Passover & Christianity

[Ron Amnsn]

On 4/3/2018 at 8:25 AM, B/W Photodude said:

In the Jewish calendar, months were added to keep the months approx in the same part of the solar cycle, given that there are 365 days a year and 360 in the Jewish calendar.

It's impossible in the Jewish calendar to come up with a year of 360 days.  Since a lunar month is approximately 29.5 days long, some months are 30 days and some months are 29 days long. By adding up 12 or 13 of those months you can't get 360 days in a year.  According to timeanddate.com, "A year in the Hebrew calendar can be 353, 354, 355, 383, 384, or 385 days long."  It might help to study some astronomy to understand how that works.

[Ron Amnsn]

On 4/3/2018 at 8:25 AM, B/W Photodude said:

As far as being way off from the Jewish calendar, what difference does it really make? It is funny watching people invent all of these different calendars and the heavenly bodies just do their thing regardless of what we do. It helps to have studied astronomy to understand this.

There seems to be a significant difference between a person who wants to know but can't be certain how the calendar of the Bible would be implemented today, and a person who has no interest in the calendar system that God implemented for his people Israel.  I regularly hear Christians say that "we are spiritual Israel", but they don't seem to have any interest in the special things that God gave to Israel to set the nation apart as His special people.

In Scripture there are a few examples showing that it was important to pay attention to calendar issues. 

When we read the story of Jeroboam son of Nebat in 1Kings 12-13 we learn that one of the things evil things he did was to institute a religious festival in the eighth month of the year.  "He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart."  Although there were many things wrong with what Jeroboam did, the author of Kings indicates that departing from God's calendar was a problem, even though that calendar may seem arbitrary to us.  God sent a prophet from Judah to confront Jeroboam and pronounce judgment against him. God dried up Jeroboam's hand when he commanded that the prophet be seized.  On the common Gregorian calendar now in use, all of the months could be described as "devised from his own heart" since the pages on the calendar don't coincide with cycle of the moon that God created to "be for signs and for appointed times and for days and years" (Genesis 1:14 footnote in the ESV. Confirmed by the usage of the word moedim in the Hebrew Scriptures). 

You're familiar with the story of how the manna would spoil if the Israelites kept it overnight any night except the night before a Sabbath. (Exodus 16)   The weekly cycle of seven days is apparently something arbitrarily defined by God as a counting of seven days, with no indication in astronomy or nature to show us which day should be the beginning or end of a seven-day week.  It was still important to God to get the Sabbath day correct, even though that may appear totally arbitrary from our perspective.  There are prophecies in the Bible that indicate that Sabbaths will be celebrated in the future by the people of God.  It seems it could still be important to get those correct.

When the Israelites left Egypt at Passover, God said, "This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you."  (Exodus 12:2)  It sounds like God has a particular opinion about which month should be the first month of the year, even though such a designation may seem arbitrary to us.  It's true that in some years it is not completely clear to us which month is the "moon of green ears" (Exodus 13:4) nevertheless it seems a bit arrogant for us to choose to use a calendar where we know for certain that our first month of the year will never coincide with the month of "green ears" that God designated as the first month of the year for the nation of Israel.  The apostle Paul taught that the Gentile followers of Jesus become part of the commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2:12-13), so it seems Paul would likely have expected the Gentiles to pay attention to the same national calendar as Paul himself followed.  There are prophecies in the Bible that indicate that some of God's appointed times such as Passover, Tabernacles, and Jubilee will be celebrated in the future.  It seems it could still be important to get those correct.

[Ron Amnsn]

Also, in the parable of the ten virgins going to the wedding feast, the five that ended up at the right place at the wrong time were not allowed into the feast. The parable ends with the admonition to "watch". (Matt 25:13) 

It may be more than coincidence that God says of Passover, "so this same night is a night of watching kept to the LORD by all the people of Israel throughout their generations."  (Exodus 12:42)

[Ron Amnsn]

On 4/4/2018 at 9:41 AM, JoeMo said:

I believe God wanted them to "remember" more than make sure they did it on the exact day of the anniversary of their flight.

Although you may be correct that remembering is the most important aspect of Passover, we don't have any Bible passage that tells us that the exact day is not important.  God did specify an exact day for the alternative Passover in the second month.

