1) The establishment of justice (e.g., a government which makes and enforces laws to protect its people).
2) The prohibition of blasphemy (polytheistic thought).
3) No idolatry.
4) No adultery or incest (some groups interpret this - particularly the Messianic group - as ALL the sexual laws, but I don't... That's a lot of laws, and really, I think they only do that to reject homosexuality in all circumstances rather than just required by Torah or other law. I, personally, think that over time the original meaning in Leviticus became misconstrued - there are a few theories, and the one I tend to believe is that it is actually referring to pedophilia -- a man who is a man because he is a bar-mitzvah (13) and a man who is a man because he is 20 and old enough for the military (20). There are a few other theories, but since they didn't have a word for "adolescent" I think it's a definite possibility stemming from the Greek practice of men teaching boys to be men -- a lot of Jewish laws are merely rejection of Greek and other polytheistic law, so I certainly don't see why not).
5) Murder (Noachide laws from Noachide groups - much like Messianic Judaism - will include abortion; in truth Jews tend to be pro-choice and believe when the mother's life is in danger an abortion is required - the baby's life is secondary until it's head is out, or over half it's body if it's born the wrong way).
6) No robbery.
7) Of eating a limb torn from a living animal (Judaism for a long time has been anti-animal-cruelty).
The Noachide laws came from the idea that since other people didn't agree to adhere to Jewish law on Mount Sinai, and that the Torah was just for Jews, that people from elsewhere should just generally have to be good people and were under no obligation to follow the full set of laws depicted by the Torah or the Talmud. The idea that everyone could be damned for following rules they never agreed to struck Jewish thought as unfair and ridiculous.
I personally think some of the Noachide laws also probably don't really apply in all circumstances (I don't see how being polytheistic or the type to worship idols makes one a bad person if they never agreed there was only one God). Also, the description of idolatry includes things that were culturally misunderstood at the time as being idols, but weren't -- the rosary, for instance, and statues of Buddha.
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Date: 2009-01-18 03:34 pm (UTC)1) The establishment of justice (e.g., a government which makes and enforces laws to protect its people).
2) The prohibition of blasphemy (polytheistic thought).
3) No idolatry.
4) No adultery or incest (some groups interpret this - particularly the Messianic group - as ALL the sexual laws, but I don't... That's a lot of laws, and really, I think they only do that to reject homosexuality in all circumstances rather than just required by Torah or other law. I, personally, think that over time the original meaning in Leviticus became misconstrued - there are a few theories, and the one I tend to believe is that it is actually referring to pedophilia -- a man who is a man because he is a bar-mitzvah (13) and a man who is a man because he is 20 and old enough for the military (20). There are a few other theories, but since they didn't have a word for "adolescent" I think it's a definite possibility stemming from the Greek practice of men teaching boys to be men -- a lot of Jewish laws are merely rejection of Greek and other polytheistic law, so I certainly don't see why not).
5) Murder (Noachide laws from Noachide groups - much like Messianic Judaism - will include abortion; in truth Jews tend to be pro-choice and believe when the mother's life is in danger an abortion is required - the baby's life is secondary until it's head is out, or over half it's body if it's born the wrong way).
6) No robbery.
7) Of eating a limb torn from a living animal (Judaism for a long time has been anti-animal-cruelty).
The Noachide laws came from the idea that since other people didn't agree to adhere to Jewish law on Mount Sinai, and that the Torah was just for Jews, that people from elsewhere should just generally have to be good people and were under no obligation to follow the full set of laws depicted by the Torah or the Talmud. The idea that everyone could be damned for following rules they never agreed to struck Jewish thought as unfair and ridiculous.
I personally think some of the Noachide laws also probably don't really apply in all circumstances (I don't see how being polytheistic or the type to worship idols makes one a bad person if they never agreed there was only one God). Also, the description of idolatry includes things that were culturally misunderstood at the time as being idols, but weren't -- the rosary, for instance, and statues of Buddha.