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Contradictions in the bible


Bling

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What can I say, I love my life. I love the people in it, I love going out and living it. I love God, and that enriches me in ways I cannot fully express in words. Sin doesn't cast a shadow over that. You see, I WANT to follow God, I WANT to please him. My desire to dwell on what God wants is not a chore as you seem to think it, it is a joy, a pleasure.

As I said, this would be a point of contention.

Because your points have no grounding in the Bible. Arguing that God doesn't want a relationship with us is absurd, based on the fact that God bends over backwards to ensure we can have a relationship with him.

First, the obvious - a support network of caring and loving people who aren't afraid to ask the tough questions. The people at church are not just superficially interested in my life (nor am I superficially interested in theirs). If I go to the pub and someone says, "hey, how was your week". I'd say, "great, work was fine, had a run-in with the boss, but I'm good". Most people who ask that question expect a short answer like this. At church the people, especially those who are mature in their faith, expect a deeper sharing, so I may share deeper - a specific incident or two at work, perhaps a comment on my home life (the guys at the pub don't generally want me talking about my father who passed away two months back, people at church encourage it).

Second, through my church group I have had the opportunity to do things for others that I would never have had the chance to do otherwise. I went Christmas carolling a few years back at the local palliative care unit, it was an eye-opening experience having the chance to bring Christmas to those who are at the very ends of their life and suffering, many broke down in tears as they thought back on all their Christmas memories and realising that they almost definitely won't be around for another Christmas.

Third, I mentioned this one briefly earlier in this post, and I can't really fully express it in words, but my love for God enriches me in many ways. I wake up troubled, I pray and the troubles may or may not be gone but they are certainly lessened. My very belief brings a great joy in me, something I never had when I was a non-Christian. As I said, I can't explain this properly, but it is what it is.

These are three examples of what I have receive from my faith.

~ Regards,

Pa,

Love is integral to relationships, it is the aspect of a relationship that is based in equalty, this love inspires growth in the direction of what is "best" for each person based on the idea that both people are whole to begin with. That both people understand/take responsiblity for their own happiness and behaviors(for a child this would be based in where they are at in their understanding.)

As far as parenting is concerned, to offer a safe viable solution for a teething child in and of itself is the seeking of what is best for the child.Just being a parent we have committed to certain things ( patience,self responsibility, telling the truth/being dedicated to reality/knowing the difference, curtailing ego needs etc.) As parents we have the discipline to honor our commitments,this is the engine of love.

Edited by Sherapy
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Contradictions in the Bible? Of course there are. If it were a cooked up standard of

beliefs of some narrow religious group then it would be perfectly consistent and perfectly

one-minded.

I think that you really need not take it verse by verse, but read it as a whole document.

Read it all and give it a chance. I did and to me it is wonderful.

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If the bible was written today as a movie, it would get a one star rating from "christians".

I believe it would be hotly protested by Christians. They would claim that it unfairly shows God as a cruel, uncaring and ruthless monster who used humans as toys. They want people to see the sweet caring God of the New Testament, not the murderous and punishing God of the Old Testament. Sometime between the two Testaments, it looks like God gave up drinking and took some anger management classes.

Of course Christians would certainly object to the rape and incest, not to mention the several references to male prostitutes. Explain those to your kids!

The one thing they wouldn't object to is the violence. They had no problem with the horrific violence in the Passion of the Christ. For some reason people enjoyed watching Jesus get tortured.

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I believe it would be hotly protested by Christians. They would claim that it unfairly shows God as a cruel, uncaring and ruthless monster who used humans as toys. They want people to see the sweet caring God of the New Testament, not the murderous and punishing God of the Old Testament. Sometime between the two Testaments, it looks like God gave up drinking and took some anger management classes.

Of course Christians would certainly object to the rape and incest, not to mention the several references to male prostitutes. Explain those to your kids!

The one thing they wouldn't object to is the violence. They had no problem with the horrific violence in the Passion of the Christ. For some reason people enjoyed watching Jesus get tortured.

You're probably right that many people who claim to be Christians would be incensed by the portrayal of a God who is not a senile, bearded old white guy wearing a robe and falling all over himself to grant every wish anyone has. And yes, there are many people who call themselves Christian and who have yet to crack a Bible open, much less actually read it, who would be shocked by the things discussed in the book. I think they would be even more shocked by the things Jesus said and the people He hung out with. They might even be shocked to learn that in the Old Testament, God was so horrible, so bloodthirsty that He forgave the people of Nineveh and gave them another chance to turn from their debauchery, that when you read the stories you find that God gave people chances, and even that He gave life to everyone and everything on the planet.
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You're probably right that many people who claim to be Christians would be incensed by the portrayal of a God who is not a senile, bearded old white guy wearing a robe and falling all over himself to grant every wish anyone has.

