Response to "rules of the Old Testament no longer apply"

[hamburglar]

I was explaining to someone why homosexuality is wrong, and eventually the Bible came up, including this passage from Leviticus - "“Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, because it is an abomination.”

They said Old Testament rules no longer apply, otherwise we should be stoning adulterers and such. How should I respond?

 

[fermat]

Jesus would disagree:

Matthew 5:17-18
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.

No, we don’t stone adulterers, but isn’t adultery still wrong?

The laws that pertain to morals, such as those prohibiting homosexual behavior, will never change. Other parts of the law, say about eating pork, were changed because they were not based on a moral basis. These were ways for God’s people to separate themselves from the gentiles in order to keep them pure. Jesus is concerned with the laws governing moral behavior as opposed to those things that are more of a discipline.

 

[DianaCC]

Thou Shalt Not Kill still applies, duh. The simple answer is that OT rules include many moral laws, which still do and always will apply.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

I was explaining to someone why homosexuality is wrong, and eventually the Bible came up, including this passage from Leviticus - "“Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, because it is an abomination.”

They said Old Testament rules no longer apply, otherwise we should be stoning adulterers and such. How should I respond?

Well, perhaps they don’t realize the condemnation of homosexuality still exists in the New Testament. New Testament rules apply, right?

Here you go Revised Standard, 1 Corinthians, Chapter 6: v9:
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.

 

[Keys123]

Jesus would disagree:

Matthew 5:17-18
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.

No, we don’t stone adulterers, but isn’t adultery still wrong?

The laws that pertain to morals, such as those prohibiting homosexual behavior, will never change. Other parts of the law, say about eating pork, were changed because they were not based on a moral basis. These were ways for God’s people to separate themselves from the gentiles in order to keep them pure. Jesus is concerned with the laws governing moral behavior as opposed to those things that are more of a discipline.

Pork is unclean and will always be unclean. It should never be eaten, it is bad to our health. Our body is God’s temple, therefore we should not partake in anything that will harm us.

I agree homosexuality is wrong and will never be right. Adultery is just as wrong and that is in the 10 Commandments. Which means, the 10 Commandments are still in effect. That’s not the topic of discussion though. When people take away the law, issues like the OP state arise and Christians can’t answer them.

The mosaic law was done away with, not the law written by God.

 

[DianaCC]

Pork is unclean and will always be unclean. It should never be eaten, it is bad to our health. Our body is God’s temple, therefore we should not partake in anything that will harm us. … The mosaic law was done away with, not the law written by God.

Now hold on there. What harm is there in sowing two kinds of seeds at once, or in wearing polyester blends? Are you saying those laws weren’t written by God? Or again, failing to get enough exercise is harmful to our health, but I see no “Thou Shalt Join the Y” in my Bible.

 

[TimothyH]

Pork is unclean and will always be unclean. It should never be eaten, it is bad to our health. Our body is God’s temple, therefore we should not partake in anything that will harm us.

I agree homosexuality is wrong and will never be right. Adultery is just as wrong and that is in the 10 Commandments. Which means, the 10 Commandments are still in effect. That’s not the topic of discussion though. When people take away the law, issues like the OP state arise and Christians can’t answer them.

The mosaic law was done away with, not the law written by God.

If there is one thing hanging around Protestants has taught me it is that God’s plan for the salvation of mankind consists of a series of covenants. God established a new covenant, one which Christ ratified upon the cross and sealed with his own blood.

***But now we are released from the law, dead to what held us captive, so that we may serve in the newness of the spirit and not under the obsolete letter. *(Romans 7:6)

We are released from the constraints of the rules of the covenants made in the Old Testament and given grace to live under the requirments of the new covenant which for must of us, do not require adherance to dieatary laws forbidding any particular food. In short, pork was unclean under the rules of the old covenant but God made a new covenant with mankind which does not include a prohibition against pork.

***He [Peter] was hungry and wished to eat, and while they were making preparations he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something resembling a large sheet coming down, lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all the earth’s four-legged animals and reptiles and the birds of the sky. A voice said to him, “Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.” But Peter said, “Certainly not, sir. For never have I eaten anything profane and unclean.” The voice spoke to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.” *(Acts 10:10-15)

As a purly pragmatic matter, the pork we eat today is different from your gandfather’s daily sausage and egg breakfast. Pork is bred to be much leaner nowadays, to the point where I find some lean cuts of pork difficult to cook because of its lack of fat.

Try some good lean pork tenderloin chops braised in pineapple chunks and served with a side of hot applesauce with cinnamon. Cost’s about six bucks to feed a family of four.

-Tim-