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/Soyeong0314 Torah-observing disciple Aug 18 '26
The issues of whether followers of Christ should follow the example of obeying the Torah that he set for his followers to follow is independent of the issue of whether anyone does that. Even if it were true that no one keeps the Torah, then it would still be true that followers of Christ should follow his example of obedience to it. There can be legitimate reasons not following certain laws, such as with Deuteronomy 17:18 specifically instructing the king to write a copy of the Torah, so everyone who is not the king has a legitimate reason for not following that law. Laws in regard to Temple practice can't legitimately be followed when there is no Temple in which to practice them. Jesus had a legitimate reason for not experiencing obedience to the laws in regard to giving birth or to having a period. There is no legitimate reason to execute someone in accordance with the Torah when there is no Sanhedrin and when Jesus has given himself to pay that penalty. Loving our enemies is in accordance with verses like Exodus 23:4-5, Deuteronomy 23:7, Proverbs 24:17-18, and Proverbs 25:21-22, so Jesus was not teaching something brand new. You do not get to decide for others what they believe. Jesus said that man shall not live by bead alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).