by PLAYER57832 on Fri Nov 30, 2007 1:08 pm
My history of religion (tongue somewhat in cheek)
First you had these folks who called themselves Jews. Primary distinction was that they believed in one God. After a time, that wasn't enough. Rules had to be established. In came the ten commandments, followed by what is generally referred to as the Mosaic laws (after this guy named Moses).
A lot of stuff happened. The groups split. Rules changed, were added, etc. Around 0 B.C. (convenient, that), things were perhaps particularly interesting. As happens with humans, different folks had different ideas about all this and had split off to form their own groups. The Pharassees, the Sadducees, etc, etc. As is the way with humans, they couldn't stick to just religious differences, there were power struggles, outright corruption and the general fracass called "politics". These folks called "Romans" had their say as well. About this time was born a man named "Jesus". He grew up, looked around and said "aha" ... the rules are great, but you have lost sight of their porpose. Remember above all else to love thy God and love thy neighbor as thyself. The rest is ... detail.
Of course this upset a good many folks, so they had to get rid of him. Except ... he became even more popular. Unfortunately, it didn't solve things. More recent ideas have been to a. fix the corruption, clarify problems, make a few changes, but stay (more or less) with the old rules and system -- most of these folks call themselves "Jews", though in some cases the changes were great indeed. b. Change the rules, add some more ... take what this Jesus guy said and go further ... thereby have we Islam. c. Oh yeah, back to that Jesus guy. We have one group who want one leader to clarify things .. they call him Pope and became Roman Catholics. Another groups said "hey, no way .. we want to decide for ourselves".. they tend to be called "protestant". Similar divisions occured within each of the other religions in this tale, but this story is long enough.
And to all the scholars out there .. don't take this too seriously... it is a somewhat tongue in cheek (though generally valid, I believe) response to a beer-based question.
And, in case you feel I didn't answer your question closely enough ... The law is a guide. Though it comes from God, it is put forward by humans. It contains the truth, but is not itself the whole truth. Christ told us, in the end, that we should follow the law, but remember to above all else "love our god and love our neighbors". That is the heart of ALL the commandments. The true purpose of the law is to help us to follow those two dictates. Many of the dictates to which you point are now considered (by some, NOT ALL!) to be cultural norms and not true laws. Women wearing hair covering is another example. The new testament says that if you are in an area where uncovered hair signals harlotry, then Christian women should cover their hair. Some folks take this to mean women should cover their hair ALWAYS. Others do not.
died for our sins...
