Is the Bible outdated?

[County Mike]

"Hello. Would you like to churn my butter?"

[rearnakedchoke]

Originally Posted by Vizion

You're going to get heat if you're asking it respectfully. No it's not outdated - the Levitical texts you talk about refer to the old covenant between God and the Hebrew people.

Jesus is the new covenant. The Jews of today should be following their messiah, not those old laws.

so what laws of the bible do we follow?

[PRShrek]

Originally Posted by rearnakedchoke

so what laws of the bible do we follow?

The book of Romans is pretty helpful for sorting this out. The book of Peter also has some good fundamentals.

Mostly it's not about following laws particularly.

[Pastor Chris F]

Originally Posted by rearnakedchoke

so what laws of the bible do we follow?

Romans as was mentioned is the key. The law exist to show a sinner they need a savior. We we are born again we are taken out from being under the law and then placed under grace. This does not let want live a life free to sin. It just means we do not have worry every time we sin that God's love stops. We because of grace have a way to be cleansed and that is repentance (1 John 1:9). Now one who lives a life of blatant and willful sin is NOT a born again believer (1 John chapter 2). So rules and laws are not important as knowing Jesus as Savior. When you do you will not want to willfully sin.

[MattHughesRocks]

At least he has good teeth!

Originally Posted by County Mike

"Hello. Would you like to churn my butter?"

[adamt]

how has this thread survived without this

[Tyburn]

Will the US Consitution ever be "out-dated" ?

Will the Geneva Convention rules ever be "out-dated" ?

Will the Bill of Rights ever be "Out-dated" ?


Will the Magna Carte ever be "out-dated" ?

The Bible doesnt change its mind of topics, its a work of written perfection which is a constant truth. IF you think it needs modernizing, all you are doing is noticing the gap between what it says is right, and how far wrong society has gone.

The idea is that each of the documents above, plus the Bible are timeless. They are supposed to be true in any time frame. They wont always be popular, they wont always be adhered to, but that is because society changes, not the words of the documents

I hope that helps explain

[NateR]

Originally Posted by rearnakedchoke

so what laws of the bible do we follow?

There are two different kinds of laws in the Bible, moral laws and Mosaic laws. Mosaic laws are specifically relevant to the theocracy of Israel in the time period between their liberation from Egypt and their rejection of Christ. Moral laws transcend the Mosaic laws because they apply to everyone, not just the nation of Israel.

Look at murder, for example, GOD condemned Cain for murder thousands of years before He ever wrote "Thou shalt not kill" in Exodus chapter 20.

Things like murder, theft, sexual sin (to include homosexuality), idolatry, blasphemy, etc. fall into the category of moral laws and those apply to everyone at every point in history.

Things like animal sacrifices, not wearing mixed fabrics, not getting tattoos, not shaving the sides of your beard, etc., fall into the category of Mosaic laws and only apply to the nation of Israel during a specific historical location and time period.

Moral laws themselves can be summed up in two laws:

1. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

2. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

In other words, put GOD first, put everyone else in the world second, then put yourself last. Sin and our modern culture tells us to completely turn that list on its head. We are told that we need to look after ourselves first, then worry about others and, if there's time left over, we can worry about GOD.

Is GOD's law impossible to keep? Of course it is, that's the point. The law can only condemn, it can't save anyone. GOD didn't give us His law as a way to say, "Okay, here's a list of everything you need to do to make yourselves righteous." No, He gave us the law to tell us, "This is why you will NEVER be righteous."

The literal translation of the word gospel actually means "good news." Why is Jesus Christ the good news? Because the law was the bad news.

[rearnakedchoke]

Thanks for the input everyone ...

[Conrad]

Hi RNC,

How about some scripture addresses?

Check Genesis 12 (and surrounding if you want more context ) for the start of the covenant. Gen12 is where God introduces the "seed"/"offspring" promise, which Paul explains in Galatians 3.

For the covenant made with Moses (Mosaic Covenant), jump to Deuteronomy 28. There they lay out the terms for blessings and curses (penalties). The curses are the inverse of the blessings, with more detail. When making the covenant with Israel (Mosaic Law), that included the laws you mentioned. Adding to Nate, the Mosaic contains moral, civil, and ceremonial laws.

Covenants are just contracts. They can be unilateral for fulfillment, or bilateral. They have the parties involved, time, scope, consideration, duties, requirements, and penalties, etc. It's just like any business contract.

The 10 commandments are primarily outside the Mosaic Covenant, despite their close proximity, but then are also included in it. That may make it a little confusing. They are the moral law that NateR mentioned. Thus, they are still in effect. They also aren't random, but reflect God's character (see R C Spraul). The moral law, reflecting God's character, is why Jesus & Paul refer to creation regarding certain topics. The Mosaic Covenant's time ended with Christ, the "seed," as explained in Galatians 3.

So, does the close of the Mosaic Covenant make all that history useless? No. As Israel floundered between faithfulness and rebellion ("adultery" against God), we see that God kept up His end of the agreement. That's the whole context of the remaining OT. So, as the prophets give warning, they are warning that God will uphold his end of the bargain. Much of the Mosaic law tells us about God's character, his purity, sinless-ness, and faithfulness toward us. So, we can look at it as a guide to who God is. Check out the comments in Exodus 34. Then we can understand the covenant of Grace. Re-read Chris's post about 1 John.

The previous answers were really good. I hope some chapter numbers & reading will help see it put together. Thanks for reading.