They'll also complain that George Burns played God better.

They might even be shocked to learn that in the Old Testament, God was so horrible, so bloodthirsty that He forgave the people of Nineveh and gave them another chance to turn from their debauchery,

Especially since Jonah will look like a complete fraud to the audience because in the end nothing happens to the people of Nineveh. They receive nothing at all in return. Remember folks... when a screaming foreigner comes to your city to tell everyone that God is going to smite every last one of you for your sins, yet nothing happens, it isn't because the guy was nuts. You're actually experiencing God's mercy which is identical to nothing.

that when you read the stories you find that God gave people chances, and even that He gave life to everyone and everything on the planet.

That didn't annoy Him enough to kill.

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I guess you don't understand and I can't seem to put it into words in a way that you can. Needless to say I don't think thinking 'god is great' 24/7 (and thinking about sin 24/7) can be a good thing.

Says your religion. And also that specific relationship doesn't come off as a particularly good one.

Yes. Like I said people have this thing, they're called friends. Now good friends wil llisten to your problems and actually care about how you are and what you have to say. are you really trying to act like those things don't exist?

it isn't surprisiing I suppose. Do you think it's healthy to want god's favor all the time?

You bring in a great point, healthy realtionships do have an element of equality( a give and take a resepct that each perspective is valuable/important even if it doesn't agree all the time) a relationship is based in similarities, a giving and expecting to get is healthy/normal to shoot for. That one has needs which are unique to each individual and each respectively can ask that they are met is integral to growth producing relationships. I cannot have a growth producing relationship if I only exist to affirm another or deny that I have an individuality that has its own needs.

Edited by Sherapy
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scowl

You're actually experiencing God's mercy which is identical to nothing.

I think that line is from a movie, where Richard Castellano explains to Al Pacino what a store owner get for payng protection money,

"You're actually experiencing the Godfather's mercy which is identical to nothing."

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If the bible was written today as a movie, it would get a one star rating from "christians".

Hello maxhobbs,

If it were greenlighted today, who would be qualified to write the screenplay? Christopher Hampton, perhaps?? Agreed, it would get a one star rating not just from Christians if it were just another sword-and-sandal film...like many so-called Biblical epics.

"The Lord said, 'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.'" (Genesis 11:6-7)

Peace.

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Pa,

Love is integral to relationships, it is the aspect of a relationship that is based in equalty, this love inspires growth in the direction of what is "best" for each person based on the idea that both people are whole to begin with. That both people understand/take responsiblity for their own happiness and behaviors(for a child this would be based in where they are at in their understanding.)

I can't say I disagree with any particular point here about what Love is. If I were to describe it I would perhaps focus a little more on Other-person centredness - you mention that both parties understand and take responsibility for their own happiness and behaviours, but I would not necessarily agree 100% with that. I believe that in a loving relationship, the focus should actually be that both partners take responsibility for the other person's happiness, rather than just their own. By shifting the focus to the self, it encourages a point in time when one partner is not "getting" anything from the relationship that they can say "This no longer makes me happy, I'm leaving". And the couple divorces. If the focus is on the other person, making the other person happy, then regardless of my own happiness, my focus should be on the happiness of my partner.

But as I said, for the most part I agree with your comments on love.

As far as parenting is concerned, to offer a safe viable solution for a teething child in and of itself is the seeking of what is best for the child.Just being a parent we have committed to certain things ( patience,self responsibility, telling the truth/being dedicated to reality/knowing the difference, curtailing ego needs etc.) As parents we have the discipline to honor our commitments,this is the engine of love.

The toilet-bowl was just an analogy, I'm not saying there aren't other ways to keep a child from pain. I've never had a child, I was just using the story to point out that some things may appear cruel from one perspective, but from another perspective it is entirely acceptable.
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I believe it would be hotly protested by Christians. They would claim that it unfairly shows God as a cruel, uncaring and ruthless monster who used humans as toys. They want people to see the sweet caring God of the New Testament, not the murderous and punishing God of the Old Testament. Sometime between the two Testaments, it looks like God gave up drinking and took some anger management classes.

Of course Christians would certainly object to the rape and incest, not to mention the several references to male prostitutes.

