[Dan27286]

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, 

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