The long answer is that the Old Testament is a fulfilled contract (covenant), making it obsolete by definition. No one keeps a fulfilled purchase contract around to keep paying on it, they discard it because it was fully filled / completely paid off.

Jesus picked a phrase that would have hit his 1st Century audience all over the proverbial head like a two-by-four board, “new covenant.” In His day He began the New Covenant. Where was the New Covenant defined, apart from the teachings of Jesus?

‘Behold, days are coming,‘declares the LORD, ‘hen I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,‘ declares the LORD. ‘but this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’” (Jeremiah 31:31-33)

This is what every Jew at the time understood the New Covenant to be: It was still far off in their future, it was unlike the Old Covenant, and with a new law that is written in the heart.

In Acts 15 the church argued that the Old Covenant (the Law) no longer to be applied at all to those in Christ. They ultimately sent a letter to all the Gentile churches informing them that the Gentiles should ignore anyone who told them to obey any part of the old Jewish Law.

This is consistent with Jesus’ own words, “And in the same way He [Jesus] took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in My blood.’ “(Luke 22:20)

The New Testament (New Covenant) book of Hebrews states, “But now He [Jesus] has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a Better Covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, He says, ‘Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah‘…When He said, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. “ (Hebrews 8:6-8-13)

The biblical evidence is quite strong that Christ’s sacrifice made the old covenant (the Old Testament) “obsolete,” having inaugurated a new and “better” covenant. Moreover Paul warns that obeying the Old Covenant never saved anyone, but the New Covenant does (Romans 3:20, 8:3).

In Colossians 2 Paul states that all the dietary laws and all the Sabbath laws of the Old Covenant were made obsolete. Paul even goes so far as to say that the Ten Commandments, the law literally written on tables of stone, had been replaced by the New Covenant (2 Corinthians 3:6-7).

Nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Covenant (New Testament) as ethical rules for Christians, but the law of the Sabbath was not repeated in the New Covenant.

To sum up, the Old Covenant (a set of promises and Laws that established and governed the theocratic nation of Israel) was entirely replaced by the New Covenant of Jesus. Not just the sacrifices of the Old Covenant were replaced, but the entire covenant.

Though the Old Covenant is obsolete, it does not make it useless. It still contains explanations of the character of God, of history, and of ethics and morality that we find helpful as references today. For example, Jesus said to the disciples to start carrying swords, but only in the Old Covenant do we find definitions of the difference between self-defense and murder. Similarly we find in the New Covenant a prohibition on illicit sex, but only in the Old Covenant do we find that bestiality is also defined as illicit sex.

So, while we are no longer under the Old Covenant or any of its laws, we are under the New Covenant. The New Covenant echoes the moral and ethical obligations of the Old Covenant, but does not repeat any of its civil, institutional, legal, criminal, sacrificial, or ritual obligations.

@apb102088@xanga - Hello apb!

It is interesting that your husband metaphorically sees the Old Testament/Covenant (the Law) as the tree trunk and the NT (New Covenant) as leaves and branches.  The Jewish prophets used a similar metaphor, but rather than the Law being the main "trunk" they saw Israel as the main trunk of a vast vine.  Later Jesus said He was the main trunk of the vine, and Israel was the vine growing out of the trunk.  Then Paul added to the metaphor, calling Gentiles the wild branches that are grafted into Israel which remained as the natural vine and Christ remained the main trunk of the vine. 

If we accept that Jesus/Israel is the main vine and Gentiles are the grafted in branches, then we can see how the OT (old covenant) governed the original vine and the NT (new covenant) governs the new wild grafted in branches. 

The new covenant does not add on top of or add to the original Law, it replaces it because the new covenant serves an entirely new purpose and an entirely new community. 

Blessings in Christ.

@Lovegrove@xanga - It seems Graig thought I was saying that Christian should indeed follow PT law including cutting pieces off one's personal property. I was rather pointing out what following OT law will lead to. I'm agin it.

Kosher isn't just getting the meat from a particular type of butcher....or not eating pork, for that matter.  It takes a full commitment and requires a total lifestyle change.

