Why Don't Christians Follow the Bible?

[Valjean]

Perhaps the best assessment of a scripture would be that of a completely unbiased individual, with no cultural or philosophical background or investment in the religious communities embracing the work.
If an LGM came down in a UFO and were given a Holy Bible to review, what would be his interpretation? How would he expect a Christian to act and believe?

Religious traditions and interpretations only cloud the issues. All were propounded by ordinary men, with agendas.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Perhaps the best assessment of a scripture would be that of a completely unbiased individual, with no cultural or philosophical background or investment in the religious communities embracing the work.
If an LGM came down in a UFO and were given a Holy Bible to review, what would be his interpretation? How would he expect a Christian to act and believe?

Religious traditions and interpretations only cloud the issues. All were propounded by ordinary men, with agendas.

But there is no alien now who can review it for us. Besides, it was written by humans for humans.

There's no such thing as an unbiased person, and any modern who wants to interpret the Bible seriously is going to have to invest themselves quite a bit, and thereby form biases from their research.

 

[Valjean]

How about a tribsman from the Amazon jungle, central New Guinea or a South Seas island?

 

[angellous_evangellous]

How about a tribsman from the Amazon jungle, central New Guinea or a South Seas island?

It is interesting, and this type of reading is being done by what we call post-colonial criticism. Their bias is obvious, and it's a fascinating read.

Bias: Introduction page

The best book on the topic is Postcolonial Criticism and Biblical Interpretation, by R. S. Sugirtharajah. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

 

[LongGe123]

I think the main point I was bringing up when I started this thread was the topic of – is the bible the word of God? You can talk about interpretation until the cows come home – but the main question is this = do you think God wrote the bible? And I mean all of it? If you do, then why are people not believing/following his words, and ignoring them? Did God not write the bible, and did he don’t say we must follow it?
Also, to the point about the verses I stated being myths, or methaphors for a different meaning….the “Don’t work on the Sabbath’ was one of the ten commandements. Do Christians consider it the 9 commandements now?
I guess the main point, as I see it, is – if Christians don’t follow, or aren’t recognizing parts of the bible, then how can the rest of the bible be truthful? How can some verses be God’s words, and other can’t be.
Also, then back to:

- "Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven." Luke 12:10 ​

- "Whosoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgivenss, but is guilty of an eternal sin." (Mark 3:29)​

Doesn’t this mean that you have to believe all of the bible was written by God…or else…

 

[angellous_evangellous]

I think the main point I was bringing up when I started this thread was the topic of – is the bible the word of God? You can talk about interpretation until the cows come home – but the main question is this = do you think God wrote the bible? And I mean all of it? If you do, then why are people not believing/following his words, and ignoring them? Did God not write the bible, and did he don’t say we must follow it?
Also, to the point about the verses I stated being myths, or methaphors for a different meaning….the “Don’t work on the Sabbath’ was one of the ten commandements. Do Christians consider it the 9 commandements now?
I guess the main point, as I see it, is – if Christians don’t follow, or aren’t recognizing parts of the bible, then how can the rest of the bible be truthful? How can some verses be God’s words, and other can’t be.
Also, then back to:

- "Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven." Luke 12:10
- "Whosoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgivenss, but is guilty of an eternal sin." (Mark 3:29)​

Doesn’t this mean that you have to believe all of the bible was written by God…or else…

Try to ask one question at a time. Some of your questions are related, some aren't, and all of them are not governed by any rules of interpretation.

If your post is any indication of your thoughts, it's better to sort them out in something of an intelligible fashion and tackle the questions one at a time.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

I think the main point I was bringing up when I started this thread was the topic of – is the bible the word of God? You can talk about interpretation until the cows come home – but the main question is this = do you think God wrote the bible?

The Bible is not the Word of God as the logos of John 1.1, as you mistakenly characterized it in the OP (saying that the Bible is God). No Christian group believes this, but some come pretty close by implication in their belief that the Bible is an inerrant and infalliable (that is, perfect) work. No Christian group says that the Bible was written by God, but many Christians affirm the Bible's inspiration. See Logos - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And I mean all of it?

