What is the official Christian criteria for determining which parts of the OT are obeyed & which are ignored?

Question

Case in point : Leviticus 18:22 & 20: 13 are often quoted as the Biblical justification for the prohibition of gay marriage
What I don't get is how you can pay attention to that and yet ignore all of Leviticus 11 which are basically Kosher dietary rules and all of Leviticus 15 which basically deals with rules of behavior for and around menstruating women.
So what's the official criteria for picking and chosing ?

Most of you have done a great job giving informative answers and I admire that. It is going to be really hard giving a "Best Answer " Thanks.

Answer 1

I think there are several ways. The first depends on your Christian sect, i.e. are you Catholic, Baptist, etc. Different sects decide with conferences and councils. For example, the council of Nicea in year 325 essentially decided if Jesus would be considered in co-existence with G-d, or if Jesus and G-d were the same. But more to the point, some of it has to do with what Jesus supposedly said when speaking of the O.T. For example, Jesus states at one point that the old laws no longer matter, and he also made a statement about not needing to keep kosher, something along the lines on "it's not what you eat, it's who you are that matters." (I'm not an expert on scripture), but you get the idea.

Lastly, on a side note, your question also relates to why Jews don't recognize Jesus as holy or the Messiah.

Throughout the New Testament, Jesus contradicts the Torah and states that its commandments are no longer applicable. (see John 1:45 and 9:16, Acts 3:22 and 7:37) For example, John 9:14 records that Jesus made a paste in violation of Shabbat, which caused the Pharisees to say (verse 16), "He does not observe Shabbat!"

The Bible (the OT) states that anyone coming to contradict the Torah should be reagrded as a false prophet). See Deut. 13:1-4)

p.s., it may also have to do with the Bible itself, for example the King James version is considered to have many translation mistakes by scholars. If you want to be sure to get an accurate translation buy an OT printed from a Jewish source-- (sure I'm biased because I'm Jewish, but if you do the reasearch you will learn that several Christian versions of the OT have mistranslations, made to fit the Christian agenda).

Answer 2

Read Romans 7, for example. Christians are not under the Mosaic Law, we are under the Law of Messiah (Grace). Therefore, anyone denouncing a subject shouldn't quote the Mosaic Law, they should quote Jesus' Law. In this case, quoting Romans 1:26-27, 1 Cor. 6:9-10 and Rev. 21:8 (among others) is sufficient to prove homosexuality is wrong under the New Covenant.

Answer 3

Good question. I hate when Christians pick and choose.
The Old Testament is useful for teaching precepts, but we are not under obligation to keep the Law (Romans 6:14). Rather we are under the Law of Christ/ the Law of love/Grace.

However, Christ does mention some dos and don't & at times recalls what was said in the OT.

I am a Christian, pastor, Bible student, heck I even dig into the languages. And I hate it when people pick and choose too.
I love reading the OT, but submit myself to the teachings of the NT & following God voice.
Summary: NT+GV>OT

Regarding gay marriage, the NT clearly addresses this issue.

Answer 4

Good question wrong Testament, you see the word Christian means that we do not follow the old laws or the Mosaic Laws of the Old Testament, we follow Christ and his new covenant with mankind. Pauls letters were the first address this issue, but the major concept is that the original covenant with Man, was to procreate, progeny, and man can only do this with woman. So we dont pick and chose, we believe in that which has been handed down via tradition and doctrine, and above all faith in God's revelation to man.

Answer 5

Caution; (From a Christian).
Caution; Just because the views of most atheists are questionable; so are views of most 'Christians' here in Y presently. 2 Tim. 3:16-17 tells us 'all scripture is given by inspiration of God...', yet many 'Christians' in hte USA use a non-scripture to define 'old testament' versus a different 'definition' scripture(s). The 'scriptural old testament' is the law of Moses; which starts Exodus 20, and concludes Deut. 27 inclusive. (Be aware that not all texts between those ends are 'law'. The 'law of Moses' authority ended when Christ died on the cross. Perhaps 'Christians' are 'turning off' atheists in Y because of the inconsistency.

Answer 6

The OT is written for our learning. Romans 15 4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. We can learn from these verses that God hates two people of the same sex being together. This is not only a sin against Gof but a sin against nature. Romans 1: 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Romans 1: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. Romans 1: 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: Romans 1: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. Romans 1: 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

Answer 7

That which is repeated in the Christian Greek Scriptures, or New Testament.

It was foretold that the New Covenant would replace the Old Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34.

Answer 8

It depend on what makes a better political issue.

Take abortion for instance:
“If men harm a woman with child so that here fruit depart her…they should pay a fine as determined by a judge.” This seems to say abortion is a minor sin in God's eyes.
Exodus 21:22 KJV
Doesn´t this mean abortion is a minor sin?

Certainly not as serious as "working on the Sabath" which is in the ten commandments, and God says we should stone or neighbor to death for doing.

But how can we call for a Constitutional ammendment against working on the Sabbath?

Answer 9

You must have a solid grounding in biblical hermeneutics first.

The term hermeneutics was derived from two words--the Greek verb hermeneuein, meaning to interpret, and the noun hermeneia, meaning interpretation.

It described as the development and study of theories and interpretation of the understanding of texts.

Some principles to keep in mind as you interpret the bible:
- Understanding the subject according to its social and historical context
- Assessing the historical social construction between the researcher and the subject
- Relating ideographic details to general theoretical concepts through abstraction and generalization
- Being sensitive to potential pre-conceptual theoretical contradictions between research design and actual findings
- Being aware of possible multiple interpretations among participants for a given sequence of events
- Being conscious of potential biases or systematic distortions in the subject’s narratives

A good text to start with: "Principles of Biblical Interpretation", by Louis Berkhof

Start here:
http://www.bible-interpretation.com/
http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/Hermeneutics/

Answer 10

There is no 'official criteria' for picking and choosing any Biblical quote ... and the two of which you speak are actually talking about male 'prostitutes' not about 'gays' in general ... but the word 'prostitute' was left out of most of the translations of the Bible from the 'original' Hebrew ...