@apb102088@xanga@craigwbooth@xanga - You both provided great verses which explain how there is a New Covenant and we no longer are required to eat Kosher. But I'm just confused about Isaiah 66:15-17 prophecy; why would Yahweh be destroying those that eat nonkosher if we are no longer required to? (I'm not trying to argue, I'm just seeking an explanation on that... maybe I'm reading too much into it?)

@publicstand - That is a good point, kosher meat does have it's health benefits. I also read that not only are there no hormones injected in kosher animals, but the humane way they are kill also has health benefits. Animals in slaughterhouses are so stressed and scared that they produce hormones that get into our meat supply that cause stress, high blood pressure, etc. in humans that consume it. But kosher animals are killed instantly and humanely, so those hormones are not present in kosher meats.

@EveryDay_NewDay_NoMistakes@xanga - I agree with you on this. I feel that God made certain animals to clean up the Earth, not for human consumption. It's going to be hard since I love carnitas and bacon, but the more I learn about how unsanitary pigs are, the less I want to eat them lol.

@hapahomemaking@xanga - @apb102088@xanga - Greetings!

Isaiah 66 appears to be a prophecy concerning the future Millenial reign, when all the blessings ever promised to Israel in the OT Law are finally and completely fulfilled.  At THAT future time, according to 66:3, Jesus will be seated on His throne in Jerusalem and will pass judgment on every nation and peoples, INCLUDING the Jews who did not actually live righteously as well as against the Gentile nations.  The goal of the judgment (this is not yet the Final and Eternal Judgement) will be to call all living peoples and nations to repent, to come back to holiness (it is not a call to reinstate the OT Law).

66:17 states some sinners will repent and be blessed while others will not repent.  The expression "swine eaters" should be viewed as a label or euphemism for "unrepentant unbeliever."  That is why in 66:3 God states that even sinning Jews are "like one who offers swine blood" during sacrifices.

The term "swine eater" should not be viewed literally, as if eating pork is always wrong in every era.  In Isaiah's day, several hundred years BC, "swine eater" had already become a blanket euphemism for "sinner."  This is similar to using the term "Cretan" to describe a person as a liar, even if they never lived in Crete, or calling someone a "Pharisee" to describe them as a hyprocrite even if they were never in the sect of the Pharisees.  Based on the scriptural context it is often appropriate to just read "swine eater" as a generic label for "sinner."

I came to this same conclusion years ago (my sophomore year of College actually) and since then I have followed the Levitical rules regarding diet to the best of my ability.  You do have to be careful since there are two Kosher systems:  Levitical Kosher and Rabbinical Kosher. Rabbinical Kosher is based off of teachings handed down and enlarged upon by Rabbi's throughout the centuries. Levitical Kosher is based soley off the original biblical rules laid down in Leviticus.

An example of Rabbinical Kosher is that if there is dirt on your shoes and you track it into the kitchen, your kitchen is now unclean and must be purified before Kosher food can be cooked in it again. There is nothing about that in Leviticus.  The same with having two sets of pots and pans, dishes, silverware, and even fridges and freezers for dealing with dairy and meat products!

Another thing in the same vein of thoughts as your post:  Beards and hair. What do you think about that?

@apb102088@xanga - I think many of you are confused in these comments.  You can't take single verses or a clump of verses and build a doctrine around them.  You must read verses in context and that means reading whole chapters.

Romans 14 has nothing to do with the Levitical law of unclean animals.  I can say with 100% certainty that it has everything to do with believers asking questions about meat being sacrificed to pagan idols.  Please read the whole chapter with this in mind.  It will make much more sense to you. The following mp3 talks about Romans 14 directly.
http://www.waytozion.org/teachings/jim/To%20Eat%20or%20Not%20to%20Eat/to-eat-2.mp3

You stopped short in 1 Timothy 4:1-6. First off, the way you are interpreting this scripture is you are now calling Leviticus 11 a doctrine of a devil.  Rethink that.  Second, you stopped at verse 4.  Read verse 5 and ask yourself what does the WORD call "sanctified".  There was no new testament at the time this was written so anyone examining the WORD was examining the OT to see what was sanctified. In verse 3, Indeed God created foods to be received with thanksgiving, they are listed in Lev. 11.  People often take 1 Tim 4 out of context.

