Bible Quotes used to discredit Christians

[faithfully]

Everytime something contraversial around Homosexuality (Duck Dynasty) or whatever topic comes up, someone always posts the rant below. I’ve just cut and paste a few of them.

While I see the humor that most see, I find it offensive that people use this sort of thing to basically support their cause. If that makes any sense.

How do you, or do you, even address this sort of thing? I’m getting sick of it to be frank:

---

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to best follow them.

a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

It goes on and on…

Thanks

 

[ScottEH]

I don’t usually argue against obnoxious stupidity. If somebody quoted those things to me, I would ask them if they were finished with their hysterics and would allow me to respond rationally.

Aside from that, Christians don’t use Jewish law.

 

[KP3243]

Catholics aren’t allowed to take the Bible out of context like people who oppose the Bible and Christianity so often do. We have to consider scripture in its fullness and in sacred tradition. I just call people out on it and say you are making a pretext. They like to say things like we are misogynist because the Bible says the woman brought sin into the world. Well let’s take a looks what scripture says! the Fall didn’t happen when Eve ate the forbidden fruit the Fall happened when Adam ate it. It may have been introduced by a woman but sin was first defeated through the woman too, Mary doesn’t redeem us but she is the agent of change for mankind and our Salvation by agreeing to be the mother of the Messiah. Jesus redeems us by His passion and cross to remedy what Adam lost for the human race. So the Bible doesn’t condemn women when you read all of scripture.

 

[one_truth_1]

I know exactly what you mean by these!

 These are often the same people who accuse us Christians of cherry-picking things out of the Bible in order to suit what they see as our arbitrary viewpoints.  

 To my mind, what it seems to boil down to is the fact that people who criticize the Bible don't know the Bible.  I'm not saying I'm an absolute expert either, but I do understand a basic principle of the Bible:  The New Testament perfects and fulfills the Old Testament.  You can't just pick something out of the Old Testament that sounds absurd and just leave it hanging out there without acknowledging how Jesus resolves, perfects, corrects or otherwise fulfills it.  If that's what they do with the Bible, then of course it sounds absurd because their 'scholarship' on the issue is left half-finished.  

 It almost feels rude to say it,  but I've never seen anyone successfully refute the Bible while fully understanding the Bible at the same time.  Maybe it can be done; I've just never seen it.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

I think the simplest answer is that the laws (usually misquoted) are the Mosaic Law, which no longer applies to Christians under the New Covenant with God.

 

[George_Stegmeir]

Those Bible citations are on the order of a reduction to an absurdity in a debate.
It is like asking the question: " How often to beat your wife and/or children?" or, “Do you walk to school or carry your lunch?”

 

[tjones80]

Everytime something contraversial around Homosexuality (Duck Dynasty) or whatever topic comes up, someone always posts the rant below. I’ve just cut and paste a few of them.

While I see the humor that most see, I find it offensive that people use this sort of thing to basically support their cause. If that makes any sense.

How do you, or do you, even address this sort of thing? I’m getting sick of it to be frank:

---

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to best follow them.

a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

It goes on and on…

Thanks

This article, I have received it before, qoutes the old testament which only applies to Jews before the arrival of the Messiah. Besides most Catholics go by Canon law regarding sin.

 

[Pulvis]

Satan and his associates love to do this. I have a gentleman I work with who does the same thing. Dan Savage, the prolific promoter of all things diabolical loves this technique as well. As others have posted, Mosaic Law is no longer in affect. And simply refuse to argue with these types. They are influenced and led by an evil spirit and you do yourself no good in debating them. I say the Prayer to St. Michael, ask for their conversion, and carry on.

 

[oldcelt]

I think the simplest answer is that the laws (usually misquoted) are the Mosaic Law, which no longer applies to Christians under the New Covenant with God.

The inclusion of these laws was a gigantic mistake, since they do no longer apply. They show a violent, vindictive God who is completely out of character with the NT God. Killing disobedient children, killing animals that men use as sexual objects…when I read much of the Mosaic Law I wonder if it wasn’t written by an insane person.Seriously, God gives 10 commandments and then goes, “Oh, BTW, here’s several hundred more.”

 

[Arizona_Mike]

The inclusion of these laws was a gigantic mistake, since they do no longer apply. They show a violent, vindictive God who is completely out of character with the NT God. Killing disobedient children, killing animals that men use as sexual objects…when I read much of the Mosaic Law I wonder if it wasn’t written by an insane person.Seriously, God gives 10 commandments and then goes, “Oh, BTW, here’s several hundred more.”

Pretty sure that if someone has trained an animal to be used for sexual purposes, as the pagans did, that animal should never be allowed around women and children, oldcelt, and no one in his right mind would want to consume its flesh ever again. At that point, the animal should be put out of its misery.

