11 Things The Bible Bans, But You Do Anyway

I loved your article. I am a born again Christian with a very strong faith, but a lot of the things my “fellow Christians” do, say and profess are beyond me. Some times it becomes very tough to be a Christian and interpret the Bible, though I really do try, but at those times I give it up to God and move on.
I don’t know any fellow Christians who would kill an abortionist or bomb a building so like all groups we are tarred by the same brush as the fanatics.
Again, thanks for the article, I got a good giggle out of it.

Alot of these come from the Old testament. With the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, a new covenant was established that did away with many old testament regulations. STUDY.

Lets all remember that the bible was used by a bunch of assholes to control people for hundreds of years so I don’t suggest beliving everything you read unless you want to be as smart as those dumb ass people who don’t belive in evolution.

The reason that some parts of the Old Testament law no longer apply to man is that God deals with man differently now than He did then. God changed how He deals with man by sending His son, Jesus Christ, to earth. This is noted in Romans 6:14, which reads:

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Conversely, the reason some Old Testament law still applies is that God said it does, through Jesus and the men who recorded the New Testament. There are many verses in the New Testament condemning homosexual behavior, for example, and they provide the link back to parts of Old Testament law.

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law” ~ Galatians 3:13

JAYX, why would we create a God with such controversial things as sending people to hell, condemning the practice of homosexuality (Romans Chapter 1), teaching that the first shall be last, and teachings that no one can earn heaven?
We didn’t create the God of the Bible, nor did anyone in history. It doesn’t make sense to create Him like that. Why create a God that demands total surrender of your life (Luke 9:23)? A made up religion would allow you to do what ever you wanted, when ever you wanted, to whom ever you wanted. It’s a good thought, but I encourage you to keep looking. Christianity cannot be so easily debunked.

As for the arguement that Leviticus 18:22 shouldn’t stand as an example of the Bible condemning homosexuality we see the same text in Romans Chapter 1. Although the kosher laws were overturned in Acts, the rules against homosexuality weren’t. Please don’t look at this as the Bible ‘hating’ on homosexuals. The says we have all fallen short. Lying, adultery with the mind, hating our brother, and denial of God are all equally condemned alongside homosexuality. All are guilty and all need a Savior.

Haha rounded off haircuts, I almost want to make a few posters with these on there and just put them up all around town.

I forgot to post the url for the quotes above. That’s probably why you didn’t see the irony… =)

http://www.namb.net/site/c.9qKILUOzEpH/b.695725/k.AA1F/Ten_Marks_of_a_Cult_Religion.htm

Point No. 3

Another question that boggles my mind. How do we know that Jesus wasn’t another “Jim Jones” or “David Koresh” ?

Sorry, but the author is naive. He fails to distinguish ceremonial laws from moral laws. Ceremonial laws have indeed changed. Moral laws are unchanging. It is also naive to consider Church teaching only in the light of scripture. To do so is to fall into the Protestant fallacy of “sola scriptura.” Catholic teaching on homosexuality is subtle and stands on several legs, only one of which is the scriptures. See the following for more info: http://www.catholic.com/library/Homosexuality.asp.

I knew the moment that I read this blog, there would be this reaction. The moment you start talking about religion, people get all worked up about the fact that someone doesn’t think the same…

People puh-leez, Jesus says:
For truly I say to you, Till heaven and earth pass, one stroke or one pronunciation mark shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Matthew 5:18
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail. Luke 16:17

How do you go around picking and choosing which parts of this ramshackle anthology do you want to follow, if not all then which, if not all then why not none?

Damn, are people stupid or what..

KIDRoach,

You wrote a lot, so I’m going to take the biggest issues you’ve said to keep the post as short as possible.

For your first comment “why doesn’t it make sense to create him in our own image, use logic, not religions.” If you want to look at logic, lets look at motive. Why would you create a religion? Two reasons: money and power. So if you want to maximize these you need to have as many people as possible in your religion. To maximize people, you need to look at your religion like a political campaign. You need to be generic enough that as many people as possible will feel welcome. You need to suck up to the people. To do so, one needs a religion that is flexible, that focuses on finding something within each of us. Like all those self help books, or the Secret by , or those religions where we do stuff to win God’s favor. You need to be broad enough and generic enough that as few people as possible are offended and so that as many people as possible can relate to your ‘hopes, aspirations, and ideals for the future’. The way to get to catch the most fish is to cast as broad a net as possible.

I stand by the Bible’s claim that no one can earn heaven based on Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9. Please allow me to explain as the idea that repenting is not an act of earning salvation is not immediately obvious. Here’s what the Bible says about it: Repentance is the act of turning from sin to God. Here’s an analogy to the whole thing. What if I invite you to swim in my Olympic size pool free of charge? You are so excited about the invitation that you take a shower before getting in the pool. Since you showered, was swim really free? Yes. You didn’t do any thing for me that required me to invite you to swim with me. So from an earning stand point, there is no cost. Now, in an economic sense there are costs to salvation, sure. You did have to give up whatever you would have been doing for that time block instead of swimming to go swimming, but you didn’t have to pay anything. You did take a shower before you got in, but you wanted to do that. So economically there is an opportunity cost (you can’t swim and go to the mall like you originally planned at the same time).
It’s a matter of doing what you want more. You want to shower (repent) and you want to swim (love Jesus). You can’t earn heaven because to earn it you’d have to do something worthy to get in. Repentance doesn’t make you worthy of heaven, Jesus’ blood does. Repentance is simply how we respond to His love. No one who is given a gift says “ah, I earned this gift because I took it from your open hands” That’s the point of my favorite verse, Ephesians 2:8-9. I hope that clarifies a little bit. I definitely struggled with receiving something totally free, too. To this day, it is difficult for me to receive charity because I think I don’t need it.

