Imagine if this were "Murder". And while God never condones it, he does talk about how to kill someone, how to plan and murder or even how to murder a child.
Sorry, but I missed something. Can you show me where God tells us how to plan the murder of a child?
How can talk of slavery be the word of God?
I already told you how.
If the Word of God can be so easily manipulated how can it be the Word of God?
You make it sound as if the Word of God was easier to manipulate than anything else. OzmO, people are easily manipulated. The laws in your own United States of America are very easily manipulated. So what's you point?
You say that part of the Bible is the word of God. Take anyone of those parts and show me how it cannot be manipulated. You do believe that at least that one part is the word of God, right? Yet, it can be manipulated.
Shouldn't the Word of God be something simple and everlasting free from tampering and abuse?
I don't see why it should. But if you think it should, I don't know. Ask God. If it were something simple, I personally would doubt that it came from an infinite God. I believe that it is everlasting and free from tampering. Free from abuse? No, it is not free from abuse. People have free will and can abuse even the word of God and God will hold them accountable for it.
If it were a "magic" book, with "supernatural" power, people would turn it into an idol and worship the book instead of God.
Like for Example: "Do on to others and you would have them do to you"? Or, "thou shall not Kill?"
But yet we see in this bible so many instances of "man made dogma" How can this be the word of God? At the very least these are conflicting messages and therefore can not be the 100% word of God.
Man made dogma? Conflicting messages? These are your personal believes and not mine. You are free to believe anything you want.
I said this mainly for effect. Mainly because talk of slavery is so off base. Here we have on one hand, God talking about slavery and then God talking about the evils of homosexuality.
OzmO, I don't believe that any Christian on this board has brought up homosexuality in this particular thread. Why do you keep on bringing up homosexuality?
Think about it......Slavery and all the associated evils vs. something that's has no victims and is consensual.
Homosexuality has no victims? OzmO, what if a few years from now, a well conducted study, not by Christians, shows that a child raised by two homosexual men who are open about their homosexuality is traumatizing, harmful and destructive to the child emotionally, mentally and socially? What if that happened? How do you know it's not happening now? We don't know. All I know is that God said a man shall not have sex with another man and that the act is detestable to God and an abomination.
I don't know about you, but I have no desire to have sex with another man, but even if I did want to, I wouldn't do it because the Bible says it's evil.
I'm not going to sit around and wait for a scientific study or for society to catch up, to tell me what is moral and what is immoral.
The talk of Slavery in the bible is a historical account written from the writers perspective and Homosexuality in "Paul's" version is church doctrine. This is not "God" talking here.
Homosexuality? Church dogma? OzmO, the church started with Jesus Christ. Homosexuality is condemned in the Old Testament. Paul is simply talking about something that had been condemned by God for hundreds of years. How can this be "church dogma"?
And why do you bash the Bible on homosexuality? Christianity teaches love for everybody, even homosexuals. Other religions that do not believe the Bible is the word of God also condemn homosexuality, but even make it a crime punishable by death.
That's the problem and there in lies more reason that the bible isn't the word of God. A true holy book or words could not easily be taken a twisted to turn fanatics into murders.
Not necessarily. What about the murderer who doesn't read the Bible, yet murders and then says "god told me to do it", the "god" inside speaking to him?
In many cases it was a result of not being able to pay debts? How about conquered peoples? How about kidnapped children from peaceful villages? You're saying that it was a way to discourage going in debt and there fore it's justified in the bible?
OzmO,
All I was saying is that slavery has always been part of history. Slavery was around since before the days of Noah. Are you blaming the Bible for all the slavery in the history of the world?
Was it their Christian beliefs or was it their inner beliefs? Probably a combination of both.
It was their Christian beliefs. Christians believe in the Bible, and they live their lives by it. And if a little inner voice, inner emotion or feeling contradicts the Bible, we go with the Bible. That's what we believe. Look at the verses I posted about freeing slaves. The Bible promotes setting slaves free. The Bible even gives detailed guidelines on how to properly set a slave free "And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. Supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress" (Deuteronomy 15:13-14)
OzmO, you got to give credit where credit is due. When a Christian does something good, you say it was their inner belief. When a Christian does something bad, you say it is the Bible. I'm not even going to roll my eyes here. It's obvious that no matter what, your mind is already made up on arguing that the Bible is not the word of God.
But how many less problems, how many less years..... of slavery would there have been without the references and guidelines in the Bible to owning, buying, and treating slaves, if there was one simple denunciation of slavery all together in it? But yet, we take a Human activity with no victim and make it sin?
Very un-divine.
Oh, so now, according to you, slavery and all the evils of the world are the Bible's fault. According to you, if the Bible had not mentioned slavery, slavery would never have existed. Yeah, sure. What about "Greek pederasty"? The Bible condemns it, yet it didn't stop Greece from practicing it in the past and believing it to be moral. And what of the Christians who fought slavery because the Bible inspired them to free slaves?
Thisi is what's very twisted among other things about the Bible and Christianity. Here's another:
My nephew-in-law's parents are very religious Christians like your self. My nephew is 10 years old. He's been allowed to watch "saving private Ryan" you ever see that? Very violent movie. I was over at there house one day, and there was a some what violent western on. He was allowed to watch it6, but when there was a "kissing" scene he was told to cover his eyes.
Can you imagine the message here? Violence is ok, But human affection based on love isn't........at age 10. And we wonder why we have problems in our society.
this is much like the slavery/homo sexual comparison. Misdirected values from a Book that's supposedly the "word of God"
The Bible never says that owning and oppressing slaves is good. It does say that freeing slaves is good. But it does clearly say that homosexuality is bad. You can compare the two all you want to, but your point in mute. Why don't you find something else other than slavery in the Bible to compare it to homosexuality? If the Bible is the word of Satan, according to you, then you shouldn't have a problem finding where God takes something evil and clearly, without a doubt, says that it is good, right OzmO?
About your nephew-in-law's parents, if the way that they raise their child bothers you so much that you are posting it here for the whole world to read, then you should probably be having this discussion with the parents and not with me.