If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would strictly follow the teachings of the New, he would be insane.
Not my quote, just came across it.
Hi Grover!
Anonymous
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i'm sure there are plenty that do.
hi donna
Martin S
The first part "If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal" seems to be a distortion if the author is basing that statement upon things like stoning people to death for a particular sin.
Those punishments were handed out by the governing authorities after a trial was held. It isn't like someone saw someone else doing something wrong and they grabbed up some rocks and proceeded to act as their judge, jury, and executioner. Doing that would have been criminal now just like it would have been then.
The second part "If he would strictly follow the teachings of the New, he would be insane" is a matter of opinion. From a godless perspective it certainly doesn't make a lot of sense to do some of the things commanded in the New Testament. If a person were to make their decisions based solely upon what they could see and know about this world then it might be considered crazy to trust in God and walk in faith.
Robert K
From what I can tell, there are people who follow the teachings of the New and Old Testaments, and many of them are walking around and functioning perfectly well in society. Of course, this assumes that by following the teaching of the Bible, they are putting love into the world and using such tools that are available to all of us as compassion, forgiveness and gratitude. To know and practice these principles will get you neither arrested nor locked-up as a nut case.
Martin T
The Old testament is one of the nastiest books I have read. OK, I have not read all of it!
I have read a lengthy account of a bunch of uptight barbarians who were into genocide and human sacrifice. They regarded death as an appropriate sentence for many crimes, including:
* belonging to a different religion
* working on the Sabbath
* speaking the name of God aloud
* speaking rudely to one's parents
Very few Christians accept any of this today. Some of them just ignore the bits of the Bible they don't like. Others say some parts are not meant to be taken literally. A few Christians say that God really approved of all the barbaric actions that give the Old Testament such a bad name - but after his son allowed himself to be tortured to death he relented and became more humane.
The New Testament is a whole new kettle of fish. The fact that it is often bound under the same cover as the Old Testament is a bit strange. The moral message has been applauded by many people who are not Christian. The moralistic writing of Saint Paul seem to be reworking the message drastically - lots of silly rules obscuring the original message.
Anonymous
I agree the Old Testament is cruel and barbaric, the New, somewhat less. If people who literally interpret the Bible, they would in fact be either criminal or insane. Sarah Palin for example, is a little bit of both