Either way, nobody in the comments has addressed Acts 10:14. Peter said, "By no means Lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean." Why is Peter keeping the dietary laws 10-12 years after Christ was resurrected? Because the law was still in place, When we fail, grace covers us, but the law was given for all generations forever the Bible says.  For every verse you give me out of Romans or Galatians that says the law is done away with, I can give you 4 from the rest of the New Testament that says its not.  So either we have a whole lot of contradictions in the NT, or we simply have a huge misunderstanding being taught today.

I'll leave you with this: Matt. 5:17-19
17.Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.18
For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the
smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means
disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.19
Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and
teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of
heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called
great in the kingdom of heaven.

1 John 2:6 "Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did."

We know that Jesus kept the law. We are to live like he did, keeping the law.  Not the law of the Jews/Rabbinical Law, but the law of God given in the Torah.

Keeping the law is not that hard:
1 John 5:3
"This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,"

This is not about keeping the law for Salvation.  When we fail, grace covers us.  That is what Romans and Galatians is really all about.  Getting rid of the law of sin and death. The Penalty of the Law or its curse.

I hope this helps.

Zac
http://www.New2Torah.com

@apb102088@xanga - Absolutely.  Jesus was clear that until heaven and earth passed away, neither would ANY part of the law.

Now some parts of the law are impossible to keep.  For example, someone will ask me, Do you keep all 613 laws?  No way, I keep the laws that apply to me as a man.  My wife keeps those that apply to a woman, my 4 year old keeps those that apply to a child.  We do so to the best of our ability. When I fall, grace covers me as Jesus came to do away with the curse of the law.  He was the sacrifice for my sin.

There is no temple or tabernacle, so those laws don't apply.  I'm not a Levite priest serving in the temple so those laws don't apply.  All in all around 200 laws apply to me in daily life.

Think about how many laws apply to you when you drive a car, or fill out your taxes or start a business.  Thousands.  God's law is in no way burdensome.  1 John 5:3.  His laws are a joy to keep. Science tells us that pork is horrible for you.  You can't cook Trichinosis out of pork.  Its impossible. Science tells us that.  If we lived by Lev. 11, people would be a lot healthier. 

IMPORTANT: Every time swine is mentioned in the Bible, its used in a negative context.  EVERY TIME.  There's a good clue.

Thanks for the kind words.  I absolutely realize that I am in the minority on this.

What is sin? Sin is transgression of the law. (1 John 3:4) If the law is done away with like many in the seminary teach, how is a Holy God going to judge me by it?  Once we repent and put our faith in Jesus, we are covered by our transgressions of the law...but that doesn't mean we are free to break the law, right?  God forbid as Paul says.

Here is something else to think on.  Does the law only refer to the 10 commandments given in Exodus 20? The tenth commandment is given in verse 17.  What happens in verse 18?  The people became scared and basically ran away and told Moses to go up the mountain and talk to God. God continues and gives 4 more commandments before the end of the chapter.  God then continues to give Moses the law throughout the rest of the Torah.

Now if we truly believe that once we repent and accept Jesus as the penalty for our sins, that we then become grafted in (Romans 11) and have become heirs of the promise given to Abraham, we are in fact counted as Israel. The law applies to Israel, those native born and those aliens/gentiles who choose to be grafted in(Me). Forever it says, for all generations.

No wonder we have so many Jews in the world who don't believe in Messiah.  The Messiah the church teaches about claims to have done away with the law and to give us a new way to God. This is exactly what Deut. 13 teaches against and warned about the tribes of Israel about.

I'm new to all this as well.  I came to this realization late last year and have since read my Bible thinking in these terms.  Its really opened my eyes to a lot more scripture and what it means.

Thanks, Be blessed!

@New2Torah - Yeah, I read the Torah and then I asked my Jewish grandmother about how she practices the Sabbath, the holidays, and being kosher. Most of what she said were man-made laws...for example, no pressing buttons on the Sabbath since even that is considered work. And having separate refrigerators for dairy and meat. So cooking meat with butter is fine too? Also, the meat has to be kosher-certified, doesn't it? We can't just get meat from anywhere since it's not prepared properly...it's living in filthy conditions then slaughtered inhumanely and the blood is not drained properly. 

@New2Torah - But it does say to drain all of the blood...and most meats like beef still has blood in it except for kosher meat