| theprof00 said: Happy I'm sorry buddy but you are 120% wrong when you say that Christ's teachings are the old testament. Christianity is specifically "being as Christ-like as possible". Christ hugged the rejected and protected the sinners, and called for the same rights. Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. Love all, and forgive. Christ never supercedes Jewish dietary law. Christ never supercedes feminine hygeine laws. Christ never supercedes many of the teachings. Your logic is flawed, which I reason through you (or the christian church) wanting to be able to use the old testament, because in fact Christ never agreed with the standpoint you're holding. |
Stop stop stop... argghh :P
14Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’f”
17After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? 19For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”)"
That's for dietary law. The other traditions follow.
My logic may not be perfect, but one thing is certain is that it holds for many of the cases you can bring up. Animal sacrifice being another that was superceded by Christ, in his sacrifice. He is the lamb of God as John the Baptist proclaimed. His sacrifice on passover tore the veil of the temple, and animal sacrifices were no longer needed. This is further explained in much more depth in the post-gospel New Testament canon.
This holds pretty well for me personally. Most things you can throw at me to challenge my position will likely not hold. Feminin hygeine is one I can't directly counter-claim, but it's not a big deal since common sense says it isn't too far from ceremonial cleansing. It's all on the outside of the cup once again. What matters is the inside, and that's Christ's teachings. One such "inside" thing that matters is sexual immorality, quite the vague term.
To continue the quote up above:
17After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? 19For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”)
20He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ 21For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’”
So, you see, sexual immorality very much mattered to Jesus. A few years later, the apostle Paul urged his readers to "flee from all sexual immorality"
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
A little higher Paul writes:
9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
That's the christian doctrine.
The question is not "is that in the christian doctrine?", that much is clear. The question is, now that we know what's in the christian doctrine, how do you put it into practice? Do you go on condemning or stoning people.
The answer is no. The reason is simple. Jesus said, I have not come to condemn the world but to save it. He also shows grace and mercy to the adulteress.
So though you think it's straightforward with easy answers, it really isn't all that straightfoward and requires alot of thought and effort to mesh the teachings of the bible into a comprehensive and sound statement of belief. And for me, it's the best one.
I harm noone, I strive for top accountability, I love my neighbor no matter the inclination, race, gender, etc. I disagree with certain practices as that is my prerogative, as it is yours. I have nothing to be ashamed of, and I'm proud of it.
