Why We Left Lutheranism--Misapply & Violate the 10 Commandments

Question: If the ten commandments are binding today, why don't Lutherans keep the Sabbath, the 7th day, as the day of rest? Without divine authority they have called Sunday the Sabbath and worship on Sunday. There is no passage in all the Bible that would warrant the change - Sunday for the Sabbath.

When I make a comparison between the catechism and the Bible I find they teach we must keep the commandments but like the Catholics they leave completely out of their catechism the second commandment: "Thou shalt not make unto me a graven image" (Exodus 20:4). To make up for the one they leave out, they divide number ten into two parts and call it nine and ten. (See Luther's Small Catechism, pp. 43-44).

This is the most serious part of all of it. They leave out one commandment and never keep the Sabbath commandment. They conclude the commandments thus: "God threatens to punish all those who transgress these commandments. We should, therefore, dread his displeasure, and not act contrarily to these commandments. 'I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children upon the third and fourth generation of them that hate me: and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments?'" (Luther's Small Catechism, pp. 44-45) When I learned they violated the ten commandments, left one out and even bound on us a law that was abolished, I could not longer be a Lutheran.

The Ten Commandments are greatly debated today. Judges rule they cannot be displayed in government buildings. Conservative Christians fight to keep the Ten Commandments in our government buildings and schools. We all number ten commandments, but the way they are divided differs. I grew up learning three commandments for God and seven commandments for man (with the Ninth and Tenth Commandments covering the sin of coveting). Others have the ratio four-to-six, with the First Commandment "I am the Lord your God" and coveting covered by one command (although the first commandment in this case I believe is God's declaration of sovereignty and his right to issue these commands; remember that God's name is "I Am").

We also need to look at how God begins the Ten Commandments in the Pentateuch: "I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of Egypt." Thus, God is addressing a specific group and race of

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