Is the bible we have today the same one of the days of old?

Question

Are we still supposed to take a wife that proved not to be a virgin back to her fathers door and stone her like the new and the old testaments ordered as commanded by God
Are we still supposed to invade other countries and take the natives of those countries as slaves and make them submit to our will like ordered by Paul presumably as sanctioned by the head honcho himself?
If all that is true and the bible isnt just silly superstition
why is it that the Iraqians are not being sold in our marketplaces as slaves?
Are we a nation of Wimps Not Actually Believing in our Christian roots?
or is Christianity just a lip service religion where you can pick and choose which commands to follow and which commands to merely philosophize about?

obviously a lot of people answering dont know how to add 2 and 2 - if Paul commanded slaves to obey their masters then yes he is condoning the going off and capturing slaves DUH! -are all the Christians answering here that far down the IQ range?
I find it hard to comprehend that Christians are so blinded by dogma that they are unable to reason out the greater implications of words.. slaves dont run from their own homes and go volunteer to be slaves no matter what that book says

Answer 1

It might read the same, but seems to be interpreted completely differently, depending on denomination and culture.

Apparently, you get to choose what parts work for you and what parts don't. For instance many Christians love eating pork, but hate the Gays. Both are Kosher laws in Leviticus, but apparently pork is too tasty.

God forbid you eat a gay pig.....

Answer 2

No, it's not the same, but the Religionist of today would
have believe it. The Nicean Council had not only change
and rewritten many of the books, but they also omitted
books that did not agree with their way of thinking, thereby
challenging what they wanted their "Flocks of Followers"
to believe. Many Top scholars are aware of this, and have
written extensively about it. But the " average " Sheeple
just follow along without no concern for their own " Mind Well
Being". Pope Leo the X once said: "What great business
this " JESUS " Character has brought the Church". I'm most
certain that He meant MAMMON, and not for the "Edification
of it's Followers".

Answer 3

Of course the bible that is used today is not the same one of yesteryear. Why do you think there are so many versions of it? There probably isn't a place on earth where what was sanctioned in the bible is actually carried out, and people who do carry out these practices are seen as fanatics and extremists even when they claim to be only carrying out the "will of God" through "His" book.
Christianity as a lip service? Probably. So many people preach the bible without even having read it themselves. Why? Because the belief that all you need to be a good Christian is to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior cripples people spiritually.

Answer 4

You do know that those were the Law that allowed you to take revenge on a wrong suffered. No where in all of that are we commanded to stone our wives, or our children. I have no idea where you got the idea Paul ever commanded the Church to take slaves of other lands. That just isn't there.
Christianity tells us to do good for those that hate us. Return goodness for evil. To love all our neighbors. The Old Testaments Laws can see harsh, they were given that way so we would see the need to have the blood of Christ cover them on our behalf. So are all those Laws still in force, YES. Without Jesus they will condemn us. With Jesus and the sacrifice He made for us the Law has been tamed. Now we are free to Love Him and each other without worrying about a list of rules... IHS Jim

Answer 5

The Old testament is filled with old Jewish traditions and Customs..while God gave Moses only 10 commandments, the Old testament has hundreds of traditional laws. We need to distinguish between religious laws and traditional laws. Stoning of women was an old eastern traditiona law; Jesus condemned it.

There is nowhere in the New Testament where Paul sanctioned the invasion of countries...are you nuttssss?

Christianity is and has always been loving each other; there's no Christianity without Love.

Answer 6

God's Word has been preserved down through the centuries for us to learn from. Unfortunately, you overlooked the part where Jesus came to fulfill the old Law covenant. He established a new set of rules. Which is why you don't sacrifice goats any longer.

Isn't it marvelous to pontificate so superior to anyone else over something you know so little about? You did not even know this simple thing. Yet you pronounce us all wimps and silly superstitions.

Answer 7

The Bible we have today is relatively unchanged. But peoples view of it has changed significantly. Whereas the Bible was once considered the pinnacle of wisdom, and the absolute authority on how men should live their lives, this is no longer the case. I feel similar to you that what people call Christianity today is NOT the Christianity that Jesus publicized, and the one that his Apostles followed to their deaths. As for your first statement referencing the Mosaic Law recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures, Christians today are not bound by the Mosaic law, as this old covenant with Israel was abandoned when Jesus Christ offered himself as a propitiatory sacrifice. The Jews no longer had to offer sacrifices because Jesus had made an everlasting sacrifice to atone for mankind's sins. And no, we are not supposed to kill our fellow man. Jesus said that he who uses the sword will perish by the sword. No one can call themselves a Christian if they take up arms against another human being. Our leader, Jesus, certainly never killed another human being on earth. Therefore, no one claiming to be his follower could ever do so and remain clean in God's eyes. In Summary, the answer to your questions in order are 1) No, 2) No, 3)No, 4) Yes. Hope this helps.

