Hope This Helps (HTH) is a series, where fellow youth workers share resources they’ve found helpful in ministry. Of course, some things work in some churches and not others. But, as always, hope this helps.
These days one of the most-asked questions I receive from students relates to verses from the Old Testament that Christians no longer follow. One student presented this clip from the “The West Wing,” because he was confused as to why we no longer observe certain biblical commandments from Leviticus and Exodus. (Warning: there is one inappropriate word in this clip.) This question largely arises for students in conversations about homosexuality. People will say, “Since we now eat shellfish, then we no longer should consider homosexuality a sin.”
The confusion among students and non-believers is understandable. Without understanding the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament, it does appear as if Christians pick and choose which rules they want to observe.
I found both of these articles helpful in resolving this question for students in a basic way:
Shellfish, Mixed Fabrics, and Homosexuality: Picking and Choosing? by Mike Riccardi
Making Sense of Scripture’s ‘Inconsistency’ by Tim Keller
