Good info, thanksFalse dichotomy is a common logical fallacy, if not THE most common one. It assumes there're only two mutually exclusive options, and you must choose one over the other, when in fact there're more options, or these two are NOT mutually exclusive.
And so herein lies the error in a flawed understanding of the word "torah", which is commonly translated as "law". But when you dig in deeper, upon close examination, the Hebrew word torah literally means DIRECTION, TEACHING or INSTRUCTION. The root, yod-resh-hey (ירה), originally likely meant to throw or shoot an arrow. The noun torah is rendered in a causative conjugation, which is just a way of saying that it literally means to cause something (or someone) to move straight and true. A torah is therefore something that directs, having connotations of offering strong and virtuous guidance, in other words, tradition.
Beyond instruction or teaching, torah can also mean law or statute — something one is not just guided to do, but required to do. And it can also refer to a custom, a kind of loose, unwritten law. And this is where it gets ugly, from positive to negative, since "law" by nature is restrictive and punitive, but that was never the original intention and definition of torah. Only has it been stiffened into "law" when it's applied on rebellious, untrustworthy trouble makers, the kind of bums with a "slave/victim mentality" that always have to be monitored, always have to be regulated, always have to be yelled at, always have to be told what to do, always have to be whipped into action, otherwise they just forsake their duty or do whatever they like.
When you ditch this slave/victim mentality and take torah as instruction, however, instead of restriction, it becomes your moral compass, especially in dark, turbulent, perilous times such as this when up is down, black is white, torah is your frame of reference that guides you down the path of righteousness toward greatness, it works in the same way as any training program, you follow the rules for bodily and spiritual discipline first and foremost. Christ fulfilled the torah by correctly demonstrated every rule without adding additional ones, watering down existing ones or editting any one to suit it to his own liking, therefore as the Word, he's the perfect living embodiment of the torah, He fulfilled it as a living example, quite the opposite of your supposed "abolition" of the torah, isn't it? When you obey it, understand it and practice it to the point of making it your natural, habitual way of life, that's what it means to have the law "written in the heart". God's grace is his trust in your obedience. But as long as you resent it and argue against it just for the sake of being argumentative and playing identity politics, you'll be forever bound to not the torah, but your own slave/victim mentality and your flawed, oversimplified black-or-white view.
I used to hate cleaning my room, a heavy burden, even humiliation; but when I live alone, I have to clean my room without anybody ordering me, for hygiene and practical reasons, a messy room is bad for health and hard to find stuffs I'm looking for; then I regularly clean my room for therapeutic benefits, believe it or not, as a messy room contributes to depression, cleaning relieves you from depression; furthermore, I found out I can "piggyback" habits by developing a new habit I don't quite enjoy upon an old one I very much enjoy, in this case, I get to listen to an audiobook, podcast or music while I clean my room, so when I wanna have a listen to my favorite content, I keep my hands busy by cleaning instead of lying on the couch. This might be the end for me, but it can go further to a higher level if you're living with a partner, you clean the room not just for your own wellbeing, but for your partner's, you do it out of care and respect, finding your own value in your service and seeking no return. Likewise is the transformation of your understanding on Torah from "law" to "teaching" to lifestyle.
What Does 'Torah' Mean? | My Jewish Learning
When most people think of Torah, they likely think of the Five Books of Moses (also known as the Pentateuch): ...www.myjewishlearning.com
Torah primarily means teaching, instruction and guidance
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It's far more than that. Leviticus holds great practical value. For example, in any decent, qualified meat packing plant, draining the blood, trimming the fat and removing the entrails are standard practice; all unclean animals in the kosher diets are scarvengers that eat trash, they're full of toxins and bad for health; leprosy laws are quarantine protocol in response to contagious deseases, the priests were not just religous figures, they were in capacity of health experts and physicians; "sanctity of the blood" teaches that life is in the blood, which is an accurate scientific statement, as the blood carries oxygen into each body parts and carries away wastes; sexual morality laws forbid incest, adultery, (male) homosexuality and child sacrifice. These are not just religious laws, but public health regulations, well advanced of its time.
Then there are laws on property redemption and indentured servitude, sold property and slaves may be redeemed under certain terms; there's even instructions on menstruation, it may seem disgusting, antiquated, even misogynistic, but there's also scientific truth in it. The term "unclean" actually means "unfit", women in her period are unfit for heavy labor and sexual intercourse, they're given a time to rest; after two weeks of "customary impurity" after bleeding is ovulation, this is when a woman reaches her peak fertility, and this is when she returns to her husband and makes babies.
You see, this may be a cultural difference. What frustrates me is that in western culture, "this or that", "good or bad', "for me or against me" is the natural, default mentality, especially in the modern age of mass media; in my culture, however, "two sides of the same coin" is the natural, default mentality, when there's a "this or that" scenario, it is presumed to be "this perspective" or "that perspective" of the same thing until proven otherwise. And I believe this is the correct approach to understand the relationship between "law' and 'grace".
No doctrine is more than the Gospel/how to be saved/resurrected to heaven. Levitical laws are optional.
I find it to be quite deficient in this regard. Yes it is useful for instruction, but it can never compare to adage's like "treat others like you want to be treated", which is the ultimate law. That truth is hidden inside the torah through examples, but they in no way compare to instruction that cuts to the chase and instructs simply and clearly how to do righteousness in every case. That is the law written in the heart, a voice that says turn this way or that way. It is life flowing from the indwelling holy spirit itself, rather than life flowing from memorized examples that are limited in their applications
Is that to say that evolution and creationism are two sides of the same coin? They are both based upon the same precept that mankind on earth originated from a single set of biological progenitors. Whether man originated from a single set of biological progenitors would rise to the law of excluded middle since the proposition is either true or its negation is true, leaving no intermediate third option.
On subjective matters, I would agree seeing that if it is countess unto him as righteousness, who works not but believes in God that justifies the ungodly, to obtained grace without the law; then a person can obtain grace under the law if he believeth in him that will not justify the wicked, then his faith is righteousness.
Rom 4:5 Ex 23:7 Ezek 13:22
"Evolution" is a term for a progress in human civilizational development. From a horseless carriage with a motor to self-driving Tesla, that's the evolution of automobile; from Wright flyer to killer drone, that's the evolution of aircraft. This doesn't exist in nature, what is commonly perceived as "evolution" is VARIATION as the result of adaptation into different habitats. A tabby and a lion are both felines, they may share a common ancestor; a golden retriever and a wolf are both canines, they may share a common ancestor; however, a feline and a canine do NOT share a common ancestor, God created all creatures each according to its KIND. No matter how a virus or bacteria mutates, it's still a virus or a bacteria, it doesn't “evolve" into anything else. There's no such thing as "tree of evolution", it's against the second law of thermodynamics.
"Hyper grace" is a heresy, that's all.
At least you have a good starting point to understand what the torah and what it's for, deficient is better than nothing.
Perhaps you have a good starting point to understand what the holy spirit is and what it's for and how much more excellent and perfect it is than the law; deficient is better than nothing
Holy Spirit is like the wind, you don't know where it comes from and where it goes. In Acts, Holy Spirit usually descended immediately after baptism, but not always.
Forgive me for being a bit rude, I'd like to retort that this is not even a strawman argument, but a nonsensical argument. If there's an other side opposed to creationism, it may be nihilism, and that's biblical, see Ecclasiates - "all is vanity'. Nihilism is the absence of meaning, creationism is creation of being. When there's void, the Spirit of God fills it. There's no past tense for "create" in Hebrew, 'cause God is always creating, there's always void to be filled.
Some Levitical laws may be beneficial as long as they are understood to be optional, and others were ceremonial and made moot by the atonement of Messiah Jesus that they foreshadowed.
Every believer has the holy spirit in their hearts. If not, they haven't been saved.
Retort all you choose, if you consider the First Cause argument nonsensical argument then ipso facto.
The principle of the First Cause holds that the effectual cause cannot be its own cause. I will let you figure out the first cause of God.
Every creature of flesh has the breath of life in their nostrils, if not they are not alive.
That's kewl, but consider what is written in the book of Job,
Job said
All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils; Job 27:3
Elihu said
The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life .Job 33:4
So what did the LORD say to Job friends.
Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. Job 42:8
The world wouldn't have sunken into such a disaster of total disarray if the officials had followed God's quarantine protocols by identifying the symptomatic ones and isolating them only, while leaving the healthy population alone. Separation the sick from the healthy, the dead from the living, the contaminated from the clean are not merely religious laws, even though nearly everyone views them in that way, they are useful guidelines in practice that had actually saved lives, believe it or not, 19th century physicians who followed these rules by merely washing their hands and sanitize their wards had far lower patient mortality rate then those who didn't.