Does this make sense to you ?

Question

If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbour, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall be put to death; their blood is upon them. If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; they have committed perversion; their blood is upon them. If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them. [Leviticus, chapter 20]


This is apparently written by the most intelligent person in the universe. If we are going to follow what this author says, we have to kill half the people in America. We are supposed to kill everyone who has cursed his father or mother, everyone who has committed adultery, and every homosexual.

Does this make sense ?

Answer 1

What about the verse where if a man has sex with a beast both the man AND beast have to be put to death?

Reading those answers below me. Sheesh. So, a god of MORAL ABSOLUTES changes his mind? And what made perfect sense in the OT, and was moral, suddenly gets a rule change and is now "immoral." But god "changes not."

Answer 2

You forgot to mention the passages on mildewed cloth, as well as the Year of Jubilee.

Of the 613 Jewish laws, there are more than a few that were never implemented even by the most hardcore conservative Jew. When Christianity was started, they adopted many of the laws, but abandoned still more.

I've debated both sides of the gay/lesbian issue, for instance. One side says, "thus saith the Bible" but then get very angry when you ask about mildewed cloth, etc. The other side says "We know better now" but then have no way of telling you what rules should be thrown out -- or kept!!!

You are in an uncomfortable area in your spiritual life -- deciding what rules are to be followed, and why. However, when you get done, you will be a rich person (spiritually).

Answer 3

Not if you take it literally.

What they say and what they mean are two different things. Parables ruled in those days and what was said wasn't intended to be taken literally. Nor was it intended as a catch all rule. It had to do with the area of the world they lived in and the way the religion was based.

It has to do with how you interpret things. And guess what, there are a bunch of interpretations for everything in the Bible, which brings up a whole new set of definitions for what you can and cannot do.

Hard core Bible-thumpers will jump on this I know and swear it is to be taken literally. That is their opinion. And I respect their rights to have that opinion.

Answer 4

Well, you have to take into context that these laws were written to and enforced upon the Israelites, otherwise known as the Jews. It was not TECHNICALLY meant for Gentiles (non-Jews/Israelites). HOWEVER, as Christians, we are to take the Bible, IN ITS ENTIRITY, and follow it as closely as humanly possible. YES, we should punish those who fornicate, and commit adultery, and dishonor their parents!! Yet, with the spiritual decline of the human race, this divinely given law is not followed...think about this:
If the law which you presented was still followed, would we have as many adulterers? divorces? as much sex-before-marriage? as many smart-mouthed kids? the answer is NO!!!! ...and the world would most likely be a better place....

Answer 5

John 8
1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

11"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

Answer 6

Have you read the new testament? Its not necessary for them to be put to death, however it comes naturally i.e curses and all. Read your New Testament.And also Jesus came to take all the sins when he was on the cross. If you have sinned, ask for forgiveness. Jesus will surely forgive.

Answer 7

the main problem with your question is that you've said that it's written 'by the most intelligent person in the universe'
it wasn't. The men who wrote the Bible were just men, and they made mistakes, too.

Answer 8

these rules applied to the Israelites at a certain time in their history and should be viewed as such, they were meant by Moses as localized rules, every society back then had their own rules and regulations that others did not feel applied to them.

Answer 9

PERHAPS YOU do not know to whom these precepts were written? They were to God's Choosen People, the Nation Israel!

(Deuteronomy 7:6-to-11) For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

(Deu 7:7) The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:

(Deu 7:8) But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Thanks, RR
(Deu 7:9) Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

(Deu 7:10) And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.

(Deu 7:11) Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.

Answer 10

Ninety percent of marriages experience one infidelity. That'll pretty much bag up most of the world.