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Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Moral Law for who?

This is a comment left by Michael Ejercito from the post titled: Connecticut Catholic Corner: Catholic Church's Opposition to Gay Marriage. (click on link for post and comments)

Michael Ejercito writes: "Jews (like Jesus and his original twelve apostles) are obviously bound by Old Testament Laws. That means, no murder, no theft, no homosexual intercourse, and no intercourse with their stepmoms for them. What moral laws would apply to those of us who are not Jews?"

My response: I am sorry you didn't find my original post on this clearer as I believe the post you are commenting on answered this. Moral law is for humankind. It's God teaching us what is moral or right and what is wrong and sinful. You say "for them" and "the Jews" in your comment, but all those things listed are wrong for anyone to do, Jew or Gentile. It is wrong for a Buddhist to rape just as much as it's wrong for a Christian or Jew to rape. It's wrong for a Muslim to have incest just as much as it's wrong for a Jew. Moral law applies to all human beings. God decides what is moral and we are to accept that. To be immoral is to sin against God, ourselves and others. Scripture says the immoral will not enter Heaven- that covers everyone. We, humans must be moral, to be moral we first need to know what that means. God tells us what is moral and what is not. People have the free will to accept that or reject it. But we must never forget that if we reject any of God's teachings, we will be held accountable for it one day. And where we spend eternity depends on how we use our God given free will during our lives. Here's what the bible has to say about being immoral (in all its forms).

1 Cor. 5:1 "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife. 2And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? 3Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. 4When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.
6Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
9I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
12What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you
."

1 Cor. 6:18 "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body."

1 Cor. 10:8 "We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did- and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died." (NIV version)

1 Cor. 10:8 "Let us not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell within a single day." (NAB version)

The point is immorality will send people to Hell by their own choices. Where we learn about what is moral and what is not is from God, after all it is God who decides what is sin and what is not. As I said in the original post, Jesus never said Moral Law was abolished in the New Testament. I hope that answers your question. God bless and thanks for the comment.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for this follow-up.

    I also did some research, and I found references to the "Laws of the Sons of Noah" in Jewish theology.

    ReplyDelete

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Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner