From: George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Date: Wed Mar 19 2003 - 11:10:48 EST
John Burgeson wrote:
>
> >>people are abandoning Christianity altogether and the Levitical
> >>prohibitions St. Paul maintained for us and we are being "spewed out of
> >>the land.">>
>
> <sarcasm on>
>
> RIGHT! It is terrible that today we wear garments woven from two types of
> material. We need to repent!
>
> <sarcasm off>
Burgy has said very succinctly what I was tempted to be more verbose about:
"Levitical prohibitions" include a lot more than just a few rules about sex. & more
broadly, the regulations of torah include things that few people think should be
enforced today, such as stoning rebellious kids (Dt.21:18-21).
But the OT regulations simply aren't binding on Christians - cf. Galatians.
That doesn't mean that they're all stupid or useless, & it might be wise for states
today to adopt some of them, but that depends on the value that they might have in
contemporary situations. They are the part of the civil law of ancient Israel, &
whether or not we should adopt them today is in the same category as the question of
whether the United States ought to adopt some laws developed in Japan or Sweden.
Luther's essay "How Christians Should Regard Moses" (in. Vol.35 of _Luther's Works_) is
worth reading in this regard.
This doesn't settle questions about homosexuality, pro or con, but decisions
about that can't be made on the basis of the OT alone.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
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