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Originally Posted by Charlatan
But Stange Famous... didn't Paul take the religion in a different direction. Didn't he teach that Christians don't have to hold to Jewish law?
I say again, Christians who would quote laws from the OT can't (or shouldn't) just pick and choose those laws that are most convenient to their world view. A true Christian should embrace Christ's teachings and if you read those words and actions he comes across as increasingly tolerant of many of those who are considered outcasts.
I wasn't being glib when I mentioned his admission of Levi the tax collector into his disciples. Tax collectors were high on the list of those to be despised under the existing Jewish customs of the time.
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Yes, Paul was far more inclusive. The battle for the soul of the early church was between Paul and Jesus' brother ,James the Just. Paul was a modernizer, who sought to extend the chruch to the gentiles, and James was a zealot, xenophobic, known for his strict observance of the law. The thing is of course, we dont really know whether Jesus himself was more like James or Paul - since Paul won, he MADE the biblical Jesus like him.
And I absolutely agree, and this is what I was saying all along.
Utswo, if you want to follow the Mosaic law, if you want to use it as a guide to life - then fine... but the law is the law. You cannot pick which laws you obey. If you take Leviticus as your guide that homosexuality being wrong, then how can you eat pork?
As for the biblical Jesus himself, he had very little to say about sexuality at all, other than he disapproved of divorce.