What do these Passages from the Bible Teach People about Christianity?

Question

Matthew 19:29 If you really loved Jesus then he insists that you abandon your wife and children for him. Only that way will he allow you to go to heaven.

Samuel 15:3 God commands the death of helpless "suckling" infants. This literally means that the children god killed were still nursing.

Psalms 135:8 & 136:10 Here god is praised for slaughtering little babies.

Psalms 137:9 Here god commands that infants should be “dashed upon the rocks”

Kings 15:16 God allows the pregnant women of Tappuah (aka Tiphsah) to be “ripped open”. And the Christians have the audacity to say god is pro-life. How and the hell is it that Christians can read passages where God allows pregnant women to be murdered, yet still claim abortion is wrong?

Answer 1

to sound even halfway academic, you should be putting actual QUOTES in these points of yours.

God owes you no explanation, that is the first and most important key to hermeneutics.

NOTE: all Scriptures below are taken from the New American Standard Bible, which is widely accepted one of or THE most accurate version of the Bible.

here we go:

Matthew 19.29 "And (everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother [a]or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.

i don't think this is the verse you are looking for. you are looking for the verse where Jesus says that you must hate your father and mother. simple enough to say, that verse is a figure of speech (hyperbole, to be exact) showing the comparison between our love for God and our love for our families. The purpose of this juxtaposition is to show that our LOVE for our families should look like HATE compared to our LOVE for God.

However, the above verse says this: if you choose to follow God, then you will lose these things (listed in the verse). However, don't lose heart because if you lose those things for God, He will still greatly bless you.

moving on:
one of the keys to understanding any piece of literature is putting the original text into the context in which it was written. guess what! the Bible is one such piece of literature. to understand the following passages, one must first understand that.

FIRST (1ST) Samuel 15.2 AND 3
2"Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt.

3'Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'"

yes, God does tell the Israelites (specifically the armies of Saul) to destroy the Amalekite children. However, it is important to note that the wars fought in Biblical times were not the same kinds of wars that we see fought today. After the siege of the amalekites, Israel could not form a treaty with them and occupy their land until the people were subdued (like the allies in axis countries after WWII).

The only way to know that Amalek would not be a future concern is the obliteration of ALL the Amalekites, including women and children. Then, to make sure that the Israelites were not shaming the amalekite people, God made sure to tell them to destroy their possessions as well. The Israelites could not steal and loot the Amalekites because they were strictly commanded to destroy the spoils of the victory.

next:
Psalm 135.8: He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
the firstborn of men and animals.
Psalm 136.10: to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt
His love endures forever.

alright, sounds brutal, but let's remember that the Biblical account tells us that the death of the firstborn in Israel was the catalyst to the freedom of the Israelites from slavery to Egypt. Pharaoh was given ample warning that their were plagues coming into the land, yet he made no provision to free the Israelites. This is divine retribution for God's people, as God did what He knew would convince the hardened pharaoh to free His people.

Psalm 137.8 AND 9:
8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us-

9 he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.

that's not Israel. That's Babylon, and it is an action that is performed against Israel and condemned as evil.

finally,
SECOND (2nd) Kings 15.16 AND 17

At that time Menahem, starting out from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah and everyone in the city and its vicinity, because they refused to open their gates. He sacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women.

In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria ten years. 18 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD. During his entire reign he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit.

oops. once again, not a command from God. Actually, it was an action that was taken by a person that God says is sinful and is condemned by God.

your argument is asinine and i don't say this a lot, but i hope you feel stupid for needlessly condemning a book and a God that condemn what you said it condones. I don't care if you insult Christians, but don't insult my God.

Answer 2

Matthew 19:29 You must kill yourself and totally surrender. I abandoned my Marraige and my children to GOD because my self centerd atheistic egocentric insainity was making them emotionally ill. And I have been married to the same Wife for ten wonderful years now and I have four of the most Godly wonderful happy children you have ever met. You can not hold on to anything or you do not deserve Jesus. I wish more Christians would bring this point to light. I think many are ashamed of the gosphel.

I really thank you for bringing up the rest of the scripture. If I did it they would all call me a fundie and report me.

1Sa 15:2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember [that] which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid [wait] for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.
1Sa 15:3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ***.

This is the rite of GOD. It is the judgement of a rightous GOD on a world and people he created. This is a historical fact that this happened to the Amalekites. So my question is what are we in the USA deserving of as a nation?

You have no more rite to kill an unborn child then you do to kill me. And I can't take a breath outside of the will of GOD. Like it, ignore it or stick your arrogant fingers in your ears and say "la la la la la" GOD is.
Awesome Question and cool Scripture.

Answer 3

God mercifully gave the Canaanites 450 years(while Israel was in Egypt) to stop their child sacrifices ,their common beastiality,burying their firstborn alive in the wall of their house for good luck,and all kinds of human sacrifices.The priests of (the false god)Baal(bail) would commit human sacrifice and eat the flesh.That's where the word Cana-baal (canibal) comes from.The land needed to be cleansed but God accepted those who quit their evil and joined the Israelites,such as Rahab form Jericho who became an ancestor of Jesus,and Ruth the Moabitess who was David's great grandmother.Most of these people refused to stop doing eveil and their kids were ingrained with it.
Your 1rst question,If you believe in Jesus,and your family says,"If you don't renounce Jesus we will leave you" and you do,then you are not worthy of Him.That's what that means.

Answer 4

How many single verses or sentences do you take out of any book other than the Bible and try to define what it says by just that and not reading the rest of the story?

God is a God of Love.....you need to read the whole story and find out why. What was the reason behind what you've quoted.

Answer 5

That people like you are blinded and led to your own destruction, you will be judged without mercy in the final day, no one will pity you, that God must be first before all other devotions,that retribution will be dealt out,that God gives lifew and takes it away, he is not held to our own self serving moral standard but we are held to his. God can be tender and merciful and God can be harsh.
Why don't you grow up already and let go of your nursery ideas and views of God, and thinking that you are so important or special that God cannot destroy you and accept reality, God will judge you .
So you think you can judge and condemn God but God cannot judge you, what a farce.

Answer 6

it teaches me that some people can take things out of context and twist things around ... and those that come against Gods people will definitely be in danger of judgment from God .. He is a jealous God and will lay waste to those who are against His children utterly ... the bible nor God ever claimed that He would never harm a fly ... and God makes no distinction about evildoers either ... the evildoers bring it upon themselves and their families and their lands ...

Answer 7

well i believe you are reading it out of context,say you have a man and woman who are commiting murder or adultry,they are teaching thier children it is o.k.,well it's not,should God have to deal with these ppl,i think not He is God,besides i am only a woman whom loves my Father and no i don't understand alot about God,but i keep seeking Him for answers

Answer 8

Here comes the tired "out of context" phrase they love to use.

Answer 9

when taken singly not much - you need to read the whole chapter or surrounding verses to actually understand!

Answer 10

What they should teach them is that the bible is an inconsistent mishmash that, taken literally, is sick and barbaric and therefore they should reassess their blind faith in it.