Question:
Jesus died for our cheeseburgers.

Anyone who has read the Bible knows that the beginning bits are a little unpleasant. There is blood everywhere, people killing each other left and right. There are a lot of innocent people getting killed by god in a laundry list of atrocities. The most prominent example of this unpleasantness is in the book of laws.

There are laws for everything. Disobedient children, incest, rape, adultery, public defecation, bestiality, male genital injury, fighting, kosher food, working on Sunday, stealing, religious tolerance, tattoos, science, menstruation faux pas, haircut rules, unruly slaves, extramarital sex, being mentally handicapped, religious tolerance, blended fabrics, slander, divorce, astrology, homosexuality, and rules on how to treat darker skinned people. The list goes on and on. And if you haven’t guessed by now, each and every offense is punishable by death.

Now if you ask a Christian about this they will tell you that you really shouldn’t pay too much attention to this because later on Jesus let everybody off the hook. Unfortunately he had to die as part of the deal. Apparently God wasn’t satisfied to give everyone amnesty until He got His pound of flesh.

But here is where things get confusing. When Moses was making these laws he said, “The Law is permanent for all future generations. You must add nothing to what I command you, nor subtract anything from it, but keep the commandments of Yahweh your God just as I lay them down for you.” This sounds pretty explanatory.

Then later Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law of Moses or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.” It sounds a little strange I know, but I am told that the “fulfill” part is the important bit.

From what I understand it is like paying the fine before committing the crime. So if you were to pay a traffic cop $50 and do some community service, you could then drive the wrong way down a one-way street. So by Jesus accepting the death penalty it is like he is paying in advance for all the little laws we break. And this is what they mean when they say “Jesus died for our sins.”

But it’s a little more than that. Jesus also died for our cheeseburgers, and our blended fabrics. And fortunately for us he died for every other odd law that could get you stoned to death.

Now my question after all of this is where is the line in the sand drawn. How far did Jesus’s fulfillment go? Did he die for all of our sins? When you turn on the TV and see Christians, when you see them preaching on the plaza, and when you check the policies of a church it’s plain to see that there are some Old Testament laws that made it, and some that didn’t.

For example, it’s ok to eat non-kosher food, but it’s bad to get divorced. Getting a tattoo is ok, but it’s still a bad idea to use an Ouiji board. 67% cotton undies good, Harry Potter bad. I have been told that “God Hates Fags” but nobody wants to stone your kids when they enter the rebellious teenager phase. And up until June 2, 1865 darker skinned people weren’t treated very well. (By the way, a few choice Bible verses were used as the primary justification for slavery.) And when was the last time that you heard of a court trial for someone who boiled a baby goat in his mother’s milk?

So what sins are ok? What sins are off limit? I think we can all agree that killing and stealing are bad. But if I was brawling with a friend of mine, and his wife decides to stop the fight by grabbing me by my testicles, I would not feel comfortable cutting her hand off.

Will Dave Thomas be sent to hell for leading us astray with his tasty meat and cheese abomination to the Lord? Will Carl Sagan find forgiveness for believing that the Sun and all the stars are older than the Earth?

So for the events of the Old Testament, what will Jesus forgive? Which laws do we follow? And which do we sweep aside?

Answer:

Jesus did die for all sins, across time and space. He will forgive all of them, if you accept what he did for you. He fulfilled all the old covenant Laws and legalisms; which were set up to help humans, but which had turned into a way of measuring people and binding them; by offering himself as a perfect sacrifice in the covenant the Israelites had made and agreed to – and then broke, several times.

I did a very thorough search and could not find the verse you are referring to when Moses said “It’s permanent,” do you still have the reference? In either case, Moses’ word is not binding – only God’s is. Moses was an imperfect human like the rest of us, albeit one with more contact with God than most of us. Jesus also didn’t add or subtract anything to the Law – he left it just as it is. He was simply fulfilling the terms of the covenant – he paid the $250 when you break your cell phone contract early, essentially. Or, a better example: the $1.2 million for pirating music or movies. $250 you might be able to pay. Hardly anyone can pay the $1.2 million on their own (and practically everybody in the US pirates).

What you are referring to are the things that are repeated in the new testament – things like divorce, sexual immorality, following other gods, etc. These are not laws per say – we are not compelled to follow them, our salvation does not rely on what we do or do not do anymore. That’s why we say we are saved by grace, and by faith. Not by works, so that no one can boast. If a Christian gets divorced or has premarital sex, or does drugs, or other things, their salvation is not in jeopardy. God isn’t going to revoke salvation if people sin, because God knows people aren’t perfect anymore, and we can’t live up to his standards on our own.

What we are called to do is to try, out of love for God, to be more like God. That means remaining faithful to your wife or husband no matter what, and to try to work things out in a Godly manner (see Five Love Languages book) rather than just give up and try someone else. God never gave up on Israel, even when they turned away from him, and we are to follow his example.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%206:12-20;&version=31;

“Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2010:%2023-33;&version=31;

“Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.

Granted, these apply only to those who believe that Christ saved them already. It’s not that we are given a free pass and are allowed to sin all we want now, since it’s forgiven, but that God knows we’re going to sin anyway, no matter how hard we try not to, and he’s not holding it against us anymore.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jeremiah%2031:31-34;&version=31;

“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

You don’t have to follow any laws, since there aren’t any in the New Testament / New Covenant. There are guidelines, which, when you follow them, are outward indications of spiritual growth and maturity. You can be saved and still be sinning – sex, drugs, etc – but you’re not very much a follower of Christ. That’s the part that involves work, and wanting to be changed, and asking God to help you stop sinning – help you to be a better person. That’s what makes you a Christian.

Let’s go back to your cop example real quick. If there were no cops, would it be ok to drive the wrong way down a one-way street? No. We have laws for a reason – because they prevent harm. What we have in the New Covenant aren’t laws written in a book anymore. We have an internal counselor, that we call the Holy Spirit. You are free to obey or disobey as you choose, but if you disobey, you’re likely to get hurt – no extra fines or community service, etc, needed. It’s self-fulfilling. Physically, spiritually, mentally, or emotionally, you’ll get hurt.

The original Mosaic laws were trying to keep people from harm. The dietary laws were trying to keep them in good health. The moral laws were protecting people from consequences of immoral behavior – and there are natural consequences. Extramarital sex, for example. STDs would not – could not – exist without extramarital sex.

In the prior Q&A, I discuss covenants and their consequences, and the cultural understanding of covenants at the time of the Israelites and first century Jews / Romans in great detail. See here.

The Israelites broke the moral laws, and it resulted in the collapse of their civilization – multiple times. What other people group can you think of who has had their kingdoms overthrown and conquered multiple times, yet still exist with their own distinct cultural identity?

So the real question is: Do you think the Mosaic Laws were designed to hurt people or to help them?

Addendum:

There’s nothing in the bible about how to treat people with darker skins – The only time it ever mentions it is by inference, by saying the Cushites were the descendants of Ham, and the Cushites were from Lower Egypt and Africa, so they were most likely darker skinned. There are NO verses in the bible dictating different treatment for different skin colors. See here. And here.

And not all Mosaic Laws were punishable by death. Many of them were simply fines, in money or property, or as you gave the example of, removal of various offending body parts. To say all Laws were punishable by death is a gross over-generalization.