Christianity and the Old Testament

God permitted divorce also in the Old Testament, even though He says in Malachi the He hates divorce. If someone hates God, there are plenty of excuses to show a reason to hate. I prefer to show God's mercy and Love through Jesus Christ.

 

First of all you need to understand the difference between the Old and New Testament. You're not going to accept that because if you admit to the difference your entire argument falls apart.

God allowed men to have multiple wives and concubines. Does that mean God approves of multiple wives and concubines?

 

So you are saying that the god of the Old Testament is not the god of the New Testament?

C'mon. Your god is not going to like that.

The god of the New Testament IS THE SAME god as the god of the Old Testament.

What pleased or offended the god of the Old Testament...pleases or offends the god of the New Testament.

Deny that...and you are denying your god.

 

You don't understand the difference between Old and New Covenant or even what a Covenant means. You're very confused and angry at God.

 

I understand the old and new covenant.

But I am saying that if the god was offended by certain activity in the Old Testament under the old covenant...lhe would continue to be offended by that conduct in the New Testament under the new covenant.

If you are saying the god wouldn't...

...you should have a good reason for saying that.

Do you?

 

No, you don't understand the difference. What happened on the cross?

 

You know, Frank, following Jesus was never about comfort. Putting it all into perspective, homo-sexuality could be a death sentence for a society during OT times. I would contend it still is not a healthy lifestyle. Hepatitis, and other diseases, possibly now extinct, would run rampant without penicillin and other drugs. A lot of the Jewish decrees were about health. Even washing your hands before eating was revolutionary. Setting the latrines up away from camp. Even circumcision had health aspects. Abstaining from Pork and other meats possibly containing parasites. Eventually, humans took the time to cook their meat properly so this was not necessary. Another aspect of homosexuality is that sex, merely for self-indulgence, without possibility of pro-creation, is simply "carnal in nature" and leads to other non-productive activity.
One other aspect of slavery....when it came time for a slave to be set free, for whatever reason, he had the option of becoming a "bond servant". If he had a good relationship with his Master, often, by choice, he could have a ring placed in his ear identifying him/her self as such. This kept him under the protection of the family and voluntarily kept him employed. Fortunately, our culture has changed. We have turned our back on slavery. Women are also treated with respect. Jesus was revolutionary in that example as to how he treated women. So much is left up to mankind to work among ourselves, but as Jesus pointed out, God desires us to "circumcise our hearts".

 

Like wise.

 

I like that example. We can see how multiple wives led to multiple problems. God also preferred to rule the Nation Israel through prophets. The Nation preferred Judges so God allowed for that. Then they wanted a King, to be like other Nations. God allowed that. God often permits us to make our own decisions even when they are not in our best interest. Like the "prodical son" we go our own way. What laws God has given us, are always for our best interest but we have to set our will aside and seek His. We have that option.

 

Exactly. God allowed people to live their culture, doesn't mean He approves or condones it.

 

Notice how this poster projects his own (or acquired) thoughts about human society upon his imaginary sky fairy. This is a common technique of religious indoctrination, and this poster appears to have absorbed it quite well.

 

According to the Jewish Babylonian Talmud, Shabbath 32b, each Jew will get 2,800 Gentile slaves when the Messiah returns. So why would the Bible renounce slavery?

"Resh Lakish said: He who is observant of fringes will be privileged to be served by two thousand eight hundred slaves, for it is said, Thus saith the Lord of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, etc."
http://www.come-and-hear.com/shabbath/shabbath_32.html

 

Jesus was also a big fan of self-mutilation, such as cutting off one's hands and feet and gouging out one's eyes. The guy had some serious mental health issues.

 

For sure. Jesus also said we had to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Crazy guy, huh.

 

He's one of the more looney guys in the Bible, that's for sure.

 

I'm not disagreeing with you. I've been through it all myself so I understand these people's thinking. It's amazing what one can believe if one wants too. And difficult to accept you may be wrong. To base your life on something and then find out your base is not what it seemed is hard to take. There's good teaching in the Bible among the stories and myths.
It takes a great deal of effort and study, mentally and 'spiritually', to try and understand the difference between truth and error, reality and unreality. But there is not excuse for it now. We have other disciplines with which we can compare the Bible - ancient history, archaeology, the study of contemporary religions including Judaism and ancient culture. And we have education, books and the internet we can use to gather information and comparisons.

As I say, there is some good teaching in the Bible - as in other religious books. But there is a lot of errors, exaggerations and simple stories.

 

I thought god imposed Judges on the Israelites. Judges 2:16 - 18 Nevertheless the Lord raised up Judges ......

And can you wonder they wanted a something other than a Prophet? Eli had failed and his sons were worthless. Samuel had succeeded but again his sons failed. Samuel was a priest. He could see what would happen if they had a king, simply by looking at other nations.
There are two interpretations of 'Prophet' in the Bible. Those as Eli and Samuel - leader priests. And the ecstatic prophet giving 'messages, and 'prophecies' from god.

 

Notice how this poster diminishes those of faith, while projecting his own as superior. This is a technique used most often by the "godless".

 

You have some knowledge....but you limit yourself to carnality.

 

I too was a "mocker" at on time. Crazy nostalgia!

 

What did Jesus mean when He said we had to eat his flesh and drink his blood?

 

To "eat His Flesh" simply meant to immerse oneself in His teachings and the example He showed. To drink His blood would mean to accept His sacrifice and provision on our behalf. That is just a little "spiritual insight" to His message. We take communion in remembrance of this, but it is not the actual partaking.

 

Yep.

 

Oh what a pile of ****. Seriously. You didn't read the OT on things like slavery with simple empathy a tool of human animals we used to survive as a complex species. I watched Patriot's Day today and what struck me is in a dark hour in Boston people ran towards the savage horror and came together and it wasn't Bibles in their hands it was people together fighting evil with good. Now what is wrong with you people slavery is evil, any god being that would tolerate it and not say something is equally evil and no amount of dancing will get around that moral truth and this being should be more moral than we are now and we get slavery is EVIL. Genocide is EVIL. Ecocide is EVIL. Rape is EVIL. In what world do they seem not to be evil - religious thought out of books guiding their morality. You and your kind are immoral and irrational and inhuman if you get your morality out of books that is why I cannot respect religion and faith. Morality and building a system of morality should deal with the status of humanity and being human and shouldn't be hard.

Don't enslave other humans should be a simple - don't ****ing do it its EVIL how can your damned god ,if he existed, not get that?

 

Such vitriol..... guess that is the result of deriving morality from between your own ears. Worked for Hitler and Stalin. Should work for you.