Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 8 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 25 years, 5 months ago by
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I’m wondering why Christianity accepts some Jewish (Old Testament) laws – the Ten Commandments, the prohibition on homosexual relations – but not others, like kosher food, the Passover holiday, the prohibition on charging interest to the poor, etc.
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Name : M.W., Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 22, City : Cleveland, State : OH, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College,The Christian church has been legalistic over the centuries. Acts 15 sums up the matter with: 28It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell. The 10 Commandments are the basis of Jewish and Christian beliefs. It can be boiled down to the Golden Rule, but for some, that is too basic. Sexual immorality and certain foods were to be avoided by the earliest Christians. Unfortunately many people have come to view religion with the eyes of a legalist- thou shalt and thou shalt not. I think that the earliest apostles were aware of weak human nature, and tried to limit the rules to just a few.
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Name : Ronald-V29679, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, City : Edmonton, State : NA, Country : Canada,In the early days of the church, as recorded in the Book of Acts (fifth book of the New Testament) the membership was almost 100 percent Jewish. In fact, it was considered a sect of Judaism. God instructed Peter to take the message to the Gentiles. At first everyone was shocked by this proclamation, even though Jesus also ministered to Gentiles (Samaritans, the Canaanite woman, Greeks, etc.). Initially they felt the Gentiles should be circumcised, worship at the Temple and follow all the Levitical laws, basically to convert to Judaism before converting to Christianity. But after conferring with the Lord, the council of Apostles decided that Gentiles should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, meat with the blood retained in it and sexual immorality. Their reason was (paraphrased): “Why should we make the Gentiles abide by what even we could never fully abide by?” The reason God allowed this was that the full requirements of the Law are considered to have been fulfilled by Jesus on the church’s behalf, and only direct laws (Thou Shalt Not Kill, etc.) need apply. After about 70 AD or so, the Gentile believers began to outnumber the Jewish believers, so most of the Levitical laws fell out of usage within the church, and they could not worship at the Temple not only because of their Gentile status but because it had been destroyed by Rome around this time.
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Name : Dan27286, Gender : M, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Pentecostal Christian, Age : 21, City : Los Angeles, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Student/dishwasher, Social class : Lower middle class,In order to fully grasp the Christian faith you must study the Bible. Christians are no longer under the Mosaic Law but under grace. The Mosaic law incompasses the feast of Passover and kosher foods plus many other traditions. Sins are the actions of an individual that are contrary to the Word of God. Grace and forgivness were given to man through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. In other words, one has nothing to do with the other.
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Name : Renee32499, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 34, City : New Orlenas, State : LA, Country : United States, Occupation : self-employed, Education level : 2 Years of College,Hi Matt, If you can, get yourself an Annotated Bible; it should help you to understand the Scriptures a little better. First, Exodus 20:1-17, although the Laws of Moses are built upon these principles, the Ten Commandment are not part of the Moseic Law. The Commandments were given to show us how to live Holy and righteous. Some other Scripture that you may want to check out are: Matthew 22:36 John 13:34 John 14:15 John 15:10 Revelations 14:12 This is what the New Testament has to say about the Law: Matthew 5:17 Romans 4:13-16 Romans 6:14-16 Galations 3:24-25 Hebrews 7:19 More important than all of this is the Love and sacrafice of Christ Jesus who died for us on the cross. A relationship with the person Jesus is goal of Christianity. To know Him in the Fullness thereof. Think about starting your realtionship with Him today. He Loves you, I mean really Loves you more than you could ever know. The words Love are capitalized because they speak of Devine Love. Hope this answers your question.
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Name : Renee, City : New Orleans, State : LA, Country : United States,Some parts of the old Law are necessary. According to both Old and New Testaments, things such as idolatry, murder, adultery, etc. are sin, no question about it. However, the more legalistic portions of the Law (circumcision requirement, don’t trim the corners of your beard, don’t eat lobster, etc.) do not apply to Christians today. Eating a cheeseburger does not intrinsically go against God. Murdering someone does. The reason the legalistic aspects were weeded out was so the Gentiles would not be hindered in conversion. Jesus is considered the ultimate sacrifice, therefore sacrifice of animals is no longer needed. In Acts, the Lord directly instructed Peter through a vision that nothing He has made is unclean (this vision condoned both non-Kosher foods and inclusion of Gentiles). The Law was written so that the Judaic peoples would be set apart from the tribes all around them. Jesus came so that the tribesman in Borneo would be saved. He is considered to be our fulfillment of the Law. Jesus said that to fulfill the law today, we must ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself’ (as in, don’t murder him, steal from him, commit adultery with his wife, don’t pass judgement on him, help him out when he’s in need, etc. etc.).
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Name : Dan27283, Gender : M, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Pentecostal Christian, Age : 21, City : L.A. area, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : student/dishwasher, Social class : Lower middle class,More simply: Christians believe we are not obligated to follow the letter of the Law, but should still do what’s right. The parts of the law we still follow, we follow because we believe they’re inherently right.
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Name : Saxifrage28172, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 36, City : Atlanta, State : GA, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,The laws that appear only in the Old Testament (the ‘Mosaic law,’ after Moses) were the laws for the Jews to follow before Jesus came. Once Jesus came and died for our sins, those laws no longer applied. Christians are held only to those commandments that are restated in the New Testament (e.g., we are not to kill another person). We are now considered to be living under grace, thanks to Jesus’ death, rather than under the law, which is all the Jews had before Jesus came.
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Name : Sara28352, Gender : F, City : Oakland, State : CA, Country : United States,The first thing to remember is that Jesus was Jewish. As a child He was to observe the whole law. Jesus also said that He was the fulfillment of the ‘Law’. The Ten Commandments were given in written form to Moses but were always in effect. I base this on the fact that Cain was punished for the murder of Able. The Commandments are a conduct code for society, and can been seen in many different ancient writings.
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Name : Anonymous,
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