Does any church practice this?

Question

I'm always amazed how messed up the Bible can be..........
"He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD. A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD." (Deuteronomy 23:1-2)

I'm just amazed that such a "loving" God would reject someone just because he had his "junk" messed up or was unlucky enough to be born out of wedlock and condeming the next 10 generations.

It may seem a long time ago to us, but it is a very short time in the course of human history. Condemnation of generations based on the actions of ancestors doesn't show a loving or just god.

Answer 1

I am bemused by intel_knight's response. It would be amusing to know how he has decided that one particular biblical phrase is outdated but the rest of it is not.

Answer 2

Mosaic law that passed away. Old Testament was to be followed to the letter for the church of that time period.

"As regards the Word particularly, it has existed in every age, though not the Word we possess at the present day. Another Word existed in the Most Ancient Church before the Flood, and yet another Word in the Ancient Church after the Flood. Then came the Word written through Moses and the Prophets in the Jewish Church, and finally the Word written through the Evangelists in the new Church. The reason why the Word has existed in every age is that by means of the Word there is a communication between heaven and earth, and also that the Word deals with goodness and truth, by which a person is enabled to live in eternal happiness. In the internal sense therefore the Lord alone is the subject, for all goodness and truth are derived from Him" (Arcana Coelestia n. 2895).

Answer 3

I suggest that you read the rest of deuteronomy in context and consider the time in which it was written. The person referred to as a "bastard" had been punished terrriibly for some horrific sins. It was the law of the day and I seriously doubt that would happen today in any christian church. Jesus said: thou shall love the lord thy God before all others, and thy neighbour more than thyself. He also said in Matthew 5:44 love your enemies ........... and pray for them...so that ye may be children of the father. He also said: go and sin no more. Any christian church wouuld surely judge not, that they be not judged. Matthew 7:2

Answer 4

the verses you mentioned is referring to the Israelites. The congregation is referring to the Tent or Temple that the Israelites build. It is the physical entering in the temple.

While in the New testament. All sins are forgiven as long you accept Christ as Lord and savior

Answer 5

I know, but it is the words of God, isn't it?
Well just obey all the writings to the very end and I am sure that you will end up with the right conclusion about who really wrote the Bible, it is man made and as man made like the Koran, it is NOT perfect, no one of us is perfect and that's good. Think how would the word be if all of us would be perfect, how dull the world would be, wouldn't it?

Answer 6

I do not know of any church that practices this. (Even if they wanted to, how would they know?) The Old Testament laws were meant for the Jews as God's chosen people, to set them apart from neighboring peoples. When Christ died, the curtain in the Jewish tabernacle that separated people from the holiest place was torn in two; His sacrifice fulfilled the law and replaced it with a new way to be reconciled with God.

Answer 7

Whats the question? Do you not understand what these verses actually mean?

First of all...yes...its Old Testament Levitical Law stuff. But "Stones" and "Privy Member" would be tantamount to a man today wanting to "mutilate" his male member because he didn't want to be a man anymore. I.E. sexchange. Are you familiar with how they convert the tissue and matter of the male organ into a female (external) sex organ? Pretty gruesome actually.

Its all relative to sins of sexual immorality. Plus have to be careful in only reading one or two verses out of context. We always must read a whole book or chapter to keep individual verses in their properly intended contexts.

Answer 8

NONE I think.. Because its "outdated" you'll never know what generation we're living in now, maybe we're in the 20th>generation?? U need a Bible calculator for that. I think the Bible Characters practiced it then..

Answer 9

1. He that is wounded. What is here delivered respecting those who are mutilated, and who are bastards, has a similar object; lest the Church of God should be onctaminate by foul stains, and thus religion should lose its honor. Moses rejects from the congregation of the faithful two sorts of men, viz, eunuchs and bastards. But, before we treat of the subject itself, the definition of the words is to be considered. The first question is, that it is to enter into the congregation; the second, what it is to be wounded in the stones; the third, who are the µyrzmm, mamzerim, which we have translated bastards, (spurios).Many understand that both are rejected from the church, lest they should undertake any public office in it; others, lest they should marry wives of the seed of Abraham; because it would not be fair that women should be thrown away upon bastards, (Lat, mamzeris;) and it would be absurd that those who were created to multiply God’s people, should marry impotent persons, (effoeminatis). But both these opinions appear to me to be tame. For what is afterwards added respecting certain foreign nations cannot be so taken, that no government or dignity should be entrusted to them; besides, by “the congregation of the Lord,” the purity and holiness of religion is sufficiently expressed. I do not doubt, then, but that Moses prohibits those who are defiled by these two stains from communicating in the sacrifices. For although they were circumcised as well as the rest of the chosen people, still God would have them bear this mark of their disgrace, that they might be an example to others, and that the people might be more diligent in preserving themselves from all pollution. This, then, is to be concluded that the privilege which was peculiar to the legitimate Israelites, was to be denied them of being participators and associates f19 in the sacrifices. As to the wounded testicles, the Jews dispute more curiously, in my opinion, that the subject warrants, and after all miss the right meaning. For God intended nothing else than to exclude from the congregation of His people, wherever holy assemblies were held, those who were mutilated or defective in the genital organs; although by synecdoche, He comprehends more than are specified. Finally, by condemning this external bodily defect He commends the excellency of His people that they may remember themselves to be His chosen property, not that they should pride themselves upon it f20 but that the holiness of their life may correspond with such high nobility.

2. A bastard shall not enter. All agree that by the word rzmm, mamzer, a bastard is signified, who is born of an uncertain father; but they take it in different ways, For some extend it to all bastards who spring from fornication, whilst others imagine that it refers to those only whose origin is doubtful, and who are called vulgo geniti; viz, whose mothers, in their base and common prostitution of themselves, have brought it about by their gross licentiousness, that their children should be born from this monstrous medley, as it were. This second opinion I approve of most. But, by this symbol God would admonish the seed of Abraham how exalted was its dignity, as being separate from the polluted heathen. Meanwhile, He would not altogether exclude these unhappy persons from the hope of salvation, although, by no fault of their own, they were unable to give the name of their father; but He only humbled them by a temporal punishment, and desired that their example should be profitable to others.

Another Supplement as to
the general Purification of the People f21

Answer 10

No, that particular passage of the Bible is outdated.

The rest is still absolute truth though, and should be followed to the letter.