In the story of the first exodus there is an interesting detail included, "The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt."  (Exodus 12: 40-41)  Apparently someone was paying attention to a specific day 430 years earlier, perhaps the day that Jacob stopped in Beersheba to sacrifice as he left the promised land on his way down to Egypt. (Genesis 46:1)

[B/W Photodude]

18 hours ago, Ron Amnsn said:

There seems to be a significant difference between a person who wants to know but can't be certain how the calendar of the Bible would be implemented today, and a person who has no interest in the calendar system that God implemented for his people Israel.  I regularly hear Christians say that "we are spiritual Israel", but they don't seem to have any interest in the special things that God gave to Israel to set the nation apart as His special people.

There are many things from the Jewish ceremonial law that are not followed today and many individuals seem to have particular things they are endeared to while at the same time ignoring many other things. And even the apostles were not that dedicated to carrying on those "special things" God gave Israel to set them apart. I cannot really get behind any of these advocates of following things out of ceremonial law unless the advocates of such are following all of the ceremonial law. I really do not know anyone in the SDA community who is still sacrificing sheep. I suspect many advocates of "special things" are not watching that their clothing is not of mixed fabrics. I have never in the SDA church seen someone wearing phylacteries and tallit. (I suspect some Jewish SDA congregations do and I am not saying that it is wrong to do so.)

[B/W Photodude]

20 hours ago, Ron Amnsn said:

If all calendars are arbitrary, why should Christians plan our lives around Pope Gregory's calendar that we know for sure is different than the one implemented by God in Genesis and used by Jesus in the Bible? Do we have a passage of Scripture that tells us that following Jesus doesn't include following the calendar he followed?

It really does not matter what calendar we follow. I do not think even Pope Gregory gave us our current calendar, although he made have tampered with it. By the way, where in Scripture does it say the calendar was implemented by God. Curious minds want to know!

[LifeHiscost]

11 minutes ago, B/W Photodude said:

It really does not matter what calendar we follow. I do not think even Pope Gregory gave us our current calendar, although he made have tampered with it. By the way, where in Scripture does it say the calendar was implemented by God. Curious minds want to know!

Would it be safe to say that Jesus pattern of behavior would clearly reveal which day to observe, whether the seventh or the first?

58 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Isaiah 13

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read..Luke 4

 

2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

² And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

³ And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. Genesis 2

If everyone can remember the first day as important to keep, is it logical that God would change His mind for His last day people?

25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: ..Daniel 7

God is Love!~Jesus saves! 

[B/W Photodude]

2 hours ago, LifeHiscost said:

Would it be safe to say that Jesus pattern of behavior would clearly reveal which day to observe, whether the seventh or the first?² And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

If everyone can remember the first day as important to keep, is it logical that God would change His mind for His last day people?

Nothing was said about the weekly cycle which was begun at creation. All attempts thru history to change the weekly cycle to another system have failed.

Nothing was said about changing the Sabbath, which was part of creation also and belongs to the human race and not just to the Jews.

Efforts to change calendars thru the ages:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2015/04/11/history_s_failed_attempts_to_redesign_the_calendar_from_99_percent_invisible.html

At one point the League of Nations was considering 185 different calendar redesigns, ...

[Ron Amnsn]

5 hours ago, B/W Photodude said:

There are many things from the Jewish ceremonial law that are not followed today and many individuals seem to have particular things they are endeared to while at the same time ignoring many other things. And even the apostles were not that dedicated to carrying on those "special things" God gave Israel to set them apart. I cannot really get behind any of these advocates of following things out of ceremonial law unless the advocates of such are following all of the ceremonial law. I really do not know anyone in the SDA community who is still sacrificing sheep. I suspect many advocates of "special things" are not watching that their clothing is not of mixed fabrics. I have never in the SDA church seen someone wearing phylacteries and tallit. (I suspect some Jewish SDA congregations do and I am not saying that it is wrong to do so.)

There is a reason those who aim to follow God's Law of Moses do not presently sacrifice animals.  It is forbidden in the Law for anyone other than a properly prepared Levitical priest to offer a sacrifice, and it is forbidden to sacrifice anywhere other than at the place where God chose to place his name forever.

