Would you believe the bible less if it did not tell you who to hate.?

Question

I see it used as justification to promote prejudice and bigotry on these boards everyday. Visit the GLBT section and see for yourself.

Is it acceptable to believe Hitler went to heaven and Gandhi when to hell? (Thanks Daughter of Isis for this great point!)

Take out the judgment and the hate and what do you have left? Noah was about judgment, as was Job. Even Jesus is supposedly about judgment and salvation.

As many of you know, I am not an atheist. I think there is a God but He is not that biblical monster.

Answer 1

christianity and islam both miss the point, if reduced to this odd game of good and evil. promising heaven to the good ones and hell to the bad ones. that is NOT religion.
but simple minds like it that way and they enjoy to claim themselves to be on the good side. otherwise how could they hate the ones beeing on the bad side?
fortunately true religion is beyond good and evil. it is for everyone, and its point is not to care for heaven or hell. heaven and hell are in everyone of us.
jesus told us, not to care about tomorrow. this was said in terms of caring for the physical body, allright. but it is the same with going to heaven (or not).
salvation is HERE AND NOW. or it is an illusion.
just don´t care about tomorrow, that is the main point in all true religion. how can this be done? it can be done by love and understanding. understanding of what? understanding of god.
if you feel save in your love for god, then why care for tomorrow? that is true freedom. and feeling save will make you forget all this business about beeing "saved" and illusionary salvation.
if you say a big YES to god, then, why worry? it is not so difficult.

Answer 2

No where does it says that one should hate another. It says we are to turn from evil - and not try to say that darkness is righteousness.

G-d is both a G-d of love and a G-d of justice. The two must balance each other out. Which is were compassion comes from.

There is so much more to the Tanakh then just what you consider to be hate and judgement. In fact, many would tell you that there are many layers to it - to help us truly understand G-d.

Who are these people that you considered we are called to hate and judge? Where are these scriptures that tell us to do that? And, when G-d did decide to take action against a group of people, were they innocent? Or guilty of henious crimes?

And by the way, who says Hitler went to heaven? Because people say he professed to by Christian? Just become one professes to be Christian does not mean they are. Or that they believe in G-d. For Christians - you have to have faith in G-d and in Jesus - to believe that G-d made the ultimate sacrifice. And to know that G-d still loves the Jewish people. And does not advocate killing them, no matter how people use the scriptures.

Answer 3

I take issue with one point you make, and that's the story of Job.


Job was a nice piece of fiction/poetry designed to combat the common idea that people get exactly what they deserve. This belief led people to condemn those who were sick or weak or fallen upon hard times, and it also led to them being xenophobic, since they blamed marriage with foreigners for their military defeats (since they didn't wnat to blame their own noble ancestors).

In Job, all sorts of bad stuff happens to a guy who did nothing wrong, just to illustrate that you don't necessarily deserve it when something bad happens. That was an important point back in the day, and it flew in the face of what most of the prophets (including most of those included in the Bible) said.


There's some pretty vile stuff in most of the books of prophets, though. And in most of the rest of the Bible. It's impossible to believe every single part of the Bible is true, because the Bible says that God is good, and the Bible also says that God commanded the slaughter of innocents.

Answer 4

I don't know what bible you're reading, but mine doesn't tell me who to hate. It tells me that I should love every one.
It also says "judge not lest you be judged." Matthew chapter 7 v. 1

And I surely don't know how you came by the mistaken idea that hitler went to heaven. The man did everything in his power to remove God's truth from every aspect of peoples lives. he had bibles reprinted with only select verses that he could corrupt for his purposes.
While I believe that the bible teaches homosexuality is a sin, i also believes it teaches love rather than attacking those people. I can love without approving.
Say my one year old son tips over the trash and makes a huge mess. I sure don't approve of his actions, but I don't quit loving him.

As for Christ being about Judgement, you bet. He has every right. He was given all power on heaven and earth, he gave us rules to live by, and expects them to be followed.
Why shouldn't he judge us when we fail him?

Answer 5

I feel very sorry for you.

The bible isn't about judgement. I feel most sad for the people who believe it is their guidelines for hatred. As you so aptly stated.

The bible is a love letter. The stories of both Noah and Job are about trust in the Lord. About having faith even in the worst circumstance.

If anyone reads a bible and does not see its message of love then they are in a very bad state.

Quotes from the Book of Tobit:
Give alms from your possessions. Do not turn your face away from any of the poor, and God's face will not be turned away from you.

Son, give alms in proportion to what you own. If you have great wealth, give alms out of your abundance; if you have but little, distribute even some of that. But do not hesitate to give alms; you will be storing up a goodly treasure for yourself against the day of adversity.

Do to no one what you yourself dislike

Answer 6

The bible says- "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." The bible promotes love- yes, granted God is a just God so there has to be payment for sin- and Christ paid that price if we are willing to accept that- the Bible does say- we are to hate sin- which is also in me- so I must hate the sin in me. When we hate sin, if we are followers of Jesus we will love all men, no matter who they are, because we are people who have sinned, but admitted our need for Jesus. Hating what someone does, is different than hating the person. When your own child disobeys you don't hate them, you just don't like their behavior,

Answer 7

hmm

wanna know something really interesting?

check it out:

if there was no promise of heaven...or no threat of hell...christianity (and most other religions) wouldnt be very popular.

its the promises and threats it makes that keep people beleiving. take those away and no one would want to invest their faith into it.

think of it like the stock market. if you invested money into a stock and got the exact same back...it wouldnt be worth it. the purpose of investing is to make a return on your investment. if Christianity Inc. was a business where its stock never went up (or down) in price then no one would invest in it.

same applies with faith. people invest their faith in it because they see a return on their investment (heaven)

plus of course theyre told that if they dont invest theyll go to hell for all of eternity (hell)

so it really is interesting.

Answer 8

God makes the rules. We just do what he wants and how he wants it. To often does man try to discredit the bible because it goes against political correctness or personal touchy feely notions.

Answer 9

I don't believe Hitler is in heaven, but if He asked Christ into his heart before he took his last breathe, who am I to question God?

Answer 10

These questions are virtually useless, since we seem to be operating with 2 entirely different definitions of "hate".