Where in the Bible?

Question

I bought a second-hand bible on E-bay, I won the bid. There are several missing pages:

What chapter in the Bible says ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself, except homosexuals, and you shall oppose everyone who is or who thinks differently from you?’ And what did Jesus really meant when he said, "Love your neighbour?

In other words, do religious folks tend to ‘cherry-pick’ the passages and parts which suit them, even though they make claims of embracing the ‘entire’ Bible as literal? Or do religious folks really insinuate their cultural biases, and then make claims that they are sufficiently supported by Biblical mandate, when in fact, they are subjective and relative?

Answer 1

Well, what can I say. I've studied the Bible, English, Latin and Aramaic texts, and you are correct. Accept for Leviticus, and even that book isn't quite what they think it is, there are no direct passages pertaining to homosexuality at all. Now if I may correct a few misconceptions:

1. Sodom was NOT destroyed because of homosexuality, but because of the lasciviousness and evil, homosexuality itself is neither.

2. Jesus said not one word on the subject.

3. The writings of Paul are both inconsistent and too vague to be taken as literal. At best, given the words used, he condemned same sex prostitution, not homosexual love.

4. Where Leviticus is concerned, it is not the word of God nor is it attributed to Him. It is in fact a book of laws written as civil law by the Pharisees of Jerusalem. It is not divine.

In the end, most of the supposed admonitions against homosexuals is based solely only cultural and religious bigotry, pure and simple. The Bible, the Q'uran and the Torah all bear these erroneous words and have been manipulated over a period of millenia. To believe that the meanings, translations or directives have not been altered in all that time is both insulting to ones logic and to ones intellect.

Bottom line, the Bible, the Q'uran, the Torah are all books based completely on hearsay and as such should be given their due with this fact in mind.

Answer 2

Actually, you must difference your wording simply somewhat: Hebrew Bible Roman Catholic Bible Protestant Bible The Jewish pupils completed the version of the Hebrew Bible in approximately the 3rd century. That textual content is integrated in each the RC and Prot. Bible. The order of the books is exclusive, due to the fact that of underlying assumptions. The Christian Bible (the New Testament) wasn't relatively nailed down till virtually the 10th century or so. After that, it used to be locked in. This used to be performed in a sequence of Church Councils. This textual content is the equal in each the RC and Prot. Bible, and the Old Testament is as a rule the equal in both of those Bibles, besides that the order could also be slightly exclusive. The handiest change among the RC and Prot. Bibles is the presence of the Apocrypha -- a couple of books that had been unknown in Hebrew, however had been integrated oftentimes in Greek language translations of the Old Testament that had been in widespread use across the time of the early Church. That Greek translation of the Old Testament (known as the Septuagint) used to be so widespread (such a lot Jews didn't at the moment don't forget the best way to talk or learn Hebrew anymore) that at any time when you discover the Old Testament quoted within the New Testament, it's regularly the Septuagint textual content they're quoting.

Answer 3

I donot have this book memorized,however I believe it does say in John or somewhere-to love your nieghbor as yourself.
love doesnot in this sentence have anything remotely to do with sexual activities,do religous peoples cherry pick of course., do all ?of of course not, its not oppose rather to stay with their own kind some yes believe this strongly-its reasoning is clear that if they stay with those like themselves they humans like all humans full of sin will not be affronted with the possibility or at least the desire for something they believe to be a sin or wrong,I believe some not the majority of protestants,chatholics,others including the closest Iam if Iam anything messianics strive for the whole but it is an ever struggle,I believe scholars if alone and their backs to the wall they would say 'of course not' if you asked them did they really believe.
hell everything is subjective........aint' it?
It does say and I dont know where but I have read it in a number of versions that "man is not to lay with another man as he would a woman" now many people have said this means you are not to have sexual intercourse with a man ,of course thats a subjective idea when reading something like the scriptures,as you see some christians who are homosexual claim they can be both because Jesus was the Christ and he died to wash away all sin if a man will but believe in him,his death,and G-ds miracle of raising him up out of the grave is also a part of these ideas.
the seperation of the old test. and the new are clear,although I suppose subjective by some.

