Things Religious People Say That Annoy Me (Part 3)

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I guess by now this is more of a case of "things Christians say that annoy me," because generally you don't hear people of other religions saying these things. This one is exclusively Christian. This, too, is not necessarily a single statement, but contradictory activities, but it's centered around this statement. CHRIST NAILED THE LAW TO THE CROSS The problems with this are voluminous. You have Christians contradicting their Messiah, who said, "Do not think I came to destroy the Law" (Matthew 5:17). You also have selective reading there (this is usually based on Colossians 2:14, which says that "He cancelled the charges against us, nailing them to his cross." That says nothing of the Laws of God; rather, it says that the list of personal sins was nailed to the cross.). More problematic is the "cafeteria" style approach to the Law that nearly all Christians participate in. Case in point: many conservative Christians want the Ten Commandments posted, or they have bumper stickers that say, "I keep the Ten Commandments." However, when it comes to commandment number four -- "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," Christians have a cow. "Christ nailed the law to the cross!" is their cry for not obeying this commandment that they claim they're keeping (per the bumper sticker on their car). Oh, they love the part about "do no work." There are Christian-owned national chains such as Hobby Lobby and Chick-Fil-A that are all closed on Sunday. I think that's admirable that they follow their religious principles; however, the principle they're following is explicitly reserved for the seventh day of the week, NOT the first day of the week. "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. On that day you will do no work" (Exodus 20:10). I hear this argument (which could be a separate discussion): "it doesn't matter which day." Yes, it does. It's one of the Ten Commandments they're claiming to follow. Furthermore, before God established the Jews or the Law or anything else, He created the Sabbath: "God rested on the seventh day, and He blessed it and declared it 'holy'" (Genesis 2:3). There are several other examples, such as the "Old Testament" (I hate that term, because the implication that the word of God can be segmented by humans into an "old" testament and a "new testament" is blasphemous, not to mention that it opens the door for religious cults who will declare a "newer testament" has come along) prohibition against homosexuality. In fact, you've probably seen this, where people respond to the "proof text" with other laws in the same book (Leviticus) that Christians completely disregard. Here's the final reason it annoys me: according to Judaism, there are a whopping 613 commandments/rules/laws in the Torah (law). Christianity claims that is "too much" and declares it "nailed to the cross," replacing it with man-made catechisms that are infinitely more cumbersome. The most recent Catechism of the Catholic Church has (wait for it) TWO THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED AND TWO rules and regulations. But the Law of God is "cumbersome"? Someone posted a response to my last discussion in this series, saying they thought it was a case of man ignoring what God says because they don't like that rule, so they either ignore it or replace it with their own. That's exactly what "Christ nailed the law to the cross" is all about: man doesn't like the notion of obeying 613 simple rules that God gave, so they throw them away in favor of hundreds, if not thousands, of man-made religious rules. Or, as Jesus put it, "You hypocrites! You ignore the commands of God by substituting the traditions of man!" (Mark 7:8) You can't have it both ways.