Bible - Old Testament?

Hi,

An excellent question. I have read some of the other answers and would also like to address them, if you don't mind.

First is yours about condemning and the apparent conflicts of the Bible, old and new testaments.

Do not eat prepared meat on the third day. "Surely ye shall be put to death".

Prepared meat with no means of preservation, begins to spoil by the third day. (No, you cannot salt it nor sun-dry it and leave it still edible). "Surely ye shall be put to death".

Shellfish spoiled within hours, never to be eaten. "Ye shall be put to death"

For a man to lie with a man as with a woman..."Ye shall be put to death". This pertains to a type of intercourse which is very dangerous in the spreading of disease. "Ye shall be put to death.

You see?

In these things, no person is permitted to do the killing of another.

(I am neither condoning nor condemning homosexual behavior, that is not for me to judge).

The "put to death" will be usurped by people under Moses. God has already Commanded that "Thou shalt not kill". Under Moses, the people begin to sit in judgment of and put to death their neighbors.

Mose nor Aaron will be allowed to deliver the people for they subverted the law of God. This is written in both Testaments.

I, myself, am a follower of Christ.

I do not mean to offend anyone, however, the true "Jewish/Christian" feud is mostly a Christian thing. A lack of Understanding history and the Jewish religion.

So, I shall only say that Jesus the Christ allowed no hatred. And anyone who would find hatred of Jews might do well to remember that Jesus himself was a learned and devout Jew.

The average non-Christian Jew does not believe there was no Jesus, they just believe that he was not the Messiah. There is also a large sect of Christian-Jews.

Back to homosexuality. The Bible does not condemn it, especially Jesus did not condemn it.

I suggest that any Christian pray to God in the name of Jesus that God "broaden the understanding". Pray deeply, be humble.

Was homosexuality the sin of Sodom?

Open your Bible and read. The story begins with Gods admonition to Lot concerning strangers.

When you finish the story, ask yourself another question.

"Is the Bible pornography?"

The true sin of Sodom shall be revealed to you.

The other Biblical mentions of Sodom and its twin city shall verify the true sin for you.

More important for the Christian, read Matthew closely.

"All things are not for all to understand. Some are born Eunuchs, some are made Eunuchs by man and some are Eunuchs in devotion to the Father." -Jesus

We think of a Eunuch as the original Greek definition. "A male who is castrated after birth."

However, reading the words of Jesus, we recognize that he is using a colloquialism of the term "Eunuch".

By the original Greek definition, no person can be born castrated AFTER birth.

The second, a Eunuch made by man, follows the original definition.

The third, priests did not castrate themselves. Some simply abstained from sex.

The colloquialism means "one who does not reproduce".

The Bible, Old and New Testaments do not contradict one another. They do often appear to.

It is easy to seek the truth. It is much harder and more important to know that which is false.

Loveya,

Duane

First: It really shouldn't matter to homosexuals if people condemn them, they should be concerned about what God thinks. (Actually, that goes for everybody)

Second: We are under Grace and not the Law. Jesus fulfilled the Law and in telling Peter not to call any food unclean, freed us from Old Testament food regulations.

Third: Scripture in the New Testament speaks about homosexuality, e.g. 1 Corinthians 6:9

Fourth: The Bible was written by men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God chose the words.

It's a shame that you did not break this down into several questions posted separately, because good answers will be either partial and inadequate or quite lengthy.

To judge has a variety of meanings. You need to analyze what to judge really means. There is one type of judgment that we should avoid, but another type we are required to use. That is not a contradiction. It is a simple fact. Re-read the Scriptures on judgment to discern the difference. One is a judgment of condemnation, which only belongs to God, while the other is a righteous judgment we are told to have or use, which has to do with discerment. It is not for us to condemn anyone, but sin is sin, whether it be homosexuality or adultery, and God condemns them both.

People take what they want from the Bible and leave the rest because people are people. Sometimes it is due to lack of knowledge. Other times it is due to misrepresenting an issue.

Shellfish were unclean for the Hebrews. But in the New Testament Scriptures, Peter was shown a vision in which, among other revelations, it was made clear that all foods are clean (Except blood and what is strangled). That is clarifed also by Paul.

Christians should not "discount" the Hebrew Scriptures. But Christ gave new commands that supercede certain older ones.

To consider justification read the letter to the Romans a few dozen times. It will answer your questions.

The Bible is originally God's oracles to man. Some men have taken it on themselves to alter the Scriptures. To their harm.

Paperback Writer is a Jew who does not understand Christian thought and does not care that she carelessly misrepresents it.

I understand what you are saying and I would not be suprised if you have lots of Christians saying that Jesus replaced those old rules, or that those old testament stories are allegories or symbolic of other things and shouldnt be taken literally, however, if that is that case how can anyone really know which bits to take a fact and rules? Who decides what rule you follow and which ones are just story? When you look at the old testament and see what God gets upto its horrific, its difficult to believe in a just god when He himself does such crazy things and rules which are just no longer rellevant!

Christians have to deny the Tanakh, or 'old' testament, otherwise they'd be following Judaism :)

Jews follow ONLY the Tanakh; it stands alone and has no connection to the 'new' testament. The 'new' testament is of no relevance to us.

Christians will tell you that the Tanakh and the Judaic laws don't apply to gentiles any longer because, they say, there is a 'new' covenant. This is illogical, though. Jesus lived and died a practising Jew; he followed and taught Judaism. He never stated that the ETERNAL covenant between G-d and the Jews was to be replaced.

Why on earth would G-d go to all that trouble, to give the children of Israel the laws, to specify all the things they must not do, only to then do a total u-turn and say hey, actually forget all I said, now it IS fine for one man to sacrifice himself for others and let's start with my 'son'!

In the Tanakh it is made clear that G-d told the Jews that NOBODY can sacrifice himself for the sins of others. Yet Christians insist that G-d totally reversed this with Jesus.

No logic at all. Ditto for what you ask in your post!

Hope this has helped clarify a bit, you ask a good question :)

One of my favorite teachers, Dr. Hank Hanigraff of the Bible Answer Man show says Context, Context, Context when It come to the bible. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says that "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." The problem is that we have teachers and instructors teaching opinion and not God's Word. Yes the old testament does apply. Scripture is God breathed written by man. Here is an example. When you hand write a letter, do you write a letter or does your pen? Well of course you do. The pen is an instrument used to write on the paper. That is what God chose to use. Men as a pen.

Religious scholars interpret the Bible scriptures. The bible is full of parables. Neither are to be taken 100% literally. The Bible was written to convey a message to all people, including simple folk, it's ridiculous to think that it was all meant to be literal. How is a parable, by definition, meant to be taken literally ?

God doesn't look at what your wearing so much as whats in your heart. If your heart is right the outside will take care of itself.

Like most things interpretation, like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Strictly speaking the Bible starts with the New Testament and Jesus being sacrificed and revised the Laws of Moses (Old Testament), making them more of a history lesson than Laws to live By, and wiping out the bloodiest laws in Christianity with a new covenant between God and man, "Each will be judged by God for his/her own sins and be forgiven if they repent in Gods name" --My translation of Jeremiah

:-)

yes.. I could not agree more with you

I am also a spiritual creature who is walking on earth to find the way home... our life is just a short journey to reach the eternity with our Creator.

I wish people will be able to understand what life is.. see you & thanks to ring us the bell.

peace