Why do we pick and choose which religious mandates we carry out?

Question

If I remember correctly, the bible mandates both animal sacrifice and slavery, for example.

Answer 1

Do you really hope to have theological questions answered comprehensively here in this forum? The sacrifices were in the old Mosaic covenant. We have a new covenant now, bought with the blood of Jesus Christ, the only suitable sacrifice. He did what all those sacrifices were unable to do, which is pay the price of our sin. That's why when Jesus died, the curtain to the Holy of Holies was torn. We now have access to God by the grace of God through faith in His Son's atoning death. We don't need priests anymore, we are priests.
Slavery was tolerated in the past, but not in the sense of dehumanizing people or being cruel to them. We were never commanded to have slaves. We cannot relate to ancient consciousness, but Paul included slave traders in his list of reprehensible characters in 1st Timothy chapter 1. If you really want to understand, I wish you God speed on your quest. People who have studied the Bible for close to a century will tell you in amazement how fresh and vital the word remains no matter how long they study it, and how they are always deriving new revelations and knowledge from it as God leads them higher and higher into spiritual wisdom and understanding. It starts when the Holy Spirit convinces you of sin, of God's righteousness and judgment. There you receive the gift of eternal life and the Holy Spirit regenerates you into a child of light and then you can begin to understand the plan of salvation. It is step one on a journey that we are all called Home from somewhere along the line.

Answer 2

Read The New Testament and follow Christs teachings He is the ultimate sacrifice

Answer 3

Protestantism.

Orthodoxy requires you carry out THOSE mandated by THOSE in authority.

Answer 4

And stoning for disrespecting your parents. The reason is that we (or most of us) have better morals than those advocated by the Bible.