Middlemoor said:
RealityCheck, i'm still finding your name ironic. Are you honestly concerned with the very obscure laws found in Leviticus? Isn't it more pressing to understand that commonsense immorality and..homosexuality - in this topic, is unrighteous? We have established why we don't 'follow' all of the laws in Leviticus; because Jesus came to fulfill the law. There's no clean-cut way to determine what's most applicable to the Levites and least applicable for us. Intelligent discernment should lay confusion at rest.
Ah... what I'm finding ironic is the conflicts in your beliefs and statements.
You refer to "obscure laws in Leviticus." But how can anything in "God's Word" be obscure? How could any part of it be considered obscure if you belive that the whole of the Bible is, as stated in Timothy, inspired and God-breathed and useful for instruction, correction, and reproof?
How, in other words, could any part of the Word of God be considered obscure? Only the words and laws of HUMANS could be considered obscure.
Then too, there's your statement that "intelligent discernment" should tell us where the division lies between what should or should not apply to us. But is not applying that principle itself contrary to Biblical instruction?
1 Corinthians 2:4-5 - 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,
5so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.
Psalm 118: 8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.
9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.
Proverbs 3: 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
Proverbs 28: 26 He who trusts in himself is a fool,
but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.
And as for whether or not Jesus fulfilled all of the law or part or only certain laws and not others:
Colossians 2:
13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,[
b] God made you[
c] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.[
d]
16Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. 20Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? 22These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
