The Law is abolished! Really? Part 1

Western society has been considered a lawless society, which is a surprising assessment considering its foundation on Biblical principles and Christian influence. Even more shocking is that the Church and the world are looking more alike—and the world hasn’t moved.

A 2006 Barna study proved this trend, showing eight of 16 moral and sexual behaviors of Born Again Busters (those born between 1965 and 1983) as similar to those of non-Born Again Busters. For example, 59 percent of Born Again Busters believed cohabitation was morally acceptable, with 80 percent of non-Born Again Busters agreeing. Only 33 percent of Boomers (those born before 1965) took that stand.

“The same response pattern was evident when it came to gambling, sexual fantasies, abortion, sex outside of marriage, profanity, pornography, same-sex marriage, and the use of illegal drugs,” said the report called “A New Generation of Adults Bends Moral and Sexual Rules to Their Liking.”

David Kinnaman, director of research, said the study “paints a compelling picture that moral values are shifting very quickly and significantly within the Christian community as well as outside of it.”

An increasingly relativistic society would explain such behavior in those who don’t follow Biblical principles, but how can one explain such behavior in those who pledged to follow these principles and the God who put them in place?

The root cause could be found in Replacement Theology, and the translation and interpretation of several passages in the Bible, including Ephesians 2:15, which reads in the New King James “…having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.”

Replacement Theology is the belief that all of God’s plans and promises for Israel were transferred to the Church when the Jewish nation’s leaders rejected Yeshua as the Messiah. It began to emerge during the time of Rabbi Sha’ul (Paul) and became the dominant theology by the time of Emperor Constantine in 325 C.E. As a result, a hatred developed for all Jewish things developed, and Replacement Theology became the theological justification for outlawing Jewish cultural practice and stating the Jewish laws were invalid, even for Messianic Jews. If any Jewish practices or laws were followed, one would be excommunicated from the Church.

Next week we will discuss how this thought continues today.