Hi Christians can you help me with this please?

Molek, at first I thought you were not looking for serious answers but you have demonstrated that you are in fact looking for serious answers based upon your additional details. Let me look these up and I will UPDATE this response.

***UPDATE*** (sorry this is so long)

First let me start with your references in Exodus and Leviticus. There is really nothing about the immediate context of these passages that will make you think these passages seem any more "right". Both of these passages are from what is called the Mosaic Law. God gave Moses a Law in order to maintain a relationship with mankind that mankind may be God's "treasured possession." (Exodus 19:5-6) Over and over again throughout the Mosaic Law God calls the Israelites to be holy because He is holy. (one example: Lev. 20:26) The call to Holiness is simply a call for the Israelites to be separate and a distinct people.

The most information in order to help us better understand these passages comes from the cultural context. God works and reveals himself through culture. In fact, that is the only thing that God has to reveal himself. Look at Webster's fifth definition of "culture":

5 a : the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon man’s capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations

b : the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group

c : the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes a company or corporation

The problem is we are trying to understand a Biblical passage written in a specific time period to a specific people and evaluating its "rightness" with our own current cultural understandings. Therefore, there are many things that might seem "cruel and unusual" that occur in the Bible but were very normal in the culture it was written in. If you read other law codes from the same time period many of the same rules and laws are applied to other peoples.

Psalm 137:8-9, again this passage can be better understood in the cultural context. But basically it is a Psalm hoping for retribution against Babylon who had taken captive and "dashed the Israelites babies heads against rocks". This type of terminology again seems cruel and unusual but was common place in retribution war cries in Ancient Mesopotamia.

Now, many people are not satisfied with the cultural argument but we have to understand that the Bible was written over a long period of time and is saturated with culture. The key is to understand the culture and the message in the text and determine what is the principle here, or what can be taken cross culturally.

The good news of Jesus Christ is we are no longer under the Mosaic Law. Jesus fulfilled this law in himself. Therefore whoever becomes in Christ, then becomes in relationship with God and is his "treasured possession". This relationship between the Old Testament (Covenant) and the New Testament (Covenant) is what I call the "Treasured Possession Principle."©

Now to 1 Peter 3:1-7. This was not written in Ancient Mesopotamia or at least not near the time of the previous texts but most likely late 1st century A.D. 1 Peter 3:1-7 is a conclusion of a section known as a Haus Taffle or "Household rules or codes". Basically these are instructions for Christians in how they should behave in various relational situations such as Parents-Children, Husband-Wife, and a common relationship in the 1st century, slave-master. I personally do not see anything wrong with teaching that wives should submit to husbands. This is basically saying that husbands are the leader of the household. This doesn't mean that the husband is in absolute control and the wife has no say. There is also instructions for husbands to "be considerate" of your wives and "treat them with respect" in 1 Peter 3:7. Also in the same sort of teaching found in Ephesians 5:21-6:9, we are taught to be "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" (5:21)

Any further comments or questions, please feel free to EMAIL me. I would be very interested in having a discussion with you. I promise to be open minded, patient and respectful. Thanks!

It is worth noting that the Old Testament records many atrocities. The fact is that God allowed people their sinful desires and he worked within their culture, even as he does now, as he permits all kinds of bad things to happen. Nevertheless, God introduced what is called the Apoditic Law (Exodus 21:24): an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The Apoditic Law was instituted to prevent the increase of blood revenge, a practice where revenge would escalate out of control between two parties. Since the hearts of the fallen are so wicked and the harsh environment and culture produced difficulties for survival, God has a few options to counter their proclivity towards evil. He can run roughshod over their free will and force everyone to obey him, or he could wipe them all out, or he could work within the situation at hand. In the case of this psalm, and it's Babylonian captivity context, God chose to work with people and through them instead of violating the freedom he had given them and forcing them to act in a manner that he instructs. Therefore, the Psalmist is expressing his curse against Babylon, a natural response to what his people have already suffered.

death in the bible sometimes means to cast out...not necessarily kill....Exod 21:15 can very well mean cast the children away from their parents until they repent.

Psalms 137:9 is referring to instructing children in the 10 commandments which God wrote on stone tablets.

1 Pet. 3:1-7 Women should do their part as men should do theirs....the bible is very clear about how a husband is to treat his wife...husbands love your wives as Christ loves the church and gave himself up for her Eph 5:25.

Lev 24:14 again this very well means cast out....

although there are certain parts of the bible when men were put to actual death but not necessarily God ordained....remember the bible also reveals to us how many if not all of the men and women in the bible one time or another repented of their sins.

May the Lord bless you and keep and guard your mind from confusion in Jesus name...

The entire bible is a statement of truth! but , if your looking for answers seek him the giver of all knowledge God all mighty !

I personally take a more developmental view of the Bible. People quite clearly had a different view of morality from that which we have today. For example, they believed that God was leading them to murder tens of thousands of people in war when later on we read that Jesus said people should love their enemies and turn the other cheek. In fact the Sermon on the Mount was far ahead of its time as a statement of morality but that does not mean you have to be comfortable with the butchery of much that came before it

maybe if you READ the chapter's of the story's , you would understand instead of just readsing certain passages.

Exd 21:16 "He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.

