Bible Rules For Today's Society

As someone who has been Pagan most of my adult life, I am here because for various reasons, I am being called to Jesus now. So this is a transitional period for me. I have read the Bible in it's entirety, as I attended Catholic school for 12 years growing up.

I've noticed there are Christians who believe the rules set forth in the Bible should be adhered to 100%. Well, there are some questionable things mentioned in the Bible, like keeping slaves and servants, and that it's okay for a man to beat his wife if she disobeys, etc... Which of course, are not acceptable in today's modern civilized world. On another thread, someone replied to me and said we can't be picky and choosey about what is said in the Bible.

My question is, if there are things written in the Bible that really don't sit well, that we strongly disagree with, and that are no longer acceptable in today's society...does it make someone less Christian? I have LGTBQ friends, and if they can't be accepted into this faith, then I just can't have a part of anything like that. That would be a deal breaker for me. They are lovely people, with hearts of gold, who help our community and work hard. I think Jesus would love them just the same, but perhaps that's naïve of me.

I think that this confusion is a common thing, at least with people I've spoken to about this in my life. I think it's something that can really push people away from Christianity. I always thought that if we're good people, do all we can to help others, and just be the best people we can be everyday - that Jesus would see the goodness in our hearts, and that would be enough. But perhaps I am just naïve and wrong about this.

Hi Skyla, I think you might have got the wrong impression
about the bible. It’s not a rule book to follow like instructions on
how to put a cupboard together.

It is literally history God’s story, His Story. The bible is alive, it speaks
to your heart and soul, it has depth after depth of understanding to be
read reread and understood.

It is an epic novel that tells about God’s dealings with mankind,
the rise and fall of nations, the obedience and disobedience of people.
The need for salvation, the provision God made to ensure some of His
people (the remnant) always were saved so that the under lying message
of salvation was never lost. It all falls into place in the New Testament part
of the bible as God’s plan is finally revealed for salvation through Jesus Christ
and how new Christians went through understanding of that process and a
learning curve. The individual books of the bible are themselves like chapters
of the whole book, rather than them being read individually,

I was reading the following today and it’s so true.
It’s like a masterful piece of played music.

https://odb.org/2018/10/26/the-grea...PmxP9PTs3DssTEROTm-B8BkkjrrBoz1eaQHMcIMO4RRKo

A person can never understand the bible and it’s true meaning just by a
one off reading through of it in your own terms and with human thinking.

Many read it like a novel but don’t get it.

You need to ask God for wisdom, to help you understand it with spiritual eyes.
Ask God the Holy Spirit to reveal it to you.

The bigger picture is amazing.

If you pick bits out here and there focusing on a couple of “thou shall not”
passages but don’t understand the rest, including the “why not”. You will
never get the bigger picture and you will just argue yourself into a corner
to find your own justification as to “why I don’t want to be a Christian”.

It’s a massive undertaken to read the bible, even after several times of reading
it through you will still keep seeing things you didn’t see or understand before.

It’s also a bit like those massive carvings where you see a bit of it at ground level
but it’s only when you look down in the entire thing on one go from a higher
level, that it actually falls into place.

So go back to basics, get yourself a good bible reading plan. Ask God for wisdom,
underline things, highlight things and don’t read it like a does and don’t
instruction book.

See it as God’s story of salvation for a fallen world. Ask for the answers in their
proper context of God’s story. Ask Him why did you say this or what does that mean.
Above all remember that God is love. A good father brings discipline, order, structure etc
to his children out of love, not to cause chaos.

You will get a lot of replies to this thread, but I think that unless you really decide
to seek God with all your heart and discover Him for yourself to see the bigger
picture for yourself. You will never have the spiritual discernment to properly
understand the questions and answers given and the whys and why nots.

Oh and about the goodness part of your post, the trouble with that is
who among the trillions of people past, present and future, decides what
being good enough is. What standards are used. Yours, mine, the governments,
the rural farmer, the city slicker, the old person, the young 20 something.
What measure of rule do we stand against to decide what good enough is.

Oh and the answer is in the bible!

Welcome to CC! Glad you're here.

With regard to "rules" in the Bible, you would do well to understand which parts are applicable to Christians today and which aren't. Our relationship with God is based entirely on the incarnation, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and not on our adherence to "rules". The covenant that God made with Israel after the Exodus is not the covenant in Christ's blood.

