It’s frequently pointed out that Christians completely disregard 90+% of the so-called “Old Testament”, but still keep some of the parts that they like (notably, a few lines in Leviticus about homosexuality and some of the stories of Genesis, etc.)
If the answer to the question in the OP is no (which I suspect it is), then what denomination/sect/splinter group of Christians is most faithful to the OT? That is, are there Christians who keep kosher and observe Shabbat? I’ve heard of some kind of new-age Jew-y group that supposedly accepts Jesus as the messiah (and some/all of the NT?) - that might qualify as an answer to my query in a way too, I guess.
Since the bulk of the legal code in the OT is explicitly addressed to the Jews, as a non-Jew it is entirely consistent to embrace the OT (in the sense of affirming its truth, validity, etc) without concluding that you personally are required to observe the Law.
The question is not, why do some Christians not regard themselves as bound by the Law in its entirety? Rather, it is why do some Christians regard themselves as bound by particular provisions of the Law?
The Old Testament is fully relevant!
The old testament provides us with the prophecies that reveal the Messiah, Jesus.
The law was provided to guide the chosen people in how to live.
If there is no law or moral code, then there is no sin.
But there is Sin, no matter how much one wants to disbelieve, its there.
Homosexuality is sin! Any preaching that disregards that fact is not biblical.
We humans are ALL sinners.
We are called to Love the sinner and hate the sin.
If you want to listen to a Messianic Jew, Rabbi Kirt Schneider is the one to listen to. I love his message! http://www.discoveringthejewishjesus.com/
I don’t think you can call them a denomination, but there are Jewish people who have converted to Christianity who choose to continue to practice all of their old Jewish customs, eat kosher, etc. The ones I have met were parts of churches in standard denominations and subscribed to the mainstream belief that Christians are no longer required to uphold the OT law, but they choose to.
(Note, however, that the Ethiopian Church is Oriental Orthodox–it rejects the Council of Chalcedon and is not in communion with Eastern Orthodoxy or Catholicism.)
There is also the Ethiopian Catholic Church, which accepts Chalcedon and is in communion with Rome. I don’t know whether their stance on Old Testament practices is the same as its Orthodox analogue, however.
Christians do “fully embrace” the OT, as UDS points out, although most do believe that Christians are not bound to the Law of Moses.
However, to answer your question, you might want to read up on Seventh Day Adventists. I know that they still worship on Saturday (the OT sabbath) and I think still adhere to other parts of the Law.
It’s worth noting that as early as the the time of the apostles, Christians were claiming freedom from Jewish dietary laws (it’s described in the book of Acts) but affirming other restrictions such as laws on sexual purity.
Jews for Jesus - largely comprised of Christians for Jesus dear god please not another 15 page thread on this - follow some customs, but being a Jew for Jesus is breaking Jewish law, so, depends on how you look at it.
thinks
So the answer is no.
eta: I see people have already beat me. My eyes hurt. Messianic Jews. What an oxymoron.
Peter and Paul’s big falling out was over the requirement of circumcision for newly converted christians. Peter was pro-circumcision, while Paul was not. Paul won out.
Perhaps what the OP wants is Christians who self-identify as “Noahides”.
These would be Christians who (a) do not claim to be Jews at all and yet (b) fully embrace the requirements of the OT, since under those requirements the seven laws of Noah are binding on non-Jews (and a non-Jew who embraces them, is fully as “good” as the observant Jew who embraces all of the laws binding on Jews).
This, maybe. I am not a member, and I know only a miniscule amount about Adventism. But I believe it’s part of their doctrine that the Old Covenant was never abrogated and remains fully in force. Or so I’ve been told by some believers I knew. I believe they adhere (at least nominally) to OT law in toto, or at least say they do. How much the typical member does in actual practice, I don’t know. Nor do I know how they integrate and reconcile OT law with NT law and covenant. But Skammer is right to at least this extent, that this is probably the church to learn more about if you’re interested in this question.
I had some minor bits of direct contact with some Adventists. I worked for a small family-owned company. The principals were the boss and his little brother and sister, all Adventists (at least one of them devoutly so), and most other employees were friends from the congregation. The church sees the human body as a temple of sorts, and overtly advocates healthful living as part of its doctrine – including vegetarianism. They (at least that local congregation) ran a series of vegetarian cooking classes each year, open to the public, for free. I attended that. It was actually a bait-and-switch scheme of sorts. They talked about cooking of course, but as the series progressed, they gradually brought in more and more religious doctrine and evangelism.
One point, discussed in exquisite detail, was the anti-alcoholic interpretation that the “wine” of the OT referred to unfermented grape juice – They went into great linguistic detail over the exact wording in the original Hebrew, which uses the word “yayin” for wine, but often includes the adjective “new”. They take the phrase “new wine” to mean unfermented grape juice.
[anecdote]
There was a time when I became sick enough to be semi-bedridden for several weeks, but too weak to go shopping or even do my own laundry. After laying in bed for a week, recycling all my used laundry because I was out of clean clothes, I mentioned this to my supervisor (the above-mentioned little sister). She enlisted the receptionist (another believer), who then came to my home with her husband and another older retired couple from the congregation. They changed my linens on the bed for me, and took all my old stinky laundry. The next day they came back, laundry all washed and folded. The other couple (total strangers to me!) also chauffeured me to shopping and doctor’s appointments a few times. I think it is characteristic of some sects or congregations that their members tend to have it in them to do these kinds of things.
[/anecdote]
ETA: Any Adventists on this board who could comment more competently (than me) on this, and on Adventism in general?
I don’t know what you mean by fully embrace, but The church I was raised in observes the dietary laws, the 7th day Sabbath, and the Holy Days as outlined in Leviticus 23.
When you say they observe the dietary laws, do you mean the ones in the bible or the ones that have been elaborated beyond belief (my belief anyway) by the rabbinical tradition?
We use the Old Testament all the time in my church. Always have. We use it to illustrate and explain things about the nature of God’s relationship with people and the foundation for the things that caused the events of the New Testament. I would go as far as to say that the New Testament doesn’t make any sense unless you have the Old Testament.
I used to have a close friend who was a member of a church that was an off-shoot of Seventh-Day Adventists, it was called something along the lines like World Church or the like, but I couldn’t find what I’d seen before in a quick search and, well, I’m not sure how much it matters. Anyway, they were even more strict than the SDAs in that they followed the traditional sabbath, kept strictly to the kosher laws, observed all of the holidays/celebrations in the old testament, etc. In my discussions with them, they specifically said that they believe that everything in the Old Testament applies to Christians and that none of it was superceded, which are two common arguments against those sorts of practices.
Frankly, from my observations, they were far more observant of the commandments in the old testament than the vast majority of Jews I’ve known, roughly on par with an Orthodox Jew I used to work with. So, to the OP, there certainly are Christians out there that I think fit the spirit of what you’re asking, but in my experience, there aren’t very many of them as, other than my friend, her immediate family (not even their extended family), and a few of their fellow members in their small church, I’ve never met anyone else anywhere near as strictly observant.
