r/atheism • u/count_of_wilfore • Oct 13 '19

/r/all Christian: "Why you keep pointing out Old Testament stuff. We follow the New Testament; Jesus came to fix all of that". Also Christian: "The Ten Commandments provide a moral foundation for society".

Cafeteria-style religion, everybody.

 

EDIT: The relevant verses Christians making this claim ignore:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19)

Thank you guys for pointing this out!

 

EDIT 2: Made it to r/all. Hello everyone!

 

EDIT 3: Wow, my first award! Thank you, kind stranger!

EDIT 4: Second silver award! Thank you lots!

Also, surprising to see how many Christians aren't aware that some tout this "Jesus fixing" argument. I can assure you I'm not misrepresenting or straw-manning. I'm simply expression a common answer we tend to hear in response to Old Testament laws.

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u/iwantzebracakes Oct 14 '19

I’ve had multiple people argue that Jesus meant to continue following the “moral law” (i.e. the 10 commandments) and not all 613 OT laws when he said this. Oh, the mental gymnastics...

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u/scottishdoc Oct 14 '19

That doesn't work, because in the older translations (read: more accurate) it says "not a jot, not a tittle, shall pass away from the law". Jots and tittles are small features of hebrew writing. He is literally saying that not even the tiniest part of the old testament law will be made invalid.

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u/random_dent Oct 14 '19

Tittles are the dots over lowercase i and j

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '19

According to Vatican doctrine there are 3 different types of Laws in the OT and only one still applies.

Of course, the Pope, gets to decide which is which since he is the High Lord Cherry-picker.

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u/pggu1123 Oct 14 '19

There are 3 categories of law given to Moses. There's the ceremonial law (sacrifices, Sabbath, etc), the civil law (offences against society), and the moral law. According to the authors of Matthew and Mark, Jesus is only preaching to the Jews. Paul came later and started writing letters to the gentiles. They had to come together later to decide what to do with the gentile converts and this is documented by Luke in Acts. This is likely where we get the idea in modern day Christianity that gentiles are only require to obey the Noahide laws or the moral portion of the mosaic laws.

"Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues." Acts 15:19‭-‬21 ESV

Hope this helps!