OLD vs NEW
- dhightwork
- Jul 3, 2015
- 3 min read
So I saw these posts last night .. "God Hates Shrimp!" What?? Sure enough the Bible says in Leviticus 11:9-12, that they are an abomination. Hmmm ... I don't want to find ways around the Bible just so I can eat my shrimp, but I do want to have an understanding of what this scripture is talking about.
In order for me to understand this, I need to have a concept of what the Bible is and what it is not. The Bible is God's Word, not a book to pick and choose from just to justify the things I like or don't like. The Bible is made of two major parts - the Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT). It has three major themes - Jesus is Coming, Jesus Comes and Jesus is Coming Again.
Some people want to say that the OT is irrelevant to today's Christian. Others want to cling to it as Biblical authority for today's Christian. This is where understanding the whole concept of the Bible comes into play.
If you read the OT, you will see polygamy and divorce were accepted, but the NT says one man & one woman for life. OT says circumcision is required, but NT says circumcision is not necessary. OT says submit a sacrifice for your sins, but the NT says repent and be baptized. The OT says no shellfish, pork, or certain other foods because they are detestable. However, the NT says God told Peter not to call anything common or unclean that He has made. Sounds like the Bible contradicts its self doesn't it? God is not the author of confusion (I Cor 14:33), so the Bible CAN NOT contradict itself. So how can this be??
The OT is filled with stories of faithfulness and unfaithfulness. It shows us how there truly is nothing new under the sun! In the NT, God sent Christ and established a new law. Once the new law was put into place, the old was done away with (Heb 8:13). So if you want to follow the laws of the OT, then you have to take all 600+ into account. God gave us a simpler way - the laws of the NT. But guess what? Some are the same!!! So you can go back to the OT to use those references, but others are not carried over into the NT. Those are the ones you can not use OT reference to support. So back to the shrimp ... only found in the OT. Homosexuality - Old AND New - so we can refer to those stories in the OT to help us understand.
I know I sin, but I hope and pray that those around me, love me enough to call me on the carpet (in a loving manner) and not condone my actions. I hope they don't give me a gun to commit a murder or drink with me until we are drunk. I hope this helps you understand OT/NT better.
March 28,2016
This week we have been discussing OT/NT with out teens. I had a couple more verses from this week I wanted to add.
Colossians 2:14 "having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."
Hebrews 8:13 "In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away."
