Dietary laws, do you keep them?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

Genez

Junior Member
Oct 12, 2017
2,775
407
83
Does it mean Christian morals being instituted into political laws.

Or Christian teachings and ideologies controlling the national politics..

Christian morals are great when they are God's will.
But in the past and even today people fall into the trap of hurting God's people thinking they are doing God's will.

Joh 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

Best to allow each person to have a personal relationship with their saviour.

Dominion Theology is the dark ages all over again if they could impose their self righteous desires upon all.
 

TMS

Senior Member
Mar 21, 2015
3,821
1,189
113
Australia
The Law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. It’s a temporary thing that has now become obsolete for those of us who are in Christ.
Jesus taught the keeping of the law.

No law = no sin.

The law which is our schoolmaster was added because of sin...

Sin is the transgression of the law.

From Adam until the end the law will be our standard.
Jesus perfectly kept the law. And as a result He was perfectly righteous.

He is our righteousness. But we do not make void the law through grace.
If we love Jesus we will obey.

The verses about a law being nailed to the cross is referring to the added law and shadow laws. Don't mix them up with the moral law.
 

TMS

Senior Member
Mar 21, 2015
3,821
1,189
113
Australia
Dominion Theology is the dark ages all over again if they could impose their self righteous desires upon all.
The Dark ages = death and pain 💔 in so many ways. Forced theology is not a good thing. Church and state needs to stay seperated.
People need freedom.
 

Soyeong

Active member
Oct 11, 2023
846
101
43
You wish to win by wearing your opponent out by misconstruing and obfuscating..... if you could.

It would be much better if you could win by presenting something true that we could all benefit from.

I am supposed to redeem my time. Not waste it.

So? Seen enough of your "contribution."

Ignore.... you're no more a chore.
Asking you to reconcile two of your posts is asking for clarity, not wearing my opponent out by misconstruing and obfuscating. Trying to get you to explain why you disagree with me is trying to discuss with you, not trying to win. You saying that it is a waste of time to explain why you don't think I am presenting something true and walking away in a huff is trying to to win by wearing you opponent out by misconstruing and obfuscating. Wake up, you are guilty of what you are accusing me.
 

Soyeong

Active member
Oct 11, 2023
846
101
43
Does it mean Christian morals being instituted into political laws.

Or Christian teachings and ideologies controlling the national politics..

Christian morals are great when they are God's will.
But in the past and even today people fall into the trap of hurting God's people thinking they are doing God's will.

Joh 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

Best to allow each person to have a personal relationship with their saviour.
All legislators give laws according to their understanding of morality, so I see nothing wrong with Christians advocating for laws and policies that are in accordance with God's understanding or morality, though there is of course the risk of people misrepresenting His understanding.
 

Dino246

Senior Member
Jun 30, 2015
25,366
13,728
113
Jesus taught the keeping of the law...

The law which is our schoolmaster was added because of sin...
Yes, but it is still a temporary solution to sin that has been made obsolete for those who are in Christ by faith.

Jesus perfectly kept the law. And as a result He was perfectly righteous.
You have that exactly backwards, and that perfectly illustrates your misunderstanding. Christ was perfectly righteous therefore He kept the Law.

Paul said, "if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" (Galatians 2:21).

We who are in Christ have the righteousness of Christ imparted to us ...

"For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!" - Romans 5:17

So we, being righteous, keep the Law.

The verses about a law being nailed to the cross is referring to the added law and shadow laws. Don't mix them up with the moral law.
Please quote all the passage(s) where "added law and shadow laws" are clearly distinguished from "the moral law".
 

KohenMatt

Senior Member
Jun 28, 2013
4,057
261
83
Do you guys keep the dietary laws of Leviticus 11? I believe it is smart to do so, not because we are REQUIRED to, but because God as the creator knows what is most profitable for us to eat when it comes to meats. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, I know. All im asking you guys is: Do you personally keep the dietary laws? Do you think it is beneficial?`I sure do. Lots of bad things have happened in history including many pandemics due to eating unclean meats.
I do. Not for the purposes of salvation, but to walk in grateful obedience to the God who saved me. And that's aside from the health benefits that come with it. Turns out, God knew what He was doing when came up with the dietary laws.
 

