When stonings, slavery, women being unclean while menstruating, eating pork, multiple wives and so on come up...the majority of christians say that is not valid as it is in the Old testament and under the law which jesus freed us from. But yet they want the Old Testament laws of the 10 commandments put on govt buildings and us to believe in talking snakes and creation. I'm confused. Which is it?
I want to hear from everyone who might have a clue regarding this. Also could you please tell me why you interpret it the way you do and your particular denomination. Thanx.
2006-10-04 09:48:05 · 14 answers · asked by Medusa 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Yes, the fundies seem to want it both ways. They say that the Old Testament is not valid when there's a certain part that seems to go against their agenda, and that it's valid when it supports their agenda. Most of us understand that you can't have it both ways. It's either ALL valid or NONE of it is. They won't have it. The indoctrination runs deep.
2006-10-04 09:53:09 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 4⤋
Here's the deal ...
the Old Testament is an account of God's relationship with mankind befoe he sent Jesus down to help mankind who despite the presence of prophets, scriptures and miracles was hopelessly mired in sin and corruption. The Old Testament contains the laws that the Jews of today live by.
Jesus came to fulfill the laws of the Old Testament whereby if a man had broken them or all of them and was hopelessly sinful as many were then through faith in Jesus Christ as our saviour, that hopelessly sinful man can STILL enter into God's kingdom.
Now the Old Testament is not irrelevant because of Jesus now being our advocate before the Father. Rather the Old Testament (which is the Law for Jews today) has some hand rules in it for us to follow if you intend to live a long, healthy, properous life on this earth ... (and ya wonder how the Jews do it!) If however you negate the teachings of the Old Testament and completly screw up your life here on earth, faith in Jesus gives you a new chance of life, however that new chance will only come about after you die and when you appear before the Father when the options are eternal paradise in Heaven or eternal agony in Hell!
2006-10-04 16:57:25 · answer #2 · answered by Masterwooten 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
WOW,,
Like in a paragraph?
The Old Testament is a series of Covenants that God made with his Chosen people God wants a relationship with us. Man has broken all of them, every last one.
Now, the 10 Commandments are something that stands for all time, the 10 things that God himself told Moses that were ALWAYS going to be sins.
Skip forward to Jesus, the prophets never got it right, they always fell, so God sent his own Son, to be the new and everlasting covenant with ALL man, not just a the Jews.
Jesus abolished the old punishments (stoning ect.) and showed us the new way that introduced Forgiveness, Love for each other and Peace. The Old Testament did not get thrown out though. It still is needed in order to better understand the New Testament.
That is why the 10 Commandments are not abolished and the punishment laws (there is a name for them I cannot recall) got abolished.
If you want more information, go to www.Catholic.com
and yes, I am a Catholic in the US
2006-10-04 17:06:41 · answer #3 · answered by C 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There were things that were allowed and things that were the law.
Stonings, slavery and multiple wives were tolerated.
Being unclean during your menstral cycle and not eating pork were cleanliness laws for the protection of the people from illness and disease.
The 10 Commandments are God's law, period.
That's just the way He wants things.
The New Testament did away with the dietary laws since the Gentiles did not practice them and couldn't be expected to abide by Mosaic laws when they were new to the faith.
Thus, the laws that were for common sense and living were relaxed while the laws that were identified as being God's Commandments were kept since those are very specific to everyone and not just those of Jewish ancestry.
2006-10-04 17:00:40 · answer #4 · answered by sworddove 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Well, first off you're talking about two different religions here. Christianity has deviated far from the Jewish side of its roots. They definitely pick and choose what they want to take on -- and yes, they have perfected hypocrisy, citing Biblical texts when it suits them and ignoring the rest.
A huge part of the difference is that Christianity sees the 'OT' (no, it's called Torah or at least try the Pentateuch (Greek for five implementations, i.e. five books)) as static, superceded by their canon. In Jewish tradition, it's a dynamic and living document, part of a 4000 year long debate on how to best live ethically. That's a big difference. We go back to the old texts again and again and consider and reconsider how they apply to our present circumstances. Those interpretations vary considerably, which makes for a truly rich religion.
2006-10-04 16:58:11 · answer #5 · answered by The angels have the phone box. 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
1 - Stonings are still legal, but according to Jesus, only the one without sin gets to cast the stones.
2 - Slavery was legal, but had to release the slave after 7 years of service.
3 - Women are still unclean while menstruating.
4 - Ask a dietician, pork is still unclean.
5 - Multiple wives were never condoned.
6 - Ten commandments are the basis of the laws of our founding fathers.
7 - No such thing as talking snakes in the entire bible.
Non denominational.
Gospel church of God in Jesus Christ longtime member
2006-10-04 16:58:50 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
The Old Testament is a written account of the religious experiences of the ancient Hebrews.
2006-10-04 16:52:27 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
In the New Testament there is reference to the 10 commandments, that makes them valid. We don't want you to believe anything, that's just what we believe. I also don't see the relevance to the snake and creation in regard to the question.
2006-10-04 16:51:12 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Good question. It all changes because of Jesus. Before Jesus's time, people had to do a lot of crazy stuff to keep them clean of sin. Mainly through sacrifices, killing perfectly clean animals. Jesus lived a perfectly clean (sinless) life, and became everyone's sacrifice.
God as one big plan for mankind. Before Jesus, that was his plan, with all those rules about things found in Leviticus and other books in the old testament. The next phase of God's great plan is in action, it's the phase before Jesus returns. In this period in time, we are simply not required to do all these rules, though many new ones are mentioned in the new testament, like "love your enemies" and stuff like that. God wrote these rules not to be a big Boss over us, but to show us how bad of sinners everyone is. That's where grace comes in.
2006-10-04 16:57:04 · answer #9 · answered by Lord_French_Fry 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
People were stoned because they were living in a theocracy. They sinned willingly after being taught from birth the correct behavior. There is no true theocracy in today's world. There are no priests and no sacrifices because Christ became the Passover Lamb.
The Ten Commandments are still in effect because Revelation refers to the patience of the saints, those keeping the commandments of God.
The celebration days of Leviticus are in effect (without the animal sacrifices - Christ became the sacrifice). The days are mentioned in the New Testament.
Eating pork is just as unhealthy now as it was 4000 years ago. Of course, it is not as important as keeping the ten commandments.
For a long explanation:
God's Law: Should We Trash It?
Free from 8v@8v.com
Christ freed us from the penalty of breaking the law.
He saves us from our sins not in our sins.
And sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4).
2006-10-04 16:50:15 · answer #10 · answered by onelm0 7 · 0⤊ 6⤋