Customs vs Laws

 The number one question that people ask Christians is: How is Christianity different from other religions? What you choose to believe vs what is actually true are 2 different things. But every time I hear this question, it makes me think about the Christian doctrine. I call it that because when doing research on it, I come across an extensive amount of similarities with Judaism as a whole. (Other religions as well, but I'm discussing Judaism because that’s the main one.)


Reading the bible, you'll notice that a lot of the laws and holidays they celebrate, we also observe. We bring up commandments that were given to the people of Israel during theOld Testamentt. The sabbath rest, for example. It is argued by many theologians whether or not Christians should observe the sabbath.  The sabbath was allegedly broken by Jesus, in the book of Matthew, to feed his hungry disciples. The Pharisees were enraged because he was “ breaking the sabbath. Jesus reminds them of the time David ate the consecrated bread when they were hungry. He then says in 12:5, “  Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent?” Essentially throwing their claims back at them. The Pharisees were still looking for a reason to charge Jesus, and they saw a man with a shriveled hand in front of the temple. They turn to Jesus and ask him if it was okay to heal people on this day or rest. He asks them if one of their sheep fell into a pit on the sabbath, wouldn't they get it out? A sheep isn't any more valuable than a person. He heals the man, and the Pharisees walk away with the idea that they had to kill him. 


Jesus didn’t break the Lord’s day, he broke the Pharisees’ sabbath. The only thing that God asks of people when it comes to the sabbat is to keep it holy. The disciples were hungry, so Jesus fed them. It was the Pharisees who made up strict man- made rules to God’s original law, and it was Jesus who argued that he was simply doing good and fulfilling the sabbath's whole purpose of rest and compassion. But that didn’t matter to them, their custom was over the one who created it… 



The reason Jesus was a jew is that he was born a jew. His parents were Jews. It’s the same reason people who are born in America and have American parents are American citizens.  Just like he chose to follow Jewish customs, we can follow all the customs of being American. We don’t have to, but we shouldn't condemn other people for making that choice either.  As long as we're doing things to the glory of God and honoring him, we shouldn't have any problem.

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