Do Jews still uphold the violent old laws?

Question

Christians say that laws like stoning your disobedient child and all the rules about food no longer apply because of the new covenant from Jesus.

As far as I know modern Jews do not follow those laws to the letter anymore either. Did they receive a different, new covenant or go through a reform like Catholicism?

Answer 1

The laws are still in force, but the Christians reading the Tanach (what you refer to as the old testament) have no understanding of the issues involved since you do not study the accompanying oral law- that was finally written down and explained in the Talmud after the destruction of the second Temple so it would not be forgotten. So as explained int he Talmud, Masechta Sanhedrin, these are the requirements for a death penalty in Judaism:
The death penalty is used in the Torah (five books of Moses) to illustrate that a sin is particularly grievous- it was actually VERY RARE for a death penalty to be passed by a sanhedrin. Why?
1) There have to be two kosher witnesses- in other words two people that nobody could accuse of having publicly sinned
2) They had to warn the people that the act they were about to engage in was acapital offense.
3) The people had to ACKNOWLEDGE the warning and then, in front of the witnesses, engage in the act.
4) The offense would be taken before a Sanhedrin (court) with at least 21 judges.
5) The witnesses would be cross examined seperately and neither was allowed to hear the other's testimony.
6) ANY discrepancy, no matter how small, was grounds for dismissal
7) Witnesses were reluctant to come forward since if the charges were dropped, you were tried for bearing false witness- and the penalty would be the one that would have been carried out on the people against whom you had testified (so in this case- death, in many other cases a monetary fine)
8) Due to the extreme difficulty in getting a verdict in a capital offense, the Talmud in masechta Sanhedrim remarks that a Sanhedrin that coinvicted more than two people to death in seven years was bloodthirsty and not allowed to judge in trials for capital offenses (there is a minority opinion there that two deaths in SEVENTY years invalidated a sanhedrin from hearing capital offenses).

Answer 2

jewish law cannot exactly be considered "violent". it is actually very humane.

in matters of law, judaism follows the "oral torah". the orthodox belief is that G-d gave moses the written torah at sinai, but also explained to him the true meaning behind the torah and its laws, called "oral torah." this oral knowledge was eventually written down by ancient rabbis who feared the knowledge would be lost if they did not, since the jews of their time were being rapidly assimilated into foreign cultures and forgetting their own religion. you have probably heard of the talmud before.

so whereas the written torah might prescribe the death penalty for something, the oral torah says "actually..." and gives a whole bunch of rules and restrictions which basically make it impossible for the death penalty to actually be implemented in virtually any imaginable case.

the assumption in jewish law is the G-d's law is necessarily perfectly just. there are no faults in it - there CAN'T be any faults, since G-d created the law, and obviously G-d knows what he is talking about. so what you basically get is a tradition which struggles to make absolutely sure that legal injustice cannot happen.

since there cannot be any faults in G-d's law, it must then be assumed that the law is so perfect and just that it literally cannot punish an innocent person.

in capital cases, it is ESPECIALLY important to make sure no innocent people are ever punished, because if an innocent person was given the death penalty that means that -G-d's law is unjust and imperfect. therefore the law makes absolutely sure that there is no possibility of an innocent person ever being punished for a crime they did not commit. so the law goes through every scenario and eventually what you get is this:

what if the person didn't actually commit the crime? oral torah solution - there MUST have been a witness.

but what if the witness lied? oral torah solution - not just one witness is satisfactory, but instead there must have been TWO witnesses

what if one is lying and the other is telling the truth? oral torah solution - they MUST give the exact same story when questioned separately.

if the stories are different, how do you know who is telling the truth? oral torah solution - don't take any chances on believing the wrong person, so dismiss the entire case

what if the person did not know they were breaking a law? oral torah's solution - the person MUST have been informed by a witness at the scene that it was illegal.

what if the person did not hear the witness tell them it was illegal? oral torah solution - the person MUST have acknowledged that they heard.

what you get after all this is a legal sytem is that is ultimately rendered completely unable to sentence a person to capital punishment. it is a legal system that is highly ethical and merciful as well extremely advanced, especially considering how ancient jewish law is. even compared to modern american law regarding capital punishment, jewish law is more ethical. there are countless people who have been executed in the US who never would have made it to death row if they had been tried under jewish law. jewish law regarding capital punishment was not only ahead of ITS time, but is usually ahead of OUR time, too.

logically, the next question is, why would G-d state so many crimes that deserved the death penalty, but then give to the people a complex system of law in which they could never actually administer the death penalty for the crime?

the answer is in ezekiel 18:23 -

"Is it my desire that a wicked person shall die?" says the Lord God. "It is rather that he shall turn back from his ways and live."

just because G-d says that a crime deserves death does not mean G-d wants that person to die. what G-d really desires is for a person to realize they have done wrong, and to change their ways and begin to do good instead. the death penalty robs a person of the second chance G-d wants them to have.

Answer 3

You cannot understand those "old" laws unless you're familiar with the Talmud which includes the interpretation of laws, much like case law of today. Do you really think our court system would work if all we had to read was the constitution? That's exactly the case with the laws found in the Hebrew Bible. I could give you a more lengthy explanation, but the simplest one is that all the sentences listed in the Tanakh ("Old" Testament) are the *maximum* punishments. Here in the U.S., many states include the death penalty for murder, but that penalty is seldom applied. Do you really expect that people of Biblical times were idiots? Do you really believe that they "stoned" people for accidental murder?

BTW, "stoning" is not what we think of today. Before a "stoning" took place, a trial by jury was required, including two eye witnesses, and the person must have been admonished in advance that what he was about to do was a sin. "Stoning" was the Biblical method of execution and it was by one large stone which killed instantly so as not to incur extended suffering.

It was the Romans (as in ROMAN Catholic Church) that delighted in extended pain and suffering. It brings them closer to God you see. The epitome of Christian pain and suffering is eternal torment for non-believers!
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Answer 4

It's a proven fact that the drinking of red meat may also be harmful to ones wellness. It's additionally precise that underneath the Law, Jehovah [Yahweh] forbidded his persons to consume this meals. However, discover what the Bible within the guide of Acts 10:nine-sixteen: nine The subsequent day as they had been pursuing their travel and had been drawing near the town, Peter went as much as the housetop approximately the 6th hour to wish. 10 But he grew to be very hungry and desired to consume. While they had been making ready, he fell right into a trance eleven and beheld heaven opened and a few type of vessel descending like a first-rate linen sheet being allow down by means of its 4 extremities upon the earth; 12 and in it there have been all types of 4-footed creatures and creeping matters of the earth and birds of heaven. thirteen And a voice got here to him: “Rise, Peter, slaughter and consume!” 14 But Peter mentioned: “Not in any respect, Lord, considering the fact that in no way have I eaten whatever defiled and unclean.” 15 And the voice [spoke] once more to him, the moment time: “You quit calling defiled the matters God has cleansed.” sixteen This happened a 3rd time, and instantly the vessel was once taken up into heaven.

Answer 5

No we do not follow anything like that.
According to the Talmus, even though the death sentence is spelled out in the OT, a Sanhedrin (high court) which gave out one death sentence per seventy years was considered bloody.
For more information about the Sanhedrin:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanhedrin
For more information about the Talmud:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud

Answer 6

They have realized that these laws are arcane and inhumane but this still does not deter them from believing the parts they like.

Answer 7

No,not any I know whether Orthodox,Conservative,Reformed ,Reconstructionist,Humanist, or Messianic