Different Christian groups have differing views of inspiration. Some Protestant groups think that the Bible is perfect (God dictated the words in the Bible to people and those people wrote it down exactly as God said). Some Christians affirm some of the Bible as inspired. Bultmann - an existentialist - taught that the Bible is inspired inasmuch as it speaks to us in our current experience. Some feminists think that it is inspired inasmuch as it frees women. Et cetera.

If you do, then why are people not believing/following his words, and ignoring them? Did God not write the bible, and did he don’t say we must follow it?

Different people have different reasons. Most thinking people don't ignore the Scriptures - whether they believe that it is inspired or not. No thinking person has ever - to my knowledge - interpreted the Bible as poorly and inhumanely as you have in the OP, criticizing Christians for not killing people. Such and interpretation is ruthless, evil, inflammatory, and despicable.

Even the word of God - if we believe it comes from God - must be interpreted.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Troll and run I see.

 

[Fluffy]

No one said it was wrong, parts no longer apply.

Are you saying that at some point in history, it was right to put to death the man who worked on the sabbath?

 

[ChristineES]

There is another thing. Not all of the books in the Bible are laws and regulations. There are books that tell Biblical history of people and nations who followed God, too. There are also some parables in there (I believe that Job, for one, is a parable and not a literal story). Many of the stories in the Bible are full of truths, yet not literal truths. If you find a verse that is from the middle of such a story, it may or may not apply to you or any one outside of who the story was about. That is why each book in the Bible should be read not in quotes, but in it's entirety and straight through.

 

[Reverend Rick]

Are you saying that at some point in history, it was right to put to death the man who worked on the sabbath?

Exactly right. Are you saying that what we did thousands of years ago should be looked upon by today's standards?

 

[Fluffy]

Exactly right. Are you saying that what we did thousands of years ago should be looked upon by today's standards?

I'm not so interested in judging what people did because they have already done it. I'm interested in judging whether an act is right or wrong. I don't believe that rightness varies according to time.

 

[Reverend Rick]

I disagree. If my families life was on the line, I would expect them to do what I say exactly when I say it with no question.

A good example would be if an intruder was in the house, a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, something like that. If I thundered my commands for dinner each night, that would be wrong.

We live in a different age now. We can call the police and let the court system sort things out now. Back then, a man was the law. We said what we said and enforced every word with consequences. If we were defeated, a new set of laws where enacted and enforced. To the strongest went the spoils.

 

[Muffled]

Firstly, it says that the bible is the word of God:

Therefore, the bible is the word and God, and Christians must obey its words.

If this is the case, why aren’t we killing anyone who works on the Sabbath day? :


Jesus, the Bible and therefore God commands us to follow the bible, so why aren’t Christians? Why are homosexuals persecuted ("If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death." (Leviticus 20:13), then yet people who work on the Sabbath aren’t? It just doesn’t make sense to me.
If Pastor Land says, “Biblical truth is truth with a capital T.” – then why aren’t Christians following every word of? Surely you can’t just pick which verses to follow, yet say all of the bible’s words are true and written by God – where is the logic?

I’ve heard some Christians say that they don’t follow all of the bible as they aren’t bound by the Old Testament anymore? Why not? It says in the Old Testament that we have to follow it, and it written by God. Therefore we must follow it, as God has told us we must. Surly if you say that parts of the Old Testament are wrong, why isn’t all of it wrong?
However, it can’t be wrong. The men writing it were advised by the Holy Spirit, which can never be wrong. And if you ever doubt it, then Hell awaits you:

So, back to my original question, why do Christians not follow the entire bible, even though it says they must?

First of all the Bible is not our Lord and Savior, Jesus is. Second Jesus is the fulfillment of the law which simply amplifies the first reason. Third God has a right to change the agreement (covenant) which He did by making anew one in Jesus.

Old covenant law required this penalty but new covenant law puts Christians under grace. For instance I observe the Sabbath when I am not involved in my usual occupation on a seventh say. The rest that God intended for us is achieved and a day is set aside as Holy. Therefore the sabbath is kept not with an old covenant stringency but with a new covenant grace.

I think this view is highly perceptural. When I did street ministry most of the people that I encountered on the streets were alcoholics. Somebody could have had the perception that I was targeting alcoholics but the reality is that I was ministering to the people available. However it is not outside Christian tradition to go to places where sin is committed and preach deliverence from sin.

