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Originally posted by DOHCTR
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1. Stoning Insubordinate Children/killing for work on sabbath
Understand first that the punishments in the Mosaic Law were not required, but instead, were the maximum amount of punishment one could give for crimes. They did not have to stone their children, but it was allowed by the law.
The reason for such harsh punishment being allowed is because God needed His people to have people to represent Him as accurately as possible for the sake of the world. Imagine if the penalty for rebelling as a child was stoning. I bet if a child saw that happen to another child, he'd never rebel against his children again. LOL The point is that if these people misrepresented God, the world would not want to know God and therefore end up choosing to go to hell instead. God put in place a strict way of living to hopefully keep the people from getting corrupted as long as possible. And when it didn't work, He would put them in captivity till they were humble and let them out once they were serving Him again in their humbleness.
2. Nowhere does the Bible say Jesus had long hair. The Catholic artistry is responsible for that beliefs, but it is not a biblical one. However, He could have had long hair, because in the Old Law, the only reason a man could grow his hair long was if he had vowed to go on a God serving mission for a period of time. Paul did this at one point during his ministry and cut his hair once the vow was fulfilled.
3. Isolate women on their period/Not eat pork
These are hygienic and health-related things. It has been proved scientifically that our digestive tracts are not designed to break down pork and certain kinds of foods very well at all, and so those foods put a lot of stress on our systems. Pork is one of the most acidic meats, and that's very bad for our bodies. The damage they do outweighs the very little nutritional value they have. All of the food restrictions have been shown to not be very good for our bodies, and those foods the Law does allow are shown to be fairly beneficial, though not in everyone's case. Organic beef is fine, though, as the Bible says, all the blood needs to be removed from it, and visible fat too, I think. The fat in beef is what is typically hard on our livers. Isolating women on their periods is a hygienic thing they did back then. Blood is a way to spread disease and in an unsterilized society, that can cause some issues. The Law had them circumcise on the 8th day. Research shows that the blood is at a point on the 8th day which is optimal for doing something such as circumcision because the platelet count is at its highest to clot the open cuts (something to that effect - I forget exactly the explanation they give). Also, it is pretty well known that circumcision prevents against many diseases. How did these ancient people know these things we've proved with science thousands of years later? I think they were a lot smarter than we give them credit for, and God was teaching them this stuff, whether in the beginning or via the Law and personal relationship.
4. Make offers to god via fire
Animal sacrifices were to symbolize that sin causes death, and to symbolize the coming savior. The reason for burning them was to see the smoke rise up toward heaven. They burned incense for that reason, because it symbolized prayers going up toward the first and second heavens (the sky and space).
5. Anyone with a "flat nose, or any thing superfluous" must stay away from the altar of God
I've read the entire Bible, and I don't remember that law. I may have just forgotten it. If it is indeed a law, I'd say that it has a symbolic purpose of some sort, maybe for the purpose of showing that only "perfection" can enter into God's presence. The Holy of Holies is where the Ark of the Covenant was located, which was recognized as the resting spot for the Holy Spirit in those days (one resting spot, of course, because the Holy Spirit filled men back then according to scripture). Imperfection was not to come into God's house, the temple. This was to symbolize that when we go to be with God in the end, Jesus' sacrifice will remove all imperfection from us so that we can enter into the presence of God fully. Though, I must say, Satan is said to accuse the Satans day and night before the Lord, and unless that has some other figurative meaning, it appears that Satan, in his imperfection, can be in the presence of God. I'd have to research it a little to reconcile it all, though. I haven't because I haven't seen importance in doing so just yet.
Understand that the Law was given to THOSE people for the specific purpose of helping them to represent God's love and perfection to the rest of the world as best as humanly possible - a task at which the Hebrews failed constantly. However, regardless of that fact, eventually, God's word spread throughout the entire world. For a man to die on a cross (which pretty much ensured you would never be remembered back in those days and because you were said to be cursed) and then the man's religion to spread throughout the world is impossible. But thankfully for us, Jesus said, "With man, it is not possible, but with God, all things are possible."
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