I. Introduction
Christians have a tendency to judge each other and non-Christians over minor details in life that will mean nothing in the end, or hold each other accountable to a man made, unreasonable and almost impossible standard, or try to live by (and make others live by) the laws of the Old Testament which are no longer relevant. This has been going on since close to the beginning of time and is one of the less popular and more annoying traits of humanity
or Christianity. If we want to draw unbelievers in we have to be open and not as judgmental as we have been in the past and not have a "holier than thou" attitude. "Keep in mind that the book of Galatians was not written by Paul to lost people, telling them how to be saved. It was written to people who had already received the Holy Spirit. Paul was angry with these baby Christians because they were trying to live out the Christian life by keeping the law!" (https://www.ptm.org/legalism/legalismConfessions.htm)
II. Biblical Perspective
A. Old Testament
In the old testament, mainly in Leviticus and then again in Deuteronomy, God lays out a vast number of laws for his people to follow. Some people, today, still take all of these laws and apply them to their everyday lives, but what they don't understand is that God established these laws for a reason. The laws were simply God, protecting the Jews from themselves. They didn't have the knowledge that we have today about hygienic or medical issues, and therefore would have unknowingly killed themselves, had God not given them these laws. Another problem with this is that a lot of these laws have to do with making sacrifices (animal and grain) and most people today don't make sacrifices, but live by other laws in he old testament. There is a lack of consistency in this lifestyle and belief system.
B. New Testament
In the book of Galatians, Paul writes to the churches in Galatia. Throughout most of this book he is talking about how we are no longer bound by the old laws. One case in which people do not take this into consideration is with animal sacrifices. In some Pagan countries such as Haiti, sacrifices are still made as an offering of atonement for sins and shortcomings.
Moral conviction is something that everyone should have, it is inherent, or at least that is the assumption. In the book, "A Case for Christianity", by C. S. Lewis, Lewis argues that it is part of the "Moral Law". Not the part that will make you forget about yourself and help someone else even though it might put you in danger, but rather the part that makes you feel bad when you have wronged another person or broken your own moral code. That is just it though, you set your own moral code, not anyone else. Sure it can be influenced by teachers, parents, friends, movies, media, and numerous other entities of our society, but the end result is your own choice, your own moral standard that you have set for yourself.
In Judaism, God is seen as having a contractual relationship with the Jewish people where they must obey his holy laws in return for their status of the chosen people. God rewards or punishes Jewish people based on whether they obey or disobey his will. In parts of the Old Testament, however, God does show mercy or forgiveness, and in later interpretations God’s laws such as the Ten Commandments are followed
The Old Testament law is seen as irrelevant by most modern Christians today. Christians are now under the blood of Jesus Christ which is said to abrogate the Law. Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” The law of Christ is to love God and your neighbor as yourself. This does not mean, however, that the Old Testament Law does not apply to Christians today. Author J. Daniel Hays expounds on this topic in his article, “Applying the Old Testament Law Today,” and focuses on the hermeneutical approach of Principlism. This approach allows the Old Testament Law to be viewed in light of the New Testament.
In Judaism, God is seen as having a contractual relationship with the Jewish people where they must obey his holy laws in return for their status of the chosen people. God rewards or punishes Jewish people based on whether they obey or disobey his will. In parts of the Old Testament, however, God does show mercy or forgiveness, and in later interpretations God’s laws such as the Ten Commandments are followed not only out of loyalty to God but also because of their high moral character.
Capital Punishment was an important part of the justice system of Old Testament Israel. At this time, the Christian ethic towards Capital Punishment was that it was right. Death was the result of people committing serious civil crimes like murder and rape. This was also in place for crimes against God’s sanctity, like false prophecy and witchcraft. There were procedures that were put in place to stop Capital Punishment and God occasionally spared lives of people whose behaviours would have meant death.
