Christians and the Old Testament

Many Christians have held to teachings by uneducated pastors or bible study teachers who are just ignorant of God's Word. Think of the many fallacies that have been taught throughout the ages and retaught by others who placed more trust in the teachers than in the actual Word of God.

EXAMPLES (some of which are controversial even in my own religious denomination):

1. Drinking - many pastors in evangelical churches have taught that drinking is a sin for the past 80-90 years. Why only 90 years? Because prior to Prohibition in the United States (1920-1933), most evangelical churches had no issue with alcohol. The reason was not that they believed it to be a sin, but that they believed as Christians we were to obey the laws of our land. However, some pastors began to preach that drinking was a sin and even found a way to clear Jesus from a perceived sin by teaching that the wine Jesus drank was "new wine" and would have been no stronger than grape juice (which became the preferred drink for use in communion in most evangelical churches). The fact that drinking is not said to be a sin in the Bible, does not take away from legitimate concerns about drinking alcohol which is an addictive drug and has been proven to cause many problems among people who abuse the use of alcohol. Nor does it negate the fact that underage drinking is illegal (and therefore a sin), or drinking alcohol when you join a denomination which pledges not to drink alcohol, or children drinking when their parents have told them not to drink alcohol.  The best comment I have heard about drinking is this: there is a difference between having a drink and going drinking.
2. Dancing - this is another area that has been blurred by prejudice rather than scriptural reasons. Many evangelical groups took a strong stance on dancing as a sin when the modern, popular dance styles started to become sexually suggestive in their movement. But they never explain how dancing could be a sin if God's Word instructs use to dance before the Lord. Many will say that because King David's wife got angry when he danced around the ark proves that dancing is a sin. They never explain that what angered David's wife was that he was out in front of the people in what amounted to his underwear or that she felt he demeaned himself in front of his people. Most theologians would agree that Jesus most likely danced at the wedding feast (the same one where he provided alcohol upon his mother's request and most likely drank it). Again, just because dancing is not a sin does not mean that certain styles of lewd dancing are not a sin. It is what is in the heart of the dancer that matters, and a righteous person is not going to use lewd and sexually suggestive dance moves in order to bring honor to God.
3. Certain Instruments or behaviors in worship - this is one area that has always amazed me. The same people who complained about the demonic drums and guitars in church were often the same people who traveled to any local church hosting a Gospel group which would either use drums and guitars live or have them on the accompaniment tracks that they used. I guess people just ignored Psalm 150 because it did not fit with their theology of personal preferences in worship styles. And let's not even discuss that sinfully, exuberant behavior of raising hands in church, although God's Word did not back down from discussing such controversial worship behavior in Psalm 63:4 or Psalm 134:2. God's Word teaches that we are to: use all instruments; sing hymns, psalms and spiritual songs; shout, dance, kneel, clap and lift our hands before God; and more.

These are just some of the many traditions that were taught in place of truths. And often, if the teacher was stumped as to why the Bible seemed to indicate that certain things were acceptable when everyone knew that they were wrong, they would fall back on this tradition: Christians do not fall under the laws of the Old Testament because Jesus' death created a New Convenant. Well, that does sound like solid Biblical theology, right? Only problem is that it is contrary to what Jesus taught.

In His famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law of the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." (Matthew 5:17-18).

So what exactly does this mean? It means that the Old Testament teachings and commands are still in effect. One exception would be in regards to making sacrifices in the Temple because Jesus became our Sacrificial Lamb for all of our past, present and future sins. Therefore, we do not need to travel to Jerusalem and sacrifice a bull, bird, seed, wine, lamb or any other item for forgiveness of sins. But all other laws, teachings and commands are still in effect. You cannot simply CLEP out of the Old Testament.