Well it is no surprise you believe this given the doctrines and traditions of the religions of the land you and I were born into. But if you can just close your ears to all the "other voices" and just focus on scriptures, you will find that God had His Laws, and the Law and Prophets written Specifically for you and I, New Covenant believers.
I've been asking a question about the Scriptures.
My Bible contains the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. God's laws, given to Moses at Sinai, are recorded in those books. These include food and hygiene laws, also laws about animal sacrifices.
A number of threads on these forums, over the years, have been about eating/not eating pork and keeping the Sabbath. These threads have insisted that we still need to keep God's law - it's written in Scripture so we, as Christians, have to obey Scripture. My point has always been that if you say you should keep God's law, then you need to keep ALL of it. That includes laws on not trimming beards, not wearing clothing of more than one fibre and so on. All these laws are written in Leviticus; if people only keep some of them, then they are being selective about God's laws. They are saying that they will only keep those that are easy/convenient for them.
Either we say that those laws were given to that group of people at that time, in that place, we can learn from them, but we do not need to apply them to our lives today, hundreds of centuries later; or we say "no, they are in Scripture, we have to keep, and apply, ALL of Scripture to our lives today."
As with so many things, this is a question about interpreting Scripture.
Does every word in it apply to us, even though it wasn't written to us, or is it, in fact, true to say that the Bible must be read and understood in context and we discern which bits are for us and we need to apply to our lives?
The OT was not written for New Covenant believers.
The Bible is the revelation of God and his relationship with his people. It is the story of God's people. Adam and Eve created, disobeyed God, sin came into the world. God, in his mercy, gave people a way to make atonement for their sins so that they could be in his presence and come to know him - even in Cain and Abel's day, they were offering sacrifices. Some people think the book of Job is dated around the time of Genesis, and in that book, Job offered sacrifices on behalf of his children in case they had sinned.
After rescuing Joseph's descendants from Egypt, God gave written laws for them to follow and a covenant. The rest of the OT tells the story of how God's people sinned, broke the covenant, were punished, cried out to God in their punishment, were restored and sinned again. God later said, through Jeremiah, that he would make a New Covenant, and this happened when his Son Jesus, the perfect Lamb, was sacrificed for us. Jesus' coming, birth, ministry, death and resurrection were foretold in the OT - the first prophecy being in the Garden of Eden, Genesis 3:15.
That was prophesied through Jeremiah.
This is a most amazing promise. At the time the only way to even hear God's Law, was to find a Levite Priest to read from the Book only they has access to.
But now, we have all been delivered the Oracles of God, so we can hear His Word for ourselves and not through the filter of some preacher who has refused to teach what God Said to teach.
Not only that, we know his Son who is THE Word of God, and who, by his Spirit, can live in us.
He created them, and he cares even for sparrows, so I don't see why not.
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You have taken that Scripture out of context. Paul is talking about the rights of an Apostle. He says that he and Barnabas, and other Apostles, have a right to hospitality and to be provided for in their work - just as someone who works to plant a vineyard does so because he wants to enjoy the grapes, or someone who tends a flock shares in the milk. A soldier does not serve at his own expense, and people who plough fields and thresh the corn are allowed to share in the harvest.
In the same way, says Paul, they have sown a spiritual seed among the Corinthians; they have the right to enjoy a spiritual harvest 1 Corinthians 9:11, and to ask for support from them.
But Paul goes on to say that, even though these are their rights, he did not take advantage of them but worked to earn money to support himself, so that he would not be a burden to them. We know from Acts 18 that Paul was a tentmaker.
Therefore, this passage only applies to us if we are travelling around, as Paul did, preaching the Gospel in various towns. If we were doing that and people refused us food and hospitality, we could, rightly, point to this passage which talks about the rights of an Apostle. Jesus said something similar when he sent out the 12 and told them to stay in the houses where they were welcomed.
There are several other places where Paul confirms this Biblical Truth. Of course, if you have been convinced that this is not true, that God's Word was not written for our sake's, or just written for men of a certain DNA, then you can not benefit from the instruction,
Not everything in the Bible was written TO us.
As I said, the passage that you quoted, above, only applies TO us if we are itinerant preachers, travelling around preaching the Gospel. In those circumstances we have the right to expect that people/churches will provide hospitality/pay our expenses/feed us etc.
It doesn't mean, for example, that Christians can expect non believers to pay their mortgages etc while they sit around and don't work. So for the majority of believers in the west, that passage will not apply.
