Mind of a Christian

Why do Christians keep ignoring God's laws?

Note: I was considering listing out all of the 613 laws and commandments in the Torah in here, but I figure you can be a smart and active reader and google up a PDF that already listed them all. The PDF even points to where in the bible the commandments were mentioned. Not too big a task, right?

I'd like to thank MetalHeadBoss for bringing up a question that should actually be considered by every Christian:

#4 Why do [Christians] keep ignoring and breaking the following rules actually mentioned in your Bible?

Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.

~Leviticus 19:19

Whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery ~Matthew 5:32, 19:9 & Luke 16:18

Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak ~1 Corinthians 14:34

+ Many more. [1]

So, why do Christians keep ignoring and breaking the commandments outlined in the Bible?

To start, I'd like to say that Christians should not ignore the laws and commandments of the Bible. Jesus the Messiah did die so that our sins are forgiven, but that doesn't mean that we should exploit his sacrifice. It's very easy for someone to accept Jesus' offer of salvation and then continue on sinning in their life, because they can just use His sacrifice as some infinite get-out-of-jail-free card.

Jesus Himself said that the law isn't nullified due to His presence and His plan to forgive those who believe in Him:

Matthew 5:17-19: "Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. Amen, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or serif shall ever pass away from the Torah until all things come to pass. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (TLV)

Paul expresses the same idea when writing Romans:

Romans 3:31: "Do we then nullify the Torah through faithfulness? May it never be! On the contrary, we uphold the Torah." (TLV)

Should we follow the Torah? Yes, as long as we do it with the right heart, dedicating our actions and obedience for God.  

Are we going to fail in following the Torah? Yes. Christians will have a hard time with it. I myself am no different - in fact, I'm probably in the lower half of the curve when it comes to being obedient to the Law.

Are Christians forgiven for failing to follow all the laws and commandments? Yes.

1 John 1:8-10: "If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us." (TLV)  

Should we still follow the Torah? I think so, but with a different approach.

However, there are many laws in the Torah that, I would say, we are "unqualified" or cannot do. Out of the 613 laws and commandments, there are a lot of ritualistic laws regarding sacrifices - be it burnt offerings, grain offerings, and whatnot. A lot of these sacrifices were done so that the Israelites could be forgiven of their sins. For whatever sin they committed, they were required to bring forth a sacrifice - you can see this around the time of Exodus - Deuteronomy, and probably all the way up to Jesus' arrival.

Furthermore, there are laws specific to Levites, or Nazarites. They don't apply to me because I am neither of those (I am Filipino). Laws specific to women don't apply to me because I am male. You can apply this categorizing to yourself as well, and you'll find that there are some laws that you won't have to worry about, because they don't apply to you.

But, Jesus' death was the ultimate sacrifice to forgive all of the sins of the world. After his death, no sacrifices at the temple of Jerusalem was required, since Jesus already covered it. In that sense, we can't sacrifice bulls, lambs, and birds as the Israelites did. So that covers the sacrificial laws.

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Edit: I also want to stress that the purpose of me suggesting to continue to follow the Law is NOT to gain righteousness. It's not going to get you closer to heaven. It won't give you salvation. Jesus is the only way to salvation.

Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (NASB)

Romans 6:14: "For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace." (NASB)

So even with all my suggestions of following the Law, it is not to become more righteous. Rather, it is one way of demonstrating our obedience to God. If you can find a way to honestly love God and love each other (Matthew 22:37-40), then go for it! I think that displaying obedience to God by following the Law, knowing full well that Jesus is the true path to salvation and righteousness, can be one of these ways.

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Now for some of the laws listed in MetalHeadBoss 's question.

The purpose of the fabrics law in Leviticus 19:19, along with many of the rest (or arguably, all the laws) is to set the Israelites apart from the rest of the nations. The old nations that occupied the promised land were wicked in many ways, hosting child sacrifices and orgies at their temples. God wanted the Israelites to stand out as something different from the others.

What Jesus said in Matthew 5:32 (the adultery one) reflects about his concern for the state of the heart. Adultery is a sexual act between a person and someone who was not their spouse. God saw that the relationship between husband and wife is sacred and should be held as something very important.

We can all agree to this, right? Marriages are important.

Let's look at an example. There are three people: Zach, John, and Jane. John and Jane were originally married, but were divorced. If Zach marries Jane, then Zach is taking a woman who was originally someone else's wife for himself. To my understanding, this means that Zach is violating the marital relationship between John and Jane, which is not good in God's eyes.

Now, this is just one scenario out of many where a man marries a divorced woman, but I hope that the overall thought is expressed.

As for the 1 Corinthians 14:34, that's open for a big discussion and I'd like to save that for later. BUT, I'd like to say that 1 Corinthians 14:34 is probably one of the easiest verses to take out of context. Someone can quickly come to the conclusion that God is sexist and therefore unjust. I'll talk about this later and show that you cannot come to the conclusion that God approves of sexism in 1 Corinthians 14.

I'll close off with this:

Jesus tells us that He's not taking away the Torah. Jesus was a Torah following Jew, so wouldn't it make sense for Christ-followers to follow the Torah, because Jesus followed the Torah?

Sources:

[1] Mind of the Atheist by MetalHeadBoss right here on Wattpad!