Have you ever heard of the term “Red Letter Christian”? These people only do what Christ said and is written in Red in most Bibles. Therefore if Christ did not cover that topic then they do not consider it important. For example Christ never mentioned homosexuality and therefore is not an issue, but this simply is not true. Either all of the Bible is God inspired and is the truth or none of it is. People cannot pick and choose what they will and will not believe out of the Bible because how do you know what is the truth.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 New International Version (NIV)
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The reason is that most people when they start discussing something like is that they want to justify their or another person’s behavior as being okay. Christ did not mention incest, rape, abortion, or premarital sex, but does that make any of these okay?
Lets take premarital sex for example. There was a class in which a Christian was attending that dealt with both Psychology and Sociology. The instructor asked if anyone was a Christian and this individual raised his hand. A small debate ensued about premarital sex in which the Christian was made fun of repeatedly. The Christian was a bit upset, but he stayed for the class because God told him to do so. Now during the break the instructor played a trick on everyone in the class and under one persons cup he wrote something to the effect of your are diseased and it is contagious. He asked who had the cup and one man rose his hand. He asked who shook his hand during the break? A lot of people raised their hands. The instructor said you are also diseased and contagious. He went on to ask who shook their hands during the break? By the end of it, everyone was diseased and contagious, except one. Now the instructor said look everyone is now diseased and contagious and they all began laughing. At this point in time God told the Christian to stand and say he was not because he had abstained. Just about everyone;s mouth in the class had dropped. So what was the point? Christ never mentioned premarital sex, but does that mean you should engage in such activities? What would happen if you caught something from someone else and passed it onto another and they died?
Rape is another one that is not directly talked about and those who use adultery as their argument, that assumes you are married. Is rape ok? Most people would answer no, but why not since Christ never mentioned it specifically. Rape is discussed in the Bible and this is where people want to pick and choose what is and what is not ok to follow our of the Bible.
Incest, bestiality, and homosexuality as well as all the other sins are mentioned in the Bible. You have a choice follow the Bible and God’s word or do not, but do not think for a second that picking and choosing which one to follow is acceptable behavior. We were given a clear set of instructions on how we are to live our lives. It is not easy because the flesh pulls so hard at us to do the things we know we should not do.
Christ did not abolish the Law written in the OId Testament as some think, but rather He fulfilled the law. The Law was meant to show us that we needed Christ.
Matthew 5:17-18 New International Version (NIV)
The Fulfillment of the Law
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 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.
The Ten Commandments were written to show us how we should treat God and others, but being sinful creatures, this is very hard to maintain. In the Old Testament there are 613 laws of Moses and while we can strive to keep all them, there is no reason to as a Christian. Now part of the law was to provide sin offerings to let God know that we know we have done something wrong in his eyes and to ask for forgiveness. Christ came and shed his blood for our sins so that we no longer need to provide sin offerings, but simply must acknowledge before God and Christ that we have sinned and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and that he is the Son of God and on the third day he was resurrected. When we accept Christ in this way there will be a change in ones life and attitude, that is you will be reborn. This does not mean that everything is ok and you can do what you want. Instead it means you want to please Christ and want to do what is right in his eyes.
Now when Christ was discussing the Law of Moses such as murder and adultery, he was showing us that there is more to it than what was written down. These were not meant to be all inclusive topics, but as a starting place for how we should live. Ultimately Christ was trying to show us that we need to Love people as both He and God have done for us.
So for all you “Red Letter Christians”, I pray that your hearts will be open to what God has said throughout the Bible and not what just Jesus said since all scripture is Gob breathed.