Is it important that Christians know the Old Testament (even though we don't live under Mosaic Law anymore)?

I hear so many Christians now a days claim that the Old Testament is defunct for Jesus was the “lamb” to clear away its rules and regulations. This is just another bullshit scapegoat that Christians use to ignore the atrocities and bizarre laws commanded by their god. Their preachers spoon feed them that the Old Testament is no longer binding so that they can excuse the majority of evil that the bible promotes. I am so tired of Christians manipulating the scriptures so that they can assign a kinder nature to their God, that I have assembled a BRIEF list of verses which clearly show that the Old Testament is not to be ignored. Its laws should indeed be adhered to, for the New Testament demands it! After this section I shall list where the Bible contradicts itself concerning other laws.

1) “For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:18-19 RSV) Clearly the Old Testament is to be abided by until the end of human existence itself. None other then Jesus said so.

2) All of the vicious Old Testament laws will be binding forever. "It is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass away than for the smallest part of the letter of the law to become invalid." (Luke 16:17 NAB)

3) Jesus strongly approves of the law and the prophets. He hasn’t the slightest objection to the cruelties of the Old Testament. "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest part or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place." (Matthew 5:17 NAB)

3b) "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness..." (2 Timothy 3:16 NAB)

3c) "Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God." (2 Peter 20-21 NAB)

4) Jesus criticizes the Jews for not killing their disobedient children according to Old Testament law. Mark.7:9-13 "Whoever curses father or mother shall die" (Mark 7:10 NAB)

5) Jesus is criticized by the Pharisees for not washing his hands before eating. He defends himself by attacking them for not killing disobedient children according to the commandment: “He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.” (Matthew 15:4-7)

6) Jesus has a punishment even worse than his father concerning adultery: God said the act of adultery was punishable by death. Jesus says looking with lust is the same thing and you should gouge your eye out, better a part, than the whole. The punishment under Jesus is an eternity in Hell. (Matthew 5:27)

7) Peter says that all slaves should “be subject to [their] masters with all fear,” to the bad and cruel as well as the “good and gentle.” This is merely an echo of the same slavery commands in the Old Testament. 1 Peter 2:18

8) “Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law" (John7:19) and “For the law was given by Moses,..." (John 1:17).

9) “...the scripture cannot be broken.” --Jesus Christ, John 10:35

Law Contradictions of the Bible:

10) Shall we obey the law? Romans 13:1-7 says quite clearly that Christians are to submit to the law and regard it as the institution of God. 1 Peter 2:13-14 “Submit your self to every ordinance of man ... to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors.” Matthew 22:21 “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s.” Also see Titus 3:1. Matthew 23:2-3 & Ecclesiastes 8:2 This leads one to assume that Christians must and should obey the law, yet look at these verses which contradicts what I just sited. Acts 5:29 “We ought to obey God rather then men.” Exodus 1:17-20 shows God punishing the midwives for following their rulers instead of God. Also see Daniel 3:16-18, 6:7-10, Acts 4:26 & 27, Mark 12:38-40, Luke 23:11, 24 & 33-35 which all say the law should be ignored. Now we know why Christians get away with their selective morality so often.

11) Should we steal? (Exodus 20:15 & Leviticus 19:13) Stealing is absolutely forbidden. Yet, Exodus 3:21-22, 12:35-36 & Luke 19:29-34 all promote stealing.

12) Should we judge? Jesus is quoted in Matthew 7:1-2: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.” Also see Luke 6:37 & 1 Corinthians 5:12. Now take a look at “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24). Also note 1 Corinthians 5:12 & 6:2-4.

1 3) Should we covet? Exodus 20:17 says, “Thou shalt not covet . . . anything that is thy neighbor’s,” while 1 Corinthians 12:31 says, “Covet earnestly the best gifts.” So, are we or are we not to covet?

14) Is lying okay? Exodus 20:16. Proverbs 12:22 & Revelations 21:8 all say lying is forbidden. Joshua 2:4-6, Exodus 1:18-20 & 1 Kings 22:21-22 all support lying.

15) Can we kill? Exodus 20:13 says “thou shalt not kill”. Exodus 32:27, Numbers 31, and THOUSANDS of other verses show God commanding us to kill.

16) Can we own slaves? Leviticus 25:45 “Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy … and they shall be your possession… they shall be your bondmen forever.” Genesis 9:25 “And he [Noah] said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.” Exodus 21:2 & 7 “If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing… And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.” Joel 3:8 “And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the Lord hath spoken it.” Luke 12:47-48 [Jesus speaking] “And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.” Colossians 3:22

“Servants, obey in all things your masters.” So obviously the Biblical God thinks slavery is right, right? Just look at these: Isaiah 58:6 “Undo the heavy burdens... let the oppressed go free, ... break every yoke.” Matthew 23:10 “Neither be ye called Masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.” (Also see Exodus 22:21 & 21:16) Let it be known here that pro-slavery Bible verses were cited by many churches in the South during the Civil War, and were used by some theologians in the Dutch Reformed Church to justify apartheid in South Africa. There are more pro-slavery verses than cited here. I simply do not have the room to post all of them.

17) What about Improvidence? Improvidence is enjoined in Luke 12:3 “Sell that ye have and give alms.” also in Luke 6:30 & 35 “Give to every man that asketh of thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again ... And lend, hoping for nothing again, and your reward shall be great.” Also note Matthew 6:28, 31 & 34. Improvidence is condemned in I Timothy 5:8 “But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. “ Also see Proverbs 13:22.

18) What does the law say about anger? Ephesians 4:26 says “Be ye angry and sin not not.” Anger is disapproved in Ecciesiastes 7:9 “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry; for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.” Proverbs 22:24 “Make no friendship with an angry man.” Also see James 1:20.

