Topic: The Bible (meanings, stories, authors..)

[Scilla]

This seems to be a huge thing in my town, the bible and what it means, who wrote it, if its true, and why we should believe it.


I choose to believe in the bible, and to base my life on it to a certain degree.


I've heard someone say it was impossible to create the universe in 7 days. But what we see as 7 days.. 24 hours could have been totally different from what it used to be. Days could be years. A billion years. Who knows.

Adam and Eve, and evolution is another thing. I believe in both. I believe that something came before Adam and Eve for them to have came to this earth. (Meaning cells and whatever) Because, god created that, and I dont think he would create something without testing it out first. Bahaha. No but in all seriousness, I dont understand why I can't believe in both.

There are lots more but I want to hear you guys' opinions on stories, miracles, etc from the bible, and who wrote it, and lalalala. You know.

[Patback399]

The Bible isn't a book, it's a collection of books. It's ridiculous to accept every single book within it.

[J.R.]

I'm ridiculous then.  Believe what you wish.

[Scilla]

The Bible isn't a book, it's a collection of books. It's ridiculous to accept every single book within it.

Ridiculous or loyal?

[Patback399]

The Bible isn't a book, it's a collection of books. It's ridiculous to accept every single book within it.

Ridiculous or loyal?

There are so many verses in the Bible that contradict earlier verses.

[ssj4gogita4]

I believe in The Bible. Screw you people who hate me for it.

[spongehead 32]

Quoates from the bible.

Exodus 22:2-3
"If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; but if it happens after sunrise, he is guilty of bloodshed."

Because that makes all the difference...

Leviticus 20:27
"A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads."

All who have claimed to have seen the dead shall die, that includes the psycic phone lines.

Leviticus 24:16
"anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death."

So anyone who says "Jesus christ" when they get hurt or says "Oh may god" when something happens must die.

Deuteronomy 17:5
"take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death."

I wonder if that evil deed includes stoneing someone to death

Numbers 35:17
"Or if anyone has a stone in his hand that could kill, and he strikes someone so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death."

Basicaly, if you stone someone to death (like the bible tells you to above) you must die.


Corinthians 11:14
"Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him"

[Scilla]

Well... that's not right at all. I think that the Bible has been editing a bajillion times, though. Right?

[J.R.]

Those verses, excluding the last, were Judaist passages before the time of Christ, where people's sins where not yet attoned for, and acts of evil from wicked men meritted such punishment. 
Godly men who followed the Lord at that time went on to Abraham's Bosom after they died to await the time they could enter heaven through Christ. 
And in the Corinthians verse, Paul is referencing efeminence in men, using long hair as symbolism, given that hair is something women take pride in.  Not so much that yur in the wrong just because you have longer hair...More-or-less stating that a man shouldn't be and act as a woman does.

BTW, Jesus' hair wouldn't have been considered "long" during that time.

[spongehead 32]

The thing is that is you chose to live your life by the Bible as a moral guidance, you can't just pick and choose which bits are right, it's like picking and chosing which bits of the law are ok for you to follow and expecting no consequence.

[Patback399]

The thing is that is you chose to live your life by the Bible as a moral guidance, you can't just pick and choose which bits are right, it's like picking and chosing which bits of the law are ok for you to follow and expecting no consequence.

If the law were written by different people over a span of thousands of years, in different books you could.

[spongehead 32]

The law was written by different people over a span of thousands of years...

[J.R.]

The Law of Moses regulated almost every aspect of life in Old Testament times. But with the coming of Christ, God established a new covenant of faith and love with mankind. Christians are not required to follow the Old Testament rules about crimes and punishments, warfare, slavery, diet, circumcision, sacrifice, feast days, Sabbath observance, ritual cleanness, etc. However, the moral and ethical teachings of Jesus and His apostles call for even greater self-discipline than those of the Old Testament.