Again our approach to the word of God is characterized by the active present personal will of God for each one of us as administereed by the Paraclete.

We are not really bound by any of it but that does not mean that we don't believe in observing it according to the Paraclete's direction.

 

[Fluffy]

I disagree. If my families life was on the line, I would expect them to do what I say exactly when I say it with no question.

A good example would be if an intruder was in the house, a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, something like that. If I thundered my commands for dinner each night, that would be wrong.

We live in a different age now. We can call the police and let the court system sort things out now. Back then, a man was the law. We said what we said and enforced every word with consequences. If we were defeated, a new set of laws where enacted and enforced. To the strongest went the spoils.

I fully agree that morality is relative to circumstance but I don't believe that circumstance is equivalent to time.

What circumstance would justify the moral "It is right to kill the person who works on the sabbath"?

 

[angellous_evangellous]

I have found some good introductory readings in the various histories of biblical interpretation which have been completely ignored by the OP.

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/gopher/other/courses/rels/735/scripture/hbottc.txt

 

[Kcnorwood]

This is just a shot in the dark here but here goes. Maybe people dont live by the bible because it's impossible. Or maybe they were not taught to belive in the bible word for word? One other thought & this might sound bad Sorry if it does. Could it be that they refuse to believe that God would do & say those things in the bible? That just maybe the men who wrote it got it wrong? As an adult it just seemed down right silly to worhip exactly as the bible says.

 

[LongGe123]

Sorry, another long post – I’m curious to where it says in the bible that Jesus says that we shouldn’t listen to the old laws (maybe I’ve completely miss it), but I’ve seen some verses from the NT that show that Jesus agreed with the Old T laws, eg:

- "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Matthew 5:17 ​

​

- "For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death." (Mark 7:9-10) = Jesus criticises the Jews for not killing thier disobedient children as required by Old Testement law.​

​

- "Whosoever shall not recieve you, nor hear you... It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgement, than for that city." (Mark 6:11) = Any city that doesn't 'recieve' the followers of Jesus will be destroyed.​

- Jesus is critised by the Pharisees for not washing his hands before eating. He defends himself by attacking them for not killing disobedient children according to the commandment: "He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death." (Matthew 15:4-7)​

"Think not that I am come to send peace of earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34) = Peaceful Jesus?​

​

So yeah, i'm just interrested what christians think of this? Did Jesus totally disagree with the Old T law?​

Btw, I agree with you Kcnorwood.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Sorry, another long post – I’m curious to where it says in the bible that Jesus says that we shouldn’t listen to the old laws (maybe I’ve completely miss it), but I’ve seen some verses from the NT that show that Jesus agreed with the Old T laws, eg:

- "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Matthew 5:17 ​

- "For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death." (Mark 7:9-10) = Jesus criticises the Jews for not killing thier disobedient children as required by Old Testement law.​

- "Whosoever shall not recieve you, nor hear you... It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgement, than for that city." (Mark 6:11) = Any city that doesn't 'recieve' the followers of Jesus will be destroyed.​

- Jesus is critised by the Pharisees for not washing his hands before eating. He defends himself by attacking them for not killing disobedient children according to the commandment: "He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death." (Matthew 15:4-7)​

"Think not that I am come to send peace of earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34) = Peaceful Jesus?​

So yeah, i'm just interrested what christians think of this? Did Jesus totally disagree with the Old T law?​

Btw, I agree with you Kcnorwood.

For lack of wisdom some cannot think. Word to the foolish: if you want to troll Christianity, try attacking this religion for stuff that it actually has done or is doing, along the lines of Bertrand Russell or even Nietzsche. This pathetically ignorant dribble is rather boring.

You know that Christians don't kill children or people for not following the Sabbath, and you're either too stupid or too ignorant to explain to yourself why. It's useless to criticize Christians for not doing something that would be inhumane and something that you youself wouldn't tolerate (at least I hope so...). It's better to criticize Christians for their many evils, as is done by many folks. Fortunately, Christianity at large has reformed due to the reviews of Russell and other atheists, but there is still much progress to be made.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

:troll: