John A. Broussard

Luke 19:27 But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

I have to agree with Eli. Jesus was speaking here antonymically. When he said "slay" he didn't mean "execute" he meant that they should be converted to eternal life. Many parts of the bible are erroneously read at face value when the exact opposite is what the holy writers meant to convey.

Avatar

While I agree that there is no place in the NT where Christians are specifically commanded to kill, there are plenty of examples of actions taken by the biblical "heroes" that certainly imply that there are situations in which it's okay to kill someone...even without provocation.

I actually had someone explain to me that killing abortion doctors was okay because the act of killing them was not "murder" but defense. Another bright fellow insisted that war in the name of God was okay because it's not "murder" if it's done in God's service. Don't get me started on Joshua and Moses...all of them supposedly "heroes" who indulged in sacrfice and mass murder.

Eli

Thanks to all the intellectually honest atheists that posted especially
To my friend Trendkill.

For thoughtfully explaining that Christians were never ordered to kill by Jesus.

“You have heard that it said, You should love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.�

Now if the question was has God ever ordered His followers to kill. Well that is a different story for that answer it would take a Priest a Rabbi and a Pastor to answer or maybe I am getting things confused with an old joke.

…Anyway A Priest a Rabbi and a Pastor walk into a bar and….

Amaleq13

This is a totally unwarranted implied insult against those who disagree with you and it only serves to make you look bad. That you follow this insult up with the bizarre and seemingly contradictory admission that God may have ordered his followers to kill only serves to make the implication ironic.

That you can find verses elsewhere that describe Jesus as commanding enemies to be loved does not explain away the apparent command to kill in this parable. It also does not explain away your interpretation that the nobleman in the story represents Jesus. It suggests, at best, that the Christian Bible offers contradictory messages.

It is not intellectually dishonest, by any definition, to take your interpretation of the parable and reach the conclusion that God/Jesus will command his followers to kill his enemies during the End Times judgment.

Eli

If you were offended by my statement I am sorry,

I was not trying to insult anyone that was not my intent.

I should have just said thanks Trendkill.

Rednals

Frankly, people really have to separate the Old and New Testament...

Their attitudes and tones and moods are entirely different and should not be mixed up. Even if Christians believe both Testaments to be for one religion, an atheist should be looking at it as two different texts...

Think of it as... a book with a plot... and then the plot continuing after a thousand years or whatever...

Also, it would be better if you tried not to interpret the Bible differently than stated...

If people followed analytical interpretations like the one you propose, I am pretty sure the Bible would have had millions of totally different interpretations by now, since it has been hundreds of years since the Bible first came up... just like in the game of Operator. However, as it is, Bible has very little discrepancies between different and older versions...

Javaman

Most here recognize their origins but, seeing as Christians believe the NT is an extension of the OT and the entirety of the NT is based on the OT, for argument's sake their connections must be addressed.OK.Not sure what you mean here. Can you clarify? Interpreting the Bible is what Christianity is all about.Instead of only the 33,830 Christian denominations we currently have Given that it purports itself to be telling people how to avoid eternal torture, I would think it shouldn't have any.

Rednals

Interpretations:

Except for the obvious metaphors such as the Shepherd and the Lamb, I don't think the Bible should be interpreted differently than is stated...

For example, God creating the world in seven days (not a metaphor for 7 million years), the so-called connection between the nobleman and Jesus (?!), etc.

Also, I said Bible interpretations, not Christian denominations. You don't see 33,830 different Bibles when you go to the Lighthouse store to buy a Bible, do you?

Wallener

Pretty damn close.

101 Translations

And that's just the English versions....

Rednals

um.. look at the title of some of those supposed "translations"

and it doesn't show the contents of the specific titles... so they could still be pretty damn close...