why do christians consider the torah and mitzvot ( the commandments) a burden?

Question

i am not talking to the messianics please dont get offened.
can u answer the question in scincerity i know paul was bet yisrael but at the same time the way justify jesus divinty was through paganastic philosophy and traditional not on any thing torah based

Answer 1

Because they are impossible to keep perfectly & the best we can do is have our sins atoned for (covered over) until Messiah comes.
Question- Could Jesus have possibly been the Messiah? If so, what does that mean for you?

Good question, although the second part is a bit confusing to me too.

Answer 2

Hi,

The old testament is not a burden, but since we gentiles are outside israel and are living in a time Jesus already fullfilled the law for us, we cant see it anymore as a law book. But we do use it to understand the moral implications it teaches us.

Paul I think did use the torah a lot. Especaily to the jews in his hebrew letters. But to gentiles it was no use, they had no understanding of the torah. He explained it in there view of religion/. Like he says, im greek with the greek and jew with the jews.

The bible is only what God thinks is needed. Pauls contribution to the bible is for the biggest part is for the gentiles. He reasons a lot from there point of view. God also makes sence when explained outside the torah. He was the apostel tasked with reaching the gentiles.

The main torah links are the 4 gospels though. There every profecy about Jesus is fullfilled. God made the bible efficient. If Paul would have proven Jesus again mainly from the torah (which I think he did to the jews a lot, but God left it out) it would not have added anything more to the bible and what God wants us to know. It wouold have been repeating what is already said.

To me Paul was the main person that got me into stuying the bible. So the way he reasons may for you be a bit off, but for others an opening to Gods word including the torah.

Good question by the way :)

Answer 3

Very thought provoking question. I think it's very common for people find the rules of other religions burdensome even though they may be following a different set of rules, which technically, may be just as difficult to follow.

All I can think of is that what's familiar seems easier and what's foreign or different seems more difficult.

Side note - Paul used pagan examples because his audience at the time was Pagan (I assume you're referring to things like his speech about the unknown God on Mars Hill). He needed to talk in terms that they would understand. If you want a New Testament book written with a Jewish Audience in mind try looking through Luke or Peter 1 and 2.

Answer 4

I'm not sure that we think of it as a burden, so much as something that just does not apply to us. Halachich law was given specifically to the Jews. I believe even today, that is still the primary Jewish view - it is sufficient for gentiles to simply observe the noachide rules.

In the very early days of Christianity, some of the Jerusalem congregation believed that in order to commission new followers, it was necessary for the converts to undergo the same ritual conversion as a proselyte Jew would have to.

Paul felt that Jesus represented a calling to the gentiles, and that they were called as gentiles. He did not want to see this nascent religious belief be a dividing line where people would actually switch religious modes into a Jewish lifestyle in order to embrace a messianic vision he believed to be meant for all.

As such, his letters strongly make the case against the non-necessity of assimilating gentiles into a Judaized version of Christianity. He foresaw a fairly diverse Christian church, where greeks retained their greekness, and Jews retained their jewishness (provided they did it in such a way as not to break fellowship with these new gentile converts.)

The divinization of Jesus didn't have a lot to do with "pagan" beliefs. It came from one of two messianic traditions of the second temple era - one view looked to a king in the mould of David to come - this is the kind of messiah that the people of this time and place hoped Shimon Bar Kochba might turn out to be - someone who could go up militarily against Roman Philistines with the proverbial sling.

The other group looked for a more cosmological messiah - not a martial king devoted to the restoration of the united kingdoms of Israel and Judaea - but someone very comparable to the modern Christian soteriology (salvation of theology.) Such a messiah by necessity needed to be seen as divine, and these early Christians did so without hesitation....

Answer 5

What better way to say you don't have to follow Old Test laws than to claim the God that gave those laws did away with them with the death of an innocent man?

And I doubt many of them will understand the divinity thru pagan philosophy part LOL Most of them would never even read up on what ancient pagans actually believed about their own gods, let alone see the similarity of those to Jesus.

Answer 6

I don't really understand the question, either, but I am a Christian and am not burdened by the Old Testament at all. In fact, Exodus is one of my favorite books in the Bible.

Answer 7

It may be that we have our theological differences but I assure you this is one Christian Pastor that reads and enjoys the Old Testament.
It is also a joy to read the writings of the Jewish Sages as their depth of understanding far surpasses anything i have found to date.

Answer 8

I don't really understand the second part of your question, but I am unaware that Christians consider these things to be burdens.

Answer 9

Because bacon cheeseburgers taste way too good.