Results 1 - 20 of 47
|
||||||
Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: petedavis6263 Ordered by Verse |
||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Kill your brother and drink strong drink | Not Specified | petedavis6263 | 211017 | ||
Hello to all, I am new to bible study. I am reading the bible from the beginning and now I have a question as I am going through Deuteronomy, chapters 10-14. Can anybody help? Here is the scenario: Just imagine for a minute, that you are an Israelite living during the time of Deuteronomy. You really love God and his messenger, Moses. Not long after the Ten Commandments (Deut 10) were given, Moses continued to issue God's statutes and laws along with severe warnings against disobedience. You are concerned as anyone would be for fear of making a mistake. However, God promises many blessings (Deut 11), all you need to do is earnestly obey His commandments, judgments and statutes. God warns you (Deut 12:32), "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it." God is not messing around. He even commands you to kill your brother or any other family member if they try to entice you away from Him (Deut 13:10). God issues a list of clean and unclean foods (Deut 14:2-21), for you are a holy people chosen to be a special treasure above all other people on the face of this earth. God gives specific instructions regarding the payment of tithe and in certain instances when the tithe cannot be carried to the place where God had chosen, you are instructed to sell the tithe and use the money to buy whatever your soul lusteth after (Deut 14:22-26). You may buy oxen, sheep, wine, or strong drink and enjoy it all before the Lord, you and your family. This is what the Lord hath commanded. Now just imagine that you never died and you are still living in the year 2008, some 3,500 years later. Just imagine that you just met up with a Seventh-day Adventist minister who tells you the Ten Commandments are still in force and the list of clean/unclean foods is still valid, however, God's command to kill your brother, His command to use your tithe money to buy meat, wine and strong drink so that you can enjoy them with your family, well that's just out of the question. God was wrong to mislead you. He really didn't realize how bad it would be to kill family members nor did He realize how much trouble fermented drinks were going to be in these modern times. And most of all, the church needs your tithe money. Here's the question, If you are to disregard what God says about killing your brother and what God says about using tithe money to buy whatever your soul lusteth after, how are you going to obey Deut 12:32, which God explicitly commands to change nothing? Thoroughly stumped, Pete |
||||||
2 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | Not Specified | petedavis6263 | 211221 | ||
Dear Cheri, Hank, Brad, WOS, and others, This is a question for you since you were some of the ones who strongly advised me to read the New Testament first before trying to understand the Old Testament. Well, after stopping at the end of Deuteronomy, I went to Matthew which you recommended as a great start. Okay, now that I am finished reading Matthew I want to ask you some questions before continuing. My very first concern is with Matthew 5:17-18, where Jesus basically says he did not come to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfill, for until heaven and earth pass away not one jot or tittle shall pass from the law until all is fulfilled. An obvious and logical assumption to make is that since heaven and earth have not passed and all has not been fulfilled yet, every jot and tittle of the law are still valid. Not any part of the law has been deleted. It's as clear as a bright sunny day. Yet many of God's commands are no longer viewed as relevent. God's commands of death to a homosexual, death to a man who commits adultery, death to a man who breaks the sabbath and death to man who rapes should all be still be valid, shouldn't they? We still uphold the ban on homosexuality, the sin of adultery and the evil of rape, but we disregard God's command of death to those sinners. Confusing? To me it is very confusing. One of the recent posts on this forum mentioned Psalm 119, so I read that chapter, all 176 verses. In no uncertain terms God declares all of His words, commandments, precepts, statutes, judgments, testimonies and laws are perfect, righteous, faithful, truthful, good and pure and they endure forever to all generations. How much clearer must it get that no part of God's law could ever be abolished? They should be as God declares, perfect, and as Jesus declares, as eternal as heaven and earth. Why with such overwhelming evidence of God's eternal nature, have we gone against Him? Here's another concern of mine found in Matthew 5:31-32, Jesus proclaims a divorcee who remarries commits adultery. The question here is how in the world will the countless number of divorced couples, including myself, who have been remarried make it to heaven while continuing to live in the sin of adultery? My third passage in question is concerning Matthew 5:38-48. Jesus said ignore the eye for