Bible Out-of Date?

  • Thread starter Thread starter AdriannaJean
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

AdriannaJean

Guest
Hey Everyone,

I was discussing something in another forum and it kind of went off-topic and got onto the Bible being out-of-date or not all-truth. I immediately said that the Bible was inspired by God and therefore all-truth and so couldn’t be “out-of-date” because truth never changes.

Then someone started quoting Old Testament laws that were a little ridiculous and I replied that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament so we could achieve salvation not through the law, but through Him and that was why a lot of the laws in the Old Testament do not need to be followed by Christians, keeping Kosher for example.

Then he quoted a few passages from the New Testament and I don’t know what to say about them. I believe that the Bible is God’s Word and if some of it is proven false then none of it can be true. HELP!

Here are the quotes from the New Testament he gave me :

Some new testament samples:
2 JN 1:9-11 Do not allow anyone into your house who is not a fellow believer.

1TI 2:12 Women are not permitted to teach or have authority over men.

1TI 2:9, 1PE 3:3 Women should not braid their hair, or wear gold or pearls or costly attire.

1TI 2:11-12 Women are to learn in silence (from men) in all submissiveness.

CN 2:8 Philosophy is to be shunned.

RO 1:26-27, 32 Men and women who commit unnatural sexual acts deserve to die.

RO 13:1-4, PE 2:13-14 Be subject to every human institution. All authorities (laws and governments) are from God. (Note: This would include those of a Nazi Germany, yet believers seldom follow this injunction. Even Jesus and his Disciples violated this principle.)
 
2 John 1:9-11 is talking about someone who claims to be a believer, but does not agree with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is also in reference to providing hospitality. There is not a problem to have a plumber, carpenter, etc… come in, do their job, and leave. However, if someone comes along claiming to be a minister of the Gospel, make sure he teaches correct doctrine, otherwise, let him stay at the Motel 8, not your guest room.

1 Tim 2:9-12 advises women to be modest in the way they dress and adorn themselves, that they should learn quietly, being subject to the authority over them, and should not teach or have authority over men. I would suggest that the learning and authority is in reference to preaching (although women have been called by God to be prophets and judges).

Romans 1:26—27, 32 shows that anyone who engages in sin (sexual or otherwise) are worthy of death.

Romans 13:1-4 does not obligate us to obey ungodly laws (such as forced abortions in China), but we should obey all laws not contrary to the Gospel (even speed limits).

I’m not familiar with CN 2:8.

How are these outdated? I’m sure those who are more interested in the things of the world than the things of God would like to discredit these (and all) scriptures, but they are just as true today as when they were originally written (as God inspired the authors).
 
AdriannaJean said:
Hey Everyone,

I was discussing something in another forum and it kind of went off-topic and got onto the Bible being out-of-date or not all-truth. I immediately said that the Bible was inspired by God and therefore all-truth and so couldn’t be “out-of-date” because truth never changes.

Then someone started quoting Old Testament laws that were a little ridiculous and I replied that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament so we could achieve salvation not through the law, but through Him and that was why a lot of the laws in the Old Testament do not need to be followed by Christians, keeping Kosher for example.

Then he quoted a few passages from the New Testament and I don’t know what to say about them. I believe that the Bible is God’s Word and if some of it is proven false then none of it can be true. HELP!

Here are the quotes from the New Testament he gave me :

Some new testament samples:
2 JN 1:9-11 Do not allow anyone into your house who is not a fellow believer.

1TI 2:12 Women are not permitted to teach or have authority over men.

1TI 2:9, 1PE 3:3 Women should not braid their hair, or wear gold or pearls or costly attire.

1TI 2:11-12 Women are to learn in silence (from men) in all submissiveness.

CN 2:8 Philosophy is to be shunned.

RO 1:26-27, 32 Men and women who commit unnatural sexual acts deserve to die.

RO 13:1-4, PE 2:13-14 Be subject to every human institution. All authorities (laws and governments) are from God. (Note: This would include those of a Nazi Germany, yet believers seldom follow this injunction. Even Jesus and his Disciples violated this principle.)
Click to expand...
Maybe it would help to remember that truth and fact are not necessarily identical. As an example the parables of Our Lord are true, but they are not literal, historic fact.

It also sounds like your correspondent is cherry picking verses or even just parts of verses out of context. That was a very favorite tactic of the Evangelical Protestant church I converted out of. What is CN it can’t be Corinthians since there is 1st and 2nd Corinthinians?
 
I’m not sure which Corinthians and which chapter and verse your correspondent means, either. But the general thrust of Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians, at the end of Chapter 1 and the beginning of Chapter 2, is pretty clear. Worldly wisdom and earthly wisdom, even philosophy, is as nothing compared to God’s wisdom. God is so incomprehensibly wise that His wisdom looks like foolishness to men.

However, this is scarcely the same as rejecting philosophy. Tying my shoelaces is a nothing skill compared to God’s skill in creating and binding together all Creation by the laws of physics. But sheesh, that doesn’t mean I’m not supposed to tie my shoelaces. It certainly doesn’t mean that I’m supposed to untie everyone else’s shoelaces surreptitiously. It just means I have to recognize where shoelaces stand in the great scheme of things.

St. Paul was hardly an enemy of philosophy, per se. He was perfectly willing to dig out the hidden precursors to the Gospel in philosophical and poetic Greek sayings, like “In him we live and move and have our being,” which probably is a quote from Epimenides of Knossos. St Paul laid the groundwork for the coming schools of Christian philosophers, like St. Justin Martyr and St. Clement of Alexandria, and therefore for the invention of theology as a field of study.
 
The following is just a clarification of a confusion in the posts above, not a defense of the original poster who wrote “CN 2:8 Philosophy is to be shunned”.

The “CN” is a very non-standard abbreviation for the Letter to the Colossians. The verse reads in the NAB translation:

<Colossians 2:8>See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world and not according to Christ.

Edward Pothier
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top