Why do Christians care so much about the Ten Commandments?

[molly bloom]

If the apocalypse happens tomorrow, my bet is on the Muslims being right and Jesus comes down wearing a taqiyah saying you Christians got it all wrong. They make far more sense and are more consistent than the mess that is Christian dogma.

Wow. Religion, theology and belief reduced to the level of betting. Why not a supernatural boxing match ? Or divine wrestling- Fat Buddha versus Mohammed, Jesus to take on Brahma and Thor goes Graeco-Roman with Herakles....

[Robert]

Because God knew her? How is this a small thing?

I don't hope that you think about God and Mary as a couple, that's disturbing.

I love how you can dismiss huge swaths of the Christian world out of hand.

huge swaths of christians are wrong about some thelogic dogma. So what? All christians are wrong about theologic dogmas. That doesn't dismiss them in general. We're just all wrong now and then. So am I. It would be scary if we would be right about everything.

[molly bloom]

I don't know, maybe because the Empire became Christian?

Nope. There's a difference between canon law and civil law. Canon law also adopted some elements from the civil law. The Corpus Juris Civilis relied upon previous collections of Roman law (from non-Christian eras) and was codified under Justinian. Continental European law and Scottish law rely upon Roman civil law, but Anglo-Saxon law has rather different origins:

Of the existing Anglo-Saxon laws, those of Ethelbert, Hlothere and Eadric, Wihtred, Ine, Edward the Elder, Athelstan, Edmund, and Edgar, are mainly of the nature of amendments of custom. Those of Alfred, Ethelred, Canute, and those described as Edward the Confessor's, aspire to the character of codes; but English law, from its first to its latest phase, has never possessed an authoritative, constructive, systematic, or approximately exhaustive statement, such as was attempted by the great compilers of the civil and canon laws, by Alfonso the Wise or Napoleon Buonaparte.

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/saxlaw.asp

Thomas Jefferson saw himself as being inspired by Anglo-Saxon law and custom:

...the extracts from Anglo-Saxon law, the sources of the Common law, I wrote in the original for my own satisfaction; but I have added Latin or liberal English translations.

Letter to George Wythe, of November 1, 1778

and

Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law.

Letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper of February 10 1814.

[giblets]

The covenant with Israel is a contract. When you fulfill a contact you satisfy all the terms of it and it is done. The law is completed in Jesus Christ and is replaced by the commandments to love God and love one another, which Jesus stated encompasses all that the law was trying to do.

And it was Jesus who said that which goes into a man does not defile that man, but that which comes out of a man. So the we can eat pork thing is from Jesus.

FWIW, I'm with Robert Plomp on how to read Paul's letters on this topic.

How did Jesus fulfill the law? The torah says to be fruitful and multiply, did Jesus ever marry? If not how can you say he obeyed all 613 commandments?

[Nikolai]

Fullfill the law = not break it.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Fulfill meaning satisfy the contract. In contract law that doesn't necessarily mean you have to do everything in it if there is an "out clause" . Jesus, by taking all the sins of the world and emerging victorious over them and death, takes care of that (for the law is a way to overcome sin and get closer to God).

[giblets]

The decision against the Mosaic Law, while the outcome was championed by Paul, was made by James, the brother of Jesus and head of the Jerusalem Church. So it wasn't Paul that did so unilaterally as some try to say:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Jerusalem

And Peter, one of the 12 Apostles, was on the side of Paul:

Acts 15:7-11 (NIV 2011)
"7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”"

So since the Ten Commandents were part of the Mosaic Law, and for the most part not upheld by the Council of Jerusalem, there's no reason for Christians to care about them, aside from fuzzy theology or being a former Jew?

[Imran Siddiqui]

So since the Ten Commandents were part of the Mosaic Law, and for the most part not upheld by the Council of Jerusalem, there's no reason for Christians to care about them, aside from fuzzy theology or being a former Jew?

To be honest, I'd actually agree with you. Yeah, its part of the shared history (and Jesus was a fulfillment of the law and prophecies of Judaism - and most of Jesus's ministry makes sense only in the context of prophecy for the Jews), but not really anything to be really proclaimed from courthouses. At least IMO.

[Robert]

Fullfill the law = not break it.

The law is still the base to be judged upon by God.
Jesus did not abolish this basement of judgement. This mirror to show us our sins.
But those who are in Christ will not be judged. The law is not death. I am death for the law.

Like when I migrate to the USA, then the Dutch laws have no saying about me anymore, though the Dutch laws are still in existence for those who are still in Holland.

[giblets]

The law is still the base to be judged upon by God.

Well, it's not clear that God would have ever intended to judge gentiles by Mosaic law.

[Nikolai]

The law is still the base to be judged upon by God.
Jesus did not abolish this basement of judgement. This mirror to show us our sins.
But those who are in Christ will not be judged. The law is not death. I am death for the law.

Like when I migrate to the USA, then the Dutch laws have no saying about me anymore, though the Dutch laws are still in existence for those who are still in Holland.

I never said it was not the base to be judged. But Jesus fullfilled the Law's requirements. As long as we accept his sacrifice, he covers for us. I can't see how what I said was in opposition to that.

[Nikolai]

Well, it's not clear that God would have ever intended to judge gentiles by Mosaic law.

The Bible speaks clearly for all those who are told of the Law and the gospel. The rest it is silent about, and we can't really say anything definite.

[Robert]

Well, it's not clear that God would have ever intended to judge gentiles by Mosaic law.

According to Romans 2 the gentiles also will be judged upon it.

I never said it was not the base to be judged. But Jesus fullfilled the Law's requirements. As long as we accept his sacrifice, he covers for us. I can't see how what I said was in opposition to that.

You (and some others) cited Jesus saying that he didn't come to abolish the law. And based on that you claim that christians still have to keep the law.
I explained that in my opinion Jesus cited saying is about the laws true nature (to condemn people, see Romans 2-7) was indeed not abolished by Jesus. But that from that citing of Jesus we can't conclude that christians have to live up to the Thora.

[Nikolai]

I said the Law was not abolised in the way we can ignore it. The Bible speaks very strongly against that view. Especially Paul. See Romans 6. Sin is to do bad against God or fellow humans. Sin is revealed by the law. See Romans 7. The law is not saving us. We are no longer under the law. But faith without deeds are no living faith. And deeds are closely related to the law. To get salvation, we need to confess our sins. Sins are as mentioned revealed by the law. We still need the law. But not like we did before Christ.

[giblets]

According to Romans 2 the gentiles also will be judged upon it.

So you're saying that people have things like "don't eat pork" and "no mixed fabrics" written on their hearts?