Why don't Chrisians follow the laws of the Old Testament?

Question

I mean Jesus did say "I came not to change the law", right?
Besides the Ten Commandments, why don't they follow the other, wierder laws? Why don't they never shave their beards or temples? Why dosen't a woman have to leave the village if she is menstrating? Why don't they observe the laws on Kosher food? And so on....
Was it just because it would be hard to recruit Romans into the faith?

Answer 1

Because they do what is easy.

Answer 2

You only quoted part of Jesus statement. What he said was, "I came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it".

When you look at the Old Testament Law, the majority of it had to do with sacrifices, rituals and feast. The offering of bulls and goats for sin, or the washing of hands after touching something unclean, or the celebrating of the Passover, Pentecost, etc. These different rituals were never intended by God to be permanent. Rather they were "pictures" (the book of Hebrews calls them "shadows") of the coming Messiah, Jesus.

Jesus was the Passover Lamb. He fulfilled that ritual with his death. The Feast that the Jews had been eating for 1500 years was suppose to prepare them to recognize the REAL Lamb, Jesus, when he came.

Jesus was the Sin Offering. He fulfilled the ritual when he took our sins to the cross. The Sacrifices were to prepare the people to recognize the REAL sacrifice when He came.

Once Jesus had come, and FULFILLED all of the Old Testament rituals, there was no reason to continue to perform them. They no longer needed the rituals to prepare them to recognize Jesus. Now that he had made the REAL sacrifice, the "shadow" ones where no longer needed.

Read the book of Hebrew (near the end of the New Testament). It explains the whole thing in that book.

Jesus did not change the law. He fulfilled it.

Answer 3

Think of this in a sports reference: Jesus said that he won't abolish the TEAM, but he WILL get rid of players and bring in players. He gets rid of two old testament laws (eye for an eye, and hate your enemies) in the exact same chapter that he says "I have not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it." So is Jesus contradicting himself? NO! He's just saying-indirectly-that the RULES WITHIN the law (or the PLAYERS on the TEAM) will change, but the ACTUAL LAW ITSELF (or the actual TEAM itself) will NEVER CHANGE.

Think about it: the Los Angeles Lakers have been around since the 60's, but has KOBE BRYANT been on the team since the 60's? No! The Lakers have had hundreds of players come and go since the 60's, BUT THE TEAM ITSELF remains. They were called the Los Angeles Lakers in the 60's, and they are called the Los Angeles Lakers now! The PLAYERS come and go, but THE TEAM has the same name!

In the same way, the LAW stays the same, but the RULES come and go. The LAW will ALWAYS be there, but the RULES WITHIN the LAW will change-and HAVE changed.

That's why we don't have to follow alot of the Old Testament rules anymore. There will always be a LAW, but the RULES WITHIN THE LAW can change!

Answer 4

We still follow the old law, but interpret it in the light of the new law or the New Testament of Jesus. We also follow Paul's advice that we, believers of Jesus, are no longer bound to the old law, but to the new law which makes the old law perfect. The new law is the law of the love of Jesus. Therefore, we let the Spirit of Jesus who is alive in us continue to live in grace and perfect the way we practice the law of love - which is found both in the Old Testament and New Testament

Answer 5

"The Law" that Jesus says is not to be changed is the Ten Commandments. And the beard and menstration things were cultural things that pure Jewish culture abides by.

And it's Christians. With a "t."

Answer 6

Half of what Jesus does is directly contradict Old Testament laws... But Christians do follow some Old Testament laws, and what people decide to follow or not as far as I can tell is rooted in tradition and therefore completely arbitrary, just like most organised religion.

Answer 7

Because the common religious minded man has never understood (or wanted to for that matter) that Christianity is a lesser sect of Judaism.

It's like Protestant is Catholic Light... 1/3 less guilt.

Christianity is Judaism light. All of the God and none of their rules. (or tastes great and less filling... I can never remember?)

Anyhoo...

Jesus came and did what He did to forfill the covenant and amend the laws. Without Jesus all you really have is a bunch of rules that are outdated and in most cases can't even be legally performed now days... "The letter of the law kills."

Honestly and all joking aside... Most of those laws existed for the times they were created for reasons that had little to do with pissing God off. They were mostly for practical reasons. Like pigs for instance... Pigs were not nomadic animals and the Jews were nomadic tribes so. Why eat something that would not do well if you traveled with it? Not to mention they do live in their own sh*it and carry parasites that are mostly done away with now.

We can eat it now... Because of Jesus? Men have to mystify and complicate everything just to make them feel alive sometimes and they have always liked to put Gods name to it to make it sound official.

I don;t think that God had much to do with it for anything other than practical reasons... He always has said above everything else... "Use your wisdom."

Answer 8

Because when Jesus died on the cross, the Old Testament was fulfilled and the New began. The laws of the Old Testament are not binding on us today because Jesus nailed them to his cross.Colossians2:14. We are to learn from the OT, but we are not bound by it anymore. The law of Moses ended when Christ died.

Answer 9

Jesus came to perfect the old laws mostly pertaining to the commandments. in the catholic church you will find in what areas these laws and practices have been perfected for example the passover meal has now through Christ become the Eucharist. we through Christ are entered into the new covenant and so we no longer need such things as animal sacrifice as Jesus himself paid the ultimate sacrifice for us. to understand better salvationhistory.com has a good free study lesson covering salvation history(self explanatory) and other topics you may be struggling to understand,you can do it at your own pace.

Answer 10

here may i elaborate. in ten commandments. Thou shall not commit adultery. in the New Testament.

But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Matthew 5:28
King James Version

jesus christ laws takes away the root first.

Answer 11

No, Jesus said, "I come not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." That's completely different than your misquote. Christians don't follow the laws of the OT... many cults do. I encourage you to pick up a good translation of the Bible and read it for yourself.