Should Christians keep the law?

[otseng]

From the thread Keeping the commandments:

Do you keep the law?

Questions for debate:
Should Christians keep the law?
If so, how much of the laws should we keep?

[Divine Insight]

From the thread Keeping the commandments:

Do you keep the law?

Questions for debate:
Should Christians keep the law?
If so, how much of the laws should we keep?

The Gospel of Matthew has Jesus saying the following:

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.

According to Jesus not one jot or one tittle of the law shall pass until heaven and earth shall pass.

I'm pretty sure there are several other passages in the Gospels that have Jesus telling people that they must keep the commandments.

So yes, Christians supposedly must keep all the laws. Every jot and tittle.

I personally see this as being a contradiction in this theology because the theology claims that Jesus was the sacrificial lamb who died to pay the sins for men and offer them undeserved amnesty.

Why would they need undeserved amnesty if they are expected to keep the laws?

So I see this as a self-contradicting theology.

If we could keep the laws why would we need Jesus to be our penal substitute?

[Avoice]

Well... let's go with what Christians believe - their Testament
Their testanent says that Jesus only covers laws that are under the first Covenant. But if they break the commandments Jesus gave they must keep. If they break those he cant help them.
They are in a bad situation. They should have stuck with God and Moses.

Gid probably figured well...okay they want nothing to do with me who they cant see...so give them flesh to obey.
Obeying jesus would be hard. Mosaic law is easy. Jesus said love your enemies. Yeah...i see Christians doing lots of that. Yeah, sure

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 1 by otseng]

We Jehovahs Witnesses believe the Mosaic Law code has been abolished, we dont have to keep any of it. Christans are under Christian law.


JW

[2timothy316]

The way I look it is this: Will I be punished for not following the Mosaic Law today?
Answer: No.
Galatians 3:13 says, "Christ purchased us, releasing us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse instead of us, because it is written: “Accursed is every man hung upon a stake.�

Is the law important to know?
Answer: Yes!
"For the law code, “You must not commit adultery, you must not murder, you must not steal, you must not covet,� and whatever other commandment there is, is summed up in this saying: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.�" - Romans 13:9

What specifically should we keep from the Mosaic Law?
Answer: "Therefore, my decision is not to trouble those from the nations who are turning to God, but to write them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood." - Acts 19-21

Are we then without a law?
Answer: No
John 15:12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you." This is more than what it seems. It wasn't just a command to love one another, it was a command to love one another just as Jesus loved us. That alone would constitute a new thread just focusing on that. Following sabbath rituals, keeping all the festivals, the sacrifice laws and the meticulous dietary restrictions etc has nothing to do with loving another person. Most of these things from the Law were a shadow of things to come. (Col. 2:17) Have you ever considered a shadow? If you follow a shadow to it's source you will find what was casting the shadow. Shadows are not the real thing either and one can't really make out details from a shadow. Jesus was casting the shadow. When Jesus died for mankind, the shadow (or the Law Code) with all of its ritual and festivals were no longer needed. He also gave us clarity in understanding the spirit of the law and how to live God pleasing lives. Those things were reminders of the salvation that Jehovah was going to provide. Once that salvation was provided, there was no need for reminders for something that has come and gone.

Those that still practice the rituals of the Law Code, they do so in vain. They were meant as reminders as what was to come. To do them now is pointless. However, the so called 'law' modern day Jews keep is hardly anything like what was kept in Jesus day. Now that I think about it, even the Jews in Jesus day were not keeping the Law as they were supposed to. I think during the days of king David and the early parts of Solomon's reign was the last time I read the majority of Jews were following the Law code correctly.

[PinSeeker]

From the thread Keeping the commandments:

Do you keep the law?

Questions for debate:
Should Christians keep the law?
If so, how much of the laws should we keep?

Yes and no. Yes, we are bound to fulfill the spirit of the law, which is love, but no, we are not bound to the letter -- the physical requirements -- of the law.

Because Christ fulfilled the requirements of the law...

• "...the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." [Romans 5:5-8]
  
  "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." [Romans 8:1-4]

...we are no longer under the external law of Moses. When we are obedient to the Holy Spirit, we manifest God’s love and exhibit righteousness, which fulfills the law:

• "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,' and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." [Romans 13:8-10]

The New Testament contains numerous passages that clarify the Christian believer’s distinctly altered relationship to the Mosaic law (Galatians 3-5; Philippians 3; Colossians 2).

[Elijah John]

[Replying to post 1 by otseng]

We Jehovahs Witnesses believe the Mosaic Law code has been abolished, we dont have to keep any of it. Christans are under Christian law.


JW

Then Jehovah's Witnesses do not follow Jesus:

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

You don't keep any of the Mosaic Law? Then your religion teaches murder, theft, adultery? I doubt it.

[Elijah John]

From the thread Keeping the commandments:

Do you keep the law?

Questions for debate:
Should Christians keep the law?
If so, how much of the laws should we keep?

The moral and ethical law. Not the ceremonial law, and not the ritual purity laws which Jesus flouted as being needlessly divisive. (Healing lepers and touching other outcasts and "untouchables")

But keep the law for what purpose? For forgiveness? Salvation? Community or tribal cohesion? Or to do the will of God?

[Avoice]

It amazes me how the question is about the law and people quote passages from the Christian testament. Thats not where the law comes from. And those who you quote arent the ones who set the laws.

Christians say from the throat out how 'the father' is equal or just as important as Jesus. But in reality that's a lie. Christians dobt turn to God for answers. They turn to dead men.

A question about the law? QUOTE THE ONE WHO GAVE THEM. GO TO THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES AND GO SEE IF GOD SAID HE CHANGED HIS MIND. Cone on! Quoting Paul from Tarsus as the final word on the law? Are you serious? Whats wrong with you? They arent his to change. Hes nobody. And he is certainly not God.

Anybody care to quote God and what he says on the law? No, provably not because he will say they still stand. The father means nothing to Christians they just pretend to love him

[Avoice]

[Replying to post 7 by Elijah John]

EJ:
The answer youll probably get back is that jesus said don't murder, don't steal etc

If God says dont steal they ignore him. But if Jesus says it then theyll listen. And Christians claim to love God. Not much they do.