Questions for Christians Part 2?

Question

continued...

d) Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

e) I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

f) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an Abomination (Lev 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

Answer 1

d) you dont want to own canadians. trust me.

e) yes.

f) you are correct here.

Answer 2

I think you need to find a "real" activity. Bibles and books like them are made up of metaphorical ideas designed to get you started on a moral path and to assist you in choosing a sincere and straight-forward, honest life, not as literal ideas. You can't own other humans in this country or anywhere else that has a reasonably civilized society. If you don't know this, you're in trouble already.
in re (e): You cannot have a moral obligation to kill anything. It's immoral on its face.
f) Neither shellfish or homosexuality are "abominations". Those kinds of ideas are designed for people who are afraid to approach life on their own and make their own decisions.
Why are you asking this kind of silliness anyway?

Answer 3

First of all, you are referring to the laws of the old testament. We are not bound by Old Testament Law any longer. Jesus changed everything. Now the only law (outside of the laws of the land) we are bound by is to love our neighbors as ourselves. Therefore, we cannot own slaves, Mexican, Canadian or otherwise. Jesus stated that the Sabbath was created for man, not vice versa. I don't think that eating shellfish is technically an "abomination." It was a law to protect people. (Just a side note: shellfish is extremely bad for you to eat - it holds a tremendous amount of toxins - that's why God told people not to eat it) Homosexuality is an abomination. Questions answered sarcastic one?

Answer 4

Well, if you take the bible literally:

d) Your friend is insane. Clearly by the definition, you CAN own a Canadian.
e) While the 10 commandments do say you shouldn't murder, they say nothing about meteing out appropriate punishments. Thus, as long as you're prepared to go to jail since it is clearly against the law, go right ahead. You could probably get away with an insanity defense based on your reasons for the killing.

f) I believe that homosexuality isn't even mentioned in the bible. Thus, your friend is wrong. (I hope this isn't the same fool from above, because if it is, he really needs to work on his sources!).

Hope that answers your questions.

Answer 5

These questions are excellent examples of the problems with not taken into account this historical and biblical context of individual verses in the bible.

D) As far as your first question you must first keep in mind the Historical context. Slavery was not the racially motivated out right ownership and abuse of people as most Americans think of it. It was the Temporary compelled servitude usually either to pay off a financial date (just like I'm required to give part of my income to my credit card company) or as part of the punishment for a crime. Every seven years these slaves were released on the year of Jubilee.

In direct answer to your question, as it is not appropriate in our culture or consistent with the laws of most modern countries it would not be biblically appropriate to own slave regardless of the country they come from.

E) The rules of Sabbath were set for the Jews to accomplish a few things
1. Make them different from everyone else.
2. keep them from over working themselves
3. Keep them focused on God
By the time Jesus came the definition of work on the Sabbath was horribly distorted and blown out of proportion. Although Jesus kept the Sabbath in sprit once he died there was no need for it as Paul explain in Colossians 2:17

"Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ"

So is you had been a Israelite in Moses time, yes your Neighbor should have been put to death. However, since you live in this day and age after the Death and resurrection of Christ you should not Judge someone who doesn't keep the Sabbath.

F) First of all under the current law, since the death and resurrection of Christ no food is unclean in itself,
Romans 14:14-20
"As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean then for him it is unclean."

This makes it clear the eating Shellfish is no longer an abomination.

Again, the dietary laws for the Israelites served the purpose of keeping them different, many times kept them from getting sick and tested them to see if they would be obedient to God. Now with the saving Grace of Christ these laws are no longer needed. The focus is on the state of our heart not our specific outward actions.

Answer 6

In a modern way you can "own" Americans, Canadians...or anyone else. My employer has the same authority over me as the "owners" of slaves the Hebrews held at that time. There were strict LAWS given by God for a workers treatment. A lot like here, and now.

Answer 7

well if you keep arguing with the Old Testament...

the coming of the Messiah did away with the Law. Check out Romans.

the Law cannot be completely fulfilled by man alone, thus since we all fail, we must look to a savior. the Law, then, is what shows our own depravity and points us to our own need for salvation.

(if you want to argue in church terms, though i hate to do so)

d) put down the pipe... this is the dumbest thing i've ever heard

e) let's get a little more legalistic. again, i refer you to Christ, who did away with the Sabbath. religious leaders tried to kill Him for working on the Sabbath as well.

f) all sins are equal. it is only in our humanity that we attempt to quantify how much each sin is worth.

Answer 8

d) correct

e) Jesus said He didn't come to destroy the law but came to fulfill it. But Jesus also healed on the Sabbath.

f) Leviticus 22:18, 1 Corithians 6:10, homosexualitly. No sin is greater than the other. Also read Acts 10 about peter.

Hopefully this helps

Answer 9

1st of all you must understand the bible and the people who wrote the books which is a total of 66 books combined into one making it the bible. now the passages of scripture you are reading is all the old testament or old covenant with Gods people. these books were written by the hand of moses also during what we call the mosaic law, in which God used moses to give laws of living according to Gods standards. but if you read the new testament or new covenant jesus said to the pharasees who were still abiding by the old law he told them i give a new law which is love, if you love you wont still if you love you wont kill, etc. we are required to love all as CHRIST loves us friends and foes alike cause when we are living wrong he still loves us regardless. so you cannot own slaves! to answer q.e. if you read the book of matthew you will see that in christ every day and time is the sabbath it no longer matters when or where you worship God as long as you do!
to answer q.f. again if you read in the new testament you will see that God gave one of his servants a vision in which he saw all kinds of food that the old law forbade him to eat, but the Lord told him to eat cause everything is sactafied by the word of God and prayer.
if you want to know the complete truth began to read the new testament and the truth will find you!

Answer 10

F.) The Bible states that no sin is greater than another. Often times you will hear people say I drink, I smoke, I fornicate, but nothing compares to homosexuality. I strongly disagree because they are all sin no matter how we may feel. And stop taking the bible out of text!

Answer 11

You Atheistes & Non-believing people who don't go to church and learn the things of GOD have a Dim View of What & WHO GOD IS!......Like I've said many times before, you've got the "FRAME" But Not The WHOLE PICTURE"!....Go To Church And Learn About GOD'S WAYS!.....PS. Can't keep Kicking Scriptures Around!....(John 7: 17), (John 6: 63), ( John 8: 44-47), Matt. 7: 6)......