Dino246

Senior Member
Jun 30, 2015
25,366
13,728
113
I do. Not for the purposes of salvation, but to walk in grateful obedience to the God who saved me. And that's aside from the health benefits that come with it. Turns out, God knew what He was doing when came up with the dietary laws.
Do you also attend the temple in Jerusalem three times a year and stone adulterers "to walk in grateful obedience to the God who saved" you?
 

Hakawaka

Active member
Jul 1, 2021
307
157
43
I do. Not for the purposes of salvation, but to walk in grateful obedience to the God who saved me. And that's aside from the health benefits that come with it. Turns out, God knew what He was doing when came up with the dietary laws.
May I ask based on your profile picture, do you also keep the 7 feasts? If you do, how do you keep the feast of tabernacles for example which requires sacrifices(like all the other feasts!) and for you to live in a booth somewhere. Me personally I live in an apartment with no balcony, so how on earth am I supposed to keep that feast? These are family oriented imo
 

Nehemiah6

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2017
26,074
13,771
113
I do. Not for the purposes of salvation, but to walk in grateful obedience to the God who saved me. And that's aside from the health benefits that come with it. Turns out, God knew what He was doing when came up with the dietary laws.
As I already said, Christians are at liberty to either follow the dietary laws or follow the NT teaching. But there is no merit in following the dietary laws, and God does not expect your obedience in this matter at all. If some choose to be vegetarians, that too is fine. The Lord Jesus Christ already told you that it is not what goes into the stomach that defiles a man.
 

Genez

Junior Member
Oct 12, 2017
2,775
407
83
I do. Not for the purposes of salvation, but to walk in grateful obedience to the God who saved me. And that's aside from the health benefits that come with it. Turns out, God knew what He was doing when came up with the dietary laws.
When in elementary school age?
Did you ever draw imaginary pictures of make believe men?

You are to make no graven image in the likeness of man.
 

Inquisitor

Well-known member
Mar 17, 2022
2,859
845
113
All legislators give laws according to their understanding of morality, so I see nothing wrong with Christians advocating for laws and policies that are in accordance with God's understanding or morality, though there is of course the risk of people misrepresenting His understanding.
All this debate about trivial matters.

2 Corinthians 3:2-3
You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all people, revealing yourselves,
that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of
the living God
, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

2 Corinthians 3:3
Who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit;
for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

2 Corinthians 3:7-9
But if the ministry of death, engraved in letters on stones, came with glory so that the sons of Israel
could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how
will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory
? For if the ministry of condemnation
has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness excel in glory.

A new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit

A new covenant that is not based on the law but a new covenant based solely on
the perfect sacrifice that Jesus Christ provided.
 

Inquisitor

Well-known member
Mar 17, 2022
2,859
845
113
Jesus taught the keeping of the law.

No law = no sin.

The law which is our schoolmaster was added because of sin...

Sin is the transgression of the law.

From Adam until the end the law will be our standard.
Jesus perfectly kept the law. And as a result He was perfectly righteous.

He is our righteousness. But we do not make void the law through grace.
If we love Jesus we will obey.

The verses about a law being nailed to the cross is referring to the added law and shadow laws.
Don't mix them up with the moral law.
The Gentile nations were not raised under the law, the law was never our schoolmaster.

Sin is much more than what the law ever identified as sin.

Paul is talking to the Jews directly in the verse below.

Romans 7:6
But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound,
so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

The Romans and the Corinthians in the first century did not even know God.
Let alone knowing anything about the Mosaic law.

The Romans and Corinthians were never "released from the law" because they
never had the law.

You must read the letter to the Romans in the context,

The fact that the Gentiles were prohibited from the rite of circumcision, tells
everyone that Gentiles cannot be under the law.

There has never been any debate about the law.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
37,726
13,522
113
There has never been any debate about the law.
at least, the debate was had in Jerusalem among the apostles only a few decades after Christ's ascension, and it was settled. :)

it is wrong to impose the Law on Christians.
 

