Question about the bible...?

Question

How do you know which bible verses to accept/follow and which ones to reject?

For Example:

EXODUS 31:15
For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be PUT TO DEATH.

...Now obviously I know to reject this verse. Should I just reject and refuse to follow any of the old testament? That might interfere with this verse:

PSALM 19:7
The Law of the Lord is Perfect.

If I stick to just NEW testament, I'm having a small problem with this one:

Matthew 18:7
"If your hand of foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.."

Am I misinterpreting this verse?

How do I know which verses to take LITTERALLY and which verses to "interpret"? And how do I know the correct interpretation?

Whynotaskdon: Then why do you get different answers from different pastors, christians, theologists...etc...????? How do I know who to believe?

whynotaskdon: also, in what other way could you interpret "PUT TO DEATH"? It seems pretty clear cut. If you tell me to reject the O/T....I'll be rejecting the 10 commandments also..

Spot's fox: Ok then, educate me. PLEASE TRY ME.

Answer 1

Bible is a flawed document.

Don't use it as a reference material, literally. Otherwise you'd go nuts.

Answer 2

Jesus came to fulfill the law. Not to do away with it. Yes you are misinterpreting because you don't understand who, why , when and where.

Don't reject any of the bible verses if they are meant for you..

EXODUS 31:15
For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be PUT TO DEATH.

Answer: This was written to the Jewish people (OT).

After Jesus came (NT), everyday is the the Lords day.

Jesus himself, removed an Ox from a ditch. The Jewish religious leaders repremanded Him for this. He told them that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

Your question: .Now obviously I know to reject this verse. Should I just reject and refuse to follow any of the old testament? That might interfere with this verse:

PSALM 19:7
The Law of the Lord is Perfect.

Answer: Yes, it is. Jesus fulfilled it. That means that He lived it. We can't and the Jews were not able to either. The law doesn't save us. Jesus does. He is the ultimate sacrifice for our sin.

Your question: If I stick to just NEW testament, I'm having a small problem with this one:

Matthew 18:7
"If your hand of foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.."

Answer: There are some who have chosen castration because of the problems that they are having with sin. I can't say for sure, This would be a little drastic but, as others have mentioned, He means anything that would cause you to sin (cause yourself or someone else to be pulled away from God). Get rid of it.

Of course we are all born with a sinful nature. That means that we are all born separated from God. Jesus Christ is the only means for forgiveness and restoration back to God. We must accept Him for salvation. His death was in our place for the sin that we commit.

You and I don't always know what is meant by certain verses. I will say however, that since I became a Christian and I have a personal relationship with Him, He teaches me and I have come to realize and understand more and more verses. If you want to understand, God will show you.

Here are some Bible Study Resources for anything you may want to look up:

Biblegateway.com
Ntgateway.com
Bible.org
Bible-history.com

Answer 3

Jesus and Paul give detailed answers to that question. Rather than give you a long discussion, I'll give give you a few NT passages that directly address your question about which parts of the OT that you need to pay attention to, and which ones that you do not:

Mark 7:14-23
John 8:1-11
Acts 11:1-18; 151-35
Romans chapters 13 & 14
Galatians chapters 3-5

It can be a little confusing, but read all of them, and I'll think that it will make sense, if you really want an answer, that is. If not, I'm not going to waste my time explaining Christianity to a mocker.

Answer 4

You should pray each time before you read the word. Ask God to speak to you through what you read. Ask him for Discernment.. to know what it is he wants you to gain from the reading. Of course not ever word in the bible is literal, yet some are. You need to have discernment when listening to preaching or reading the bible..

I believe that the bible is to be interpreted by the reader in the time they are reading it. I can read a verse a month ago and God spoke to me through that verse , telling me something specific about my life, I can read the same verse when dealing in another time in my life and he may use that same verse to teach me something else.. or maybe you and a friend read some scripture, one may interpret it differently then the other.. do think of this as one is wrong and the other right.. understand that each person has a unique relationship with God and because of that, he teahces us and deals with us in different ways, like raising children... because each child has his own personality, many time a parent cannot raise two children identically with exactly the same rules and limitation.. one child may have differnt needs from the next... and so much like that each child of God interprets scripute by way in which it pretains to them.

Answer 5

You have to remember that some of the Bible is letters to those churches telling them not to live in sin and how to not live sinfully. How to live the correct way.
Don't even try to interperet the Bible. That has already been done.

Suggestion:
There are study Bibles out there and for every section there is a study and more explination. Also, I suggest you get a concordance of the bible, it will totally help you decifer the words. and meanings in the bible and the stories.
I have The New Strong's Concordance
Good luck.

Answer 6

Exodus question:

The most important thing in that verse is that you are to take time to rest, meditate and contemplate your relationship with God.

Exodus 22:18 "says suffer a witch not to live." However, when was the last good witch burning you've attended? Most modern Christians will cherry pick which verses to follow and dismiss the rest as being unneeded.

Matthew question:
What Christ is saying here is not to be taken literally. Just don't go to places, do things or see things that would cause you to sin against God or your fellow man.

Answer 7

God doesn't care how the day is spelled for the Sabbath (Saturday, Sunday...etc) He wants you to work six days and rest on the Sabbath.

It's not about rejecting scripture. It is there to teach us.

Jesus didn't come to wipe out the law of Moses, He came to fulfill prophecy.

Answer 8

To answer your question depends on if you are being sarcastic by showing the humanistic fallacies of the bible. If you want to believe in the bible, and god, then you need to turn to faith and understand that you need faith to pull you through your religious path. If you see that you are doubting these verses then my opinion is that you are growing as a human being and seeing that questioning things instead of going with the flow makes us stronger people.

Answer 9

How do I know which verses to take LITERALLY and which verses to "interpret"? And how do I know the correct interpretation?

I suppose one just has to use their head-and make sure it is in context... if one is obviously telling a story or parable it is not to be taken verbatim (or verbatus- if still active).

Answer 10

We are no longer liable for the punishments in the Old Testament because when Jesus came, he became sin for all. He took the punishment for all mankind, because it was impossible to live up to the Old Testament standard. Now all we have to do is go to him for forgiveness if and when we sin. Talk to you pastor for further explanation on this. I can't go into detail here, it would take up too much time. Hope this little bit helps though.

Answer 11

i don't know about new testament scriptures and i will not comment on them since its not my religion, but you are definitely mininterpreting old testament scriptures, which however is not your fault since you don't have the other "half" of the bible, so to speak. why would any sane person follow a religion who they believed thought a person should die because they worked on shabbat? i have no idea why the christians follow such a god, but the jewish response, written by a torah-true orthodox rabbi, you can read about here:

http://ca.blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-14RDX4k7frF.iGIE6EespWXPvyg-?cq=1&p=8