Why do Christians pick and choose what they think is okay?
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You are being extremely narrowminded. Why did William Wilberforce change his mind?
If condemning slavery is narrow minded, I am 100% fine with that. And are you seriously asking why a guy who died 180 years ago changed his mind? Why did Van Gogh cut off his ear? Who cares? It's 2013, I'm more concerned about the people around today,, and there should be no question whether slavery is right or wrong. Which for me, makes the Bible irrelevant.
The Bible sanctions it, and it even instructs how to do business. It is responsible for sanctioning the beating of slaves, and the selling of children into slavery. America abolishing slavery is going AGAINST what the Bible teaches.
Which further proves the point that the Bible is irrelevant in modern times.
The Bible is longer than one chapter. Love your neighbour as yourself, bro.
I'm not your "bro". So, which is it, according to the Bible? See, you can't tell because the Bible is so inconsistent. Wouldn't it seem that the championed Ten Commandments would include such a heinous immoral act as slavery in its list over "Keep the Sabbath Holy"?
I don't understand this statement and others like it in this thread. Answers to what? I've read the Bible a couple of times, and my memory might be a bit foggy, but I don't remember the book claiming to have all the answers nor endorsing some of the other things posted in this thread such as slavery. Rather, it seems like a roadmap that is supposed to point the Jesus/The Massiah/Christ/Whatever-you-want-to-call-him. It did say something about the laws of God are written on the hearts of man, which I would think means that you don't need the Bible to know what is wrong and wrong.
Sure some people pretend to believe everything in the Bible without actions, but by the same token other people want Christians to be hypocritical so badly they actually believe the Bible says things it doesn't.
The bible doesn't have all the answers. It has a lot of the questions, though.
If condemning slavery is narrow minded, I am 100% fine with that. And are you seriously asking why a guy who died 180 years ago changed his mind? Why did Van Gogh cut off his ear? Who cares? It's 2013, I'm more concerned about the people around today,, and there should be no question whether slavery is right or wrong. Which for me, makes the Bible irrelevant.
No. Narrowmindedness means you think your take on something is fact while any other opinion is wrong. Many people such as some dude who died 180 years ago interpreted the Bible a lot differently than you do. The old testament is often about mitigating risk. Eg. it says how to divorce and such even though it later says that God hates divorce. It modern times, we could think of it as the arguments to legalizing prostitution or drugs. They are not things that are good for people, but people will do them anyway, so let’s implement policy that causes the least harm.
If, as you say, the Bible condones slavery, then we would see people who become Christians becoming more accepting of slavery than they were previously. In reality, we see the opposite.
That said, the Bible is a big book, and there are certainly ways in which Christian do display hypocrisy. I've known a few who say they believe in the 10 commandments, but then lie and cheat on the side. Of course, there is the "keeping of the Sabbath." How many follow that?
__________________________ God went to the Arabs and said, 'I have Commandments for you that will make your lives better.'
The Arabs asked, 'What are Commandments?'
And the Lord said, 'They are rules for living.'
'Can you give us an example?'
'Thou shall not kill. Said God
'Not kill? We're not interested.'
So God went to the Africas and said, 'I have Commandments.'
The Africans wanted an example, and the Lord said, 'Honor thy Father and Mother.'
'Father? We don't know who our fathers are.’ They said and again told the Lord they were not interested.
Then He went to the Mexicans and said, 'I have Commandments.'
The Mexicans also wanted an example, and the Lord said 'Thou shall not steal.'
'Not steal? We're not interested.'
Then He went to the Italians and said, 'I have Commandments.'
They too wanted an example and the Lord said, 'Thou shall not commit adultery.'
'No commit adultery? We're not interested.'
Finally, He went to the Jews and said, 'I have Commandments.'
[quote=Glacierx;31687679]No. Narrowmindedness means you think your take on something is fact while any other opinion is wrong. Many people such as some dude who died 180 years ago interpreted the Bible a lot differently than you do. The old testament is often about mitigating risk. Eg. it says how to divorce and such even though it later says that God hates divorce. It modern times, we could think of it as the arguments to legalizing prostitution or drugs. They are not things that are good for people, but people will do them anyway, so let’s implement policy that causes the least harm.
If, as you say, the Bible condones slavery, then we would see people who become Christians becoming more accepting of slavery than they were previously. In reality, we see the opposite. "
This is what the thread is about though. People picking and choosing what they want to believe and ignoring the stuff they don't. Also, I think you misunderstand my take on things. I said we would have to agree to disagree, not, "I'm right you're wrong ". My opinion is just that. Obviously other people will have different takes, that's the way it should be. My opinion though, is that the Bible condones it, and the people who say it doesn't, are choosing to ignore it because it is unpleasant and they know it's wrong. This is picking and choosing. You disagree?
