Stacey Melissa

When I saw the title of the thread, I immediately thought of 1 Thessalonians 5:21, since it is one of the few Bible verses that I find admirable.

But since you're actually looking for problematic verses that can be shown in a neat, tidy way, I'd say it's a tought call between...

for its disgusting regulation of both human sacrifice and slavery; and...

for its undeniable advocacy of a flat earth.

sourdough

www.thewaronfaith.com/bible_quotes.htm

God's Will Hunting

Thanks for the link sourdough. Good one. :notworthy

Revenge of Montezuma

Did it mention the emerods though? The Lord was very intent on inflicting the emerods as something especially nasty:

"6] But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.
[9] And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.
[12] And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven."

1Samuel 5.

southernhybrid

Actually I have some favorite bible quotes that speak loudly about my deconversion from the conservative Xianity of my youth to the more rational atheism of my adulthood.

I Corinthians 13:11

Then there's that one about the truth making one free. There are certainly some ironic pearls of wisdom in the Bible that I cling to even now.

French Prometheus

To which you can reply by quoting Matt 5:17-19. To which they will reply "yeah but Jesus fulfilled the law" To which you can reply "what part of till heaven and earth pass don't you understand, you jerk?".

Quoting Luke 19:27, Matt 10:34 or Luke 12:47-48 in response to WWJD can also be very effective. Of course you have to prepare for a debate on the context of those verses...

Mike Rosoft

Old Testament: 1 Samuel 15:2-3

"Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'I will punish what Am'alek did to Israel in opposing them on the way, when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and smite Am'alek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.'"

New Testament: split between Revelation (entire book) and descriptions of hell, such as Matthew 25:41

"Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."


Mike Rosoft

justsumner

If you believe that exposing your children to violence is a problem,by all means keep them away from the Bible.

--Rev. Charles Henderson

We can now say with considerable confidence that the Bible is not a history of anyone's past.... The Bible's "Israel" is a literary fiction... Not only have Adam and Eve and the flood story passed over to mythology, but we can no longer talk about a time of the patriarchs. There never was a "United Monarchy" in history and it is meaningless to speak of pre-exilic prophets and their writings... The Bible deals with the origin traditions of a people who never existed as such.

--Thomas L. Thompson


NOW:

I also like EZ. 17:25 as it applies to most Xians :rolling:

JerryM

A good discussion point is the incident where Jesus curses the fig tree, related in Matt 21:18-19, 20-22 and in Mark 11:12-14, 20-25. Jesus apparently wants to eat and comes across a fig tree that doesn't have fruit. Even though Mark's version states that it is not the season for figs, Jesus curses the tree, which withers away. He uses it as a lesson to his disciples to show the power of faith. But isn't this rather puzzling, to say the least? Why would Jesus curse a tree that's just acting according to it's nature? Now, no one will ever benefit from all the good things trees provide--fruit, shade, oxygen, etc. If he wanted to perform a miracle, why not make the tree bear fruit out of season? I've heard it explained that this is a parable about the Hebrew people--that if they don't produce the fruit of God's love for them, they will be cursed and wither away. But it's not presented just as a teaching parable--it's described as an actual event. And it certainly doesn't seem that Jesus is acting in a godly manner. He comes off as petulant and vengeful.

Lugubert

I like to throw in Numbers 5 on anti-abortion threads. So far, I have had no Christian anti-abortionists comment on this abortion command from God.