 

[mikekle]

The inclusion of these laws was a gigantic mistake, since they do no longer apply. They show a violent, vindictive God who is completely out of character with the NT God. Killing disobedient children, killing animals that men use as sexual objects…when I read much of the Mosaic Law I wonder if it wasn’t written by an insane person.Seriously, God gives 10 commandments and then goes, “Oh, BTW, here’s several hundred more.”

We may look at these laws as being strange or even violent, but thats not how God thought of them, he thought they were perfectly fine, so I would argue that it is us whose opinions are wrong, not God or the people who included it in the bible. We may not like what some of the laws told people to do and abide by, but in the end, that is what God wanted, so it was justified, and if they were practiced today, they would still be justified. Mans opinions on Gods laws does not matter and holds no weight, God laws trump mans laws every day of the year.

 

[_Abyssinia]

Regarding Exodus 21:7-11, there is a very informative commentary on these verses on the following article about a third down the page and the conclusion on these verses is

So, this passage is hardly ‘negative’: it provides an escape from poverty for a young woman, security and protection (and upward social mobility) in the house of a better place, and all the basic legal rights of a wife.

christianthinktank.com/qnoslave.html

Problem, I think, with a lot of people who have problems in understanding Old Testament verses on indentured servitude and so on, is that they do not think of the verses in the ancient, historical setting that they would have been in. Nowhere does the Bible say indentured servitude is a fantastic thing, but as I have seen written, it recognises the reality of the time and Mosaic law provided rights to indentured servants. Compare Mosaic law to slaves under code of hammurabi.

Socities recorded in the Bible are ancient societies in which becoming an indentured servant was away to pay off debt for example. There were not banks where you could pay back instalments like you can now. Chattel slavery is condemned in Exodus 21.

I have posted before on the rights that indentued servitude had which you can read in the following post

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=10509911&highlight=indentured#post10509911

 

[oldcelt]

We may look at these laws as being strange or even violent, but thats not how God thought of them, he thought they were perfectly fine, so I would argue that it is us whose opinions are wrong, not God or the people who included it in the bible. We may not like what some of the laws told people to do and abide by, but in the end, that is what God wanted, so it was justified, and if they were practiced today, they would still be justified. Mans opinions on Gods laws does not matter and holds no weight, God laws trump mans laws every day of the year.

I couldn’t disagree more, Much if what I read in the OT laws borders on what we now call psychotic and the level of violence is reprehensible. It has long been my belief that these passages and all the other smoke and brimstone were put in by men as a control device,…keep 'em scared and they’ll do what we tell them.

For Christians, all you would truly need are the OT prophesies related to the Messiah and the NT.

 

[KP3243]

I couldn’t disagree more, Much if what I read in the OT laws borders on what we now call psychotic and the level of violence is reprehensible. It has long been my belief that these passages and all the other smoke and brimstone were put in by men as a control device,…keep 'em scared and they’ll do what we tell them.

For Christians, all you would truly need are the OT prophesies related to the Messiah and the NT.

Then how would we know why we needed the Messiah and that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah? You need the Old Testament to understand the New Testament and Salvation history? If mankind didn’t fall we wouldn’t need a Messiah. Pentecost in the New Covenant doesn’t make sense if you don’t know what mankind lost at the Tower of Babel or Jonah warning the Gentiles in Jaffa is a typology for Peter who would convert Gentiles in Jaffa thousands of years later. The big one would be understanding the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament becomes the Blessed Mother in the New Testament these are not addressed in the Messianic prophecies.

 

[lightbeamrider]

b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

This is more along the lines of arranged marriages as a debt payoff. Male Hebrew slaves were released after seven years but females were different since they had less options. Unbelievers rant against slavery as depicted 3000 years ago but do little if anything to oppose slavery as practiced today. That means they do not care about slavery but their real agenda has to do with bashing Scripture.

1.God liberated the Hebrews from cruel Egyptian slavery which could be depicted as a slave revolt. In Biblical times there was really nothing all that wrong with slavery per se. What made it wrong was the abuse of slaves. Abuse of power. 2. Elisha liberated the two children of the widow from debt slavery. 2 Kings 4:1-7. If God endorses slavery then why did these two events happen? The second slave revolt happened under Rehoboam, the son of Solomon whose father [Solomon] disciplined his slaves with whips and the son would use scorpions. I personally have a hard time with Solomon because the seeds of slave revolt happened under his ruling and the fact he had multiple wives and concubines. If you have a large slave class then a large army is required to prevent slave revolt. This caused a division of the kingdom into Israel and Judah and it was all due to bad decisions. Possibly abuse of slaves. Hebrew slavery was a mild form if practiced right. Slavery was regulated for the benefit of the slave.

The atheist has no objective basis to oppose slavery anyway. The ranting carries not more weight than opinion since they do not believe in God. They have to believe rights come from men. Whereas most believe resistance to tyranny is obedience to God. The atheist believe resistance to tyranny is obedience to men. A giant step backwards.