Bible Questions?

So your saying the slavery references found through out the bible are not to be taken literal?

Are you saying that a reference to slavery is in actuality a reference to a true believer?

Even in the passages when they speak of buying and selling slaves? Seems like a stretch to me.

What did you mean by saying that "Christians" were far from being true Christians?

Don't you all read the same bible, if so how can you prove there interpretation of the passages are wrong and yours are correct?

It seems as time goes by more and more of what was originally intended to be literal becomes metaphorical in the supposed divine text.

 

Have you even bothered to try and understand what the Bible actually says about Slavery and why?

Are you a slave of God and Christ or is that another thing that the Bible really doesn't say?

 

No

see above

How many times is this now? Jesus said there would be those calling him lord that would not be disciples but would actually be workers of lawlessness. (Matthew 7:21-23) “Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many powerful works in your name?’ And yet then I will confess to them: I never knew YOU! Get away from me, YOU workers of lawlessness.

Yes, it is the same Bible but some have "reason" to interpret the bible incorrectly. One proof, is your "interpretation" contradicted by other Scriptures or supported by them.

Whether the Bible is to be taken literal or metaphorical depends on the context of the Scripture in question and most of what is literal is also prophetic and thus could be considered metaphorical as well.

 

How can you tell the difference, if you can't take the bible literal how do you know that you are not then one who is lawless for not owning slaves or any of partaking in any other contidictions throughout the bible?

Why not, why must there be punishment for some while others live forever does not god have the power to correct the situation?

Why would god care about the very human concept of time and the amount of it a human spent mumbling praises to it?

But in the past for thousands maybe even millions of people the passages you choose to ignore were a cornerstone to there lives, god had supposedly had it put in the bible to tell these ignorant people how to live, I would say god needs an editor with alot of time on his hands to nulify all the contridictions in the text.

I would say it has much more to do with what day and age you read the tawdry book in, much of what you consider metaphorical now was taken quite litteral a few centuries ago, at the cost of many lives I might add.

 

Have you ever bothered to try to understand any viewpoints other than your own? I think I do understand what the Bible has to say about slavery. What it has to say about slavery is favorable to the abominable institution. Have you ever bothered to consider how lame your defenses sound to anyone but yourself? Being a "slave" to God or Jesus is quite different than being a slave to a mere human.

 

The following passage describes the sickening practice of sex slavery. How can anyone think it is moral to sell your own daughter as a sex slave?

When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if the slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment. (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)

 

I've never said I was a Christian, only that I try to be.

And has been pointed out the Bible has very few, if any contradictions.

Yes he has the power but that is not the issue. God will not take away your free will nor will he force someone to live in paradise if they do not wish to.

And people keep calling it punishment but many have expressed that they would never want to live forever, why is that, mostly because they would not want to live forever, the lives they have created for themselves in a few short years, let alone what their lives would be like if they had forever to mess them up.

I guess you'll have to take that up with God.

"Passages you choose to ignore"? And what may they be?

"All the contridictions in the text"? You mean all the ones you failed to come up with and post in the thread on contradictions?

Even if the all ones that were come up with, were true contradictions, they were minor and did not change the real message of the Bible.

No, the Bible remains the same and those who take the time to understand it, can improve their lives, in any age they live in.

If some call themselves "followers of the Bible" and yet disregard it and try and make it fit to their life styles rather than conforming to what it says or try to incorporate pagan beliefs in their worship, that is not the fault of the Bible and what it says.

As for; "at the cost of many lives", yes, many Christians have died for what they believe and will continue to do so.

Or are you talking about things like Wars that have been fought in the "name of Christianity", although the Bible plainly states the the warfare of Christianity is a spiritual warfare to be fought with spiritual weapons and that Christians are to put down the sword and beat it into plowshares and not learn fleshly warfare anymore and defend themselves with the sword of the spirit, God's Word the Bible.

 

You say that "Being a "slave" to God or Jesus is quite different than being a slave to a mere human" but I say it can be but the Bible says that it's not suppose to be. If humans are actual footstep followers of the the Christ, why would they treat fellow humans any differently than God or the Christ would? The Simple answer is they wouldn't.

Just because people have turned Worship into an abominable institution doesn't mean that True Worship is an abominable institution. It just means that people fail to make the distinction.

I believe I asked once before, do you consider yourself a Christian?

PS "Have you ever bothered to try to understand any viewpoints other than your own?" I try to understand everybody's viewpoints but just because I understand them doesn't mean I think they are valid. Like your viewpoint on this matter, you seem to be prejudice against the "word" slavery and that is understandable, because as you say; slavery in the hands of some humans can be a abominable institution. But as you also say; in the hands of God and Christ it is not an abominable institution and so it would follow that in the hands of a true follower of God and the Christ, it would not be an abominable institution either. Or do you truly believe that a True Christian believes that it is possible to own another person? Perhaps if you were to drop this idea of owning another person and think more of it as purchasing the right to someone else's services you would better understand what the Bible means by Slavery.

 

What in the world do you think this is talking about? Do you really consider marriage as sex slavery? But I guess that would explain a lot.

 

Do you really believe this is talking about marriage? That would certainly explain a lot!

 

To me, you illustrate how a certain take on religion can desensitize people to evil. You're trying to justify human ownership of humans by making some vague analogy to our servitude to God, and then suggesting that if everyone did the right thing human slavery wouldn't be so bad. It is not the "word" slavery that I'm prejudiced against. It's the actual institution as it existed in the ancient world, including Israel and Judea, an in the United States. I suggest that submission to God and Christ is not abominable, but ownership of humans by mortals is.

 

Can you tell me how you interpreted that passage?

Do you consider what was being proposed in it to be moral?

 

When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if the slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment. (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)

Sorry didn't know you couldn't read.

 

Do you even bother to read, let alone understand what is said to you.

The Bible plainly says we are Slaves of God and the Christ and that's not just some vague analogy.

What in the world do you think it means when it says slave for God and Christ?

That we should if possible, maybe try and see if we might do some of the things God asks? Talk about vague analogies.

But then you seem to think watering down the Scriptures is a good thing.

 

Since the passage you cited has the word wife twice and both the words marry and marries and that she should be treated as a daughter and since the Bible also talks about a husbandly owner, what do you think it's talking about?

By whose standards? By Bible standards, Yes.

 

You seem to have a problem with that yourself. The first sentence says "When a man sells his daughter as a slave..." So you think that's appropriate? Nothing wrong with that? Apparently you don't seem to think so.

 

I think being a slave of God and the Christ is a lot different from being a slave to another human being. There are bible passages justifying BOTH.

 

As usual he's dodging what the can't appalogize for, a well washed brain indeed.

 

You can water the Scriptures down as much as you want but scriptures justify "both" because they are the same. You are the one saying they are different but they just aren't. Now if are trying to equate modern day slavery with Biblical slavery you are just way off base because there is no comparasion between the two.

 

And how is that slave to be treated, as a wife and a daughter. I suggest that you try to read past the word slave and actually try to get the sense of what is being said and what is meant by the word slave in that context.