19) Are we to let our good works be seen? Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works.” This contradicts verse Matthew 6:1 , “Take heed that you do not your alms before men, to be seen of them.”

20) Should we pray in public? 1 Kings 2:22, 54 & 9:3 shows the Lord is joyed by public prayer and listens intently. Matthew 6:5-6 condemn public prayer and command people keep it a secret.

Jesus never said to stop following the old ways. You would know this had you actually read the damn book. Christians ARE supposed to be following the old laws.

Read your book BEFORE you thump it. You'll sound like less of an idiot.

"it still has important teachings" - you mean, like kill adulterers (Lv 20:10), kill non-Hebrews (Dt 20:16-17), kill witches (Ex 22:18), kill anyone who works on the Sabbath (Ex 31:15), kill disobedient children (Ex 21:15), kill blasphemers (Lv 24:14), kill any bride who's not a virgin (Dt 22:21)?

It is so important, it is impossible to understand the New Testament without knowing what the OT was all about!
"The new is in the Old concealed; the old is in the New revealed."

"Testament" is an old-fashioned word for "Covenant" [think, Last Will and Testament"]. The Mosaic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, the Noachian covenant, the Adamic covenant, the Davidic covenant.... all those covenants are in the OT and it is vital to understand their significance in the way God chose to deal with sinners in times past. Then, and only then, will the significance of the New Covenant in Christ's shed blood impact on us. As all Christians are in the New Covenant, they must know what this means, their obligations and God's promises, and how the OT covenants all pointed forward to this.

It is immensely important for Christians to learn as much as possible about the many covenants in the OT.

I agree. Knowledge of the OT increases our understanding and appreciation of Christianity.

If the story of Jesus taught me one thing, it was that religion is stupid, and potentially, incredibly dangerous, evil, vengeful, corrupt, sadistic, etc. I thought the whole point was, as long as you don't follow the old law, you'll be OK, like don't kill people with stones, etc.

Yes it is important!

Romans 15:4 says, " For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. "

There is a lot we can learn from the Old Testament about the nature of God, the problem of sin, the importance of faith and obedience, and many other subjects.

Also, many of the events of the Old Testament help us to understand the New Testament. In fact, the prophecy of the Old Testament is some of the evidence by which we see that Jesus is the prophesied Messiah! The flood of Noah helps us understand the role of baptism (1 Peter 3:20-21) and the judgement that is to come at the end of the world (Matthew 24:36-39). The punishment of Nadab and Abihu helps us to understand the need to submit to the authority of God's instructions. (Lev. 10:1-2)

There are many, many important lessons we need to learn from the Old Testament.

We can't fully understand the New without the Old.

If Jesus had intended that the record of his ministry and the writings of his disciples replace the Hebrew Scriptures, he would surely have indicated this. However, regarding Jesus just before his ascension to heaven, Luke’s account states: “Commencing at Moses and all the Prophets [in the Hebrew Scriptures] he interpreted to [two of his disciples] things pertaining to himself in all the Scriptures.” Later, Jesus appeared to his faithful apostles and others. The account continues: “He now said to them: ‘These are my words which I spoke to you while I was yet with you, that all the things written in the law of Moses and in the Prophets and Psalms about me must be fulfilled.’” (Luke 24:27, 44) Why would Jesus still be using the Hebrew Scriptures at the end of his earthly ministry if they were out-of-date?

After the Christian congregation was established, Jesus’ followers continued to use the Hebrew Scriptures to highlight prophecies that were yet to be fulfilled, principles from the Mosaic Law that taught valuable lessons, and accounts of ancient servants of God whose fine examples encourage Christians to remain faithful. (Acts 2:16-21; 1 Corinthians 9:9, 10; Hebrews 11:1–12:1) “All Scripture,” wrote the apostle Paul, “is inspired of God and beneficial.”* (2 Timothy 3:16) How do the Hebrew Scriptures prove to be beneficial today?

I would say that it is (or can be) very *useful* and very *beneficial* for a Christian to know the Old Testament. This is primarily because knowing the Old Testament gives a great deal of insight (improved understanding) with regard the the New Testament. Also: the Old Testament teaches us much about the interaction between God and humanity.

However: knowing the Old Testament does by itself not improve your chances of obtaining eternal salvation, and being ignorant of the Old Testament does not by itself reduce your chances of obtaining eternal salvation, so I would say that it is less than "important", but definitely "useful" and "beneficial".

Christ separated (1)God's Law (Gospel) under the Apostles, from (2) Moses laws(civil laws), under the Pharisees. Moses had combined Kingdom Law with civil law: Today, civil law is under the control of government officials.

The Lord told me to read the New Testament 7 times before studying the Old Testament. Just recently I had many questions answered about the Old Testament that had bugged me for decades. Those answers came from the extra-Biblical, endorsed texts of The book of Enoch, Jasher, and Jubilee. In particular, the book of Genesis has brief accounts of very interesting stories which are left incomplete (Why did God take Enoch? Who was Lamech and the person/people he killed and why are they mentioned? Did Cain really get pardoned for the first murder or did he have consequences? The fallen angels and their offspring, the men of renown, who were they and what was their final disposition? Was Noah's flood brought on only by man's transgression or were there extenuating causes/circumstances? Why did Noah curse Canaan after Ham was caught stealing from Noah's tent? What was Ham stealing? Why were there giants after the flood? What was the story about Abraham's birth and early years? Who was Melchizedek and how did he know Abraham? What happened to Nimrod after the Tower of Babel incident? What was Esau doing just prior to selling his birthright that caused him to think his life was over? Why did God call for complete extermination of some tribes in the promised land and not others?) And many more mysteries solved by further research in these Scriptures

Si