What parts of the Old Testament "count?"?

Because people tend to choose the bits that are remotely plausible and make sense and ignore the bits that don't. Convenient, huh?

It is a good question asked with tact.

One has to approach the entire Bible and study it for years. The history in the OT was written from different traditions. Check out plaintalkchurch.org under bible study and why is the Bible so hard to understand. That will explain a lot. Once a person understands the entire thing they know that a lot of it is stories that were oral tradition first and then were written down decades apart and then fitted together. The stories were written during and after the exile to show the Jews by the Jewish writers how they the chosen poeple lost their homeland. Ruth, Danial, Esther, are not true stories. And I don't think Joseph in Gen is true. These are stories inspired by God to reveal the nature of God. Noah is not true. But the point is that we can learn from those stories. The Bible should not be taken literally and that is what confuses people. Often times the oral traditions took a little truth and embellished it turning into a story that makes the writers point.

If you have any specific questions you may email me. I have five years of seminary and have a Dmin.

...We just discussed this in Sunday school, the Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT). ...The entire Bible is our guidebook for life. We find this in 2 Timothy 3:16-17:

...16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

...17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

**

...Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. The OT contained types or foreshadowings of things to come. The OT had many laws to follow for the nation Israel, and we are not subject to them today under the New Covenant.

**

...For believers, Christ paid for all our sins, and now we live by the law of love - Matthew 22:37-40 says this:

...37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’

...38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

...39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

...40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

**

...And in Romans 13 we find this:

...8 Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.

**

...We are not to discard the Old Testament, though. There are many principles and lessons to learn there, and that is where you will learn what God says about what is right and wrong.

...In Romans 15:4 we read, "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encourage of the Scriptures we might have hope."

...We follow God's leading today by being filled (controlled) by the Holy Spirit, by reading God's word, and listening to godly counsel.

...The only other thing I can think to say is this: To understand the Scriptures, you must be a Christian. See 1 Corinthians 2:14

...14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

The New Testament tells us that the Old Testament is there for us to learn from, its there as an example for us to follow.

The New Testament also tells us that the 613 Laws of Moses are no longer in effect.

We read that in Colossians chapter 2 and Ephesians chapter 2.

The whole book of Galatians has, as its main purpose, to tell us that following the Jewish laws is not only no longer necessary, it tells us if we try, we have lost our salvation.

If we try we have been cut off from Christ.

To answer your question in depth would take a 3 semester hour long, seminary level class.

I don't have that much room here and even if I had the room, I can't type that fast.

If you still have more questions, feel free to contact me offline.

The link below tells you how.

Pastor Art

All of them! Jesus said that came to this world to fulfill the Old Testament not to change it! He just point out in various situations that we should look for the real reasons behind any action and not to see typically the "action - sin" isolated from everything else. Many times the sinner is not responsible for his/her action alone. Some times others are "hiding" behind someone's actions. "These" shouldn't go unpunished.

Jesus just point out that human fall ability and ignorance should be really considered before any sort of action "against sin". Finally He said that the best judge of all is His self. In case of a serious doubt about the reasons of an occurred sin we should just point that we do not agree with that but do nothing against the person. That applies to Christians and Jews BOTH! That is why Christians have ORDERS not to "judge". That is the point of not "judging": I disagree with the action but I don't know really what is happening. Do not forget that King Solomon had many mistresses. God didn't kill him because of adultery. But punished him all right. No human was permitted to take any action. ;)

Every word of the Bible is important and can be used in some way. Some people use the word by the letter and the bible teaches us that the letter killeth but the Spirit gives life. The word is the incorruptible seed of God. If you want that in laymen terms that means his Sperm, It is a living word meant to reproduce children. That means the word must go forth by the Spirit of truth to bring life but if it is interpreted wrong and used only to prove some mans idea or make doctrines of men it is a deadly concoction that will produce children of disobedience that are of the wrath of God. Jesus said seek ye first the kingdom of God and everything you need would be added to you. If you get your relationship right with God first,

then he will reveal his word to you, what is important in your life. The Holy Spirit is our teacher.

The parts that count are a few really, they make a very short list.

Genesis 1:1- Malachi 4:6

EDIT: Don c- saying we are not under the Mosaic Law does not mean it doesn't "count". From that very Law, we learn principles and learn how God views things.

Examples:

The law about someone hurting an unborn child shows how God feels about abortion.

The laws show how God views animals and that we should treat our pets well.

The laws show that God views life as sacred and so should we, if an accident occurs in your house, your business place or because of your car- YOU have the responsibility of making sure these places are safe for others......

and so much more.....

Learn more at http://www.watchtower.org/

Of course, it all depends on whom you ask.

Most Christians believe that their 'old' testament is identical to the Jewish Torah.

This is not true, though.

The vast majority of Christians are relying on badly translated versions of the Torah, and the proof of this is that they produce ' parts' of the Torah that don't exist, and words and phrases that bear NO relation to the original Hebrew!

To understand Judaism, one needs to have an accurate translation of the Torah.

For Jews, all of the Tanakh, or 'old' testament is of course relevant.

But many Christians 'cherry pick', disregarding some yet adhering to other parts. It's irrational.

It applies for the most part. Many of the Old Testament Prophets talk about today. Other things like all the laws of moses except the 10 commandments, we can forget most of them. Christ and the 12 repeated most of the important ones and didn't talk about the less important ones.

it all counts..... but some of the OT ( old covenant) assists us in understanding the need for the NT (new covenant)... read up on Hebrews chapters 5 ,6 & 7. Also the book of James,especially chapter 2.

Well, if that's true... I agree.

I've never heard any Christians say that some parts of the Old Testament do not "count". that's absurd!

I'm a Christian, and I believe everything in the Bible. (:

hope this helps you out!