Aren't Christians Just As Much Moral Relavists As Humanists?

Question

Here is what I have experienced within the Christian faith

1. Christians do pick and choose what they will follow from the bible and what they will not. Isn't that relativity?

e.g.

Christians do not follow ALL the rules from the bible nor believe all of them are RELEVANT for our modern day time. For example, Paul did not speak out against the atrocities of slavery but he urged slaves to be obedient to their masters in Titus 2: 9-10. Does that mean it is wrong for slaves today to rebel and seek freedom? Paul also reflected the perception of women as lesser creatures who had to be taught and should not seek to lead. Read 1 Corinthians 14: 36-36 and 1Timothy 2:11-15, but there are female preachers and pastors (Thank goodness!)

Obviously, moral relativism exists within Christianity does it not? And obviously the ONLY sensible way to interpret the bible is with relative common sense not fundamentalism. Do you agree?

Answer 1

Yes they are.

Answer 2

As a Christian, you believe the Bible is true or you would not be a Christian. You cannot accept bits and pieces of what you like. Most slavery in Pauls day was more of an indintured servant type scenario. That is, they sold themselves into slavery to payoff debts or whatnot. They would have been set free regardless in the year of Jubilee (every 50 years).

Christians cannot be moral relativists. We know that there is a standard of morals given by God. This exists in our minds with or without God. No matter where you live or who you are, you have a natural knowledge of what is good and what is evil. You know when someone does something wrong to someone else. Right and Wrong are not some personal opinion...there are absolute truths. There is no gray area of morals.

I believe Pauls message to the Corinthians and Titus about women has been grossly misunderstood, but I do also believe that God designed men to be leaders of the church, goverment, and home. It is a natural desire for a man to be a leader. You cannot justify picking out things you want to be right and tossing aside things you don't like for convenience.

You believe the Bible or you believe it is a lie. I don't pick and choose scriptures and neither should any Christian. I think the reason you see so many women teachers and evangelists is that men have dropped the ball after WWII when they came back and women had femanized the curches. They just left everything up to women who had filled their place while they were fighting and never stepped back into their role. As far as women's role in a church, ask Joyce Meyer. She is one of the most influencial teachers in the nation right now. She understands what God meant. She is submisive to her husband. You should also research the traditions and culture of the curch in Paul's day. Men sat on one side and women on the other.

Answer 3

Okay, the reason Jesus came to save people was because no one could follow the rules and regulations of the Bible. It is because we couldn't that we needed someone who could, and become our substitute. (See Romans 3:25 as an example of this.)

You missed a very important thing about slavery, too. Paul never advocated slavery, but he was also a realist. People became slaves when they got into too much debt, and sold themselves as slaves to have their debt paid. In return for that, the slave would serve the person who paid the debt for a period of years, or if they chose to, for a lifetime. (See Exodus 2:21ff)

Paul also said this about slaves: "Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let that bother you. Of course, if you have a chance to become free, take advantage of the opportunity." (I Corinthians 7:21)

As to female pastors, this is a clear violation of the Scriptures. This is willful disobedience, and so I agree with you, those churches and pastors are relativists.

As to your comment about relative common sense, I have to ask you...whose "common sense" do you use? If God didn't mean what He said, why do we bother at all? Fundamentalists merely believe the whole Bible, in its context, is true.

Those churches whose practices are continuously relativistic have bought into the very things you accuse Christianity of. They have abandoned the clear teaching of Scripture, and you will find that their numbers have been dwindling for decades.

Answer 4

The bible was written in different languages and a long time ago. You have to research the true meaning of the words to understand what was meant . A bible concordance is helpful to bring back the true meaning of individual words. Our society has changed a lot of the meanings of words, so using our current definitions won't work.
Most of the time when there is a woman in leadership, it is because there are no men willing to step up. God's plan is for God to be our authority, for the man to be the authority over his wife and children. That does not mean he can take advantage of the authority, but that HE is responsible for the spiritual learning, protection, guidance direction, and all other needs of his greatest possession

Answer 5

I think you have described what is often termed liberal (dare I say thinking) christianity.

Unfortunately, fundamentalist do not see themselves as cherry-picking the bible. Thus they will say that some OT rules are still in force based on some NT verses and declare that other OT rules have been abolished based on other NT verses even though most of the verses do not specify which parts of the OT they are referring to.

They are also willing to overlook NT verses which they feel should be read in something other than a literal manner while defending OT nonsense as literal history. Go figure.

Answer 6

Wow this is so funny.
It's like this.... morality is something Christian and Atheists
and almost all other religion or spiritual people follow according to their own value system.
Some religions put emphasis on that as their way to get into heaven.

But... morality has nothing to do with getting into heaven or being a Christian.

Some Christians are more Morally sound than others.
Some Atheists are more morally sound than some Christians are...

It only has to do with Jesus saving us from our own immoral
acts that saves us. Not the MORAL ACT itself.

Answer 7

Sadly, you are ight. Most Christians today do only practise a small portion of what the Bible commands. Most even disregard at least two or three of the 10 Commandments. That is not Christianity though... Jesus said that "Man shall live by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God". And since we do have a revelation of those words....there's no excuse not to obey...other than our own carnality,-for as Paul said "The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God..." and as James said "He ho offends in one point is guilty of all". One has to stop being an enemy of God ("Enmity="the quality of being an enemy") if we're going to call ourselves Christian.

Answer 8

No I do not. Much of what is written in the bible is real time instructions to God's children for living in this fallen and sinful world. Jesus said His kingdom is not of this world. Understanding this brings consistency to what otherwise would seem to be inconsistency.

Answer 9

ALL humans are moral relativists.

Even if they pick a religion, they're picking a religion and thus a moral code.

There is no absolute law-giver.

Answer 10

Limited-to-the scope-of-the-Bible-relative I guess, which is pretty wide-open.

Answer 11

1) We do not pick and choose....
2) Christ came to fulfill the OT laws and regulations

But it seems as though you have chosen the path of destruction with your non-belief. There's still time to give your life to Christ.