Answer 8

Of course not. Below is a cut and paste of my answer to a question about "why did you study the bible"

I read it as a historical document in school. However I didn't bother with what people normally think of when you say 'bible'.

I started off leaning ancient Greek which led me into some of the original documents which led me to learn Hebrew which led me into other biblical documents which led me to some of the Latin translations and learning Latin of course.

And then somewhat our of curiosity I read some of the more modern translations. When I say modern I mean the King James translations. Which led me to ask what documents were they reading because they didn't bear much resemblance to what I had read. Which led me to the conclusion that if you haven't read the original you don't know what is in the bible.

But my major was technical and not theology so it was more of a curiosity. However a friend of mine from Hebrew class wrote a paper he called "Where is the bible in the bible?"

There are actually many documents from the period that are not included in the bible. The stories you refer to (the poster of this question referred to certain bible stories) are not so unusual for the period. People try to make sense of their environment with what they are familiar with and with the resources they have. Also what you begin to see particularly from the Hebrew texts is that it's what I would politely call "richly metaphoric".

The problem with metaphor is that it absolutely must be interpreted within the period that it was written. You absolutely can not remove it from its environment.

Example: When Britney Spears (sic) says "whoops I did it again" what does she mean? Of course we all know but only because it's contemporary. When someone 1600-2500 years from now reads that same statement what will they think she did? If they are like those who translated the KJ version of the bible they will translate it into their own period and frame of reference. Not just the words but the meaning itself will change. I just looked up the lyrics and just like most of the original documents the song would likely be wildly mistranslated.

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Idealist but cruel - Had you read the second sentence of my answer you would see that the majority was a relevant cut and past from an earlier answer I had given.

Answer 9

The Bible keeps its integrity when we get in touch with the author and originator of it's pages, God. He will open your eyes and show you that many of these commandments of the Old Testament were types and shadows of the true revelation of God's word.
What he eventually wanted men to see is we need realize that everything in this carnal realm of life is God's enemy. We need to therefore, take every thought and every influence this carnal world brings into our lives and take them captive. Not allowing anything to survive until it has been properly judged in the Spirit of God. Not giving place to the Devil the enemy of our souls no flesh will inherit the Kingdom of God. Let God have his perfect and loving ways into your life and you will be given the understanding of these hard questions you have in your soul and mind.
God bless and keep searching.

Answer 10

If we don't have the original biblical documents, but only possess copies (that have copyist errors), then how can we argue that the original documents were without error?

We don't need to have the original documents in order to demonstrate their inerrancy any more than a prosecutor needs a body to prove a crime has been committed. Inferences can be drawn from the evidence at hand, and a reasonable conclusion can be argued from biblical principles.

First of all, the copies definitely have errors in them, but whether or not they have errors does not necessitate that the originals did. We don't need to have the original documents in order to demonstrate their inerrancy anymore than a prosecutor needs a body to prove a crime has been committed.
Second, the Scriptures are said to be God-breathed, i.e., inspired. Second Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness." The word "inspired" is 'theopneustos', God-breathed. This means that Scripture comes from God. Jesus said in Luke 24:44-45, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures." Notice At the Scriptures are referred to as the entire Old Testament. Furthermore, Jesus said in John 10:35, “If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken)."

We see that Jesus speak for the entire Old Testament, to which John the apostle refers to Scripture. Then we see that Jesus said the Scripture cannot be broken. This means that it cannot fail. From this we can easily conclude that the position of Jesus is that the Scriptures, the written form, cannot fail, cannot be broken. Logically, this means that they are without error.

Third, Jesus did not deal with the issue of copyist errors. He simply stated that God's word cannot be broken. Likewise, we should take the same stance.

Fourth, Jesus did not possess the original writings, yet he said that they could not be broken and contain error.

Fifth, the New Testament is likewise considered Scripture by the Christian Church. Therefore, it falls under the purview of all Scripture being inspired of God.