eye, tooth for tooth code, instead, resist no evil, turn the other cheek, if a man sues you, give him more, go the extra mile, love your enemies, bless them, do good to them and pray for them that curse, hate, persecute and despitefully use you and you will be perfect as your Father in heaven. I wonder what Christian in the world today practices what Jesus is saying here or even believes it. Even people on this forum, as Written has warned me, will probably view me as the evil one, the enemy who promotes consumption of the "devil's drink." I wonder if they will obey Jesus' council to turn the other cheek and love the enemy? Or will they cast me out banning me forever from this forum? Believe me, I am not the enemy. I love God with all my heart and I just want to do what He commands me to do. The truth is guys, God has given me a mind to seek the answers. Many of these passages were never told to me by my pastor and I never pursued reading the entire bible until now. I don't believe for a second that I am misreading, misquoting, misinterpreting or inventing ideas. You may say that I am taking things out of context, but I ask you what are the contexts of "love your enemies," "adultery is sin," and "everything that God does is perfect and does not change?" Why should the contexts be anything other than what they say? Unless of course it is uncomfortable to face the truth, then a spin is put on the passage and away we all go. As I read word for word, I can't help think that if God meant for it to mean something else He would have said it differently, a far easier way, after all, He is God. Please, members of this forum, as Jesus has said, if you we have faith as little as a mustard seed we can move mountains, nothing will be impossible(Matt 17:20). Certainly, our faith should be strong enough to help us to find the answers. God bless you all, Pete |
||||||
3 | Reading the Bible with more Questions | Not Specified | petedavis6263 | 211224 | ||
Dear Cheri, Hank, Brad, WOS, and others, This is a question for you since you were some of the ones who strongly advised me to read the New Testament first before trying to understand the Old Testament. Well, after stopping at the end of Deuteronomy, I went to Matthew which you recommended as a great start. Okay, now that I am finished reading Matthew I want to ask you some questions before continuing. My very first concern is with Matthew 5:17-18, where Jesus basically says he did not come to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfill, for until heaven and earth pass away not one jot or tittle shall pass from the law until all is fulfilled. An obvious and logical assumption to make is that since heaven and earth have not passed and all has not been fulfilled yet, every jot and tittle of the law are still valid. Not any part of the law has been deleted. It's as clear as a bright sunny day. Yet many of God's commands are no longer viewed as relevent. God's commands of death to a homosexual, death to a man who commits adultery, death to a man who breaks the sabbath and death to man who rapes should all be still be valid, shouldn't they? We still uphold the ban on homosexuality, the sin of adultery and the evil of rape, but we disregard God's command of death to those sinners. Confusing? To me it is very confusing. One of the recent posts on this forum mentioned Psalm 119, so I read that chapter, all 176 verses. In no uncertain terms God declares all of His words, commandments, precepts, statutes, judgments, testimonies and laws are perfect, righteous, faithful, truthful, good and pure and they endure forever to all generations. How much clearer must it get that no part of God's law could ever be abolished? They should be as God declares, perfect, and as Jesus declares, as eternal as heaven and earth. Why with such overwhelming evidence of God's eternal nature, have we gone against Him? Here's another concern of mine found in Matthew 5:31-32, Jesus proclaims a divorcee who remarries commits adultery. The question here is how in the world will the countless number of divorced couples, including myself, who have been remarried make it to heaven while continuing to live in the sin of adultery? My third passage in question is concerning Matthew 5:38-48. Jesus said ignore the eye for eye, tooth for tooth code, instead, resist no evil, turn the other cheek, if a man sues you, give him more, go the extra mile, love your enemies, bless them, do good to them and pray for them that curse, hate, persecute and despitefully use you and you will be perfect as your Father in heaven. I wonder what Christian in the world today practices what Jesus is saying here or even believes it. Even people on this forum, as Written has warned me, will probably view me as the evil one, the enemy who promotes consumption of the "devil's drink." I wonder if they will obey Jesus' council to turn the other cheek and love the enemy? Or will they cast me out banning me forever from this forum? Believe me, I am not the enemy. I love God with all my heart and I just want to do what He commands me to do. The truth is guys, God has given me a mind to seek the answers. Many of these passages were never told to me by my pastor and I never pursued reading the entire bible until now. I don't believe for a second that I am misreading, misquoting, misinterpreting or inventing ideas. You may say that I am taking things out of context, but I ask you what are the contexts of "love your enemies," "adultery is sin," and "everything that God does is perfect and does not change?" Why should the contexts be anything other than what they say? Unless of course it is uncomfortable to face the truth, then a spin is put on the passage and away we all go. As I read word for word, I can't help think that if God meant for it to mean something else He would have said it differently, a far easier way, after all, He is God. Please, members of this forum, as Jesus has said, if you we have faith as little as a mustard seed we can move mountains, nothing will be impossible(Matt 17:20). Certainly, our faith should be strong enough to help us to find the answers. God bless you all, Pete |
||||||
4 | Kill your brother and drink strong drink | Bible general Archive 4 | petedavis6263 | 219171 | ||
Hello to all, I am new to bible study. I am reading the bible from the beginning and now I have a question as I am going through Deuteronomy, chapters 10-14. Can anybody help? Here is the scenario: Just imagine for a minute, that you are an Israelite living during the time of Deuteronomy. You really love God and his messenger, Moses. Not long after the Ten Commandments (Deut 10) were given, Moses continued to issue God's statutes and laws along with severe warnings against disobedience. You are concerned as anyone would be for fear of making a mistake. However, God promises many blessings (Deut 11), all you need to do is earnestly obey His commandments, judgments and statutes. God warns you (Deut 12:32), "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it." God is not messing around. He even commands you to kill your brother or any other family member if they try to entice you away from Him (Deut 13:10). God issues a list of clean and unclean foods (Deut 14:2-21), for you are a holy people chosen to be a special treasure above all other people on the face of this earth. God gives specific instructions regarding the payment of tithe and in certain instances when the tithe cannot be carried to the place where God had chosen, you are instructed to sell the tithe and use the money to buy whatever your soul lusteth after (Deut 14:22-26). You may buy oxen, sheep, wine, or strong drink and enjoy it all before the Lord, you and your family. This is what the Lord hath commanded. Now just imagine that you never died and you are still living in the year 2008, some 3,500 years later. Just imagine that you just met up with a Seventh-day Adventist minister who tells you the Ten Commandments are still in force and the list of clean/unclean foods is still valid, however, God's command to kill your brother, His command to use your tithe money to buy meat, wine and strong drink so that you can enjoy them with your family, well that's just out of the question. God was wrong to mislead you. He really didn't realize how bad it would be to kill family members nor did He realize how much trouble fermented drinks were going to be in these modern times. And most of all, the church needs your tithe money. Here's the question, If you are to disregard what God says about killing your brother and what God says about using tithe money to buy whatever your soul lusteth after, how are you going to obey Deut 12:32, which God explicitly commands to change nothing? Thoroughly stumped, Pete |
||||||
5 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211222 | ||
Dear Cheri, Hank, Brad, WOS, and others, This is a question for you since you were some of the ones who strongly advised me to read the New Testament first before trying to understand the Old Testament. Well, after stopping at the end of Deuteronomy, I went to Matthew which you recommended as a great start. Okay, now that I am finished reading Matthew I want to ask you some questions before continuing. My very first concern is with Matthew 5:17-18, where Jesus basically says he did not come to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfill, for until heaven and earth pass away not one jot or tittle shall pass from the law until all is fulfilled. An obvious and logical assumption to make is that since heaven and earth have not passed and all has not been fulfilled yet, every jot and tittle of the law are still valid. Not any part of the law has been deleted. It's as clear as a bright sunny day. Yet many of God's commands are no longer viewed as relevent. God's commands of death to a homosexual, death to a man who commits adultery, death to a man who breaks the sabbath and death to man who rapes should all be still be valid, shouldn't they? We still uphold the ban on homosexuality, the sin of adultery and the evil of rape, but we disregard God's command of death to those sinners. Confusing? To me it is very confusing. One of the recent posts on this forum mentioned Psalm 119, so I read that chapter, all 176 verses. In no uncertain terms God declares all of His words, commandments, precepts, statutes, judgments, testimonies and laws are perfect, righteous, faithful, truthful, good and pure and they endure forever to all generations. How much clearer must it get that no part of God's law could ever be abolished? They should be as God declares, perfect, and as Jesus declares, as eternal as heaven and earth. Why with such overwhelming evidence of God's eternal nature, have we gone against Him? Here's another concern of mine found in Matthew 5:31-32, Jesus proclaims a divorcee who remarries commits adultery. The question here is how in the world will the countless number of divorced couples, including myself, who have been remarried make it to heaven while continuing to live in the sin of adultery? My third passage in question is concerning Matthew 5:38-48. Jesus said ignore the eye for eye, tooth for tooth code, instead, resist no evil, turn the other cheek, if a man sues you, give him more, go the extra mile, love your enemies, bless them, do good to them and pray for them that curse, hate, persecute and despitefully use you and you will be perfect as your Father in heaven. I wonder what Christian in the world today practices what Jesus is saying here or even believes it. Even people on this forum, as Written has warned me, will probably view me as the evil one, the enemy who promotes consumption of the "devil's drink." I wonder if they will obey Jesus' council to turn the other cheek and love the enemy? Or will they cast me out banning me forever from this forum? Believe me, I am not the enemy. I love God with all my heart and I just want to do what He commands me to do. The truth is guys, God has given me a mind to seek the answers. Many of these passages were never told to me by my pastor and I never pursued reading the entire bible until now. I don't believe for a second that I am misreading, misquoting, misinterpreting or inventing ideas. You may say that I am taking things out of context, but I ask you what are the contexts of "love your enemies," "adultery is sin," and "everything that God does is perfect and does not change?" Why should the contexts be anything other than what they say? Unless of course it is uncomfortable to face the truth, then a spin is put on the passage and away we all go. As I read word for word, I can't help think that if God meant for it to mean something else He would have said it differently, a far easier way, after all, He is God. Please, members of this forum, as Jesus has said, if you we have faith as little as a mustard seed we can move mountains, nothing will be impossible(Matt 17:20). Certainly, our faith should be strong enough to help us to find the answers. God bless you all, Pete |
||||||
6 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211250 | ||
Dear Tim, Psalm 119 tells us a lot about God, all of His words, commandments, precepts, statutes, judgments, testimonies and laws are perfect, righteous, faithful, truthful, good and pure and they endure forever to all generations. Why do you suppose God would have a second set of standards for non-Jews? Are we better than them or are they better than us? Pete |
||||||
7 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211253 | ||
Dear Cheri, You say keeping the Torah will not save you, but Jesus says in Matt 19:17, "...But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." He also says in John 14:15, "If you love Me, keep my commandments." Are you saying that if you are sincerely doing the best that you can, you will be exempt? Well, I guess it falls in line with the merciful nature of God, but what if there was something you could do and knew it but didn't? Would you be judged adversely? Would you be lost? For example Jesus teaches in Matt 19:21, "If you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." Now, selling all that you own shouldn't be that hard to do and everyone knows the Lord will provide as fluently promised by Jesus in Matt 5:25-34, so how would you be judged if you still owned stuff when Jesus returns? Yours in Christ, Pete |
||||||
8 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211267 | ||
Greetings Tim, We are not all children of Russia, but we are all children of God. I have a very hard time understanding your theory of duality. Where on earth do you see a mortal human parent establish one set of moral and civil rules for one child and another set of moral and civil rules for another. It is impossible for a parent to love one child more than the other. Although it sometimes might happen, generally, parents love all their children equally. How much less likely would it be for an immortal parent to establish perfect, pure, just, righteous and good laws for one group of His children and then issue a different code for the rest? If what you are saying is true and the Jews are the only ones obligated to obey all of God's laws, where do you draw the line? Why do you suppose God prefers such a system? In Mark 13:10, Jesus says "...the gospel must first be preached to all nations." What is the gospel but the words of Jesus? And Jesus says in Matt 19:17, "...But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." The gospel that needs to be preach to all the world includes the commandments. It is clear to me that Jesus is saying for all nations to keep the commandments. In John 14:15, He says, "If you love me keep my commandments." How would you apply that concept to those exempt from the keeping the whole law? If what you say is correct than part of the law applies only to the Jews, part of the law applies only to the Gentiles and part of the law applies to everyone. You're making my head spin, brother Moran. Sincerely, Pete |
