Dexter Sinister wrote
On the other hand, Luke 16:16 clearly says exactly the opposite, the Old Testament laws are no longer binding.
Here you have the answer.
I myself have troubles to understand and accept was has been written in Exodus,Leviticus, Deteronomy etc. But keep in mind, this was stuff over 3000 years ago.
On the other hand the gospels portrait Jesus as Messiah (the Jews of that time were waiting for)and God's Son and Christ.
He himself showed disgust what the religous leaders had done to the original ten (very reasonable)commandments
and the 500 or so mosaic( drafted by Moses and friends) laws.
The idea is,that God grants us peoples the right to be free agents
and execute free will to rule and arrange our lives matters.
("by the grace of God...")!
In any case, Jesus is on record to have (intentionally) broken many of these ever increasing laws the pharisaes came up with, much to to the disdain of those contemporary religious leaders.
The rest is history as we say.
The early christians were quite a spirited and tough bunch sticking close to the reformed religious belief of original christianity.
Paid a heavy price too.
With Constantin around 400AC this growing religious movement was elevated to the State religion and spread through europe and around the world.
With the dying off of the original leaders(apostels and close followers) decay set in and has not stopped yet.
Christianity evolved into all kind of branches, many distorted beyond recognition and totally void of what Jesus Christ stood for.
With ongoing little compromises here and there the most ugly things have been justified in the name of Christianity.
It is not surprising though, that the majority of former christians have moved away and followed other invented beliefs.
The interesting part of the Bible are not only the open and candid
narratives but also the prophecies.
And the pictures painted beforehand are clearer and clearer recognisable, if we want to see it or not.