Answer 4

Funny, I've read the Bible repeatedly and Jesus said NOTHING about homosexuality. It's all been Paul who also said "it was better to marry than to burn". Might I add that there are also 362 admonishments against *heterosexuals* in the Bible while there are 6 against homosexuals. That's a huge gap in numbers. It seems God is more worried about His straight children than his gay children. Please Folks, let's Love our neighbors as ourselves and just be kind to one another. We'd get a lot farther and be far more like Jesus instead of all this bickering. Love is much better than hate. Blessings.

Answer 5

All explanations of the Bible's contents are relative interpretations, which reflect the historical, cultural and political prejudices of each group.

That's why Protestant groups splinter into thousands of denomination, and that's why Protestants split form Roman Cathoicism, and that's also why Orthodox and Romans don't mix.

The only reasonable approach to interpreting spiritual scriptures is an open-minded, esoteric analysis, which is often espoused by groups which have been traditionally persecuted by the literalists as 'heretics' and 'witches'.

These groups are modern day liberal Christians, scientists, aetheists, agnostics, gnostics, and secular humanists, etc.

Answer 6

The Bible is a very complicated book, millions of people can read it and each one will get a different idea of what things mean! In other words no two minds think alike! That is why God made our minds to think for thmselves!

Answer 7

Christian bigotry is a disgusting and insidious evil.

To Christian bigots themselves, their bigotry is usually invisible. It disguises itself as piety and righteousness. But to non-Christians at the receiving end, it is often plain old unadulterated bigotry.

Christian bigotry manifests itself as a holier-than-thou attitude towards non-Christians. The Christian bigot has in her head the idea, "I must be right and you must be wrong, because I'm a Christian and you're not. After all, only Christians can know God."

It is worth mentioning that other forms of bigotry often appeal to religion to justify themselves. Anti-semitism is fueled by the belief that Jews killed Jesus.

Men may claim superiority over women, because it was Eve who seduced Adam into disobeying God. Homophobes may justify their hatred of homosexuals by finding condemnations of homosexuality in the Bible.

So bigotry and religious justification for bigotry often go hand in hand. It should be no surprise then to find the many religious bigots in the world. Among Christians, Christian bigotry is bound to be the most common variety of bigotry. It has a stronger foothold in Christianity than any other kind of bigotry does. In the pulpit, Christians preachers will be more likely to condemn all other kinds of bigotry.

There is biblical support for the claim that Jews and Gentiles, blacks and whites, and men and women are all equal in God's eyes. But preachers are unlikely to tell their congregations that non-Christians can be just as good as Christians, that non-Christians and Christians are equal in God's eyes. Such "heresy" would probably get a minister booted out of his church.

The doctrine common among many Christians that you can know God only through the mediation of Christ leads many Christians to think that they have a special connection to God that non-Christians lack, leading them to think that they have God's special favor and non-Christians don't. This fuels an elitist attitude that can lead directly to bigotry.

There is also a misplaced sense of Christian charity that leads Christians to believe it's their duty to convince others to become Christians. There is the refusal to recognize the worth of other people's religious beliefs.

There is the belief, manifested in the Crusades, in the Roman conquest of Europe, in the European conquest of America, etc., that it is our mandate from God to Christianize the heathens, even if it means slaughtering them. There is the sentiment among the Christian Right in the U.S.A. that it is our mandate from God to make this a Christian nation. It is all bigotry, and it is all evil.

Answer 8

As well as cherry picking a single Bible, Christians will Cherry pick between several Bibles to find what they need to frighten or condemn someone. Most of their recruitment is done by pushing fear.

Answer 9

I couldn't agree with you more. I just asked my uncle whose an atheist but knows more about my religion than me & he said there is NOTHING in the Bible about homosexuality being a sin. He should know, he used to be an altar boy

Answer 10

Religious folks, as you call them, often have a cafeteria approach to the scripture, and also a wild imagination to come up with personal interpretations that suit whatever they want to impose.