Which passages show that the apostles were not dedicated to observing the Law of God?   Do you think they would have been allowed into the Temple courts daily if they were not observing God's Law? (Acts 2:46)  Would they have enjoyed the favor of all the Jewish worshipers at the Temple if they were not observing God's Law? ( Acts 5:12-13)

There are some of us who do not wear clothes with fibers of linen mixed with wool, which is the specific mixture that is forbidden.  That mixture may have been reserved for the garments of the high priest.  There are some believers who interpret one of the passages as prohibiting any mixture of fibers, so they wear only one type of cloth at a time, usually cotton.

You probably won't see people wearing phylacteries, even in Israel, unless you catch them at their private morning prayers or praying in the vicinity of the Temple.  Does the Law of Moses actually mention phylacteries?  There was no such item among the priestly garments prepared for Aaron and his sons, so the Law apparently did not intend for the Israelites to go about their day with a piece of Torah scroll tied to their face.

Which passage of God's Law of Moses requires the Israelites to do something with a tallit?  I believe the tallit is a traditional accessory for prayer.

[Ron Amnsn]

6 hours ago, B/W Photodude said:

It really does not matter what calendar we follow. I do not think even Pope Gregory gave us our current calendar, although he made have tampered with it. By the way, where in Scripture does it say the calendar was implemented by God. Curious minds want to know!

While Pope Gregory probably didn't do much of the work on the Gregorian calendar himself, it was implemented by his authority.  For that reason a number of non-Catholic countries resisted using the Gregorian calendar and continued to use the Julian calendar for many years before adopting the Gregorian calendar.  Ethiopia still uses the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar.

On the fourth day of creation God gave us the Sun and Moon to keep track of days, appointed times and years. (Genesis 1:14)  It didn't look like the calendars we use now, but it was sufficient.  The only math required to make it work was the ability to count as high as 50.

[B/W Photodude]

16 minutes ago, Ron Amnsn said:

There is a reason those who aim to follow God's Law of Moses do not presently sacrifice animals.  It is forbidden in the Law for anyone other than a properly prepared Levitical priest to offer a sacrifice, and it is forbidden to sacrifice anywhere other than at the place where God chose to place his name forever.

 

Someone should have told this to Abraham and a number of others who sacrifice along the way.

 

17 minutes ago, Ron Amnsn said:

Which passages show that the apostles were not dedicated to observing the Law of God?   Do you think they would have been allowed into the Temple courts daily if they were not observing God's Law? (Acts 2:46)  Would they have enjoyed the favor of all the Jewish worshipers at the Temple if they were not observing God's Law? ( Acts 5:12-13)

 

Among people today of those claiming that ceremonial law still is binding, I see a wide variety of different ways of following it. I see no one following all of it. It reminds me of the verse "every man did that which was right in his own eyes." 

There are some areas of ceremonial law not being followed that I won't even go into.

[B/W Photodude]

3 minutes ago, Ron Amnsn said:

On the fourth day of creation God gave us the Sun and Moon to keep track of days, appointed times and years. (Genesis 1:14)  It didn't look like the calendars we use now, but it was sufficient.  The only math required to make it work was the ability to count as high as 50.

Not sure what relevance "50" had, but when the plan is for you to live forever, with no concern regarding time except for the Sabbath, why was a calendar even needed before sin and a death shortened existence? Seasons were apparently nonexistent. No ceremonial laws requiring jubilee years or letting fields rest from their toil. 

[Ron Amnsn]

1 hour ago, B/W Photodude said:

Not sure what relevance "50" had, but when the plan is for you to live forever, with no concern regarding time except for the Sabbath, why was a calendar even needed before sin and a death shortened existence? Seasons were apparently nonexistent. No ceremonial laws requiring jubilee years or letting fields rest from their toil. 

Since Scripture reveals that God is a God who plans ahead and is not caught by surprise, I think God probably already had a plan of salvation in mind along with the sacrifices and feasts that teach about various aspects of that salvation.  Since Genesis 1:14 speaks of moedim, the same word used for the appointed times of the feasts that God gave to Israel, and since someone was already keeping track of the date of Passover 430 years before the Israelites left Egypt, it is possible that God already had in mind at creation a feast like the Feast of Weeks that takes place 50 days after the day of the wave sheaf.

Although God's Law of Moses was written into a scroll by Moses, there are events before that time that show people were aware of parts of God's Law of Moses before the time of Moses.  For instance the requirement that later became known as Levirate marriage-- for a man to marry his brother's widow-- was known by Jacob's son Judah.