There are some groups who teach that Christians are subject to all the "rules" given in the Old Testament. This view is unsupportable in light of Paul's letter to the Galatians and other New Testament passages. However, our conduct as Christians should glorify God, so there are many activities that we "should" choose to avoid. That said, the power to change comes not from within ourselves, but from the Holy Spirit working in us. Our will is not strong enough to turn from temptation every time.

As to your friends and their lifestyles, if you think God's ways aren't to your liking, you have set yourself as a judge over Him. That isn't going to go well. I encourage you to rethink that.

It isn't me who has said it's wrong to be gay or lesbian, it's many Christians who say that. So it's not me who has the problem. lol It's me who is asking Christians why they are so judgmental towards LGTBQ people.

What one needs to realize is that the bible contains more than the word of God......it also contains history, cultural practices, two covenants <--one condemns and establishes man's guilt before God and the other represents the cure to said fallen condition....my summation below kind of gives us a little insight in how we should view the bible....

You are trying to have a cafeteria christianity here. Where you pick whats good and whats not. You are your own god.
Btw the OT laws are NOT for today the mosaic practices. The epistles of Paul are church doctrine for example.

You also prioritize your ABCDEFLGWAOWBAJ friends over Jesus. Read the book of Romans chapter 1, its description of the LGOEAJGB people is quite different than yours!

If you want to get saved forget about your friends and focus on Jesus! Repent and believe!

To my understanding of the scriptures, When we sin, we separate ourselves from a fellowship with God and we all do sin at times. When we repent of a sin, God accepts us back in fellowship. The amazing thing about God is that he made those that his Son died for Holy and without blame, which means that no sin, if you are one of those he died for, will keep you from heaven. According to the scriptures, being gay is a sin, but, sin is sin and we are all guilty of some kind of sin. I have kinfolk that is gay and I love them dearly.

Jesus shed His righteous blood to cover all the sins of humanity save one- rejection of God. Gay people can most certainly be accepted into Christianity. But good works are not what the Bible teaches are necessary for salvation, for without faith, it is impossible to please God. That does not mean that God is not pleased when people treat others the way He would have us do, but it is not the way to salvation. Do your friends truly have their hearts in the right place? Are they seeking the Truth of God's Word? Christians are under a New Covenant. Understanding the purpose of the Old Covenants is important, but God making provisions for slaves, for example, does not mean we are to have slaves...

God doesn't ask you to make deals.

There are no "deals."

You come to God completely broken, humbled, and submitted to him, giving yourself up completely, realizing you are nothing, and it's an infinite miracle that God will even accept you at all... that is the only way God accepts a sinner.


...

Thank you for your replies.

.......and one more pfishing expedition comes to an end?.......

Your friends are accepted and Yeshua does love them just the same; their sexual SIN is not accepted just the same as any heterosexual in sexual SIN. G-d convicted me and changed me from sexual sin; I have not had sex (in any form) since July 2011. PEOPLE CANNOT JUST FREELY SIN AND GET G-D TO OK IT!!! No matter what kind of SIN it is.... premarital sex, homosexual sex, cheating, lying, stealing, murder.... People that choose homosexuality CAN AND ARE SAVED TOO BUT THEIR "SIN" DOES NOT BECOME ok BECAUSE THEY ARE GAY!!! I have Christian friends who have homosexual attraction but do not sin because they are not acting upon it. I have heterosexual attraction but do not sin because I do not act upon it.

Any particular reason you distinguish your sexual preference from their sexual preference? If there is no difference in the two then why did you identify them as two different attractions if you don't consider them as two different types of attraction when the attraction is the same, the object of sexual desire is different but the sexual desire is the same, being lust.

But as far as not acting on the sexual desire, have you read 1 John 3:4 wherein it is written "Whosoever commits sin also transgresses the law"?

So if you perceive why those who commit sin also transgresses the law then you might understand why it is written in Matthew 5:28, "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

I was showing the similarities. AND THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT ATTRACTIONS! That is just common since.... But both still human and function the same way!!

Attraction is a feeling.... Is attraction a sin? Is attraction lust? Lust fades really fast... usually right after you sleep with someone.... How can people ever get married if their not attracted to each other?

It is sin picture them in some unholy way in my mind: being in bed with someone in my mind or picture them naked... AND THAT IS THE SAME EATHER WAY!

If a recovering drug addict has a craving have they sinned?