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Christianity and bible
I am not Christian, but an answer from Christians or non-christians will work. Why is it that many things in the bible tell you to do and believe things that in America are illegal and also seem VERY immoral and hateful. I thought we were supposed to love our neighbor as ourself? For instance; deuteronomy 21:18-21; it is saying basically to kill teen girls for no reason; and Exodus 35:2; it is saying that if you work on sabbath or sunday then you should be killed; also deuteronomy 22:13-21; it says that girls that are not virgins when they marry are to be killed, what about rape? and plus, just because someone makes a mistake they should be killed? I am so confused. I was once Christian but not anymore...
Thanks for your advice, if you can answer these...
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well the deal with all that is this. all of the scriptures you just stated are in the old testiment. that was before jesus showed up. and when jesus showed up, and if you would read matthew,and john, this would help you understand this, but when jesus showed up he basicly set new "rules" saying love everyone etc...and as far as the sabbath, it says in matthew and john that it is ok to work on the sabbath. so the old test. rule does not apply anymore. hope this helps.
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Wow. Tough questions. I won't belittle you by trying to give some trite answer. The best one to answer your questions would be the Author Himself...God. If you have questions about His word, I would take issue with Him. He can take it and He's not threatened at all. In my opinion, anyone can ask questions but it takes someone special to seek answers. I imagine God feels something like that when we seek answers from Him.
However, here's my attempt to shed a little light on the questions you asked:
First, let me say that the very basis of the Law is hinged on two commandments; Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and then to love your neighbor as yourself. Bottomline.
Therefore, if you love God, you want to do whatever pleases Him. Then, if you love your neighbor the way you love yourself, you would never do anything to harm anyone in any way and would seek out their welfare.
Now, God knows that people are rebellious by nature and generally choose their own way, not His, and so He gave some guidelines to govern His people. This is where the Law comes in. It was there to govern.
The passages you mention (btw, the Deut 21 passage speaks of a drunken, rebellious son, not a teenage girl) all deal with obeying God's commandments.
Bear with me...
There are precepts and principles in the word of God. In other words, specifics and the reason behind the specifics. For example, Do not commit adultery is a precept...it's specific. The principle behind it is faithfulness and oneness with your spouse. Commitment. The bigger principle is to love your neighbor as yourself.
The reason (principle) for resting on the Sabbath is to rest as He rested and to give thanks to God for all He's provided.
God has always taken sin seriously. Disobedience is sin. And His word also says that the soul that sins shall die. (Ezekiel 18:20) It was a natural consequence that God set in motion before time began. Just like gravity. By the way, God also gave the consequence for obeying Him: if you keep His commandments and are just, you'll live. (Ezekiel 18:9)
As far as making mistakes...if something is done against the commandment of God and it was done accidentally or without any prior knowledge of God's commandments, then a sin offering could be made and God would pardon that sin. (Lev 4:2)
Concerning rape...if you continue down a few verses in that chapter (Deut 22) the rape issue is addressed in verses 25-29. If a woman who was betrothed (making her the lawful wife of someone) was raped, the man who raped her was to be put to death but nothing would be done against the woman...she did nothing wrong. It would not be considered adultery. If a man raped a woman who was a virgin, not betrothed, he was required marry her and never allowed to divorce her.
About the woman who was not a virgin when she married...God ordained sex for a married man and woman. It meant oneness, intimacy, commitment, a vow before God and men to take care of one another for life. For a woman (or a man, btw)to come to the marriage bed having been the sexual partner of another was (and is)against the commandment of God. The principle here again is obedience to His word. Disobedience is sin and therefore worthy of death by that natural consequence that God put in place. Again, in this case if the woman was accused wrongly, that man was never allowed to divorce here. He was to take care of her and provide for her for all his days. In those days, that equalled safety and position for that woman.
God's word should always be taken in it's entirety and context. There is never anything wrong with asking questions and seeking answers with a sincere heart.
Hopefully this helps to clear things up a little. God Bless You!!!!
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I'm not Christian and I am not in any way trying to insult them or put them off.
You see, the Bible has been changed. so many times that well, you kinda don't know whats the truth... When the original text came out from God, some Christians then did not like some things that was stated in it. So they decided to change it. And that is what has been happening. That is the reason for New Testements and stuff, because it has been changed. That is the reason why half of the things in it don't make since thus driving people away from the belief.
if you have more question like this, i really would be more than happy to answer them...
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i am truthfully not a christian because of the things you have said. people believe what they want to believe... much of the time they only listen to the preacher, who can say whatever he wants. also in the bible (though not sure where), it says that if a man rapes a woman then they have to get married. so obviously laws like that don't apply anymore, yet people get all bent out of shape over gay marriage and abortion and the like- saying stuff like "god hates the homosexuals" or whatever, but how is working on sunday an okay thing then? that's my reasoning on the "believe what you want" thing. the fact of the matter is that the bible was not written by god... it was written by man. the gospels were not written until 40 years after jesus had died. so over time it's pretty likely that the text we have today is not accurate. that's why i don't live by the bible really... it's a great story, and i still read it. but i am more of a spiritual person than a religious person (and there's a difference, much to the dismay of some christians). many christians assume that nonchristians don't have morals, which is technically by their rules an "unchristian" thing to do... it's just a mess, honestly. i'm not sure who came up with this idea, but they said that "to be a christian is to have a childlike belief in god" meaning that you believe wholeheartedly and without question. i have a problem with that, so i label myself as a spiritual person more than a religious person.
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Ask and you shall receive.
You cant base experiences off of the Old Testament. Most of those rules actually worked at the time as a way to scare people into submission. In addition, Deuteronomy is at the beginning of the Bible. So the rules and laws were extremely old and aren't used in our time(except in third world countries). In that time, every punishment was death simply because everyone fears it. Thus, control over the people.
If you really want to see the good of the Bible, you have to read the New Testament. Jesus teachings are the base of the Christian faith. Reading the Old Testament is simply a way to show us how powerful and amazing our God is as well as the origin of our Faith. The New Testament is to show how we should lead our lives from the time of Christ on. The parables are the best things to read, because they tend to help a lot in such situation. If you do continue to read the Old Testament, don't look find the things that are negative, search for the good that the Bible truly shows. Seek and you will find, my friend.
Knock and the door will be opened for you.
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Christians are confused, too. I have never met a Christian who has actually read the bible. They take their minister on his word, and the minister only talks about the handful of good things the bible says.
Here is a list of similar things in the bible:
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
Christians' most prevalent argument is that the old testament doesn't count, but as pointed out on that list, Jesus himself said that it *does* apply.
(Don't visit any other page on the site linked above, or any part of the page other than the section pointed to. You will not find any related articles, and no matter who you are you will be offended. That is the only place where this compilation exists, so I had to link you to it.)
So even if the Christian God does exist, he is evil. His bible is a book of hate.
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