[Ron Amnsn]

1 hour ago, B/W Photodude said:

Someone should have told this to Abraham and a number of others who sacrifice along the way.

Abraham lived before the priesthood was transferred from the first born to the Levites, which occurred after the incident with the golden calf. (Numbers 3:12)

[Ron Amnsn]

1 hour ago, B/W Photodude said:

Among people today of those claiming that ceremonial law still is binding, I see a wide variety of different ways of following it. I see no one following all of it. It reminds me of the verse "every man did that which was right in his own eyes."

The Scriptures describe the Law of Moses as a law of freedom.  One reason was because the Israelites remained free as long as the obeyed it.  The other reason is because it specifies only a few things that God wants done.  The Law has far fewer regulations than an NFL or NHL game.   It leaves room for people to do things in different ways.  For example the law specifies that a farmer was to leave the corners of his fields unharvested, but it doesn't specify how sharp an angle was needed before a bend in an irregular field counted as a corner nor how much to leave unharvested in each corner. So farmers had some freedom in deciding what constituted a corner and how much to leave for the poor.

You've apparently been raised with the idea that God's Law of Moses was onerous, binding, and difficult, and that people are better off without it.   So you have a totally different idea about God's Law than an Israelite had.  (See Psalm 119 for one Israelite's thoughts.)  You apparently think compliance with God's Law had to be nit-picky, difficult, and troublesome, and that a person has failed completely unless he has done it perfectly.  You've also probably heard some of the man-made traditions that add requirements that are not in the law, which make it sound impossible.  I thought that way too until I actually tried living by it.  I can't do more than half the law because I'm not a priest, king, soldier, woman, or Levite.  I don't do everything perfectly and some things I haven't figured out yet.  The legalists who don't even try to follow the Law of Moses may tell me I'm not doing some things right, but God required perfection only from Jesus.  For the rest of us there is grace and forgiveness.  The Law was never intended as a means to earn salvation.  It is instructions for how to live in covenant with God, and how to live like Jesus lived.  While Jesus was living the Law of Moses perfectly, he said, "My yoke is easy."

Your statement reminds me of Elijah's statement that he was the only one left in Israel who followed God.  God knew differently.  And if you hang around with Messianic Jews or Hebrew Roots people you'll probably learn that there are far more people who are actually shaping their lives in accordance with the parts of God's Law that we are authorized to do outside the promised land.

 

[8thdaypriest]

15 hours ago, Ron Amnsn said:

Abraham lived before the priesthood was transferred from the first born to the Levites, which occurred after the incident with the golden calf. (Numbers 3:12)

Deuteronomy Chapter 12 is all about commands concerning WHERE one was to bring sacrifices.  These commands were spoken just before crossing the Jordan, and concerned sacrifices to be carried out once Israel had crossed INTO "the land". 

[B/W Photodude]

On 4/8/2018 at 11:24 PM, Ron Amnsn said:

The Scriptures describe the Law of Moses as a law of freedom.  One reason was because the Israelites remained free as long as the obeyed it.  The other reason is because it specifies only a few things that God wants done. 

You appear to me to be confusing the ceremonial law and the rules given by Moses with the Ten Commandments.  The laws given by Moses were very imperfect. And really only for living in the desert with a large population. You can hardly say that the laws of Moses are in anyway perfect. Given that the laws given by Moses included eating meat, how to relate to your slaves, who is ceremonially unclean, among other rules. I doubt you have any slaves and probably don't follow the rules regarding being unclean to the "letter of the law."

On 4/8/2018 at 11:24 PM, Ron Amnsn said:

You've apparently been raised with the idea that God's Law of Moses was onerous, binding, and difficult, and that people are better off without it.

You apparently think compliance with God's Law had to be nit-picky, difficult, and troublesome, and that a person has failed completely unless he has done it perfectly.

The only law given by God was the Ten Commandments and those laws preclude things like killing animals for taste, keeping slaves, and any number of other things given in the law of Moses.

There are such things as "ethics" and "law." Some will say that laws are really no more than the average ethical standards of a given population. To be really blunt about it, current law in the USA allows for abortion. Many people consider that to be ethically unacceptable and do not practice that. And like the laws of Moses, many people choose to forego the killing of animals for enjoyment or taste. Others respect their fellow humans too much to make slaves of them. There have even been some of the laws given by God that have been tampered with and people now champion and follow a degraded form of God's law.

