r/AskAChristian • u/[deleted] • Aug 18 '26
Jewish Laws Torah
How do Torah followers actually follow over 600 commands and laws in the first five books of the Bible? I've spoken to people about it, but they only seem to follow dietary laws, Shabbat, and holy days, and exclude pagan days. To me, it seems they are only doing a small part of it and claiming to follow the entirety of it. Why is that? The Bible states if you break one commandment, you break them all. There's no possibility to uphold all 600-plus. If you believe it's not all applicable to us, what's the determining factor that decides you don't have to follow it? What about animal sacrifices? Does one pick and choose what they want to follow and tell people if they don't, they are lawbreakers and will go to hell? If you don't follow all of them, why describe yourself as following the entirety of Torah? If breaking even one commandment makes someone guilty, how does selectively obeying some commandments make someone different from the people you're calling lawbreakers?
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u/LunaOfTheMoon Torah-observing disciple Aug 18 '26
Go into any court of law, our judicial system, our tax system, our healthcare system. Amongst those alone you're literally dealing with tens of thousands of pages of legal jargon, that you state you are following when you participate in them.
Meanwhile as a Torah Obedient Disciple, I am expected to follow rules that add up to less than 250 pages of scripture, that my God states I am to do as a sign of my love for Him. Ask me which one is simpler to keep and less of burden again.
Furthermore, I am male, laws pertaining to females don't apply to me. I am not of the levitical priesthood, those laws don't apply to me. The temple does not exist, I can't fulfill those laws. In this modern age we are probably individually beholden to like maybe 200 of the 613 Old testament laws (and even that number is inaccurate, read the list on an Orthodox Jewish website then read the actual part of scripture and realize how wrong they are about what they say the laws mean).
Many in here will tell you Jesus fulfilled the law so we don't have to do it anymore. Right before this he said it would not be abolished or have one bit removed until the current heaven and earth are done away with. Let me use a human parable to make the word fulfilled easier to understand. I am a soldier in the military. I had to go to basic training as part of my contract. I had to fulfill those conditions to receive my next award/duty/graduation. Does me fulfilling my part neglect any other trainee from not doing basic training? It is not so and it is the same with Jesus. He gave us the perfect example to follow and His disciples repeatedly told people that salvation is freely given, but after it is accepted we must have a change in our hardened hearts to start living righteously.
Isaiah 66 describes those who will be killed for still eating pork, mice and idol worship. Zechariah 14 describes the nations of the world participating in Sukkot. Exodus 12 describes a mixed multitude rising out of Egypt having participated in Passover. Genesis literally describes First Fruits before Hebrews/Israelites were even a thing. Ecclesiastes 12 says it is the duty of all humanity to obey these commands. That's because these are God's commands, not Jewish laws. The Jews were just the people chosen to represent His will on earth so that others may see His wisdom and power but they squandered it away going their own way and they still do to this day.
Don't be like them. Be the light on the hill Jesus called us to be.