The Law of Moses
In Biblical times, the Law of Moses (also called Old Testament Law, Mosaic Law, or just The Law) regulated almost every aspect of Jewish life. The Ten Commandments and many other laws defined matters of morals, religious practice and government. It regulated the army, criminal justice, commerce, property rights, slavery, sexual relations, marriage and social interactions. It required circumcision for males, blood sacrifices, and Sabbath observance. It provided for the welfare of widows, orphans, the poor, foreigners and domestic animals. Ceremonial rules divided animals into "clean" and "unclean" categories. Clean animals could be eaten; unclean animals could not.

Teachings of Jesus
By the time of Jesus, the great moral principles God had given to Moses in the Ten Commandments had been turned into hundreds of ceremonial rules. People thought they were living holy lives if they just obeyed all those rules. But many people found enough "loopholes" to obey all the rules and still live wicked and greedy lives (Matthew 23:23-28).

Jesus said that was not at all what God had intended. Jesus did not abolish the moral and ethical laws that had been in effect from the time of Moses (Matthew 5:17-18, Luke 16:16-17). He affirmed and expanded upon those principles, but He said obedience must be from the heart (attitudes and intentions) rather than just technical observance of the letter of the law (Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28, 31-32, 33-34, 38-42, 43-44, etc.).

Jesus and His disciples did not observe the strict Jewish rules against doing any work on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1-14, Mark 2:23-28, 3:1-6, Luke 6:1-11, 13:10-17, 14:1-6, John 5:1-18).

In contrast to the "clean" and "unclean rules," Jesus said no food can defile a person. It is bad attitudes and actions that can make a person unholy (Matthew 15:1-20, Mark 7:1-23).

Council of Jerusalem
The first Christians came from among the Jews, and they continued to observe the Law of Moses as well as their new Christian faith. But as more and more Gentiles (non-Jews) converted to Christianity, there were disputes about whether or not these Gentile Christians must observe the Law. Issues of circumcision and diet were especially troublesome.

In about the year 49 A.D., Peter, Paul, Barnabas, James and other Christian leaders met in Jerusalem to settle the issue (Acts 15:1-29). It was agreed that no conditions should be imposed on the Gentile converts except faith in Christ. However, the council recommended that Gentile Christians abstain from certain things that were particularly offensive to their Jewish brethren - food sacrificed to idols, blood, meat of strangled animals and sexual immorality (Acts 15:29).

The New Covenant
With the coming of Christ, God has established a new covenant with mankind (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Luke 22:20, 1 Corinthians 11:25, Hebrews 8:8-13, 9:11-15) that supersedes the Old Testament Law.

Jesus and His apostles gave us a radically new understanding of the true intent of the Old Testament Law; they brought a new era of the rule of love for all people and spiritual truth instead of rule by law (Luke 10:25-28, John 13:34-35, Ephesians 2:14-18).

Conclusion
The teachings of Jesus, the Council of Jerusalem, and other New Testament teachings (John 1:16-17, Acts 13:39, Romans 2:25-29, 8:1-4, 1 Corinthians 9:19-21, Galatians 2:15-16, Ephesians 2:15) make it clear that Christians are not required to follow the Old Testament rules about crimes and punishments, warfare, slavery, diet, circumcision, sacrifice, feast days, Sabbath observance, ritual cleanness, etc.

Christians still look to the Old Testament scripture for moral and spiritual guidance (2 Timothy 3:16-17). But when there seems to be a conflict between Old Testament laws and New Testament principles, we must follow the New Testament because it represents the most recent and most perfect revelation from God (Hebrews 8:13, 2 Corinthians 3:1-18, Galatians 2:15-20).

However, freedom from the Old Testament Law is not a license for Christians to relax their moral standards. The moral and ethical teachings of Jesus and His apostles call for even greater self-discipline than those of the Old Testament (Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28, 31-32, 33-34, 38-42, 43-48, 7:1-5, 15:18-19, 25:37-40, Mark 7:21-23, 12:28-31, Luke 12:15, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, Galatians 5:19-21, James 1:27, 2:15-16, 1 John 3:17-19).

Thank you and goodnight.

[Scilla]

Oh wow.

[creedfan1995]

im christian so i believe in all of the bible. just have faith