why do Christians choose to ignore everything written in the first five books of moses?
Why do they choose Sunday as holy day, when Torah says Saturday? Why do they not follow dietary laws? Why do they remain uncircumcised? why do they not observe the 613 commandments in the Torah?
Why do they pick and choose and find excuses and phone biblical citations for everything?
Its not rejected, its fulfilled. The 'laws' of the old prophets served a purpose, and that purpose is done now. Finished. Complete in Christ.
Welcome to the age of grace and forgiveness. Continue studying.
for Christians the holy book is the new testament. where the new testament ratifies the Pentateuch (or other parts of the old testament) they follow the old law. but where the new testament supersedes the mosaic code (which it does most of the time) Christians follow the new law.
Christians do not reject the Pentateuch, they simply do not consider it their testament.
Not reject it, don't practice it. For the law was a curse given to Moses and that generation. Christ redeemed us from that curse and we no longer live by law but by grace.
Because we are not under the Mosaic law, we are under grace. By the way, Jesus broke the Sabbath laws, often.
Joh 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Rom 6:14 For your sin shall not lord it over you, for you are not under Law, but under grace.
Gal 2:21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness is through Law, then Christ died without cause.
Gal 5:1 Then stand firm in the freedom with which Christ made us free and do not be held again with a yoke of slavery.
Gal 5:2 Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you are circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
Gal 5:3 And I testify again to every man being circumcised, that he is a debtor to do all the Law,
Gal 5:4 you whoever are justified by Law, you were severed from Christ; you fell from grace.
Liturgy
We find our Jewish heritage in the church as well. The priest?s vestments at Mass have ancient origins. His outer garment, the chasuble, a large cone-shaped cloth with a hole for the head, was often worn in Palestine during the Greek and Roman occupations. Its beauty and adornments go all the way back to Aaron. God had told Moses, Ex 28:2, 4 ?You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty ? These are the garments which they shall make: a breast piece, an aphid, a robe, a coat of checker work, a turban, and a girdle; they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons to serve Me as priests. They shall receive gold, blue and purple and scarlet stuff, and fine twined linen.? Ex 39:1 ?Of the blue and purple and scarlet stuff they made finely wrought garments, for ministering in the holy place; they made the holy garments for Aaron, as the Lord had commanded Moses.?
Every Catholic church has a tabernacle, where lives the Word Made Flesh. In the synagogues, the tabernacle holds the Word of God in ancient Torah scrolls. Beside the Catholic tabernacle, and beside the synagogue tabernacle, is a candle. Both go back to the time of Moses. Ex 40:35 ?The glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle ? For throughout all their journeys the cloud of the LORD was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.? Today we still see that fire, now a steady candle, and know as then that God is inside.
That blood-red tabernacle candle, reminding us that Jesus who died to redeem us is present, reminds Jews as well of the arrest or memorial candles they light each year to remember the departed.
As the Mass begins, the priest processes down the center aisle as rabbis from time immemorial have also processed. Our entrance antiphon continues an ancient Jewish tradition of singing from one of the 150 psalms.
When the priest arrives at the altar he kisses it. Altar is a Hebrew word that means, ?place of sacrifice.?
On solemn occasions, the priest or deacon will spread incense around the altar. The rising smoke symbolizes our prayers ascending heavenward in God?s sight. Ps 141:2 ?Let my prayer be counted as incense before Thee, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.? The evening sacrifice, of course, was the Passover sacrifice, Ex 12:6 when every Jewish family was instructed to sacrifice a paschal lamb in the evening twilight.
The priest?s greeting, ?The Lord be with you? comes from the Book of Ruth. 2:4 ?Boaz came from Bethlehem; and he said to the reapers, ?The Lord be with you.??
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass uses three words in their original Hebrew. Amen comes from the Hebrew word emu nah, faith, and means, ?Yes, it?s true!? Alleluia means ?Praise God!? Hosanna means ?God saves!? These three words remind us at every Mass of our Jewish origins.
During our Shepherd?s time, synagogue worship consisted of prayers, psalms, and Torah readings. The Torah readings were based on a three-year cycle, starting on the Sabbath after the Feast of Tabernacles and reading a portion each week until the end three years later on the last day of the same feast. In that way the entire Torah was read aloud to be sure every Jew was exposed to it. Holy Mother Church continues the Jewish tradition with Sunday Gospel readings on a three year cycle. Year A relies on Matthew?s Gospel, Year B on Mark?s, and Year C on Luke?s Gospel. These readings cover over 7,000 verses, including nearly all of the New Testament, to help us know our sacred Scripture.
The deacon?s, or priest?s, homily continues the Jewish synagogue tradition that the rabbi offer a sermon. In the old villages, the rabbi was often the only educated man in town. While everyone was gathered together it was a good opportunity for a little teaching. In the church as in the synagogue, the idea is to explain to this particular congregation the Word of God that has just been proclaimed.
The ancient Jews brought offerings to their priests for sacrifice. Lv 7:29 ?He that offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to the Lord shall bring his offering ? The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast shall be for Aaron and his sons.? The early Christians continued this tradition by bringing up gifts of food as thank offerings in a procession very much like the one we have today.