Ah, stereotyping. Keeping opinions going since the dawn of existence. I don't want people to see the "sweet caring God of the New Testament". The fact is, I think this is a misrepresentation of the New Testament God. People like to think of God in the Old Testament as being a malevolent dictator who brings death and terror left right and centre. Likewise they like to think of God in the New Testament as being a cuddly teddy bear that wouldn't hurt a fly. The truth (as I see it) is that neither view is correct. God is more judgemental in the New Testament than people want to say, and God in the Old Testament is more loving than people want to give credit. If there is a difference between the two Testaments, it is that God in the Old Testament sometimes required to bring immediate punishment, while God in the New Testament only promised punishment after death (there are sound theological reasons for this shift between the two Testaments, it's not arbitrary). The judgement, however, is still there in both. Many people (even many Christians - as IamsSon mentions later, there are many who claim to be Christian who have not read the Bible themselves) prefer to focus on the loving aspect of God, but it is a false focus if not also keeping in mind the judgement.

Explain those to your kids!

I'll explain these issues to my kids when they are old enough. Like when I was a kid, and was learning about War, the first thing I was ever given by my parents was a book of tanks and aeroplanes and different types of weaponry and guns from World War 2. I enjoyed looking at the pictures, seeing what they looked like, and it even inspired me as a young kid to write a story about World War 2, that the war had not ended in 1945 but was still going on today (I can't recall my exact age, but I was under 10, so this would have been the mid-late 80's). Then as I got older, I learnt about things like the holocaust, the horrors that people went through, the reality of warfare.

My parents didn't teach me about gas chambers and battlefield triage when I was 10, they waited until I was old enough to understand what war is really like. When I teach my kids about the Bible, I will also teach them about the things that happened in the Bible such as rape and war, but I'll do it when they are ready for it. Until then, I'll teach them whatever is age-appropriate.

The one thing they wouldn't object to is the violence. They had no problem with the horrific violence in the Passion of the Christ. For some reason people enjoyed watching Jesus get tortured.

Do you enjoy stereotyping, or do you just do it by accident? I never went to see Passion of the Christ because I know that this movie would hit me hard. Edited by Paranoid Android
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I can't say I disagree with any particular point here about what Love is. If I were to describe it I would perhaps focus a little more on Other-person centredness - you mention that both parties understand and take responsibility for their own happiness and behaviours, but I would not necessarily agree 100% with that. I believe that in a loving relationship, the focus should actually be that both partners take responsibility for the other person's happiness, rather than just their own. By shifting the focus to the self, it encourages a point in time when one partner is not "getting" anything from the relationship that they can say "This no longer makes me happy, I'm leaving". And the couple divorces. If the focus is on the other person, making the other person happy, then regardless of my own happiness, my focus should be on the happiness of my partner.

But as I said, for the most part I agree with your comments on love.

The toilet-bowl was just an analogy, I'm not saying there aren't other ways to keep a child from pain. I've never had a child, I was just using the story to point out that some things may appear cruel from one perspective, but from another perspective it is entirely acceptable.

I was only offering another way to look at this. Not criticizing your example. I actually agree with you- it could be seen as painful and unloving action from some perspectives to remove a child from teething on the toilet bowl and give them a teething ring, I am just not one of those parents. I see it as part for the commitment I make to parent which at the core is to make decisions that are for my childs best. In this case the toilet bowl is not.

I really do not have much to disagree about with your ideas on love either, at the essence I think we agree commitment and honoring it is helpful, For me, I would just say each person has to commit to working at the relationship though or the relationship cannot grow.

I have been married for 17 yeas and it is a work in progress, it works for us because we are clear on what we are doing here, what we want, who we are as individuals, and what are limits/boundaries are. AND, we are committed to doing our parts. We are at the place that we both do things to enhance the others growth/ happiness and enjoy doing the things that make the other person happy( the things that truly do make me/him happy.)

Edited by Sherapy
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  • 3 weeks later...

I think that the bible has been misunderstood in certain ways , for a long time .I also think that it's encoded . I'm very thankful that it exist .

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I think that the bible has been misunderstood in certain ways , for a long time .I also think that it's encoded . I'm very thankful that it exist .

And IMHO, the main way is the literal interpretation of it. The lack of some expertise in metaphorical language has led many to misinterpret the Bible which has caused the number of Christian factions within Christianity.

Ben

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I once believed the bible had true contradictions in it as well, however I now see them to be simple time, place, and situational issues; coupled by misinterpretation. I now take it as the true inspired word of God...

People may not like that, but haters gonna hate.

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I once believed the bible had true contradictions in it as well, however I now see them to be simple time, place, and situational issues; coupled by misinterpretation. I now take it as the true inspired word of God...

People may not like that, but haters gonna hate.

Don't forget though that the men who wrote the Bible were inspired indeed, no question about it, but only the idea was inspired; not the words. The Bible was written in the language of man. They were liable to mistakes. Then, come the scribes who edited the writings of the authors. Then a lot of poetry went into the construction of the texts. Then come the interpreters. If one does not have some kind of expertise on metaphorical language the Truth may get lost in process.

Ben

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