Do Christians who say the OT laws no longer apply feel there ever WAS a time when they could morally apply?

Question

Killing people for working on the Sabbath to name one...
Could there have EVER been a time when this wouldn't have been absolutely odious?

Answer 1

Christians who disregard the Old Testament as not pertaining to them forgot the New Testament parts which say that salvation is of the Jew...also that as Christians we are adopted into the spiritual family of Israel. In other words, we become spiritual Jews when we become followers of the Jew named Yeshua aka Jesus.
He said Himself that He did not come to do anything to the laws but to fulfill the prophecies which the sacrificial system pointed to. The 10 Commandments were not done away with either, just rephrased by Jesus when He said the two Great Commandments are to love and serve God with your heart, body, and mind...and to love your fellow humans as you love yourself. He said that all the laws hang on those two commandments. The different people that God told the Israelites to kill in the OT were historically defiant of God's desires for them...they are those which rejected God as soon as they were old enough to get off of Grandpa Noah's knees and do their own thing. Generations of depravity, the people were given over to self indulgence and lust as our modern society is...where we say homosexuality is ok, abortion is ok, premarital sex is ok...etc. So as individuals, and as organized Church bodies...true Christians need to embrace truth, and continue on the journey toward more light. Jesus gives all sinners a chance. We have no right to condemn the people for their sins, because they will condemn themselves on judgment day, if they fail to repent and surrender to Christ!

Answer 2

You are misinterpreting the passage. Jesus refers to the law and the prophets, and not the legalities of the law. He is talking about that which is found in the "law and the prophets" that has the potential to be fulfilled or destroyed. Seeing as no laws are codified in the prophets, your interpretation is flawed. Also, if you read further in the narrative of chapter 5, you will see that Jesus alters and even nullifies points of that law. So either you are wrong, or Jesus contradicts Himself big time in chapter 5. But if the law remains inviolate down to the strokes of the letters of the law, then why are you not keeping it all? Perform any sacrifices lately? Did you hop on a plane and go to Jerusalem three times a year to observe those particular holy days that require your presence there? Do you advocate circumcision? It was a point of that law that superseded the sabbath, being more important than the sabbath. Do you tithe of the increase of your produce and livestock? Or do you tithe of your wages, contrary to the law, and give this to ministers, also contrary to the law?

Answer 3

This man that gathered sticks, did so in a place where this would take all day (the desert wilderness, does not have many sticks). This man KNEW the law, SAW the miracles and even with all this did a PUBLIC act of rebellion against God. The man received a just punishment, for his crime.

This particular judgment is what is considered a civil law not a moral law. Moral law are perpetual, while civil laws only apply directly to Israel as a nation, and ceased around 70 AD. That being said, I should mention that there are moral truths found within the civil laws. One is that government should not allow non-essential businesses to be opened on Sunday.

Answer 4

Many of the laws that were recorded in the OT were man-made laws. They're not all meant to be represented as something that G-d commanded. In the past practically all cultures were known far having extremely cruel punishments for minor crimes. I think a little more research would clear up which laws were which.

BTW, I am Jewish, if that helps.

Answer 5

I am not a Christian, but I think there are (at least) two funny things about this:

1) Christians pick and choose which OT laws they wanna follow (or rather, enforce), and conveniently overlook the ones they don't like. Leviticus 19, for example, is full of laws that no Christian follows, and few even know about, like Lev. 19:19: "'Keep my decrees.
" 'Do not mate different kinds of animals.
" 'Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed.
" 'Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material."
Also, 19:27-28:
"Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.
'Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD."

These are mentioned right after actually good commandments, like "Don't spread gossip" and "Don't hate your brother."

2) They'll quote the OT on homosexuality till kingdom come, about how it's "an abomination," but they won't add that gays should be stoned, as it also says IN THE SAME VERSE (Lev. 20:13). You don't hear that one from Christians very often, now that Falwell is dead. And Jesus himself said (at least according to the author of Matthew): "I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." (Mt. 5:18). Have heaven and earth disappeared yet? I'm looking around, and it doesn't seem like it. So Christians just cover their eyes when they see this passage, even though it's part of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus apparently wanted us to keep on stoning gays, as well as stop wearing tattoos and clothes made of cotton AND polyster. So let's get to it, guys!

P.S. Oh, and by the way, one excuse Christians use for disregarding some OT laws is that they were intended to "set Israel apart" from other nations. They weren't to have tattoos because pagan cults wore tattoos, and God wanted the Israelites to be distinct from them. Since there are no more pagan cults, that law doesn't apply anymore. But the same logic could be used just as plausibly against homosexuality: Lots of pagan cults, at least according to the OT, allowed homosexuality. Maybe God was just trying to keep Israel "distinct" from the pagans by forbidding homosexuality. And that situation doesn't apply anymore either. So what's the difference?

Answer 6

Yes.

When the Israelites were wandering in the desert for 40 years.

They needed a weekly day of rest, and without that, they would have had an unbearable time of it.

I doubt anybody had to be put to death. The prescribed penalty simply made it tough to argue with Moses.

Moses had enough problems to deal with.

He was obviously too stubborn to stop and ask for directions, and he had already been in trouble with God for striking the rock more than once.

Answer 7

I take it that during those times God was at the beginning stages of establishing a company of believers. Like a start-up business, extreme care had to be taken to keep the company from failure. The rules were strict, like the rules of a military outfit, and dissension could mean disaster. As strangers in a strange land, as pioneers in a hostile frontier following such rules were absolutely necessary.

Answer 8

God demands obedience. God demands perfection. Unless you obey the Law perfectly, you're not getting into heaven. God set those laws to set the Israelites apart so that the world would know God was with them. The penalty for sin is death, so if you were to pick up sticks on the Sabbath, you would be executed. I don't recall it saying that God approved of this, so this text may indicate our habit of turning our relationship with God into a religion. Jesus criticized the Pharisees for being more concerned with the letter of the Law than the spirit of the Law. So, this may have been a case of them being more concerned about the letter of the law than its purpose.

Answer 9

Christians were not on earth during the time of the old testament but under Jewish law in the old.If you really disagree with this get on the Jews not Christians.Also it was a different time and a different culture,and 914 Jewish laws to be followed

Answer 10

The Sabbath was a HOLY DAY and it was known well in advance what GOD expected of HIS People. They were very aware that this was the LAW of the land. The Jewish people did not question it. Why should we? That time was much different than this one. Men were expected to be real men and women had their place inj the home. Have a nice week.
Thanks,
Eds


.