||||||
9 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211271 | ||
Hello BradK, It definitely is late for me and I think this will be my last post for the night. Thank you for your kind words. I haven't yet made it to Romans, just partially through Mark right now. With respect to being guilty before God, I choose to believe that I am born of Him. My pastor told me once awhile ago, as God spoke in 1 John 3:4-9, whoever is born of God cannot sin. Ever since I was a little boy I had a remarkable kindness towards others. I never bullied anyone and no one ever bullied me. I had and I still have a God-given respect for others. Red, yellow, black or white, everyone's the same in my sight. In my business career I am a straight shooter. I am honest, fair and generous both with my customers and employees. I have been very successful as my blessings have been abundant. I believe I am a sinner only to those who judge incorrectly. Through mine own eyes I see clearly. As 1 John 5:18 tells me, whoever is born of God cannot be touched by the wicked one. I regret that I have never attempted to read the bible completely until now. Although I am only a few books into the effort, I am surprised at what I have learned so far. I'm not sure if I'm stepping on any toes and if I have offended anyone, I am deeply sorry. I do not mean to insult or hurt anybody. If I am despised because I speak the truth as my eyes see it, then I ask for forgiveness. Thank you for your kind understanding. Pete |
||||||
10 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211304 | ||
Dear Keliv, I never got to respond to your post yesterday so I’ll do it now. Thank you for all the kind words you have given. I will try to give my concerns as politely as I can. Forgive me if I seem redundant and careless. I mean no disrespect. You Said: ““…a selection of passages that seem to be contradictory on the surface, but when lining them up with the whole of Scripture, God's wonderful plan becomes abundantly clear. Scripture will always prove Scripture. It is against God's nature for there to be a single contradiction. When there appears to be anything amiss, it is always us who possess the faulty wisdom and not God.”” I agree with you that it is not God's nature for there to be a single contradiction. He is all powerful, all knowing, ever present and the creator of all. He does not have faulty wisdom. Regarding your statement that it is always us who possess the faulty wisdom and not God, let me ask this, how then are we to know at what precise time our faulty wisdom is not faulty. Is our wisdom faulty only when there seems to be a contradiction? If there is a possibility that our wisdom is flawed then how can we be certain when it is not? My questions began as I was reading through the book of Deuteronomy. In chapter 10, God gives us the commandment thou shall not kill, a moral law applicable to all. He promises many blessings (Deut 11), if we earnestly obey His commandments, judgments and statutes. God warns us (Deut 12:32), "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it." He commands us to kill our brother or any other family member if they try to entice us away from Him (Deut 13:10). Baffling to say the least however, using your rationale, it is my faulty wisdom that is flawed and that is why I can’t understand how this is not confusing and blatantly wrong. You say that God’s wonderful plan of salvation becomes abundantly clear when we line those troubled verses up with the whole of scripture. Keliv, help me here please, how does killing your brother line up with the opportunity of salvation for all? Shouldn't your brother be given a chance to repent? Even if he doesn't repent, is killing him the correct message to send to other non-believers? If killing him is the right thing to do then why didn't God kill Lucifer way back in time before all of this mess began? How does it line up with the message of love, mercy and grace? How does it become abundantly clear that my wisdom is flawed about this passage? In a recent post, Tim Moran said it best, the moral aspects of the law never change. It is always wrong for everyone to lie, steal, kill or worship other gods. Exactly! This is what I feel deep in my heart, it is always wrong for everyone to kill. How then can it be explained that God commanded the killing of a family member? The Mosaic law of not killing applies to everyone, so to use the argument that we are no longer under the law is baffling. If we are still under the moral law of God, thou shall not kill, why shouln't we still be under God's moral law to kill our brother who tries to turn us away from God? Why is it okay to go against God claiming that this law was only for the Jews? Why then is it