The Christian Faith

This section of the website provides more extended teaching on larger content areas, such as the Creed and the Sacraments. It begins with Introduction·to the Christian Faith.  More content will be added in due course.

The section entitled Short Talks comprises stand-alone talks and articles on different aspects of the Christian Faith, including the teaching of Jesus, the seasons of the Church’s Year and Feasts and Festivals.· 

 

Eighth: You shall not steal

The Eighth Commandment is, “You shall not steal”.  Stealing means taking for one’s own what belongs to another.  All stealing is a sin.

Forms of stealing

There are all manner of ways in which people steal, from burglary or house-breaking to stealing money from someone’s purse.  But besides that there are many other ways which some people like to think are not stealing at all.

Read more: Eighth: You shall not steal

Ninth: You shall not bear false witness

The Ninth Commandment is, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour”.  To bear false witness means to tell a lie by giving untrue evidence when one is a witness in a Court of Law.  The Catechism explains this Commandment further by saying, “To keep…my tongue from evil speaking, lying, and slandering”. (1)

Read more: Ninth: You shall not bear false witness 

Tenth: Covetousness

To covet

The Tenth Commandment forbids us to covet: “You shall not covet”.  To covet means to want something that belongs to someone else.  We can see how wrong that is when we remember that it is covetousness which is the beginning of every theft.  For example, a man may steal some vegetables from someone else’s allotment.  But before he took them, he had looked at them with covetous eyes and wished that they were his.  So just as a person who hates someone is a murderer at heart, so a person who covets is a thief at heart.

Read more: Tenth: Covetousness