I am trying no such thing. You made a claim that the bible contains material meant to be metaphoric, and the Levitical laws are not part of that. If they were malleable [not that they are], that still does not make them metaphorical.
Seriously are you this immature that you just can't let it go and concede my accuracy?
Why would I concede your accuracy when you're not ... accurate?
The laws are not metaphoric. But we, who are
not Jewish
, who are
not living in ancient Palestine or Canaan, and for whom the Law is
not necessary, more or less treat them that way. That is, we use them as types or symbols of God's covenants with us, and we revere them in that way.
I don't think there's a Jew on this forum who would contend that the Law is mandatory for us. In fact, I'm not sure there are any Jews on here who would contend that the Laws have been malleable, tweaked to suit time, place, etc.
Here's a passage from a real good article by Peter Rollins that explains the Christian position well, I think:
This was the insight of Paul regarding the Law. The more we say that we should be moral and avoid immorality the more our desire for what we disavow grows. The louder the no the greater the temptation to transgress the no. The result is guilt, a guilt that is managed through repression, a repression that results in pushing our destructive actions into the unconscious to be manifested in our clandestine actions (i.e. in symptoms).
So what is the alternative to attempting to hold ethical principles? The answer is creating a space of grace in which we are invited to bring our darkness to the surface, to speak of it in an environment in which we will not be condemned or made to feel guilty, a community that will let us speak our anxieties and darkness without asking us to change. In short, a place where we can confront our humanity rather than running from it.
The trick is to create an atmosphere of love, grace and acceptance where people are not told what to do. Where people learn that heresy which claims that, while not everything is beneficial, everything is permissible. In other words, while there are destructive things we do, they can be brought to the light without fear of condemnation. In such an environment ethical acts will emanate from the body just as heat emanates from light. One will not have to be taught that they should look after their neighbour as if it were something that we need to be told, they will simply be more inclined to do so.
The desire to have ethical rules to follow tends to lead to the action they forbid. This causes the spiral into guilt, repression and disavowed symptoms. In contrast laying such ethical propositions to one side and learning to accept both ourselves and the other in grace opens up the path to what we have set aside.
(From:
peterrollins.net » Stop Teaching the Ethics of Jesus!)
For the Christian, "Keeping Laws" isn't the way to salvation. Salvation is found precisely in God fulfilling the Law in Jesus and becoming one of us.