Inquisitor

Well-known member
Mar 17, 2022
2,859
845
113
at least, the debate was had in Jerusalem among the apostles only a few decades after Christ's ascension, and it was settled. :)

it is wrong to impose the Law on Christians.
The law was abrogated, settled, way before the council of Jerusalem.

It took some time for the apostles to unwind the sheer power and scope.
Of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

From eternity God had planned to replace the law with the Holy Spirit.

Romans 7:6
But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound,
so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

The Jews were released from their bondage to the law according to Romans 7:6.

The Gentiles never knew the law and were never released from the law.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
37,726
13,522
113
You are to make no graven image in the likeness of man.
there's a treasure to be found here, in discussions of iconoclasm. :)

why was it the command of God that the temple be decorated with engraved images of angels, palm trees, and open flowers?

what do angels look like, as described in the scripture?

:coffee: :unsure:
 

TMS

Senior Member
Mar 21, 2015
3,821
1,189
113
Australia
The Gentile nations were not raised under the law, the law was never our schoolmaster.

Sin is much more than what the law ever identified as sin.

Paul is talking to the Jews directly in the verse below.

Romans 7:6
But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound,
so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

The Romans and the Corinthians in the first century did not even know God.
Let alone knowing anything about the Mosaic law.

The Romans and Corinthians were never "released from the law" because they
never had the law.

You must read the letter to the Romans in the context,

The fact that the Gentiles were prohibited from the rite of circumcision, tells
everyone that Gentiles cannot be under the law.

There has never been any debate about the law.
If a gentile steals or murders is that a sin?
If a gentile takes God's name in vain, is that a sin?

You do not need to be a Jew to know that you are guilty of sin.

Some laws were given to Israel as a nation, but the moral laws are given all people from the start.

Sin and the laws that define sin were present from Adam until today.

Jesus did not lower the standard, we are not free to sin.

Mat 5:17-19
17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 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. 19 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.

Rom 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
Jas 2:10-12
10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
 

TMS

Senior Member
Mar 21, 2015
3,821
1,189
113
Australia
Paul said, "if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" (Galatians 2:21).

We who are in Christ have the righteousness of Christ imparted to us ...
I do not think any different.
We can't keep the law perfectly, because we all sin. So we can not be perfectly righteous by keeping the law.
The perfect standard is high, we fail, but for Jesus it was perfectly kept.

Why was Jesus perfectly righteous? Why is Jesus able to impart His righteousness onto us. Faith and works, the character is seen in the actions. The tree is judged by the fruit.
Jesus was perfectly righteous and all His works were perfectly righteous.

He perfectly obeyed the law, and never sinned so was righteous. We would be righteous if we never sinned. But we have all sinned so the keeping of the law is not a way that will result in being righteous.

Do we make void the law through grace?
Do we ignore the law? Do we continue in sin because we failed once?

No. the bible is clear that we should die to self and follow Jesus.
Following Jesus = obeying the law.

Rom 6:12-15
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

Shall we continue in sin? NO.
 

Soyeong

Active member
Oct 11, 2023
846
101
43
All this debate about trivial matters.
The issue of whether followers of God should follow God's commands in accordance with the example that Christ set for us to follow is not a tribal matter, but rather it is a foundational issue.

2 Corinthians 3:3
Who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit;
for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

A new covenant that is not based on the law but a new covenant based solely on
the perfect sacrifice that Jesus Christ provided.
If you believe that the whole Bible is true, then you should seek to interpret 2 Corinthians 3 in a way that is in accordance with what other verses say on the matter rather than a way that is contrary to them.

In Romans 10:5-8, it references Deuteronomy 30 as the word of faith that we proclaim, which prophesied about a time when the Israelites will return from exile, God will circumcise their hearts, and they will return to obedience to the Torah, which is the basis for the New Covenant, and which Jeremiah 31:33 is speaking in regard to by saying that the New Covenant God putting the Torah in our minds and write it on our hearts. Furthermore, Deuteronomy 30 says that the Torah is not too difficult for us to obey and that obedience to it brings life and a blessing while disobedience brings death and a curse, so choose life!

