In the New Testament, Acts 21: 20-26, there's text to the effect that Jewish are supposed to follow Jewish law, but Gentile Christians are only supposed to "abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication."
So in some fundamentalist churches today, Gentiles who themselves don't follow Jewish law have been known to require converted Jews to do so. Nice.
This also explains why conservative Christians believe why Jewish law relating to homosexuality is relevant to Gentiles and that relating to shellfish is not, as homosexuality qualifies as "fornication", i.e., sexual immorality.
But I don't think it would occur to the average conservative Gentile Christians to have a problem with rare steaks or check to make sure that the chicken that provided the drumsticks wasn't strangled...
Personally I think the prohibition on homosexuality probably originally had to do with discouraging forms of sex that did not produce children within the patriarchal extended family structure, just as many dietary laws appear to have originated for health reasons.
no subject
So in some fundamentalist churches today, Gentiles who themselves don't follow Jewish law have been known to require converted Jews to do so. Nice.
This also explains why conservative Christians believe why Jewish law relating to homosexuality is relevant to Gentiles and that relating to shellfish is not, as homosexuality qualifies as "fornication", i.e., sexual immorality.
But I don't think it would occur to the average conservative Gentile Christians to have a problem with rare steaks or check to make sure that the chicken that provided the drumsticks wasn't strangled...
Personally I think the prohibition on homosexuality probably originally had to do with discouraging forms of sex that did not produce children within the patriarchal extended family structure, just as many dietary laws appear to have originated for health reasons.