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Home/Biblical and Theological/How Many of the Ten Commandments Do Americans Think They’ve Broken This Month?

How Many of the Ten Commandments Do Americans Think They’ve Broken This Month?

People may admit they sin, but just a little—one-out-of-ten-commandments-this-month little.

Written by James H. Gilmore | Monday, July 17, 2017

Regardless—one or none—this view of self is far removed from the understanding of sin expressed in James 2:10. Let’s quote the Good News Translation, as it seems suitable for the “Good answer, good answer” sensibility of the show: “Whoever breaks one commandment is guilty of breaking them all.” (James 2:10 GNT) Furthermore, this view of sin and self is far from understanding Jesus’ own Sermon on the Mount teaching on the nature of the moral law (“whoever is angry with his brother…” and so on).

 

In the “Fast Money” segment that concluded this particular Family Feud episode, two members of the winning family were each asked to guess the responses to five questions posed to 100 surveyed people. The very first question: How many of the ten commandments have you broken this month?

When the first contestant Lyndsey answers, “Three,” host Steve Harvey and the audience chuckle (0:25 mark in the video below). Then when the second contestant Lauren answers, “Seven,” Steve Harvey is shocked into silence (2:10) while the audience again laughs. But when the number of responses for “Seven” is later revealed, Harvey lets loose with incredulous laughter (2:35 forward). “Seven out of ten?,” Harvey asks, “Who does that?” The answer? Evidently zero. No one.

And the “Number One” answer? Watch and see.

We’re told the most frequent response to the question was “One.” It’s perhaps telling: People may admit they sin, but just a little—one-out-of-ten-commandments-this-month little. We’re sinners, but not YUGE sinners! Or some people may not see themselves as sinning at all: This Family Feud exchange really makes me wonder how many of the one-hundred surveyed answered “Zero” or “None.” (By the way, when these “Fast Money” questions ask for a number, the question is usually prefaced with “On a scale from 1 to 10,” so the respondents might have been preconditioned to avoid saying zero/none.) Surely some of the one-hundred answered Zero or None.

Regardless—one or none—this view of self is far removed from the understanding of sin expressed in James 2:10. Let’s quote the Good News Translation, as it seems suitable for the “Good answer, good answer” sensibility of the show:

“Whoever breaks one commandment is guilty of breaking them all.” (James 2:10 GNT)

[Editor’s note: This article is incomplete. The link (URL) to the original article is unavailable and has been removed.]

Related Posts:

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  • So How Do You Think about Yourself?
  • How Should We Apply the Sixth Commandment?
  • The Lived-Out Kingdom: Faith That Walks Right-Side Up
  • When It Feels like God Is Against You

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