Does God care about oxen, facial hair, loose skin on the penis, etc. or are His Laws written for our sake's.
They were not written for our sakes - we weren't around then.
They were part of the laws given to a specific group of people - people who had been slaves in Egypt but who had been rescued by God. These laws were how the people would show that they were holy, which means "set apart" - dedicated to ONE God, separate and distinctive from those around the by their behaviour and lifestyle. When they sinned, they were to sacrifice animals to atone for that sin. (Animals were livelihood; a lamb without defect that was sold could have raised a lot of money.) They were to wear clothes of only one fibre, no mixing of materials; they were to abstain from certain foods and not mix with people who were said to be unclean - lepers, women who were bleeding, Gentiles etc etc. Avoiding thongs/people that were unclean was how that group of people were to show that they were, and wanted to be, clean.
These were not written TO us, though we can learn from them, and more importantly, how Jesus fulfilled them. WE are forgiven our sins if we repent and trust in Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God who gave his life for the sins of the world. WE are made clean if we confess our sins, 1 John 1:9.
Sure, the law and sacrificial system were a shadow of what was to come - the writer of Hebrews says so - but that does not mean that all the Mosaic laws were given TO us or written FOR us.
It is obvious that you have not really studied this part of God's Word.
No, I was asking a question.
The verse, "man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God," was quoted; I was asking what they meant by EVERY word that comes from the mouth of God.
If you had, you would find that there are two Laws given on Sinai. One that defines sin. And a Temporary Law "ADDED because of Transgressions" which provides for the Atonement of Sin, "till the Lamb of God should come".
I am pretty sure that neither Moses nor the prophets taught that part of God's law was only temporary.
That makes it sound as though God was saying "I'm not going to send Jesus just yet; here are some stop gap laws to be getting on with in the meantime."
The Added Law is called the "Levitical Priesthood" in Hebrews 7-10. This Covenant God made with Levi was to be in force and effect until "After those days", when the Christ Himself would take over these Priesthood Duties. (Jer. 31:33,34)
None of that answers the question about whether the laws written in Leviticus are the word of God and are to be obeyed today?
That's what I'm asking.
All the laws I have referred to food, mildew, clothes, not trimming your beard etc, are in the Bible; the Bible is the word of God.
IF you are of the view that we have to obey EVERY word that God has spoken and that it was all written FOR us and TO us; what about all these laws? Do you keep them? If not, why not?
That is your religious philosophy,
WHAT is my "religious philosophy"?
The Salvation of God is HIS Salvation. This is His Program. He sets the standard, He makes the rules. He created us with the free will to choose.
Yes; to choose his Son, or not.
You would most certainly follow the rules of your mother if you were in her house. it wouldn't matter what they were. If they regarded shoes, hat, food, company, curfew, bedtime, dinnertime, etc.
Why would the God of the Bible be treated any less, especially since HE gave His only Son to pay for your rebellion and indifference to His instruction in the first place?
Not all the words that are in the Bible are TO us.
We can learn from them - we can learn about God's character, the story of his people and see how God taught, instructed, protected and provided for them. We can see God's mercy and his grace; even though the people he had created rebelled against him, and did so again and again, he always provided for their forgiveness and redemption, though they deserved, and we deserve, to be cut off from God because of our disobedience.
The first time I tried to read the Bible I stopped at the second chapter of Leviticus - it was completely irrelevant to me, so I thought. But then I came to see how Christ had fulfilled the feasts and sacrifices, and it has become more important. That doesn't mean that I am bound by all the cultural rules and am unclean if I bleed or have a skin condition.
You are furthering a lot of modern religious tradition here which have little or no support from Scriptures. I'm of a mind that the Scriptures count and that HIS People should trust them for guidance. My hope is that you might reconsider some of the things you have been convinced of, and trust the Scriptures to lead you as they were written specifically for our Admonition, for our sake's no doubt.
No, I have actually been asking a simple question: how do people understand Scripture?
Is it that every word is literally true and HAS to apply to us today and be obeyed by us today?
My view is that it is all God's word and IS useful for teaching etc, 2 Timothy 3:16. But that, as the author of Hebrews says, "In the past God spoke to us through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son", Hebrews 1:1-2.
Some people appear to be saying that in order to follow Jesus' example and walk with him, we have to do exactly what he did - which means that, as he was a Jew and obeyed the law; we do too. Otherwise we are not following him.
I disagree.