Jews for thousands of years have prayed over bread, ?Blessed are you, Lord our God, king of the universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth.? As he begins the Preparation of the Gifts, the priest prays: ?Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread to offer, which earth has given and human hands have made. It will become for us the bread of life.? Jews have prayed over wine for thousands of years and still do today. ?Blessed are you, Lord our God, king of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.? The priest prepares the wine for consecration by saying, ?Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this wine to offer, fruit of the vine and work of human hands. It will become our spiritual drink.?
After the priest says, ?Lord God, we ask you to receive us and be pleased with the sacrifice we offer you with humble and contrite hearts,? he washes his hands, continuing the Jewish tradition, Ps 26:6 ?I wash my hands in innocence, and go about thy altar, O Lord.?
Morning synagogue prayer always includes the Kedushah. Its first part comes from Isaiah?s vision of the seraphic singing joyfully, 6:3 ?Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! The whole earth is full of His glory!? The second is from Psalm 118, 26 ?Blessed is He who enters in the name of the Lord.? Our Sanctus comes directly from the Kedushah: ?Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.?
Jews end every prayer service with the Kaddish as a proclamation of God?s greatness. It begins: ?Raise high and glorify the name of God. Throughout the world He created by His will. May He build a kingdom in your life, during your days, and during the life of all the House of Israel. Soon, and in a time close at hand.? We begin our Communion Rite with a very similar prayer: ?Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.?
Judaism is not like Christianity, calling them both "religions" is reductive, actually. Judaismis a culture and way of life. Christianity is fairly portable across cultures and ways of life. Some of us take a great deal of the Torah to be outdated cultural rules specific to the Hebrews of the Bible, and some of us think those rules would have been for all time if the Jews hadn't messed it up and now Jesus has liberated us from the law. Most of us have a combination of the two in our minds.
There is a great deal of explanation in the epistles of Paul about this situation, for example in Romans where it talks about no longer being slaves to the law and Galatians 1 and 2 where Paul explains that Jesus' death is the final sacrifice and all observance of laws for their own sake no longer makes sense - in that case Christ died for nothing, he says.
Did you think you were the first person in history to think this charge up? You're awfully steamed up about it. I hope you feel better soon.
Christ came not to replace the law, but to fulfill it. He came to give us the Holy Spirit of God. It is in the Spirit that the law can be truly followed, truly fulfilled. One can follow the law to the letter, and still not have the Spirit of Love. But if one has the Spirit of Love, one can follow the law in spirit and in truth. The Spirit of Love is greater than the law, and this is why the New Covenant is greater than the Old Convenant. The fruits of the Spirit are love, justice, compassion, mercy and truth. The law alone cannot bring these into the heart of a man, only God can bring these. Jesus came and taught that the law alone is not enough; the law is good, but the law is not God. First Christ must come into your heart, and then the law will follow of its own accord, a law tempered by love and mercy. When the elders caught the woman committing adultery they came to Jesus asking that she be stoned to death as the law demanded. Jesus said "Let whoever is without sin throw the first stone", and with these words he showed us how the New Convenant is superior to the law, because it is a convenient rooted in the love, mercy, and compassion of God.
Not being a Christan, it is difficult for me to answer that, however, I'd assume it's because it is a Jewish document. The simple fact that the Jewish and Christian religions are separate and have different beliefs, seems to be reason enough.
I will respond to some of what you ask, and let others talk about other things.
In the new testament we read that the early Christians gathered on "the first day of the week" for their Eucharistic celebrations, to commemorate the Resurrection of Jesus on Sunday. Nowhere does it say, however, that the early Christians referred to Sunday as the "sabbath" or saw it as a replacement for the sabbath. Those early Christians were Jewish, and they would have attended Jewish sabbath services on Saturday as well as Christian celebrations on Sunday. Sunday is refer ed to as "the Lord's Day" in the new testament, not as "the sabbath."
Soon, however, Jewish congregations expelled their Christians members. Also, Christianity spread much more rapidly among Gentiles than among Jews. As a result, Sunday was the day that remained for Christian observance. Saturday , the day for Jewish observance, was dropped as Christianity lost it's Jewish character.
Now, you could understandably argue that if Jesus is seen as the fulfillment of the Hebrew scriptures, shouldn't Christians be keeping the Jewish law, even if they are not Jewish? The early church had that very same debate. In fact, much of Paul's writing address this point (what we don't read is the view of the opposing christian voices to which he is responding). The book of Acts of the Apostles gives a summarized account of the debate, which culminated in what Christians call the Council of Jerusalem, in which it was decided that new converts to Christianity did not have to accept the law of Moses.
In reality, however, different Christian denominations today have varied beliefs about the Torah. Seventh Day Adventists, for example, worship on the seventh day and honor much of the Torah.
As for dietary laws, the gospels say that Jesus "declared all foods clean."
Perhaps this is a good way to look at it: just as Jews interpret the Torah in the light of the Talmud , Christians interpret the Torah in the light of the New Testament.
Naturally, we are going to disagree. Hopefully, with mutual respect.
why do christians reject the Torah?