not morally wrong for the Jews to kill their brothers, but morally wrong for us? If we admit to our wisdom being faulty, we then concede that every bit of our mortal wisdom is suspect. Going forward to the New Testament you use your sometimes faulty wisdom to tell yourself and others that Jesus is the Son of God by which all of humanity can have eternal life. All we need to do is accept him. But then when the Son of God he tells you in Mark 10:21, sell all that you have, give to the poor, follow him and then you will have your treasure in heaven, you reject him. Your sometimes faulty wisdom prevents you from doing exactly as Jesus says. You use that wisdom to convince yourself that Jesus is only speaking to the Jews. Confusing to say the least. He died for all of humanity but only the Jews need to sell everything they own, give to the poor and then become his disciple in order to make it to heaven. Are you absolutely sure your faulty human wisdom is accurate? Tough questions I know, but they fiercely jump out at me. I want to know why. Thank you for all your help. God Bless, Pete |
||||||
11 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211313 | ||
Dear Hank, Thank you very much for trying to help. However I find it a bit hard to believe. I am a reasonably perceptive and intelligent man and God has blessed me in many ways. What you are saying is that my loving father in heaven has given me a powerful mind but in order to fully understand his message of salvation written in the bible I will need to read it at least 50 times. Wow! Wow, if that is the case then I suppose the reason there is a forum like this is for those of us who never complete very many readings. We can ask scholars who have already done it and are in full understanding. The sad thing is, there doesn’t seem to be anyone on this forum who has completed the necessary readings. How do you explain all of the long time members of this forum who have never completely read the bible 50 times, who possess faulty human wisdom and are trying to explain something they themselves don't fully understand? There must be someone! My questions are not difficult at all. The premise is elementary. God commands a moral law for everyone, thou shall not kill. He then commands another moral law in Dt 13:10, kill any family member if they should try to lead you away from Him. The civil laws are only for the Jews and the moral laws are for everyone. Killing is a moral law. Isn't there anyone out there who has read the bible 50 times and who can explain this? Why does it seem that God contradicts himself? Why do God given minds struggle to answer these questions without creating more confusion? How does killing your brother line up with the opportunity of salvation for all? Shouldn't your brother be given a chance to repent? Even if he doesn't repent, is killing him the correct message of love to send to other non-believers? If killing him is the right thing to do then why didn't God kill Lucifer way back in time before all of this mess began? How does killing your non believing brother line up with the message of love, mercy and grace? Isn't there anyone on this forum who has read the bible at least 50 times? Thank you for your patience. Please don't sweep me under the rug, there has to be a simple answer. May God bless you. Pete |
||||||
12 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211323 | ||
Hi there keliy, Thank you for your nice response. Regarding our faulty wisdom, I don't for a second see it as a problem as I believe God knew that when He created us. The fact is there is no one born of this earth who has ever had or will ever have perfect wisdom. However we do all have basic senses of morality that tell us it is better to be happy than sad, it is better to be healthy than needlessly afflicted, it is better to be prosperous than poor, it is better to be good than bad and it is better to live and let live than to kill. God created all of us, red, yellow, black, brown and white. We are all equal in God's sight. Whether you are talking about a northern culture, or a southern culture, a western culture or an eastern culture, human life is valuable and precious. Weak or strong, intelligent or challenged, ancient or modern, gender or creed, normal or disabled, the human being is a child of God. Your argument of time and culture as a reason God allowed rogue family members to be killed goes against God's nature. How can you not see this? As we all know we no longer obey God's Dt 13:10 command to kill a family member. Everyone knows it is wrong. However, members of this forum are telling me that no, some of us who are Gentiles are not bound under the civil laws of Moses, instead we are all obligated under the moral law of God. Thoroughly confused, Pete |
||||||
13 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211328 | ||
... | ||||||
14 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211329 | ||
Thank you for your thoughts, lionheart, It was after I finished reading the first five books of the bible that I was advised to do a restart going to the NT first. I will study all the verses you listed and respond later. Thank you. Pete |
||||||