BTW, the law of God is very difficult to keep. In fact, it is impossible us to keep without a active relationship with God. I think we call that a sin problem. You even have people saying we never have to keep it before Jesus returns to take His people to heaven.

Lastly, we should keep arguments to the topic and not try to psychoanalyse people here or guess as to how they were raised.
 

[8thdaypriest]

2 hours ago, B/W Photodude said:

The only law given by God was the Ten Commandments and those laws preclude things like killing animals for taste, keeping slaves, and any number of other things given in the law of Moses.

So you believe "the only law given by God" was the one that He first spoke and then wrote on two tables of stone?? Is that right?  The other instructions that He spoke to Moses, and told Moses to pass on to Israel - those don't qualify as "Law" ?  

The word "Torah" (#08451) means "instruction".  God's instructions = His Laws.  

I counted 29 times, in the text of my Bible, where, "The LORD said to Moses" - followed by an instruction or command.  And that was just from Exodus Cpt 20 through Numbers Cpt 27.

Numbers 19:14 "This is the law when a man dies in a tent: All who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days;"

Numbers Chapter 19 begins with, "Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying," ("followed by a long list of instructions"). 

In my thinking - IF an Israelite openly flouted the LORD's instructions, then he was showing disrespect for the LORD. 

Nadab and Abihu did not follow the LORD's "instruction" concerning what priest might enter the Most Holy Place, and at what times.  They DIED for that disrespect. 

David said that he loved God's Law, and mediated upon it day and night.  The LORD blessed David for that attitude. 

Rather than dismiss every command spoken to Israel (the ones actually recorded in the books written by Moses - not the ones added on later by the priests),  it might serve us well to study into those "instructions" looking for the principles involved (such as contagion, or healthful diet, or honoring covenants, or wonderful prophecies which Christ fulfilled down to the last detail). 

 

[B/W Photodude]

17 minutes ago, 8thdaypriest said:

So you believe "the only law given by God" was the one that He first spoke and then wrote on two tables of stone?? Is that right?  The other instructions that He spoke to Moses, and told Moses to pass on to Israel - those don't qualify as "Law" ?  

I think I made it clear that the laws passed on to Moses were for the people living in the desert. I also noted that we can do even better than the laws given to Moses. I am not sure what is so hard to understand about it not being a forever law. They were given laws on how to treat slaves, but nowadays we no longer have slaves. Christians should not have been having slaves for the last 2000 years. They were allowed to eat meat, which is OK if your situation does not allow a vegetarian diet. I tend to believe that if you are able to eat a vegetarian diet and choose not to, you will be held accountable. And I could go on thru all the different laws given by Moses.

FWIW, there were about 613 of those laws. Think you could keep up with them all?

http://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm

[Ron Amnsn]

On 4/10/2018 at 1:43 PM, B/W Photodude said:

You appear to me to be confusing the ceremonial law and the rules given by Moses with the Ten Commandments.

The term "ceremonial law" is never used in Scripture.  Such a category of law is not defined in Scripture.  Never is any category of law resembling "ceremonial law" spoken of in Scripture.  "Ceremonial law" is an imaginary vaguely-defined man-made category that is artificially superimposed onto God's instructions, often by by someone who is attempting to explain why some of God's instructions should be set aside.  Those who use the term "ceremonial law" do not agree with each other regarding which of God's instructions belong in that category and which instructions do not.

[JoeMo]

On 4/10/2018 at 6:18 PM, B/W Photodude said:

FWIW, there were about 613 of those laws. Think you could keep up with them all?

 

Even Peter found the law in its entirety to be burdensome:

God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts15:8-11)

I don't think anyone in history except Jesus kept the whole Law perfectly; and there were those in His day that found fault with the way Jesus kept the Law.  Seems like all through Judeo-Christian history, there have been inconsistencies and controversies about how to keep the Law.  Who among us has the correct version?  How many of these 613 Laws must be kept in order to be saved?  Or is salvation all about what Jesus has done for us?

[Ron Amnsn]

18 minutes ago, JoeMo said:

Even Peter found the law in its entirety to be burdensome:

God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts15:8-11)

Does Peter (or anyone in Acts) define the "yoke" that those present at the Jerusalem Council (and their ancestors) had been unable to bear?  If not, then we are dealing with assumptions about what Peter was referring to. 