Psa 137:9 Happy the one who takes and dashes

Your little ones against the rock!

1Pe 3:1 WIVES, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives,

1Pe 3:2 when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear.

1Pe 3:3 Do not let your adornment be merely outward--arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel--

1Pe 3:4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

1Pe 3:5 For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands,

1Pe 3:6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.

1Pe 3:7 Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.

Lev 24:14 "Take outside the camp him who has cursed; then let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.

Lev 24:15 "Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.

I dont understand why some people always trying to pick out the worse part of the bible when they don't even know from point A to point B. I believe some people just dont want to take the time to understand, yet they are taking all their time piecing together their own theory, and dont know that they are getting it all wrong . ANd just because we are Christians that read our bible, you automatically think that we are stupid for believing the truth? We read your theory now get your head out of your butts and read the true facts. The Holy BiBle

The Bible, just like any book, cannot be determined by verses taken out of context. In my Bible College we were advised to read everything about the "situation" "to whom" "history" "authorship" etc and then ask God to show you what the author was getting at. Also the Old Testament written in Hebrew, meant different to the Hebraic people than to us; also the New Testament in Greek, these words have slightly different meaning in their true form, but our culture, context and language finds it difficult to determine the meaning. Thanks for your question, and I hope you take the advice to go and read God's word, and let Him open it up for you and help you to understand it.

Let's look at your verses, and their surrounding context, one by one, shall we?

Exo 21:5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

Hmmm...I don't know where you read this, but evidently, someone cited the wrong verse. However, let's continue:

Psa 137:9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

Yep...taken all by itself, that verse does sound pretty harsh. Of course, I'm guessing that the source you got this from neglected to tell you that it was the last verse of a lament by people who had just been conquered, captured, enslaved, and were now in a strange land serving strange masters.

Imagine if there had been a major war with, say, China (hopefully, nobody here has any major beefs with China), and that China has bombed your city, raped your wife and your daughters, and smashed your baby against a rock, as you had to watch, bound and helpless. You'd be pretty upset, wouldn't you? And now, here you are, sitting next to the Great Wall of China, where you've never been before, and your new "masters" want you to sing "America the Beautiful" for them. You might feel like smashing a few little ones against rocks, yourself. That wouldn't be the same thing as saying that the President is going to give you a huge reward if you smash babies against rocks, is it? Nor is this the same thing as saying that God will see to your happiness if you smash babies upon rocks. But I do see the problem...this verse gets abused ALOT! It just takes reading the entire Psalm, and most people are just too lazy to do that. I'm sure that most intelligent people, even though they might be atheists, if they knew the whole story, would be a bit more sympathetic with the Israelites who made this lament.

On to your next verse:

Lev 24:14 Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.

Lev 24:15 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin.

Evidently, the person these verses are referring to was the son of an Egyptian man and an Israelitish woman. He got into some kind of a fight with another man, we are not told what it was about, and, evidently, blasphemed the name of God.

In those days, that was a HUGE no-no. To blaspheme one's god(s) would be, as we say today "fighting words". If the Israelite had been in Egypt, and had cursed an Egyptian god, his fate would have been the same.

Of course, today, most people think that "curse" is like saying "g d it!" or "jeebus h. criminies!" or, my personal favorite, "for the love of Mary, Micheal, and Joseph!" That isn't quite true. I hear certain wiccans and pagans (not all) say things like "Don't pray for me," because they know that prayer is "invoking a spirit". That is what these verses are talking about. If you believe in spiritual beings, then "cursing" would mean alot more to you.

Now, I am very glad that these days, we don't stone people for cursing one another's gods. But I also believe that there is only one God...and that, while we no longer stone people for cursing Him here and now, eventually, every knee WILL bow, and every tongue WILL confess that He is God.

(I ought to clarify for you...since I do not believe in any eternal fiery torture pit, I would obviously not be threatening you or anyone else with such a thing. However, I do believe in death, both physical and spiritual.

The end of this physical life will be my physical death...and yours, too.

What happens to our spirits remains to be seen.

OOPS...forgot one!

I'm not going to post Peter 3 1-7 in it's entirety, because it would take up way too much room, and this answer is too long already. (I hate long answers, myself, you probably won't even read all of this.)

Suffice it to say that these, along with a great many other verses, have been used to "prove" that the Bible is oppressive toward women. Not so. The very same verses that command wives to respect their husbands also command husbands to love their wives as their very own flesh...even to the point of dying for her, if necessary. Actually, in Christianity, it is the man who has the greater responsibility to the woman, rather than the other way around. Very few people know, for instance, that Paul (our most famous Christian-male-chauvinist) says that husbands and wives are equal in the marriage bed. Neither may withhold their bodies from the other, unless it is by mutual consent, in order to devote time to God. Jesus Himself NEVER treated any woman as inferior to the men. In fact, He treated them with the utmost respect and kindness.

I know this is not likely to get a "best answer"...oh, well, that's not what I'm here for, anyhow. I just hope that you do manage to read through it, and that, if you do, it will help you to understand a bit more about the truth of Christianity.

God bless you, whether you believe in Him or not...

Those type of things we reading in the Old Testament. Today, we follow the Holy Spirit.

God Bless You!

Why don't you pick up your bible and read the verses immediately before and after these to find out for yourself? You obviously are not illiterate.