Wasn't there slavery in the Old Testament? Yes. Does God condone slavery? The Bible is a book about God's love for mankind and it's a book filled with stories of real people and Him wanting to bring freedom to all people. Because we live in a fallen world, a sinful world, there are bad things happening in this world. Some of these bad things are even committed by people who profess to be Christians.
I believe the whole Bible, from the first word in Genesis to the last word in Revelation. I do not believe there are mistakes in the message of what the Bible says despite that it's handled via men. I believe it is the inerrant Word of God.
Could you pick a verse, a few verses out of the Bible and make it into what you want to say the whole Bible is about? You could, but without reading the WHOLE Bible and studying it, how can you be certain that that verse is being kept in context? I could choose ANY book in my possession and just take a sentence here and there and make it mean something different than the intent of the author. In fact, even in a conversation, without knowing the context, the history, the people speaking, I could take what is being said completely out of context and create something that isn't supposed to be created or ever intended. That's really quite easy for any of us to do.
How many times on Facebook, or in email or text or IMing that people have misunderstood what someone has said because they didn't understand the history, the people, the situation with which something is being said? I'm sure this is quite a commonality more than a rarity.
So, what parts of the Bible in the Old Testament not condoned are the same or different in the New Testament? For example, the Old Testament there is the 10 commandments. Are those still valid in the New Testament? If slavery was valid in the OT, is it in the NT? Why or why not? If lying wasn't condoned in the OT and slavery was, is lying condoned in the NT as well as slavery? Those are all valid points.
Do these impact the faith of an educated, intelligent person? Well, I consider myself that and no, they do not impact my faith as some may think it should. That's alright. I don't know everything there is to know about the Bible or even all that much compared to the wealth that's in the Bible. I continue to learn and even if I spent a lifetime, it still wouldn't be enough.
As I shared with a friend that asked why did I not demand answers for those things? I guess those specific things don't nag at me to be answered, but the things that I am concerned with, God is addressing with me. The faith I put in God can't be measured.
Through these last several years, God has really changed my life from the inside out. But, it first had to begin with changing me on the inside. It's been a tumultuous ride.
Even though I don't understand everything, I do believe that if the Bible says that I should not have sex outside of marriage, that if I go against that, there is a not good consequence in the end. The end result may not happen for awhile, but the Bible says that our sins do find us out. I spent many years really in disbelief at one thing or another of the Bible and though I never set out to rationally prove the Bible wrong, my life displayed that.
I've come to learn the past several years that it wasn't the Bible that was wrong, rather it was me that was in the wrong. Does my heart ever desire to go against what the Bible says is right or wrong? Yes. But, God reveals to me and says in His Word that the heart is wicked and deceitful above all things. It can betray me.
For so many years, I did it my way. As Dr. Phil would say, "How's that working for you?" It's not. It didn't serve me. I had no peace. Yes, I had temporary happiness, but I was delusional. I was really a house that was like a flimsy deck of cards built on the sand. A slight breeze just topples and destroys my house.
So, I am quite clear in terms of my relationships with men. No, I don't want to have sex on any dates. No, I don't want to shack up with any man no matter how great he looks, how much money he makes, how much he likes me, how stable his life is. No, I don't think I'm getting too old. No, I don't think I'm less marketable because I'm not 20 yrs old or that I have children. No, I don't need to go out and take a bunch of classes on men to know the signals they are giving me that they are interested or not.
I am very confident that as I really seek God with all my heart, that I give Him my whole devotion, that if one day I get remarried, it will be on God's terms and the man will be God's choice for me. I can't go wrong there. The men I allowed in my life were not God's choices for me. He told me, rather I just argued with Him and tried to prove Him wrong. Guess what? He was right.
I am not the master of my own life. Jesus is. If that makes a person see me as less intelligent. Okay. I'm fine with that. I'm fine with not being in control of my life. It's way less stressful, though, when I do get stressed, it's when I attempt to take control and do things my way, instead of God's way.
The Bible is either all true, or none of it is. It can't be partial, because how do you know which parts are?
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