pharoah

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Joan of Bark

The fact that we need to engage in these debates is proof positive that the Bible is not inerrant and inspired. An omniscient God would have ensured that his message was so clear there would be no possible way for anyone to misinterpret it. Yet even Christians can't agree on what it says.

If God had had any sense he would have beamed his message directly into our brains without the need for scribes and translators. Notice that this would not eliminate our free will, but merely ensure that we were clear as to how and when we were sinning.

Anonimus

A small sample of commandments from the New Testament, which are so clearly immoral and silly that most Christians ignore or selectively forget them:

1 Timothy 2:11-14
11: A woman should learn in quitness and full submission.
12: I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.
13: For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
14: And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.
*gives female preachers a meaningful look*

2 John 1:9-10
9: Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
10:If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
(A blatant endorsement of bigotry. And might I ask, are Christian parents to throw their unbelieving children out onto the streets? It's obvious why most Christians disregard this command.)

1 Corinthians 14:34-35
34:Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.
35:And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
(Ah, the wonders of a woman preacher's selective memory. Incidentally, I read this verse to my Christian grandmother and her excuse for chatting after church with her female friends was that she couldn't possibly obey all the stuff in the Bible. To this very day, she loves a good chat after service.)

Romans 13:1-3
1:Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
2:Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
3:For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
(How many Christians would unquestioningly obey the command of any government under which they might be living? How many Christians would seriously claim Hitler was "not a terror to good works, but to the evil", and how many could honestly say it would have been moral and "Godly" to have obeyed and condoned his government?

I once had a Christian argue with me until he was blue in the face, that what Paul really meant was his people were supposed to obey Roman authorities, and that this verse applies to no one else. It was obvious that he recognized these verses for the stupid nonsense that they are. He had to assign them a new meaning, because he couldn't imagine the Bible being wrong about something.)

1 Corinthians 11:4-9
4:Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.
5:But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
6:For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
7:For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
8:For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man.
9:Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
(A mix of sexism and blithering nonsense that no Christian today gives a second thought.)

1 Corinthians 11:14
14: Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
(This one is a bit more popular among Christians, although many ignore it. It's interesting to note that Jesus himself is almost always portrayed with long hair.)

We could all do with a little Bible study. There is, after all, no book that is more anti-Christianity than the Bible.

Helpmabob

Anonimus - These are, generally speaking, guidelines. The commandments were given by Jesus (love God, love one another sums it up). But at the same time as He was saying this, He knew that people wouldn't be able to stick to them perfectly, thus His sacrificial death to come.

JPD

Matthew 10:34 "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household."

Love one another?

John A. Broussard

A wonderful list. I'm saving it for future use.

I don't have the patience to do this kind of research, but I appreciate the efforts of anyone like you who does.

Keep up the good work.

John A. Broussard

How do we, generally speaking, distinguish biblical guidelines from commands?

Helpmabob

Hi JPD - I think Jesus was here referring to the way He is creating a division between those who are 'for Him' and those who are 'against Him'; you are one or t'other. But the love one another was directed at those who were 'for Him'. There are surely better examples of where the bible apparently contradicts, but that is the subject of a different topic.

Hi John - I am repeating a bit here, but generally speaking, the commandments were given by Jesus (love God, love one another sums it up). Allow the Holy Spirit, or your conscience if you are not a christian, to lead to you in discerning the rest.

Terrible Heresy

Yeah Johnny, Gen 11 1-8 is great isn't it? Lets see how many things we can find wrong with it....

1. It has been proven that is not how different languages were created.

2. God seems scared that the humans will overpower him if left to thier own devices.

3. He refers to himself as "us"

4. He has to move about physically to see what is going on?

5. He came down? They were building a tower to heaven? One would almost think that these people and God himself thought heaven was the sky!

7. One might insist in a figurative reading. But then you must wonder what would the figurative be? No amount of wiggling will get out of the point that this is a story about God stopping humans from uniting in a way that threatens his dominance. All you can try to "figurize" is the actual tower(which seems unlikely since the specifics of it's building are actually discussed 0_o). You are then left with the question of what these ancient people did to challenge God when thousands of years later we ourselves are obviously not challenging God.

Tigers!

Gen 11:1 - The population has the same language and could understand each other
2 - They migrated eastward to Shinar (Sumeria) and stayed there
3 - They knew how to cut stone and learnt how to make bricks. The bricks often need mortar and tar is useful here. There are mnat tar pits in Sumeria.
4 - They decided to build a city to make a name for themselves. Sounds like pride to me. They ignored God's command to spread across the earth (Gen 9:1 & 1:28)
5 - The Lord knew what they were going. An anthropormorphic description here.
6 - Noting that speaking the same language gives no inpetmus to spread ov erthe earth.
7 - Note the change to plural of God. One of the first indications of the Trinity. If we confuse their language they will be forced to separate
8 - Once the language was changed into multiple tongues the people joine din their linguistic groups and scattered over the earth. The city building stopped.