Love Toward God

• Teach children that the First Commandment forbids worshiping or having the same level of affection and obedience to any deity other than the God of the Bible. Show that focusing on God keeps children's minds off themselves solely.
  
  The Second Commandment forbids worshipers from creating idols -- particularly in the shape of anything found in nature or imagined in heaven -- and bowing down to them. According to the Bible, God declares that those who do this risk the wrath of his jealousy. Parents can show children images of idols in history books or websites to illustrate what kind of bizarre images people have created and worship.
  
  The Third Commandment forbids people from carelessly using God's name and to avoid bantering it back and forth disrespectfully. During just about any TV show, parents can point out the various euphemisms actors use to take God's name in vain. This will show children how prevalent this commandment is violated.
  
  In the Fourth Commandment, God commands his people to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. This commandment encourages people to use the first six days of the week to work and seek their own personal pursuits. But the Sabbath belongs to God. He does not allow worshipers, or even their employees or livestock, to labor on that day. Parents can teach this as a good opportunity for family time.
  
  

Love Toward Neighor

• The Fifth Commandment orders children, even when those who reach adulthood, will respect and honor their parents. It also comes with a promise from God: "that your days may be long upon the land which the lord your God gives you." Children can learn to respect their elders in general and the importance of helping seniors.
  
  In the Sixth Commandment, God forbids people from murdering others. In Exodus 13, the word "kill" also means "murder, slay, assassinate, premeditated."
  
  The Seventh Commandment forbids adultery -- husbands or wives engaging in sexual intimacy with people other than their spouses. A strong marriage founded on love and trust will lead and nurture a strong family.
  
  God forbids people from stealing from one another -- taking property that belongs to someone else. This is the Eighth Commandment.
  
  The Ninth Commandment forbids lying about your neighbor. This commandment encourages avoiding telling lies altogether.
  
  The 10th Commandment involves controlling your thoughts and desires. This commandments prohibits coveting or intensely desiring anything that belongs to other people.
  
  

Advantages

• According to the Bible, near the end of their wanderings through the wilderness, Moses addressed the people of Israel, knowing that God would soon deliver them into the Promised Land. Moses said to them, "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the lord my God commanded me, that you should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who has God so nigh unto them, as the lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great, that has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?" (Deut. 4:5-8).
  
  Moses said that God's laws would give the people understanding and wisdom. This is why Moses reinstituted the Ten Commandments in chapter 5 of Deuteronomy. Parents can teach their children the need to gain wisdom and why it's so vital for success.
  
  

History

• God, through Moses, introduced the Ten Commandments to the ancient Israelites from Mount Sinai in Exodus 20. The Israelites rebelled against God's rule 10 major times, and had to trek through the desert for about 40 years as punishment, according to the Bible. By the end of their punishment, a new generation of Israelites had grown up into adulthood, replacing the deceased adults who had departed slavery in Egypt 40 years earlier. God directed Moses to introduce the Ten Commandments to this new adult generation, recorded in Deuteronomy 5, before the Israelites would be taken into the Promised Land.