15 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211334 | ||
Dear Hank, I am truly sorry for sounding a bit sarcastic. From the tone of your post you were quite upset. Thank you for the scolding. May I ask for your wisdom with this one question? I am only trying to find a reasonable explanation. Certainly you have confronted this question before. How does killing your non believing brother line up with the message of love, mercy and grace? Thank you? Pete |
||||||
16 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211345 | ||
... | ||||||
17 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211393 | ||
... | ||||||
18 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | OT general | petedavis6263 | 211399 | ||
... | ||||||
19 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | Deut 24:1 | petedavis6263 | 211226 | ||
Dear Cheri, Hank, Brad, WOS, and others, This is a question for you since you were some of the ones who strongly advised me to read the New Testament first before trying to understand the Old Testament. Well, after stopping at the end of Deuteronomy, I went to Matthew which you recommended as a great start. Okay, now that I am finished reading Matthew I want to ask you some questions before continuing. My very first concern is with Matthew 5:17-18, where Jesus basically says he did not come to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfill, for until heaven and earth pass away not one jot or tittle shall pass from the law until all is fulfilled. An obvious and logical assumption to make is that since heaven and earth have not passed and all has not been fulfilled yet, every jot and tittle of the law are still valid. Not any part of the law has been deleted. It's as clear as a bright sunny day. Yet many of God's commands are no longer viewed as relevent. God's commands of death to a homosexual, death to a man who commits adultery, death to a man who breaks the sabbath and death to man who rapes should all be still be valid, shouldn't they? We still uphold the ban on homosexuality, the sin of adultery and the evil of rape, but we disregard God's command of death to those sinners. Confusing? To me it is very confusing. One of the recent posts on this forum mentioned Psalm 119, so I read that chapter, all 176 verses. In no uncertain terms God declares all of His words, commandments, precepts, statutes, judgments, testimonies and laws are perfect, righteous, faithful, truthful, good and pure and they endure forever to all generations. How much clearer must it get that no part of God's law could ever be abolished? They should be as God declares, perfect, and as Jesus declares, as eternal as heaven and earth. Why with such overwhelming evidence of God's eternal nature, have we gone against Him? Here's another concern of mine found in Matthew 5:31-32, Jesus proclaims a divorcee who remarries commits adultery. The question here is how in the world will the countless number of divorced couples, including myself, who have been remarried make it to heaven while continuing to live in the sin of adultery? My third passage in question is concerning Matthew 5:38-48. Jesus said ignore the eye for eye, tooth for tooth code, instead, resist no evil, turn the other cheek, if a man sues you, give him more, go the extra mile, love your enemies, bless them, do good to them and pray for them that curse, hate, persecute and despitefully use you and you will be perfect as your Father in heaven. I wonder what Christian in the world today practices what Jesus is saying here or even believes it. Even people on this forum, as Written has warned me, will probably view me as the evil one, the enemy who promotes consumption of the "devil's drink." I wonder if they will obey Jesus' council to turn the other cheek and love the enemy? Or will they cast me out banning me forever from this forum? Believe me, I am not the enemy. I love God with all my heart and I just want to do what He commands me to do. The truth is guys, God has given me a mind to seek the answers. Many of these passages were never told to me by my pastor and I never pursued reading the entire bible until now. I don't believe for a second that I am misreading, misquoting, misinterpreting or inventing ideas. You may say that I am taking things out of context, but I ask you what are the contexts of "love your enemies," "adultery is sin," and "everything that God does is perfect and does not change?" Why should the contexts be anything other than what they say? Unless of course it is uncomfortable to face the truth, then a spin is put on the passage and away we all go. As I read word for word, I can't help think that if God meant for it to mean something else He would have said it differently, a far easier way, after all, He is God. Please, members of this forum, as Jesus has said, if you we have faith as little as a mustard seed we can move mountains, nothing will be impossible(Matt 17:20). Certainly, our faith should be strong enough to help us to find the answers. God bless you all, Pete |
||||||
20 | I just started reading the Bible and.... | Deut 24:1 | petedavis6263 | 211245 | ||
... | ||||||
Result pages: [ 1 2 3 ] Next > Last [3] >> |