclusion should be that the ten commandments are definitely still valid for today.
