Yeah, Hayesy, that’s why you need to go looking. Every half-decent approach to this problem is already out there, and your group’s got an interpretation it’s happy with or else they’d already be pushing you to obey the obscure stuff. I’m saying that those you’re in contact with and those you admire have a ready solution which will probably satisfy you if you can read it in full, so all you have to do is look it up.

Jesus addresses the ritual law in Mark 7
Summary:
Jesus: “Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean’.

The disciples address some moral laws in Acts 15
Summary:
James: “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.”

SmartLX – there is a third option: perhaps I misunderstand these verses.

If it’s a harsher statement than that, though, and you’ll get punished properly for not following to the letter the most violent decrees of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, let alone the Ten (most famous of God’s multitude of) Commandments, then we’re all in trouble according to Matthew.

I’m sure the evangelical movement in general has gone to great lengths to justify its cherry-picking. Craig, Plantinga, Driscoll, Koukl and people like that will have whole essays on why eating pork and working any day of the week is okay now. You just have to search a bit.

The question will be whether you are then reassured enough to dismiss these direct orders from God, or you are compelled to take living Biblically to a whole new level.

Regarding how I can call any one the least, I don’t think it follows that all are equal. Not bowing down before an idol is of much more importance to God than giving 10% of your spice rack away.
But its not something I’ve made up – Jesus said it:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!” (Matthew 23:23-24)

I don’t think the Bible is so full of contradictions as you suppose. In fact, at the very least it is remarkably free from contradictions, especially considering the number of authors, the diversity of their backgrounds, and the breadth of time and culture from which they wrote. At the very least, it is astounding in its coherency.

Out of interest, which Commandments to you break?
Assuming you’re referring to the 10, in my life I’ve broken all 10. I’ve made good things into God things (#1) and worshipped them instead of God (#2). I’ve used God’s name as a curse word (#3), I don’t keep the Sabbath (#4), I am terribly disrespectful to my parents (#5), I have hated people (which Jesus says is like murdering people in your heart; #6), I have and continue to lust after women (which Jesus says is committing adultery in your heart; #7), I’ve stolen (#9), I have and continue to lie (#9), and I covet other people’s possessions constantly (#10).

Out of interest, which Commandments to you break? And since they’re Commandments from God himself, how could you call any of them “the least”? As orders from your deity shouldn’t they all be of the highest importance, none easier to break than the other?