What Happens if I Break the Ten Commandments on Accident?

Did you know that Moses set aside three cities of refuge east of the Jordan River, to which anyone who had killed a person could flee if he had unintentionally killed his neighbor without malice aforethought. He could flee into one of these cities and save his life.

This can be read in Deuteronomy 4:41-43

One religious sect in particular says that they keep the Sabbath. The problem with this is that they actually don't keep the Sabbath. Jewish law requires no work on the Sabbath, which is from Friday sundown until Saturday sundown.

That means to keep the Sabbath, one cannot do the following:

• Carry your Bible - Carrying anything is work. Work is prohibited on the Sabbath.
• Turn a key in the ignition - Turning anything is work.
• Pushing knobs (turning on radio, air conditioner, oven, etc.) is work.
• Pulling the handle on your car door or pulling a plow. Pulling is work.

In Israel, you can find Shabbat elevators in hotels that stop on every floor so that pushing the floor button is prevented.

This is so that Jews do not have to do any work if they find themselves in a hotel on the Sabbath.

The Commandment to Keep the Sabbath is no longer that a person keep the Jewish Sabbath period (and Jewish laws). The point of the Sabbath is that man should not work seven days straight. One day is needed for rest, and the Christian should set aside a day to worship God with fellow believers. It does not have to be Sunday, but many believers keep the tradition of Sunday worship because Jesus appeared to the disciples on Sunday eight times after his resurrection.

If you are familiar with the Old Testament, then you may already know in historical times the Jews created more laws and rules to follow on top of the Ten Commandments. They were attempting to expound upon the Ten Commandments in order to stay righteous, but instead, created a legalistic system of rules.

God gave us the Ten Commandments so that we could stay right with Him, but the point of the Ten Commandments can be summed up in two sentences:

1. Love God.
2. Love Other People.

See, the whole point of the Law was to show man that he could not possibly keep the Ten Commandments. No one can keep them.

The Bible says:

'What does all this mean? Does it mean that we Jews are better off than the Gentiles? No, it doesn’t! Jews, as well as Gentiles, are ruled by sin, just as I have said. The Scriptures tell us,

“No one is acceptable to God!
Not one of them understands
or even searches for God.
They have all turned away
and are worthless.
There isn’t one person
who does right.
Their words are like
an open pit,
and their tongues are good
only for telling lies.
Each word is as deadly
as the fangs of a snake,
and they say nothing
but bitter curses.
These people quickly
become violent.
Wherever they go,
they leave ruin
and destruction.
They don’t know how
to live in peace.
They don’t even fear God.”

We know that everything in the Law was written for those who are under its power. The Law says these things to stop anyone from making excuses and to let God show that the whole world is guilty. God doesn’t accept people simply because they obey the Law. No, indeed! All the Law does is to point out our sin.'

-Romans 3:9-20

After reading this passage, we see that no one can keep the Ten Commandments. So making more laws and rules on top of the Ten Commandments is really missing the point. The Ten Commandments point out that no one can be morally correct in this world without God. Every human being needs God, and can only get right with God through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

If you have found you have broken one or more of the Ten Commandments, the most important thing you can do is to ask God for forgiveness, and repent from the sin that you have committed.

God will forgive you, because he loves you!