I'm confused...?

Question

When I ask people why certain things like working on the sabbath and women talking in church are okay then they tell me that those are outdated rules that no longer apply, but when I ask why things like homosexuality are wrong they tell me it's because the bible says so and the bible is the word of God... how do I know which rules to follow and which ones are outdated? If God is infallable then how can his word be "outdated"? If the bible was written by humans and not by god (in which case it's possible for it to be outdated) then why should we follow its word?

Answer 1

ahhh I see, I love rhetorical questions I know the answer to this as well as you. They want something to believe to help them with their life they will not see the logic behind what you are saying. Funny story though I have said nearly the same thing before.

--“I believe in Kregamufch because the religion that preaches him (Kregamufchism) has values I like”. This is basically what you are saying that you would believe in any spiritual character or occurrence backed by your religion because you like the values; this is what I call being biased.
Or do you not believe in your entire bible? And if you don’t how can you do this?
I know man is flawed but god wouldn’t allow flaws in the bible would he? And if he would how do you know any of it is true, which parts are mans flaws and which parts are truly god’s words? Which parts should you believe, only the things you like? And why hasn’t god held these values sooner? And how exactly did they find these values? What about churches with close morals but differing stories which should you choose then?

Answer 2

Nothing in the Bible is outdated, in the Old Testament time the law of Moses was applied, then after Jesus came some of the laws were changed and then we are told to put away the things of Moses' time and follow that of Jesus.Working on the Sabbath and women not talking in church are in the New Testament.Rules which should be applied to todays christian.
How to tell which rules to follow and which ones not? You need to read and study the Bible for yourself. Sometimes people take the word out of context and use it to benefit them and their situation, because of this not everyone is going to be a reliable source on the subject of God's word.
I would suggest that you read the 1st four books of the New Testament, this was during Jesus' time and you can learn a lot about what is expected of us today. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Answer 3

Well... Jesus changed many things with the New Testament - in fact he specifically said the Hebrews had made too many rules and condemned the extreme rule of not working on the Sabbath - it was to the point where they wouldn't touch wheat when walking through a field because it was like the work of harvesting it, etc. Generally the Sabbath is meant to be a day of rest or doing something different and restorative - God knows that we need that.
Hey - I have one and only one struggle in all of the Bible and it is the women speaking in church scripture. I won't say I understand it because women do awesome work, are great preachers and Mary Magdalene was the first to know that Jesus had risen so...

But I am confused too - why do people focus on that and not on the THOUSANDS of wonderful teachings and stories on the other 1,200 pages of the Bible?If you want to continue to criticize know your material... read it and see what you disagree with because it is the most solid, truthful, honest, useful, insightful and beautiful book ever written.
And in that the Bible is representing a person - Jesus Christ. Christians do not worship the Bible - but the living God in our hearts.

Answer 4

There are no outdated rules. The word of God never changes. Whatever the bible says is the truth. What your trying to do is make false intepretations and claim them to be the truth. As far as working on the Sabbath its supposed to be kept holy. Meaning having a day, were you put it aside for God. It doesn't have to be Sunday that's just the traditional day. The woman speaking in the church, is refering to being the preacher of the church. The man was supposed to be the head. This does not mean superior, but its just the postion the God put for man.

Answer 5

Those things are not outdated. They should, according to the bible, God's sovereighn word, still be practiced customs. But they are not. God's word never changes, and is infact his word, not that of man. All his rules should be followed. However, these rules(refraining from work on the sabbath, etc.) do not impact our spirituality as much as things like homosexuality, so they are not really an issue.

Answer 6

Now you're getting somewhere.
Of course the Bible was written by humans. Someone took a pen and pressed that pen against paper (Or chisel against rock, or whatever).
Furthermore, fundamentalist Christians may be surprised to know that the entire text of the Bible never was found as it exists today. In fact, the complete text of Genesis has never been found as it exists today - it was put together from ancient, fragmentary sources by scholars and Chruch leaders. Furthermore, the Vatican had a lot of say as to what was to be included and what was not. It was not handed out as a block. There was debate over what was sacred and what was not over the centuries of the Church's existence.
A lot of its laws are indeed outdated, because we just don't live like the ancient Hebrews did. Try to calculate how many heads of cattle would need to be killed by a priest and his servants in a country the size of the United States in a year to satisfy the sacrifice requirements just for a fun math exercise and you'll get the point.
We also don't stone drunkards, we don't call homosexuality an abomination and we don't kill people who work on the Sabbath.
Your answer is the Bible is one of the great works handed down to man and reading it should not be avoided. There is a lot to learn from it, as it speaks of things that are timeless with regards to the human condition.
However, the Bible can not absolve us from our moral judgement. We still have to make up our minds about issues. The Bible is right on a lot of things, but wrong on a lot of others. We can't substitute it for moral judgement.

Answer 7

Why indeed...

The bible also says you must:

-- not eat pork, fat, and a bunch of other things in most christian's daily diets
-- hide a woman away during her period, have nobody touch her for 7 days, and have her go through a ritual "cleansing" with a sacrifice after that
-- stone people who commit certain offenses
-- and yes, Leah, the bible does indeed say that women must be silent in church:
(1 Timothy, Chapter 2)
"11: Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
12: But suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. "



No christians do those things -- why? Because they pick and choose which "rules" they follow. They'll allow that society has progressed since biblical times, and that now we know it's OK to eat pork if you cook it well enough (undercooked pork causing serious illness or death was the reason for the prohibition in the first place) -- but they won't allow that society has progressed with regard to issues of sexuality. Horribly hypocritical and inconsistent.

There is no evidence of any kind that there is any god of any kind. There is considerable evidence that the bible is wholly a concoction of men, flawed and imperfect, self-contradictory, and poorly-translated from copies of copies of copies (that each went through translations to various languages). It's not the "word of god" in any sense. People who believe that have never studied the history of the bible or their own religion.

Answer 8

The thing about women talking in Church was written to a specfic Church back then, I don't know why its in there but if you read it you'll realize it too. The Sabbath laws are outdated because Christ made a new one regarding that, I think. You just have to read it or talk to a pastor to help you out.

Answer 9

The bible says that God is not the author of confusion. If you are confused about somethings in the bible it is because the devil does not want you to find the truth. The Sabbath in the Old Testement is sybolic of the true rest that Believers would find in Christ. Now that Christ has come, everyday is a Sabbath (read Hebrews Chapter 4 and Colossians 2:16). And it is okay for women to talk in church. When Paul said this in the bible in was in reference to women who would make loud outbursts while speaking in tongues out of order. In other words, these loud outbursts were causing confusion hindering what God really wanted to say to His people. Lastly, Homosexuality, is sin to God because it destorts a true reflection of Him in mankind. Read Romans chapter 1 and it will tell how men rejected God, so he turned them over to all kinds of lewdness and immoral behaviors. Part of this says that men became lovers of men (homosexuality). If you want to understand the bible you will have to seek God and develop an intimate relationship with Him. When you develop and intimate relationship with Him, He will reveal Himself personally to you and give you revelation.

Answer 10

There were events that took place in the Bible that caused old rules to be void. My suggestion is to read the Bible yourself and pray that God will put the truth in your heart and you will know. He will help you to not be so confused if you let him in. The Bible is very plain on certain subjects. Homosexuality is one. Romans Chapter 1 verses 24-32 says it pretty plain.