# Christians vs. non-Christians on the Ten Commandments **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 7, 2016, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727 "2016-06-07T12:52:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/1 "2016-06-07T12:52:12Z")
According to [this](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36430880) news article refugees wanting to enter the UK to try and escape persecution for being Christian have been asked this question, and come up short. If you had to pass as a Christian, or if you are a Christian yourself and was asked this question to ‘prove’ it, how would you do? Interested to see if there’s a big disparity or not, as the case may be. Being no sort of Christian I managed 9/10, though I totally forgot what one of them was and got them in the wrong order, my attempt of the top of my head was; 1. I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. 2. Make unto thee no graven images. 3. Do not take the name of the Lord in vain. 4. Remember the Sabbath, to keep it Holy. 5. Thou shalt do no murder. 6. Thou shalt not bear false witness. 7. Thou shalt not steal. 8. Thou shalt not covet thine neighbours ass. 9. Honour thy father and mother. 10. Thou shalt not…talk about Fight Club? The usual decalogue and their varied number order depending on tradition is [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments#Traditions_for_numbering). Poll incoming in how many you could name off the top of your head, bonus points for you if you got them in the right order of whichever tradition you were aiming for. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/2 "2016-06-07T13:05:31Z")
FWIW some denominations split the Commandments up differently. Sometimes "you shall have no other gods before Me’ is a different commandment from “you shall not make any graven images” and then they combine “you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife” and “you shall not covet your neighbors house/servants/livestock/anything that is your neighbor’s” into one. Regards, Shodan (Christian, 10/10 but not in order) ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/3 "2016-06-07T13:15:30Z")
I’m not going to answer the poll because I think it’s irrelevant - the article has it right, it’s a bullshit question. That’s the sort of question you can answer if you’ve grown up in a place where Christianity is culturally dominant, never mind if you actually believe it or not. Obviously these people didn’t, we already know that. The willingness to publicly identify as a Muslim convert to Christianity is already pretty solid evidence that they are. In a lot of cases, these people have barred themselves from ever going home again, just by stating they’ve changed their religion. Remember the story from a couple of years ago about the woman who nearly got hanged because she made the mistake of going home for some sort of family event (wedding maybe?) and her cousins informed on her? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/4 "2016-06-07T13:41:33Z")
I got a perfect score. All of them, in order. Except: Thou shalt not lie. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/5 "2016-06-07T13:46:20Z")
I gave myself 10 of 10, but bear in mind that I’m Catholic, and we divide the commandments differently from Protestants, who would say I got them wrong! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/6 "2016-06-07T13:51:48Z")
I’m a pagan with an eidetic memory. I got 10. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/7 "2016-06-07T13:52:01Z")
I got 10/10, in (Catholic Catechism) order, am not Christian, and agree with the article that it’s a bullshit metric. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/8 "2016-06-07T14:00:59Z")
Perfect score but then again I am a Lay Leader. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/9 "2016-06-07T14:04:00Z")
The various orders are all listed in the Wikipedia-link the OP included. I misplaced adultery and coveting wives, but got the rest of the order correct by Lutheran standards, which is what people around here use. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/10 "2016-06-07T14:27:48Z")
What the fuck do the Ten Commandments have to do with Christianity? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/11 "2016-06-07T14:27:57Z")
Trick question - a true christian would answer as Jesus himself did - [QUOTE=Jesus @ Mathew 22] 37 Jesus declared, “‘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. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.” [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/12 "2016-06-07T14:36:37Z")
And he ripped THAT one off Hillel the Elder. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/13 "2016-06-07T14:39:50Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > What the fuck do the Ten Commandments have to do with Christianity? You stick 'em on courthouse walls to prove the superiority of your faith. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/14 "2016-06-07T14:44:29Z")
I thought they were a Jewish thing. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/15 "2016-06-07T15:18:58Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I thought they were a Jewish thing. Ten? [Six hundred and thirteen!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/613_commandments) Slightly more difficult to recall in order. > [@Aspidistra](#): > > I’m not going to answer the poll because I think it’s irrelevant - the article has it right, it’s a bullshit question. That’s the sort of question you can answer if you’ve grown up in a place where Christianity is culturally dominant, never mind if you actually believe it or not. Obviously these people didn’t, we already know that. > > The willingness to publicly identify as a Muslim convert to Christianity is already pretty solid evidence that they are. In a lot of cases, these people have barred themselves from ever going home again, just by stating they’ve changed their religion. Remember the story from a couple of years ago about the woman who nearly got hanged because she made the mistake of going home for some sort of family event (wedding maybe?) and her cousins informed on her? Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s a valid way to ‘detect’ Christianity, just wondering how much of a difference (if any) there is between a Christian and a non-Christian when it comes to recalling them. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/16 "2016-06-07T15:25:03Z")
That sounds like the cliche about WWII and German spies–asking who won the World Series the year before, because of course, only an American would know. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/17 "2016-06-07T15:38:53Z")
I’m an atheist, and got them all. But I remember a segment of the Daily Show where they interviewed a Congressman who advocated posting them in schools, and when asked to name them, he could only come up with a couple or three. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/18 "2016-06-07T15:42:39Z")
> [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > That sounds like the cliche about WWII and German spies–asking who won the World Series the year before, because of course, only an American would know. I’m a huge Isaac Asimov fan, but he wrote one stinker of a short story where the hero detected a German spy from the fact that he knew the third verse of _The Star Spangled Banner_. The idea was that no real American knows it, but a spy would bone up on stuff like that. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/19 "2016-06-07T15:43:52Z")
> [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > That sounds like the cliche about WWII and German spies–asking who won the World Series the year before, because of course, only an American would know. Fourth stanza of “The Star Spangled Banner”. No American would know but an overly prepared spy(or Batman) would know. It was a plot point in one of Asimov’s mystery/detective stories. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727/20 "2016-06-07T16:38:02Z")
I’m an atheist. I was able to come up with six, and I actually follow three of those. I covet all sorts of stuff. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-vs-non-christians-on-the-ten-commandments/756727.md?page=2)