read The New Testament (the only book he was allowed). However, it was not until
God has become angry with his people. He complains in the fifteenth century English play Everyman about humans and their obsession with material items, riches, and wealth. Men and women, he feels, have taken for granted their blessings. God wants to reprimand Everyman for his sinful life and sends Death to summon him. At the beginning of the allegorical work where figures and actions symbolize general truths, a messenger shares God’s concerns. The messenger tells the audience to watch and listen closely to the morality play so they can learn a lesson about life. Everyman fears Death, and he desires to know what one must do to earn salvation and enter heaven. The writer then implies that the way to achieve salvation is by doing good works. Through positive deeds, a man has the capability of enjoying communion with Christ (McRae 306-307). Everyman’s author wrote the play before the Protestant Reformation, so the piece of literature shares the view of Roman Catholicism during that period. Roman Catholics often rely on a spiritual leader’s interpretation of the Scriptures and some additional texts, while Protestants believe the Bible alone should studied by each individual believer. Biblical Christianity teaches something different from what Everyman does. The Bible stresses that salvation occurs through faith and belief in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for humankind’s sins on Calvary’s cross. St. Paul in the book of Ephesians writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (2.8-10). When Christians...
While the Hebrews were expected to abide by the laws laid out in the Old Testament by Moses, the coming and crucifixion of Jesus negated many of these laws, as the Law of Grace took precedence over everything prior. In his Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, Milton uses scripture from both the Old and New Testaments and argues that the Law of Moses was more lenient than that of Grace, and therefore makes more sense.
Sacrifice within the social context can be transgressed into two aspects, one relating to the offender, and the other being the offended one, God. “If individuals entered a state incongruent with good relations with God, they had to undergo rites to restore them to a normative status” (Davies, 1985;155). Thus the sacrifice encompassed this social dimension. The part played by God in the social ...
So powerful is the compulsion of the law, that even if a man slays one who is his own chattel [i.e., his slave] and who has none to avenge him, his fear of the ordinances of god and of man causes him to purify himself and withhold himself from those places prescribed by law, in the hope that by so doing he will best avoid disaster.
After all, “God is a God not of disorder put of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:33). It is important to first understand the contexts of each of their teachings. Jesus ministered to Jews and was sent to fulfill the law. Jesus states, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). Jesus was preaching to a group that understood the prophecies and was attempting to convince the Jews of his identity by fulfilling the law. Conversely, Paul ministered to Gentiles who were apart from the law. Instead of the law creating opportunities for Jews to come to Jesus, it was dividing the church and creating problems. This may help explain why Paul seemed to focus more on grace. The two were preaching the same religion, but presenting it in a different way to fit to what their audience needed to hear at that time. Paul writes to the Romans that, “sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14). This does not imply that the law is now completely irrelevant and that “we [should] sin because we are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:15). Instead, “through the law comes the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). Therefore, we should have a desire to not sin and please God since Jesus has provided us so much grace. Jesus actually does teach about grace, but not in a way as straightforward as Paul’s letters. One example is the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. The landowner hired workers who could not find a job and then was “generous” in providing wages, paying everyone the same no matter how many hours they worked (Matthew 20:1-16). Jesus may have been indirect in his teachings of grace because he taught the Gospel before his resurrection, which means the people could not yet fully comprehend the large amount
For example, the allowance of eating animals has enabled us to eat the meat that we hunt from animals. Today, we can still see in some religions that eating specific types of meat or meat in general, is prohibited, and if God had not made the covenant with Noah, we may not be eating any meat to this day. God’s main promise of never sending down a flood to wipe all of humanity away has also stayed true. Another part was the penalty that God had established in the covenant. Although it says that those who take life from others must also have their own lives taken, we see that today those who murder do not face this punishment, and that we have decided that this part of the covenant does not apply to us
One specific rule that stands out to me in our legal regulations and in the Ten Commandments is that we shall not commit murder, but what we legalize and believe in is different from what our actions do and how we define and apply this rule. According to Introduction to Animal Rights: Your Child or the Dog?, it indicates that not even animals are fully protected by God’s divine law, but are put here on earth to serve mankind. Although the words of God says that animals can be used as resources, God says humans may not waste or spoil an animal for no reason at all (Francione, 2007, p. 52). Currently we still evidence of thousands of animals being abused throughout the process of transferring them to slaughter houses, being killed in an inhumane manner, and witnessing
Both the legal and salvation philosophies of the Old and New Testaments reflect those of the cultures around them, due to much copying and borrowing of laws and ideas. Furthermore, all societies around the world have similar moral and legal codes -- which is certainly not an accident.