Karnal wrote:
Quote:Your Romans citation says why:
Quote:3.20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
Sin, for Christians after Augustine, is defined as being "of the flesh" rather than, for example, the dietary principles of Mosaic law, which were disposed of by St Paul in order to appeal to Romans.
Luke does not dispose of Mosaic law. Read 16:17:
Quote:The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.[a] 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.
And read Jesus Himself. Matthew 5:17:
Quote:Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
You have answered your own questions Karnal, through the law we become conscious of sin, however we cannot be declared righteous by observing the law.
To path to righteousness is not by the deeds of the law, you are justified by faith in Christ.
The law did not become void, it was fulfilled:
As Christ said in Mathew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy,
but to fulfil.
Fulfill verb: to bring to a successful and favourable finish or completion;
Consequently if the O.T. Law has been successfully brought to a conclusion, it is finished, not applicable to today's Christian.
Quote:Absolutely. They point to Leviticus to uncover the Will of God. The quote on lying with a man as with a woman is often coined to condemn homosexuality.
Christian societies have been putting sodomites to death for 2 millennia. A popular form of torture and execution during the Middle Ages was The Spike. Today, homosexuals in African Christian communities are often murdered, justified by Leviticus. Christians were active in campaigning to keep homosexuality illegal in NSW, when it was legalized as recently the 1980s - again referencing Mosaic law.
We've been through the bit where Christ concluded the law successfully, He declared it finished.
Now for people who go against the Doctrine of Christ, well once again we see that the answer is contained in the N.T.
Mat 15:9 But in vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Mar 7:7 Howbeit
in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Mat 7:21
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? Mat 7:23 And then will
I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Seems clear to me that Christ has unambiguously stated that people who give their own commandments as the doctrine of Christianity, people who commit iniquity are rejected by Christ they are not Christians.
Unlike islam, Christianity can be examined by it's doctrine.