No. Narrowmindedness means you think your take on something is fact while any other opinion is wrong. Many people such as some dude who died 180 years ago interpreted the Bible a lot differently than you do. The old testament is often about mitigating risk. Eg. it says how to divorce and such even though it later says that God hates divorce. It modern times, we could think of it as the arguments to legalizing prostitution or drugs. They are not things that are good for people, but people will do them anyway, so let’s implement policy that causes the least harm.
If, as you say, the Bible condones slavery, then we would see people who become Christians becoming more accepting of slavery than they were previously. In reality, we see the opposite.
That said, the Bible is a big book, and there are certainly ways in which Christian do display hypocrisy. I've known a few who say they believe in the 10 commandments, but then lie and cheat on the side. Of course, there is the "keeping of the Sabbath." How many follow that?
__________________________ God went to the Arabs and said, 'I have Commandments for you that will make your lives better.'
The Arabs asked, 'What are Commandments?'
And the Lord said, 'They are rules for living.'
'Can you give us an example?'
'Thou shall not kill. Said God
'Not kill? We're not interested.'
So God went to the Africas and said, 'I have Commandments.'
The Africans wanted an example, and the Lord said, 'Honor thy Father and Mother.'
'Father? We don't know who our fathers are.’ They said and again told the Lord they were not interested.
Then He went to the Mexicans and said, 'I have Commandments.'
The Mexicans also wanted an example, and the Lord said 'Thou shall not steal.'
'Not steal? We're not interested.'
Then He went to the Italians and said, 'I have Commandments.'
They too wanted an example and the Lord said, 'Thou shall not commit adultery.'
'No commit adultery? We're not interested.'
Finally, He went to the Jews and said, 'I have Commandments.'
'Commandments?' They said, 'How much are they?'
'They're free.'
'We'll take 10.'
There, that should offend just about everybody…
Pretty funny, but the Jews took 613 commandments, not 10!
No. Narrowmindedness means you think your take on something is fact while any other opinion is wrong. Many people such as some dude who died 180 years ago interpreted the Bible a lot differently than you do. The old testament is often about mitigating risk. Eg. it says how to divorce and such even though it later says that God hates divorce. It modern times, we could think of it as the arguments to legalizing prostitution or drugs. They are not things that are good for people, but people will do them anyway, so let’s implement policy that causes the least harm.
If, as you say, the Bible condones slavery, then we would see people who become Christians becoming more accepting of slavery than they were previously. In reality, we see the opposite. "
This is what the thread is about though. People picking and choosing what they want to believe and ignoring the stuff they don't. Also, I think you misunderstand my take on things. I said we would have to agree to disagree, not, "I'm right you're wrong ". My opinion is just that. Obviously other people will have different takes, that's the way it should be. My opinion though, is that the Bible condones it, and the people who say it doesn't, are choosing to ignore it because it is unpleasant and they know it's wrong. This is picking and choosing. You disagree?
Exactly. To prevent from being considered Neanderthals, today's Christians simply ignore those passages completely.
The greatest gift given to mankind was the ability to choose.That gift did not come without any consequences.
Having said that, God provided guide lines for us to live by so that life in this world would go for us much easier.
Your school master guide line is the Ten Commandments.
We are not bound by them as it once were, but in Jesus we are made free to follow them the best way we could.
Because of that freedom, people are free to choose how, when and where they would like to worship God.
Mother, Father, daughter, son, does not guarantee methods of belief because each one is a separate entity, and rightly so because that's the way we were designed.
Belief that marrying of the same gender is wrong to some, to them it is, and for others it is not.
Love is the only true bonding agent that supersedes all behavioral beliefs. If one has love, then we allow everybody to exercise their own beliefs, apart from our own.
Just remember, that if we offend one of those guidelines, consequences follow.
God knew and understood the consequences of being "a god" in a world full of vanity, hence the Ten Commandments.
This is what the thread is about though. People picking and choosing what they want to believe and ignoring the stuff they don't. Also, I think you misunderstand my take on things. I said we would have to agree to disagree, not, "I'm right you're wrong ". My opinion is just that. Obviously other people will have different takes, that's the way it should be. My opinion though, is that the Bible condones it, and the people who say it doesn't, are choosing to ignore it because it is unpleasant and they know it's wrong. This is picking and choosing. You disagree?
I disagree, though you make a valid argument. Amazing Grace was written by John Newton after he realized it was wrong as a result of becoming a Christian. This was during a time when slavery was legal. This is one of many reasons why I disagree with your premise.
Obviously, the OP is right to a certain extent in that some Christians do pick and choose based upon societal norms. I just don't think slavery is one of them.
On that note, it was a bit harsh of me to paint call opinion narrow minded since you were also putting forward your opinion on the matter. For that I apologize.
Ciao.
~G
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