The context of Acts 15 contains often-overlooked evidence that the issue in Acts 15 was not the instructions contained in God's Law of Moses, although it was related to that.  Let's look at some of that evidence.

Acts 15 starts out with this summary of the teachings of the unauthorized men who came to Antioch:  "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."  Is that teaching found in God's Law of Moses?  I haven't been able to find it.  The books of Moses say virtually nothing about being "saved" in the NT sense, and it says nothing about what Gentiles need to do to be "saved".  If this teaching of the unauthorized men is not found in the Old Testament, then the issue must be a man-made teaching related to the Law of Moses rather than the Law of Moses itself.

Verse 2 tells us that Paul and Barnabas disagreed with the teaching summarized in verse 1.  Because Paul testified regarding his own beliefs, "I believe everything that agrees with the Law and that is written in the Prophets" (Acts 24:14) and  because Paul endorsed "All Scripture" to be profitable for teaching and for several other purposes (2Timothy 3:16-17), we can deduce that the teaching that Paul and Barnabas disagreed with was not found in the Law of Moses itself (nor elsewhere in Scripture).  So the teaching they disagreed with would have been a non-Scriptural teaching.

In verse 5 it tells us, "But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, 'It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.' "  Identifying the proponents of this teaching as Pharisees was evidently significant to the issue.  What was it that separated the Pharisees from the other Jewish sects?  Was it God's Law of Moses?  No.  All the various sects of Judaism recognized the books of Moses as authoritative.  What distinguished the Pharisees from the others?  It was the man-made traditions of the Pharisees that made a Pharisee a Pharisee.  So it is likely that the issue was one of those man-made teachings regarding the Law of Moses, rather than the Law of Moses itself.

What did the Pharisees require of a Gentile before he could be circumcised so that his circumcision would be considered valid?  The Talmud tells us about the traditional proselyte program that was required of Gentile converts before they were allowed to be circumcised. That proselyte program was evidently the status quo among believers prior to Acts 15.  It was a lengthy training program in both the written Scripture as well as the extra man-made oral traditions that the sages had developed to "guard" the Law of Moses.  It culminated with a vow to keep both the traditions of oral law as well as the written Law of Moses.
 

[Ron Amnsn]

What did a Pharisee mean when he said, "order them to keep the law of Moses"?  In Ezekiel we are taught what the natural result of being filled with the Spirit is. "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." (Ezekiel 36:26-27)  In Acts 15 Peter said that God gave the Spirit to the Gentiles the same as to the Jews without distinction, "And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith." (verses 8-9)  In Acts 21:20 we read what the elders of the Jerusalem congregation told Paul had resulted among the Spirit-filled Jews, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law."  The context of that statement makes it clear that "the law" refers to the Law of Moses.  This is the same congregation that was present at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.  Since Peter said that the experience of the Gentiles was the same as the experience of the Jews who had been filled with the Spirit, would anyone need to "order" the Gentiles to walk in God's statutes or be careful to obey Scripture? No.  The Gentile believers would have naturally wanted to do the same things that the Spirit had led Jesus to do.  You wouldn't need to "command" the Gentiles to follow what was written in the Word of God.

The Greek word translated as "keep" in Acts 15:5 gives us another clue as to what the Pharisees meant when they said the Gentiles must be ordered to "keep the law of Moses"  In Greek that word is terein which means "to carefully guard".  That is what the Pharisees were doing when they taught the man-made "fence laws" of their oral traditions that were intended to "guard" the Law so that people would not come anywhere close to violating God's Law of Moses.

[8thdaypriest]

Why should anyone criticize me or my family for commemorating (notice I did NOT say "keep") the Passover? 

[8thdaypriest]

So far as remembering all the instructions that one should try to follow, the 613 are reduced by half, if you understand that the positive command (Do this) is matched by the negative command (Don't do that).  They are further reduced when you remember that "the priesthood" was "changed" - and along with it went the sacrifice of animals.  There is no Temple - at this present time, so all commands that involved the Temple can also be put in the "inactive" pile. 

I was reading through the 613 once, and came upon a prohibition against castrating any animal.  I did a little more search, and found that it was speaking of animals to be presented for sacrifice.  So at least I'm off the hook for  "altering" my pets.