In Acts 5:32, the Spirit has been given to those who obey God. In John 16:13, the Spirit has the role of leading us in truth, in Ezekiel 36:26-27, the Spirit has the role of leading us to obey the Torah, and in Psalms 119:142, the Torah is truth. In John 16:8, the Spirit has the role of convicting us of sin, and in Romans 3:20, it is by the Torah that we have knowledge of what sin is. In Romans 8:4-7, Paul contrasted those who walk in the Spirit with those who have minds set on the flesh who are enemies of God who refuse to submit to the Torah. In Galatians 5:16-23, everything listed as works of the flesh that are against the Spirit are also against the Torah while all of the fruits of the Spirit are in accordance with it. In Romans 2:25-29, the way to recognize that a Gentile has a circumcised heart is by observing their obedience to the Torah, which is the same way to tell for a Jew (Deuteronomy 30:6), and circumcision of the heart is a matter of the Spirit, which is in contrast with Acts 7:51-53, where those who have uncircumcised hearts resist the Spirit and do not obey the Torah.

In Deuteronomy 32:46-47, the Torah is our very life. In Proverbs 3:18, it is a Tree of life for all who take hold of it. In Proverbs 6:23, for the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life. In Luke 10:25-28, Jesus said that the greatest two commandments of the Torah are the way to inherit eternal life. In Matthew 19:17, Jesus said that the way to have eternal life is by obeying God's commandments. In Hebrews 5:9, Jesus has become a source of eternal salvation for those who obey him. In Revelation 22:14, those who obeyed God's commandments are given the right to eat from the Tree of Life. In Romans 2:6-7, those who persist in doing good will be given eternal life. In Romans 6:19-23, no longer presenting ourselves as slaves to impurity, lawlessness, and sin is contrasted with now presenting ourselves as slaves to God and to righteousness leading to sanctification, and the goal of sanctification is eternal life in Christ, which is the gift of God, so the experience of being a doer of the Torah is the content of God's gift of eternal life. In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that he and Israel might know Him, and in Matthew 7:23, Jesus said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, so the goal of the Torah is to teach us how to experience knowing God and Jesus, which again is God's gift of eternal life (John 17:3).

So the Bible is abundantly clear that the New Covenant involves following the Torah, that the Spirit has the role of leading us to obey the Torah, and that obeying the Torah is the way to inherit eternal life, so that the fact that the letter leads to death means that the letter should not be interpreted as referring to correctly obeying the Torah. Moreover, if correctly obeying God instructions leads to death, then that would mean that God would be misleading us and shouldn't be trusted, which rather problematic for how you are interpreting this passage.

In addition, in Titus 2:14, Jesus gave himself to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own possession who are zealous for dong good works, so becoming zealous for doing good works in obedience to the Torah is the way to believe in what Jesus spent his ministry teaching by word and by example and in what he accomplished through the cross (Acts 21:20) while returning to the lawlessness that he gave himself to redeem us from is the way to reject everything he accomplished.
 

Soyeong

Active member
Oct 11, 2023
846
101
43
at least, the debate was had in Jerusalem among the apostles only a few decades after Christ's ascension, and it was settled. :)

it is wrong to impose the Law on Christians.
The Jerusalem Council was debating whether salvation was by circumcision or by grace, but were not debating whether followers of God should follow His commands in accordance with the example that Christ set for us to follow. In Matthew 4:15-23, Christ began his ministry with the Gospel message to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand, which was a light to the Gentiles, and the Torah was how his audience knew what sin is (Romans 3:20), so repenting from our disobedience to it is a central part of the Gospel of the Kingdom, which was the main them of his ministry. Christ also set a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to the Torah and as his followers we are told to follow his example (1 Peter 2:21-22) and that those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way he walked (1 John 2:6). So Christ spent his ministry teaching his followers to obey the Torah by word and by example and it is not an imposition to hold the position that followers of Christ should follow Christ.