Why do Christians always quote part of the bible but ignore others?

Question

People make an argument based on specific verses of the bible. I started a question asking if homosexuality is a choice or a biological 'disorder', and there were a few responses quoted the bible, claiming it must be a choice.

However, do these people practice what they preach?? or are they simply hypocrites? Let me quote some verses from the bible.

'You must not wear clothing woven part of wool, part of linen.' [Deuteronomy 22:11]

'She (a rape victim) must marry the rapist, because he has violated her. And so long as he lives, he may not divorce her.' [Deuteronomy 22:29]

'...the dead man's wife must not marry a stranger outside the family. Her husband's brother must fulfill the duty of a brother and marry the dead man's wife.' [Deuteronomy 25:5]

'Do not cut off the hair on the sides of your head.' [Leviticus 19:27]

'Do not trim the edges of your beard.' [Leviticus 19:27]

Unless you follow the practices I mentioned, how do you justify quoting parts and ignoring these?

Cave - i read the bible. your answer didn't answer my question at all...

mahal - interesting. now, i understand that the homosexuality laws are in the same chapter, am i correct?

PLEASE READ THIS: can someone confirm if the section of homosexuality is in the same part as these 'convenant laws'? does that mean they don't apply like the ones I quoted?

Jocko - it is because when the question was asked whether homosexuality was a sin or not, people started quoting the OT. So do you agree that is NOT a valid argument then?

Cave - i'm sorry i'm inferior to your 'immortalized head'. so is it wrong to assume that you don't shave, or trim your beard and follow all the laws in the OT?

cindy - THANK YOU, your reply is supportive. Now may I ask if it is invalid to 'condemn' people using the OT laws, including but not exclusively, the homosexuality issue? (that's the issue that spawned this whole discussion).

michelle - I'm just stating the facts here, you are being very defensive! So do you agree that it is invalid to condemn people using the OT laws??

angel - sorry if you have gotten the wrong impression as i have little anger. I'm just intrigued at this discussion. I am, however, grateful for your prayers. But most people here don't seem to follow the argument....

hamoh - your argument didn't make any sense. my question was if it was fair to make an argument by using certain verses to backup the argument when the individual does not practice what the remaining of the bible preaches. Can you try to understand the question before making accusations?

KittyKat - Thanks for your calm and insightful response. From Roman 1, the only reference to homosexuality is "Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men—all lust, no love." It's not so much a 'law' than a comment?

Answer 1

When Jesus died on the cross, the new covenant became law so quoting the Old Testament and applying it to today is meaningless and since it doesn't apply to us today unless it was carried into the New Testament (like 9 of the 10 Commandments), it is there as history so we can learn from the past.

And I don't see anger in your post, I just see someone who is trying to get answers as to why people are doing certain things ~ trying to get justification for their actions. So far haven't seen much of that, though.

As far as the homosexual issue, read Romans 1 which addresses that issue.

Answer 2

The Bible says that Gentiles are supposed to follow the Law of Moses without converting to Judaism first? Even the ancient Jews didn't believe that!

And I don't know what that has to do with homosexuality. You said that Christians were appealing to OT passages to demonstrate that homosexuality was a choice. If the Law indicates such a thing, then it does so regardless of whether or not Christians adhere to the law.

Answer 3

WELL now why do you aviod the new trstament writings on this??? here they ARE!!! 1,,Romans 1: 18-32 attn vss 26-27,1 Cor. 6:9,,2Cor 5:6 & Jude 1:7 SEE you DID the same thing, you tried to ignore what the new testament has written on homosexuality,, You all try to make excuses, when that lifestyle is called an ABOMINATION by God himseif. So like I said,, YOU did the SAME!!!!!

Answer 4

My understanding of this is that Ol' Jehovah made a covenant with the Jews, and part of this covenant were a particular set of laws and regulations they had to follow or else horrible things would happen to them. When Jesus-Jehovah arrived on the scene, it was part of the arrangement for a new covenant between 'christians' and Ol' Jehovah, which rendered the old laws null and void. This is why modern-day Christians can eat shellfish and shave, and aren't obligated to murder people with stones if they're caught working on the sabbath.

Answer 5

so if a Jew does not marry his dead brothers wife he bad?,these holes are because a few men control all the writings of disciples,only about ten percent of what the 12 wrote is actually public and in the bible,men decided what was in the bible and what was cut, without all the writings people are really dedicating their lives to what a few men fashioned into what they want you to believe in, its a way of control, that's why it does not make sense

Answer 6

Jesus came to earth to not only die for our sins so we could be one with Him in Heaven but He died to fulfill the old testiment so that we wouldn't be under that law anymore. That's why the new testiment is called the 'new' testiment. we are now under grace, but that doesn't mean we aren't to obey Him either. the whole homosexuality thing, basically how i see it is that in genesis 1 it says God created man and woman (in the garden of eden where everything was perfect before the fall), so God's perfect will for us is to be with the opposite sex.. that's just how He designed it. :)

Answer 7

Why do people try to back Christians into a corner by quoting scripture that clearly applies to the Jews in the covenant relationship with God?
Christians are under the 'new covenant' and are not bound by the 'law code', are you unaware of this?
So, if the law, was given to the Jews, and Jesus is the fulfillment of the law, how can you rightfully say they do not 'practice what they preach'? Christians do not preach the Jewish law,which was intended only as a tutor to the Christ, maybe you need to stop 'cherry picking' scripture in your vain attempt to cast Christians as not complying with the Bible.

Answer 8

WOW.........the hate seething from you is incredible!!! I'm a bit concerned about you, my confused and angry friend! Surely you have better things in life to do than just pull things to pieces like this....and for what gain? Go give your mum a hug, tell her you love her; say hi to your neighbour and offer to help him/her with something that needs to be done rather than spread hate like this!!!

And.....by the way, are you sure just CHRISTIANS do this? This hypocrasy afflicts many people, and does not discriminate between colour, ethnicity, religious affiliation or spiritual belief, age, gender, profession.......You get my drift!

I will pray for you tonight!

Answer 9

I quote all of it.

I also understand that the Moses gave laws to Jews, not to the world. Gentiles are not obligated to follow Jewish laws that you're quoting here, but they are certainly welcome to observe some of them and try to learn from them.

Answer 10

People only listen to what they want to believe.

For example, some people say they are Christians because they want to believe they will go to heaven.