Let me RePhrase this for you???????????????

The only bit of this re-phrasing that makes any sense is the bit about the Ten Commandments telling you what not to do - except that they also tell you what to do. They contain many positives as well as negatives, but then I guess it's been decades since you actually read through all ten, slowly and thoughtfully.

All that bilge about threats and punishments has nothing to do with the Ten Commandments. They are designed to show how holy and perfect God is, and how utterly unable we are to keep all God's commandments. Only when that penny drops will you begin to understand why God gave them. Then you turn to the New Testament and read what Jesus said about the two greatest commands being whole-soul love for God and love for neighbour, and you see how they summarise the Ten. But if you have no love for God, you are not going to love his word, right? Now do you see why the first two commands are about giving God his rightful place in our lives before we can go on to do the right thing by our neighbours? No? I thought not. Read the book below.

If you study other religions, you'll find they all have their own laws and rituals. If you ask about why these rules or rituals exist, you won't get a straight answer, because even the people following them don't really know.

If you then look at school curriculum, you're often taught facts, but not "Why". You're taught the alphaet, for instance, but not WHY does C always follow B? Sure, there IS a reason - but if you're just trying to learn to read, you don't really need all that background information. If you continue your education through college, and grad school and even past a Ph.D, you can certainly learn WHY the alphabet is in that order...but then how many people actually make it to that level?

It's the same with religion. If you were to somehow compare "levels" of religion to the secular education system, most people don't even the equivalent religious education to a 6th grader. They may know facts but haven't yet delved into the deeper levels of information to understand the WHY's. I suspect many of the rules came from historical context.

Consider the Jewish Kosher rule about avoiding pork. Well, back then, pigs weren't clean creatures. They intentionally wallowed in sewage, ate diseased flesh, and combined with the questionable cooking methods available 2000+ years ago, it's easy to understand that it's in the best interest of a religion to try and keep its followers healthy, and away from food-borne illnesses. Today's farming methods and cooking technology is such that pork is quite safe, yet the rule persists even today. However, how do you explain to people from 2000+ years ago about things like bacteria, or cross-contamination? Even the idea of washing your hands with soap and water before preparing food only goes back about 200 years ago. So the rule probably came about from simple observation - eat pork and die, or don't eat pork and live. That's a pretty simple rule to follow.

The problem is, many of these rules and rituals do not come from the Bible at all. For instance, where does it say in the Bible that you must go to Sunday Mass, and kneel on the bench when uttering the Hail Mary prayer? Where does the Bible specifically call out that birth control and abortions are wrong? From the political standpoint of the church, these rules start to make sense. Homosexuality, birth control and abortions all prevent the birth of children. Married couples having lots of children is important because:

1: Married couples will have a better chance of raising the child to adult-hood.

2: For the church to survive, and grow in power and wealth, its membership must increase.

3: The easiest way to do that is for married couples belonging to the church to have lots of babies - who will hopefully grow up within the Church, marry other people within the Church, and have lots more babies of their own to be raised within the Church.

Adultery can destabilize a family, thereby risking the future of its children and robbing the Church of their membership. Although I doubt ancient people understood STDs, they probably saw the illnesses as a punishment from God an figured "you probably shouldn't do that." Again, simple observations turned into rules to help promote the population of the church.

The ACT of homosexuality is wrong....depraved really.

God designed sex for a purpose and a plan, between one man and one woman,

Remember sex is always a choice, unless it's rape.

btw there is no scientific proof that one is born homosexual, but if it was proven it would be no different than the person born with Alcholic tendancies.

It does not excuse the act.

I am sorry the truth is not what your looking for. Try rephrasing the question again...maybe the truth will change.

oh wait. The truth never changes

Your preaching is filled with errors of logic and fact.

JHWH does not need to state a why.... He has given us brains to sort out the whys when and where we can...

Pre-marital sex is wrong, because sexual intercourse brings two people together as one flesh physically while denying the one flesh aspects of their emotions, minds and spirits. God designed sex for a man and a woman to be very good in a long term mutually monogamous relationship.

Here is the deal. Sexual activity among teens is connected with cancer. And, as you note, total lack of sexual activity is also connected with cancer among adults. We were designed to enjoy sex in its proper place. Boundaries are designed for our good.

Atheists cannot determine any absolute evil. For an atheist, murder can be a good thing, as can rape, genocide and racism. Such a view is common but it creates an uncivilized society.

Simply rejecting the love of God ('being a christian') is wrong because because any choice against God is absolutely wrong. It is the clay saying to the Potter I do not need you. It is frankly absurd.

You need to recognize the Sovereignty and the goodness of God. First of all, the Kingdom of God is not a democracy. It's a Kingdom ruled by a King who sets the rules and laws. Things are wrong because God says its wrong. He rules. Get it? Don't buck His authority to set the rules and standards. If you want to be in His Kingdom, you don't rule. So don't ask questions. Submit to God's rule. If you want to be in your own kingdom, go ahead; but you'll be in satan's kingdom where anything goes. The way to eternal life is narrow, the way of destruction is broad and many people, even droves of people are on that way. So choose who you will serve and in that way, choose your eternity, heaven or hell.

1) If you are serious about posting something, please use proper spelling, punctuation and grammar.

2) They are wrong simply because there are bad consequences if you practice such things, not just because of displeasing God, but actual physical and emotional harm to yourself and others.

3) I'm not sure where you heard that not having sex can cause kidney stones, but that is 100% false. Show me otherwise and I'll take back my statement.

Yeah well guess what --

Hold on, what was the question again?

Yeah, look, fornication is okay as long as you are sincere. So don't worry about it.

As for the other stuff you mention, a lot of that was just like figure of speech and parables and stuff. No big deal.

As for gays, Jesus said "By their fruits ye shall know them" and he meant it in a nice way.

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You need to accept it or move on.

If you are questioning and not getting the answers you need, the choice is to stay and be the well trained child, or move on to a religion or non religion that gets you closer to the great spirit.

I noticed the sarcasm and the off colored reference to Jesus... So, the only answer you'll get is..... GROW UP !! When and or if you want a serious answer, re-post *again*.... go in peace. God bless

Just 'cuz. I know, it's strange. Christians follow these rules without ever questioning them, which must really be quite frustrating. There is, ofcourse, no rational reason, 'god says so' is the best you'll get.