Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

Should Christians have actually abandoned so many Old Testament rules?

Matthew 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Acts 10:15 Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. (referring to "unclean" animals, so the kosher diet)

Are Christians actually supposed to follow the OT? It seems silly to only pay attention to half the Bible, but difficult to figure out which of the myriad rules (613+ have been enumerated by rabbis) count today and which don't because the Temple was destroyed, leprosy has a cure, and we don't have slaves anymore (thank God).

26 Answers

Relevance
  • 10 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    The law has not passed away, it has been fulfilled. Christ fulfill all the requirement of the law that we could not. This is part of what we are placing our faith in when we place our faith in him and what he has done. This is what the book of Galatians was addressing. For that matter it is take up in Romans and many other of Paul's books. We are no longer under the law but under grace. What to talk more drop me a line.

  • ?
    Lv 5
    10 years ago

    The Old Testament laws are the Laws of Moses, which dutiful Jews were expected to follow to be right with God. Laws such as don't shave your face, eat shrimp, play football, or have sex during menstruation. Now, the Jews would follow these rules all year long culminating in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, where they would sacrifice a lamb to atone for their sins. When Jesus was sacrificed he thus BECAME the lamb, and we no longer had to follow the Laws of Moses to be right with God...'thou shalt not get to Heaven through works alone".....also, according to Galatians if you pick and choose which parts of Leviticus to follow and which to dismiss you are cursed: Gal 3:10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” and if you are trying to follow any Levitical law then Christ died for nothing: Galatians 2:21 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. That's a pretty powerful statement right there, so let it absorb: "If keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die"

    Go ahead and check the label of your shirt....is it a poly cotton blend? If so, you're a sinner. Unless, of course, you follow Christ, in which case you'd be cursed for following some Levitical Law and dismissing others.

    So let's just go ahead and disregard Levitical and Exodus law, because of Christ's sacrifice we are no longer bound by the Laws of Moses.

    PS- this is the same reason that anyone who cites Leviticus 18:22 as a reason to condemn/oppress/harm/deny rights to gay people is an idiot who doesn't know what their own scripture says.

    Source(s): Atheist who knows her shit.
  • Anonymous
    10 years ago

    The Old Testament is the History of the Jews from Abraham through Slavery in Egypt, through the Exodus to the Promised Land.,,,with God as the leading source; however, the Jews had two different kinds of Laws; their traditional laws and the Religious Laws.

    The Jews often mistook traditional laws for Religious and Many times Jesus condemned Jewish religious leaders for putting traditional laws before the true laws of God.

  • ?
    Lv 4
    5 years ago

    What the author of the object fails to observe is that it somewhat is all concerning the "previous" covenant; a covenant that had because of the fact the events to it, God and the Israelites of previous. have been Christians modern-day and made a occasion to that covenant? No. are you able to be legally held to the situations of a covenant you're no longer a occasion to? No. the author only demonstrates his lack of understanding on the priority of covenants. it truly is truly a case of him utilising the previous covenant regulation as a straw guy argument related to homosexuality, which became customary as a sin and opposite to the want of God long before that covenant got here into being, and reiterated as such after that covenant ended. You ask if we are sinning? No. A Christian's sins have been bumped off by using Christ, and the Christian's existence is now hid in Christ. Can Christ sin? No. are you able to do something incorrect? specific, even though it is not accounted to you as a sin that leads to your being decrease off from God. we are under Grace, and not regulation. it somewhat is a annoying concept for many to comprehend, as maximum of church homes truly coach the different as a technique of controlling their individuals. .

  • How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
  • 10 years ago

    matthew 5:18 jesus is talking to his fellow countrymen

    the jews were required to follow the law

    jesus fulfilled most of the law by his death and resurrection from the dead

    Are Christians actually supposed to follow the OT?

    no were not, the law condemns us as sinners worthy of death

    we are saved by the grace of god not by observance of the OT laws

    KJV: Galatians Chapter 5

    [3] For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

    [4] Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

    [5] For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

  • Cj
    Lv 4
    10 years ago

    The answer is yes.

    The world would be an awful and scary place to live if every Christian followed every rule in the Bible. D:

    Imagine all the people who would have to be killed for working on Sunday D:

  • Anonymous
    10 years ago

    With my personal believes aside(I'm an Atheist), I think that christians should abandon some laws. Keep in mind, it was written 2,000+ years ago. Anyone could have said

    "I don't like those gays, I can just change this phrase and give it to my friends."

    Think about how easy it could be for someone to add to it. Eventhough, I think it was all by people, I think that christians should reconize this.

    Source(s): Athiest.
  • 10 years ago

    The Book of Acts says a lot about Paul:

    Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. And as he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" And the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads." So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" And the Lord said to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." 7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one (Acts 9:1-8, NKJV throughout unless otherwise noted).

    And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight." Then Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake." And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. Then all who heard were amazed, and said, "Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?" But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ (Acts 9:12-22).

    Saul, who also is called Paul (Acts 13:9).

    5 For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes (Acts 24:5).

    Though his critics called him a Nazarene, early Christians were called this frequently, see also Nazarene Christianity: Were the Original Christians Nazarenes?

  • Marcus
    Lv 4
    10 years ago

    Indeed they should, and not a century too soon. The rules of mostly illiterate bronze age holy men from Palestine could hardly be more silly from today's perspective.

  • Anonymous
    10 years ago

    FULFILLED is the key word here, Jesus fulfilled them! We do not have to live by all those old laws. Only the 10 commandments are universal and Jesus said if we keep 2 - love God and love neighbor we will have them covered.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.