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Quotes from the Bible

idk

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"From there Elisha went up to Bethel. While he was on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him. 'Go up, baldhead,' they shouted, 'go up, baldhead!'"

"The prophet turned and saw them, and he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the children to pieces."
— 2 Kings 2:23-24




"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee."
— Matthew 5:29



"If two men, a man and his countryman, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals, then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity."
— Deuteronomy 25:11-12



"You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them."
— Ezekiel 16:17



"But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water."
— 2 Peter 3:5



"And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished."

"Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money."
— Exodus 21:20-21



"So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son."
— 2 Kings 6:29

My question is for the biblical literalists, the Young Earth Creationists, the homophobic bigots, the anti-Islamic xenophobes... How do you decide which parts of the bible to ignore and which to defend?
 
Can anyone respond, or just the ones you listed?
 
I would say you are taking the bible out of context just as you claim other do. No one thinks Jesus is telling people to rip out their eyes. You could have at-least quoted the stoning passages.
 
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The Jewish laws - are they God's philosophy/word? Not in my opinion, all of that (other than the NT stuff, addressed below) was written by the Jews, maybe inspired by God's 10 commandment's; but strictly dealing with their patriarchal society where family and honor are the key concerns. Not God's teaching.

The framework of the story leading up to Jesus is God's philosophy/word. Again, IMO.

So, to respond to the two passages that are relevant: Jesus is talking about the passion with which we should approach righteousness, not advocating actually stabbing your eye out, surely by reading the whole chapter you will get the complete picture.

2 Peter 3:5 - actually that was a "red flag" quote that was intended to spur the memory of "by fire this system of things is passing away", God wiped the earth with water during Noah's time and again with "fire" in the future. This isn't talking scientifically about creation, but metaphorically about the changing of human ruled order. Read some other bibles translations to get a better picture, they all word is slightly differently.

Talking about the actual creation: Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the world was prepared by the word of God , so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
(Jesus is called the word of God, and the "master worker" in Proverbs 8 [the implication being that is Jesus personified as "wisdom"] i.e. he was God's agent of design/creation)

Genesis 1:6 Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." - talking about the formation of land


That said, the bible is FAR FAR FAR from a science book, if anything it is a highly metaphorical philosophy book that can cause problems for those less schooled in language/metaphor/philosophy (read: most christians) into confusion. Like the interpretation that the earth is 6000 years old because Genesis says "God created in 6 days" ---- not putting together the context and scriptures like "A day to God is like 1000 years to man"
 
My question is for the biblical literalists, the Young Earth Creationists, the homophobic bigots, the anti-Islamic xenophobes... How do you decide which parts of the bible to ignore and which to defend?
They use their frontal lobe and skills of discernment to select and espouse specific passages that support their views.
 
My question is for the biblical literalists, the Young Earth Creationists, the homophobic bigots, the anti-Islamic xenophobes... How do you decide which parts of the bible to ignore and which to defend?

Convenience and personal tastes.

Say if you like shrimp cocktail and don't like gays, you can pick and choose which abominations you really find abominable.

I'm Episcopalian and my wife is Catholic. We were both taught that the Bible is full of great stories with important life lessons about faith, hope, charity, love and tolerance. We can also learn a great deal about how early western civilization saw their creator and practiced their faith.

In college, I learned that the Bible is a library, a collection of writings, letters, stories, poetry and prose(fiction)... It's impact on Western civilization and religious philosophy is undeniable.

However, when people attempt to interpret the Bible outside of its historical context, they usually end up doing more harm than good. Their own personal fear and prejudices cause them to read into the bible something that is not there.
 
I would say you are taking the bible out of context just as you claim other do. No one thinks Jesus is telling people to rip out their eyes. You could have at-least quoted the stoning passages.

really. i can think offhand of at least half a dozen more bothersome verses than these.
 
really. i can think offhand of at least half a dozen more bothersome verses than these.

I can as well. However, I think my point stands. When we know there are some very troublesome versus and a person picks not so troublesome versus (and misuses them, imo), something has to be up in my book. Again, there is the stoning passages.
 
The problems arise regardless of whether or not you "take it in context."

For example, take the first example from 2 Kings 2. If you read through the entire chapter there is no more context to add. Some kids come out and make fun of Elijah and he summons a bear to maul them to death. He then continues on his merry way. The only options for that passage are to say that is not a good example of morality (despite the Bible having a prophet do this act in the name of the Lord which heavily implies this was considered an acceptable punishment for jeering at someone) or that you support this very unpalatable morality. There is no context that changes that passage. You can look up the others and in many cases, the context does nothing to improve the situation.

Now, one who remembers that bronze age peoples could be rather harsh and strict in their moral rules this passage is not surprising. But the Bible claims to be giving morality from God that is meant to work in all times. It clearly doesn't.
 
The problems arise regardless of whether or not you "take it in context."

For example, take the first example from 2 Kings 2. If you read through the entire chapter there is no more context to add. Some kids come out and make fun of Elijah and he summons a bear to maul them to death. He then continues on his merry way. The only options for that passage are to say that is not a good example of morality (despite the Bible having a prophet do this act in the name of the Lord which heavily implies this was considered an acceptable punishment for jeering at someone) or that you support this very unpalatable morality. There is no context that changes that passage. You can look up the others and in many cases, the context does nothing to improve the situation.

Now, one who remembers that bronze age peoples could be rather harsh and strict in their moral rules this passage is not surprising. But the Bible claims to be giving morality from God that is meant to work in all times. It clearly doesn't.

That isn't entirely true though, the OT is a collection of Jewish stories/history. They didn't know God or his morality apart from the 10 commandments, that is why "Jesus revealed the very character of God" to a nation who had only known him from what other prophets told them or what the 10 commandments reveal about his nature.

My point is that all of the OT morality is questionable and more likely Jewish national pride than God's actual judgments/morality. No wonder the Jews at the time hated Jesus in the end, he completely obliterated their concept of the Jewish nation and God's personality.
 
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