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OT: Rebelious reopening of locked topic 26-Aug-2010 At 4:07:57 PM dave h.

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Rod - you are most welcome... hope you got up your climb?

Gordoste - thanks for the compliment. :)

Pensionerpower - I'm sorry that I let my frustration influence my reply to you more than I should have.

The gist of my reply to you earlier was this:
Christians are not bound to obey the old testament food laws, follow the sacrificial system (etc - for more details see Leviticus) because the New Testament makes it very clear that Christians are not saved because of their obedience to the law.

In other words, the Bible itself tells us that Jesus, not the law, is the way to salvation. Jesus himself suggests this:

In John 2:18-22, the Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign demonstrating his authority: "Jesus answered them, 'Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.'
The Jews replied, 'It has taken 46 years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?' But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words Jesus had spoken."

Here, Jesus uses the word 'temple' metaphorically to refer to the whole of the Old Testament law. For his Jewish audience, the temple and the law are how you relate to God - the priests who minister at the temple are the mediators of the old covenant between Israel and God. Jesus' words foreshadow the new covenant which is inaugurated by his death. Nor is this reference to the coming obsolescence of the OT law isolated - cf John 4:21-24: "...a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem...Yet a time is coming and HAS NOW COME when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks..." (emphasis added).

The Old Testament looks forward, and anticipates the new covenant inaugurated by Jesus' death. One reference in support of that idea is Jeremiah 31:31-35. Part of that passage reads:

'"The time is coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will NOT be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the Lord. "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time... 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....they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest...For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more."

So there is, in the Old Testament itself, this idea of a coming covenant which will be different to that established when God brought Israel out of Egypt (which is an unambiguous reference to the Levitical laws etc). In fact the sacrificial law of the Old Testament is something which foreshadows the coming of Jesus. The author of the New Testament book of Hebrews quotes that passage from Jeremiah, shortly before he says (Hebrews 10:1-4):

"The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming - not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship...But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins."

Previously in Hebrews 9 the author has compared Jesus to the High Priest of the Old Covenant, and made the point that he "entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood [rather than entering by the blood of a sacrificed animal as the High Priests had done], having obtained eternal redemption."
The author goes on to say "The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer [sanctify people so they are outwardly clean]. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" (Heb 9:12-14).

The author's purpose in making all of these comparisons is very clear. He is stating that Jesus is a high priest superior to those of the old covenant; that the sacrifices of the old covenant did not atone for sins (although they made the Israelites ceremonially clean). Rather the old covenant sacrifices are offered in anticipation of the death of Christ, who was a sacrifice offered once and for all, and whose death is effective to remove sin (Heb 10:10).

I'm not really sure I can do a whole lot better than this. If you're still unhappy I'll see if I can find someone who can express things more clearly.

- The Good Dr
In response to your link (with respect, the author is an amateur), I will supply a rebutting link. (http://www.publicchristianity.com/jesusevidence.html )

The guy on your No Beliefs page either doesn't understand how ancient history works (in that the sources we have for much of ancient history usual come after the events they document) or is deliberately misleading.