In an excellent post entitled One Jot or One Tittle, xHWA obliterates their interpretation and use of one of their most important prooftexts! The article begins with the quotation of Christ's statement in Matthew 5:17 Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. The Armstrongists, however, insist that salvation is not a fait accompli and that most of the prophecies of the Old Testament remain to be fulfilled! But wait a second! Didn't Jesus say that not even the tiniest punctuation mark or pen stroke would pass away from the Law until ALL/EVERYTHING is fulfilled? Of course, the answer is: YES, that's precisely what he said!
The next question which comes to mind, of course, is didn't Christ fulfill the Law and the Prophets? Was Jesus the Christ? Did he fulfill the prophecies of old about a promised Messiah? Did he obey/fulfill ALL of the precepts of Torah? Did his life, death, resurrection, and ascension cause us to be forgiven, reconciled, and saved? What did Jesus Christ mean when he said, "It is finished"?
Moreover, if Christ didn't finish his work, if he didn't fulfill the Law and the Prophets, then why have Armstrongists ignored and/or dismissed so many of the commandments of the Law? Don't think that they do? What about the commandments dealing with circumcision, sacrifices/offerings, the Temple, the priesthood, the Law of the Central Sanctuary, menstrual cycles, childbirth, bodily fluids, mildew/mold, skin diseases, agricultural practices, etc. That certainly sounds like more than a jot or a tittle to many of us. What about you?
***Once again, I highly recommend reading the above referenced post and comments (if you're interested in the truth).
Yes. What about all those laws?
ReplyDeleteA former Armstrongist friend of mine, years ago, sat down and tried to calculate the percentage of laws the Armstrongists keep. He listed out all 613 mitzvot and tried to cross-reference which ones we actually kept. He never completed that task fully because he got sick of it (grey areas). But he was somewhere around 2-3%.
My favorite ones we didn't keep are the ones preventing Gentiles from participating in the law. ;-)