Rules and Regulations (or Lack of it)

The Old Testament is extremely detailed about holiness. You are to do certain specific things, and you are to abstain from other specific things. Everyone had a clear picture of what they should and shouldn't do.

However, when Christ came along, He did not come with a rulebook. He did not come with specific instructions on what to do and what not to do. This leaves us today with questions most of us have faced at one point or another like, "the Bible never says not to consume alcohol", "the Bible never says not to have pre-marital sex", "the Bible never talks about smoking".

The simple answer is, the Bible didn't need to. In programming, we have frameworks, which are pre-built systems that provide a programmer with everything they need to build upon it. We have the single most important ingredient that the OT people did not have, the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is the framework, and the Holy Spirit is our guide. When we are sensitive to the Spirit, He will tell us what we should do and what we should not. Our conscience and our guilt are our friends. They are the guiding rails God placed in our bowling alley.

When I was small, my mom had to tell me everything I needed to do, from what I wore to what I ate. When I grew up and she stopped doing that, I felt lost. But it was not long before I learnt how to do things on my own. I love parallels.