Bible discussions

[Conley]

The point, as I see it, is to keep God's people separate from the peoples around them through the cultivation of a distinct ethos (i.e. don't adopt the values, customs etc. of your Canaanite neighbors). The separation of God's elect is major theme of the bible and of the Old Testament in particular.

Thanks D. I think I understand better, but please bear with me.

So that makes sense for the time period then, but are we still to practice these commands or is it obvious now that we are worshippers of God. I still don't know if in present times the two bans above are considered sins. Personally I wouldn't see a problem with either the planting (crop rotation) or the garments. I suppose it depends on who you ask.

[Mister D]

Thanks D. I think I understand better, but please bear with me.

So that makes sense for the time period then, but are we still to practice these commands or is it obvious now that we are worshippers of God. I still don't know if in present times the two bans above are considered sins. Personally I wouldn't see a problem with either the planting (crop rotation) or the garments. I suppose it depends on who you ask.

Of course. No worries, my friend.

Yes, it makes sense for that period of time and the Jewish covenant with God. For Christians, that covenant has been replaced by a better one through the death and Resurrection of Christ Jesus and all men who accept Jesus Christ participate in that covenant regardless of their ancestry. With very few exceptions (Seventh Day Adventists do not eat pork, apparently) Christians do not follow the stipulations of the Mosaic covenant.

[Mister D]

I'm off to bed but I wanted to say that I've tried to explain this to several people online before who as unbelievers presume to tell me what I as a Christian need do in order to be consistent. Oh, but it's in the bible so you can't say it doesn't apply! It's in the bible so you have to believe it!

[shaarona]

ok.. if it was antiochus that daniel was talking about and he sacked the temple in 168 BC then why did Jesus prophecy that the temple would be destroyed , His probhecy was told in 33 AD and the temple was destroyed by Titus and the Romans in 70 AD nearly 40 years later.

you still havent told me whaere you get the bibical authority to displace isreal and put Christians in the place of Gods chosen people..

let me ask you one thing do you follow the preterist point of view?

Exactly a generation... 40 years from the crucifixion.

[shaarona]

So even though it was wrong to eat pork back then, many now go against Leviticus and eat pork regardless.

I also saw that it bans using a field for two crops, or making a garment from two types of cloth.

http://bible.cc/leviticus/19-19.htm

I am not trying to nitpick, it all just seems somewhat arbitrary. To be honest, these kinds of passages make it harder for me to take every word literally.

Many of the laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy were to keep the Jewish people separate.. so their identity wouldn't be subsumed by their neighbors or another culture, like th Babylonians.. These were not laws given by Moses.

[shaarona]

Fair enough. But who decides if those interpretations are plausible and appropriate? Is that why we have different kinds of Christian churches? If so, then a person could not possibly be absolutely sure of the most plausible interpretation of the written word of God until they have sampled an interpretation from every church. If the purpose of religion was to find real answers (which I'm not saying it is) then this would create a huge problem.



I'm not a Christian then, and I don't believe the Bible correctly portrays the word of God....in the same way as other people do.

What if ... the Adam and Eve were the mother and father of the Adamic line... thru Seth?

What if....the story of Adam and Eve is about when people stopped being hunter-gatherers and began to be herders and farmers? They no longer trusted in God's providence, but tried to live in groups and to provide for themselves.

What if the snake in the garden was to teach or warn people away from the snake cults of Arabia, the Indus Valley and the Levant.

God kicked them out of Eden, but he still protected them.... even Cain who went East of Eden, married and raised up a great city.

I think these are teaching narratives.. didactic literature some would call them.

[AZFlyFisher]

It sure would help discussion if Christians could agree on what parts of the Bible to take literally.

[Calypso Jones]

It sure would help discussion if Christians could agree on what parts of the Bible to take literally.

all of them.

[Carygrant]

all of them.

Even the authors did not write literally most of the time . That's the way things were done .
But Calypso knows better than the authors .

[Calypso Jones]

obviously.