Why is it that Christians are always quoting the bible to support their positions but refuse to acknoledge?

Question

that the bible also condones eating pork and shell fish, it also says that two different seeds shall be planted in the same fiels, it has instructions on how a man must shave his beard, it has rules about when a man can or can not have sex with a woman. The bible condones owning slaves. So OK i can hear it that is in the old testament ok, well why is it that Christian are not tougher on people who get divorced. Why is it that Christians pick and choose the pieces out of the bible that are convient for them, its not a buffet

ERROR ON THE LINE ABOUT TWO SEEDS, the bible says that you shall NOT plant two different seeds in a field

Answer 1

you are right . the bible is not a buffet. you can't pick and choose. but you must study the bible so that you can get a better understanding of it. the old law has not passed away, as one of your answerers said. rather, it was fulfilled by Christ when He died and rose again. there is nothing wrong with eating the foods which were once forbidden in the old testament. so eat all the shellfish and pork that you want.
the bible doesn't condone owning slaves. it merely states what the relationship should be between a slave and his owner, since there were slaves back then. it was common practice for the people of one nation to make slaves of a conquered people after a war.
as far as divorce is concerned, you have a valid point. earlier in the last century, people were forbidden to divorce, upon disfellowship from the church. it is the liberal times in which we live that has allowed this practice (divorce) to thrive.
you have asked a very good question, and I think you deserve a better answer than I, or anyone else on this forum could give you. Why don't you talk it over with your pastor. I'm sure he could give you a better insight. Good luck to you.

Answer 2

Christians are those that save on with the training of Jesus Christ. He did quote the Scriptures many circumstances to coach his factor. hence many Christians do the same, a large selection. I have continually concept it humorous that those that thumb down an answer at the same time as the scripture proves the point the guy posting reported. The Bible is God's note and those products coach it. a million) The Bible is scientifically superb perfect. basically God would have regularly occurring the kind of the earth at the same time as the Bible replaced into written. In Ecc. it says the earth is a sphere and sits on itself. the kind of a sphere is round. 2) traditionally that is authentic as a prediction of Cyrus replaced into foretold three hundred years beforehand he replaced into born and he replaced into named with the help of his call, Cyrus. We also understand the Cesar's lived besides because the Pharaohs. 3) the most important element is the predictions interior the Bible have come authentic. There are basically 2 which have not befell, the finished Tribulation and Armageddon. With this tract record, why would we not trust the e book of Revolution?

Answer 3

These are just SOME of the questions I've been asking myself for the past 15 years. Go figure. Why are the baptists so sure they're going to heaven, but they're also sure the Catholics aren't?

'It's not a buffet!" <---- that's a great comeback and sooo true! Kudos my friend!

--QUOTE--First of all, without intending any disrespect toward the person who posed this question, read the Bible a little closer. Nothing of what is in the question is in the Bible. Second of all the Bible is the word of God. It is without error and is completely true. We base our answer on the Bible because the Bible tells us how to live and have a relationship with Jesus Christ. --ENDQUOTE--

The word of GOD? Did God himself come down and write it all out on papryus? This was written years and years after Christ's death. The bible is a bunch of stories and opinions written by MEN. Those stories and opnions were then picked from and chosen by another group of MEN who compiled your Bible.

Answer 4

And what do you pick? Who's pieces do you pick and choose from? You seem to have mastered your ability to be critical of people who are at TRYING to do something good.

Pretty much all that you said in your arrogant question is taken out of context and the way you put, you made it all a lie. No,we do not support slavery! Yes, we do eat pork and shell fish,what do you find wrong with that? I like pork chops and shrimp. We do believe in sex with the OPPOSITE SEX, no same sex relationships allowed. And yes, we do not want divorce, but I never met anyone, Christian or not that wanted a divorce, but it does happen.

