The 2nd Commandment: You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain.

447. How does one respect the holiness of the Name of God?

One shows respect for the holy Name of God by blessing it, praising it and glorifying it. It is forbidden, therefore, to call on the Name of God to justify a crime. It is also wrong to use the holy Name of God in any improper way as in blasphemy (which by its nature is a grave sin), curses, and unfaithfulness to promises made in the Name of God.

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The 1st Commandment: I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me. (continued)

445. What does God prohibit by his command, “You shall not have other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2)?

This commandment forbids:

• Polytheism and idolatry, which divinizes creatures, power, money, or even demons. 
• Superstition which is a departure from the worship due to the true God and which also expresses itself in various forms of divination, magic, sorcery and spiritism.
• Irreligion which is evidenced: in tempting God by word or deed; in sacrilege, which profanes sacred persons or sacred things, above all the Eucharist; and in simony, which involves the buying or selling of spiritual things.
• Atheism which rejects the existence of God, founded often on a false conception of human autonomy. 
• Agnosticism which affirms that nothing can be known about God, and involves indifferentism and practical atheism.

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The 1st Commandment: I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me.

442. What is implied in the affirmation of God: “I am the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:2)?

This means that the faithful must guard and activate the three theological virtues and must avoid sins which are opposed to them. Faith believes in God and rejects everything that is opposed to it, such as, deliberate doubt, unbelief, heresy, apostasy, and schism. Hope trustingly awaits the blessed vision of God and his help, while avoiding despair and presumption. Charity loves God above all things and therefore repudiates indifference, ingratitude, lukewarmness, sloth or spiritual indolence, and that hatred of God which is born of pride.

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436. What does “Decalogue” mean?

Decalogue means “ten words” (Exodus 34:28). These words sum up the Law given by God to the people of Israel in the context of the Covenant mediated by Moses.

This Decalogue, in presenting the commandments of the love of God (the first three) and of one's neighbor (the other seven), traces for the chosen people and for every person in particular the path to a life freed from the slavery of sin.

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