Understanding Islam — Page 211
209 that he did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matt. 5:17), and that he expects Christians to follow his example (John 13:15). This means that the Torah should not be set aside by Christians as Old Testament as it gives the impression that it has become obsolete whereas Jesus as himself did not consider it obsolete. Therefore, in light of these statements of Jesus as , all the teachings and commandments of the Torah are applicable to Christians today just as they did in the past. At one point, this is illustrated when Jesus as rebuked the Jews for not keeping the commandment of Moses to kill those children who are disobedient to their parents (Mk 7:9-10). If he considered the law old or obsolete , he would not have made this statement. There are numerous examples of the kind of violence that God-Jesus sanctioned and ordered in the Old Testament, and they are such that they cannot be attributed to a Beneficent and Merciful God. Here are a few examples: 1. Exodus 21:20-21: When a slave-owner strikes a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies immediately, the owner shall be punished.