As Christians, we know how to deal with our sin, we start by admitting that we have sinned. We don't go around pretending that homesexuality is ok, because it is not, it is sin. We don't get all drunked up on booz and drugs because we believe that too is sin. We don't sleep around before we get married because that is sin. We don't lie,cheat,steal,chase other mens wives. We do share, we give, we help, we build where others tear down. We encourage each other to keep our chin up and moving forward. We help each other succeed and give more money to help those in need then you can imagine. We run the soup kitchens and the anti-abortion clinics, so people make the RIGHT choice.

And so much more, how do you feel being so critical of Christian people?

We live in a way that is healthy, but we are not flawless.

HOw about you?

Answer 5

I don't claim to be a bible scholar, but generally dietary laws were Old Testament teachings and were for the most part set aside with Christ's fuller revelation of the Law. The high priests of Christ's day accused him of violating dietary laws and other technicalities too, which only showed they didn't understand what was really important.

I think in some cases dietary and procedural law in the Old Testament were given to teach discipline & self-control more than anything else. Lifting weights during the offseason doesn't add any points during the season, but the strength it gives does.

Condone slavery... I think you are referring to the verse where it says slaves should serve their masters as they would serve God. But since EVERYONE is also commanded to treat others as they would like to be treated, it stands to reason that a slavemaster is commanded to treat his slaves kindly if not free them. I don't mean to trivialize freedom vs. slavery, but as a practical matter remember that in some situations if a slave was freed he might not have any shelter or the means to survive.

I agree that Christians should not cherry-pick only the verses they like, and I freely admit there are some I don't like, or at least don't understand.

Answer 6

Yeah, I don't completely understand these things either, but that's because all these laws (relating to eating, cutting the beard, ect) are useless now (at least I believe that). I believe that Jesus died on the cross for us and that acting w/in the laws is useless to try and get to Heaven. Most of the Old Testiment stuff either pointed to Jesus or helped keep order among the Jews. The Bible never supports slave ownership, it just accepts it as a fact. People did not think of slavery as a sin back then. God did, but He knew it would take time for it to go away (and it still hasn't completely). The sex thing is a health and family thing. If sex is done outside of marriage, it can be leathally destructive for everyone involved in both people's lives. Our society is so liberal today and sex outside of marriage is accepted as normal, so we have AIDS rampant, a record number of divroces, and more suicides than ever bc of family problems. And, lastly, you're right, some Christians do use only parts of the Bible that they want to hear, but that's hypocritical. I don't agree w/ that. I'm not saying that I'm perfect, but I do try to hold myself accountable to everything set out in the Bible. Jesus abolished most of the Jewish laws when He died on the cross, so the list isn't nearly as long, but its still impossible to hold up to. I need Jesus to keep me in Heaven. Its all mercy. Hope this helps.

Answer 7

eating pork and shellfish belongs to the old covenant of the Law. Jesus came to set us free from the Law of Sin and Death and to bring us into the covenant of Grace as God promised to the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 31:31-34).

Under Law many things are not permissable and we are at odds with God. We have to keep this commandmant, keep that practice. Your righteousness is based on your SELF. Break a law and you have to sacrifice an animal to clear your debt. Hence we can never be perfectly justifed in God's eyes by the Old Covenant. Remember that if you just think about coveting your neighbour's possession u are as good as breaking that commandment.

Under grace, everything is given to us. We don't have to work for it. That's the whole purpose of Jesus becoming man and dying on the cross for us. If we can justify ourselves, why do we need a Messiah to go through all the hassle?

But I'm not saying that we should go out and break the 10 commandmants. Grace does not give you a license to sin. Right thinking will bring about Right Living.

The church today places too much emphasis on self efforts and many people's belif is based on fear and guilt.

Read the whole of Romans and Ephesians again!

Answer 8

I'll try to answer this in order.

Christians quote the Bible because it's what they study: if you studied birds, you would show pictures of birds, etc. Christians believe that God divinely inspired people to write what he wanted, so they use that as their reference. If you don't believe it, then you must argue logically with them instead of referentially.

The specific things you have listed, like the pork and sex and shaving, etc., are all from the Old Testement. Christians think of history like a huge timeline: the first third is the Old Testement, the second third (currently) the New Testement, and the last third is the infinite after-life, which is just barely hinted at in the Bible. While God stays the same through the three parts, he has realistic goals. During the Old Testement, he establishes a people to sort of get to know him, while telling them that he'll be doing something different later. He sends his son in the second phase to do that . In doing so, Jesus fulfills the Old T. prophesies (messiah, etc.) and the obligations (animal sacrifice, etc.). God was using both to point towards the future (Jesus). That's why Christians call the OT stuff "the old law," and talk about "the new law," which is what Jesus replaced the old with. Now followers of Christ are living in expectation of the third section of history. God will act slightly differently there, too, though he'll be the same: it's like you are a different parent to a newborn, a kid, and a teenager, though really you're the same person.

In early church history, they had a great argument about the idea of the new and old law: Paul and Peter even got into a big argument in Jerusalem over circumcision, which was prescribed by God in the Old. Paul won (Christians would say through divine inspiration), and so writes that Christians can be "neither Jew nor Gentile." In essense, he says that with the old law passing away, non-Jews didn't have to become Jews first (and be circumcised) to be Christians, because Jesus came for all men, not just Jews.

As to Christians picking and choosing, well it's just plain wrong. Just as you get much more angry over someone cutting you off in traffic than if you do it yourself, Christians like to hold themselves to different rules. It's not right, and they rationalize it away to make themselves feel better, but they do it. Being a Christian doesn't mean you're perfect, but that you realize you're imperfect.

I expect that like most people you're not as much bothered by their mistakes as by their inability to own up to them. Christians believe that sin (wrongness, including hipocrisy) entered the world almost at the very beginning. When they are "saved," it's not being made perfect. It's having your sin imputed to Jesus (remember the OT sacrifice? He lived a perfect life, so he was able to make the ultimate one. Therefore, he's the only one who is qualified to take Christians' sin away.).

This is often misunderstood. I'll say it another way: the day before you're saved, you have awful impulses (from, say, speeding to killing your mother-in-law). The day after, you probably still have awful impulses, because you're just so used to them. Like piano, the more you practice your mistakes the better you are at them. That's why Christians still act hypocritically and say and do terrible things: they are still sinful. The only difference is that they are no longer technically ruled by that sin (though it can seem that way).

Christians need to practice good behavior like a four-year-old needs to practice not hitting the dog with a stick. It still doesn't come naturally. Becoming a Christian doesn't make your life easier, and doesn't make you more kind. But it does mean that you've given God permission to act in your life. If you do that, beware: for while you may think of your little cottage life as needing new paint and sealant on the windows, God may start tearing down walls and running up towers, because he'll want to make you a fit company for him in heaven. It can be quite traumatic, having God work on you.

I'm trying to boil down theology that can get just a complex as Aristotle to Nietzche. I hope I've helped. God Bless.

Answer 9

I am not an overly religious person, I believe in god and am a good person, I guess this makes me somewhat of a christian. But I do not believe that quoting scriptures makes one any better than me, it makes them a religious zealot, who I beleive has something to hide or at one time done something bad. Reading words does not make you a good person or a christian , it is what is in your heart. The bible has many contradictions, leading a good life is what will show favortism in the eyes of god, not just shouting words on TV and then asking for money.

Answer 10

Not all Christians are that way. I am a nondenominational Christian, and my church follows every single solitary piece of the Bible, not including the Old Testament, since the Old Law has passed away.

I think a lot of churches today are afraid they will lose too many people if they tell them they can't get divorced, etc. What they can't seem to realize is that (according to the Bible) those people are already lost. You sound like someone who may enjoy arguing your views on www.religiousforums.com . you should check it out, it's a pretty cool place.