I am sorry that you only think “all religions don’t let you think for yourself.” As far as I’m concerned, nothing in life lets you think for yourself. Do you think you have ever had an original thought or do you think everything you have ever thought or done is simply a result of all the input stimuli into your brain over the course of your life? I would say the latter. How is “free thinking” actually independent thinking? Many people ascribe to this worldview, so it’s not unique. Most first read about ‘free thinking’ in books or are told by friends. Even if some do dream it up, the only logical conclusion is that it’s wired in your brain and thus, again, not an independent thought. Free thinkers would simply be slaves to their own genetic make up, thinking as they are programmed to think. Be careful with totting the “I’m a free thinker” montague. At best it’s slavery to genetics, at worst it’s simply another ideology ploy to make you think you are in control.

As for the guilt and shame that some cults rely on. I can tell you that true Christianity has little guilt or shame. True, we are all guilty (by a court rooms standards) of rebelling and betraying the Creator God. But do I feel guilty day to day? No. I feel joy, freedom, liberation, satisfaction. Though I am guilty, I am counted forgiven, and even declared ‘not guilty’ (this is called justification before God). What ‘keeps’ me following God? It’s not guilt and shame. God’s love for me makes me love Him back. How has He loved me? He gave me the one thing I can’t earn—eternal life with His Son. There are many other ways He has shown me love that keep me in Him, too. He’s forgiven me. He’s freed me from being a slave to my desires (I can tell you that sin is desirable as I’ve been a gambling, porn, and work addict but I speak from experience when I say that compared to knowing God and His love, these are empty, fleeting, and only mildly entertaining.) So though in God’s court of Law I am guilty, as you know, His Son paid the blood debt I owe that I am free from feelings of guilt and shame.

Of all your objections, you are most logical when questioning Jesus compared to these lunatics. He cannot simply be a good man, or a teacher. He made claims about being equal with God so He is either a lunatic or what He claims to be. I could recite church history how unlike Jones and Koresh, Christians are still around today. I could tell about how Christians are most often killed by other people, not each other. But if you’ve been in the Word and to Christian schools, you know all about the perseverance of Christianity through the ‘best’ arguments over the past 2000 years. Unlike cults, Christianity isn’t a passing fad, it perseveres.

I’ve been in your shoes. The longer I spend in my head without talking my ideas out with people who oppose my thoughts, the more I convience myself I am right. Shot me an email with your responses or keep posting here and we can dialogue about this more. If what I believe is true, it has to stand up to scrutiny, right? The same goes for any truth. If have questions, or, if you think I am absolutely crazy and need salvation from my belief in Jesus, email me ben.hornback at gmail dot com

I thought this article was great–funny, and not senselessly religion-bashing (tho anti-fanatic). Having grown up Christian and been over-religionized, though, I have to correct you on one thing: “pulling out.” The law in the Tanach required a brother to “help” his sib if the guy died before he impregnated his wife. The idea was indeed pro-procreation; if you got married, the idea was to spread your seed, so to speak. If a guy died, his bro (if he had one) was legally required to give the poor widow a share of the family genes so there’d be an heir.

Onan pulled out, just fucked his late bro’s widow for the fun of it, and since God thought that was selfish, so to speak, he smote the guy. It was more for missing the point and just satisfying himself than for simply pulling out.

Thought I’d add something neither strident nor evangelical to the conversation.

What still no one has addressed here, is New Testament’s stand on divorce. I want to understand why many Christian denominations aggressively reject homosexuality while not even making an issue of a divorced and remarried person. Divorce and remarriage according to most denominations’ interpretation is considered perpetual adultery. Why is one “sexually deviant” act considered acceptable while the other is treated like the black plague of morality?

Religion’s cop-out logic:

Something good happens, it’s God’s blessing. Something bad happens, it’s God’s will or he’s testing you.

On another note, for those of you who gamble (I’m assuming not many of you do) – bet against the player’s team who says that God is on their side. In the past year, God is 0/2 in major sporting events. Dwight Howard claimed divine blessing and his team lost to the Lakers in the NBA Finals 4-1. Kurt Warner and Ken Whisenhunt placed their faith in the Almighty and they were absolutely heartbroken in the Superbowl (I guarantee they were thanking the Lord after that incredible Larry Fitzgerald TD… too bad their Lord “works in mysterious ways” lol)

[...] E para finalizar, mais um exemplo de que a religião hoje em dia é seguida por aqueles que acreditam apenas por conveniência. 11 coisas que a bíblia condena, porém você faz mesmo assim. [...]

Interesting take. I am a Christian. I believe in Jesus Christ. I try to study and live by the Bible. I am not perfect. Only Jesus was perfect. It is not my job to judge anyone. That is god’s job.
Smile Jesus loves you!

Re: your question: It would help to start off with the fact there are multiple categories of law handled in Leviticus, of which you’ll also find that anti-homosexuality law handled in a new testament book (it’s authored by Paul, but I don’t recall which letter it was). I think that’s more than enough to demonstrate it as a moral law, rather than the ceremonial or cultural laws that were cited in this article (sans divorce… that truly is only an option for those who are being abused in a relationship and no one else)

BTW, I’m beginning to think the comments are more screwy than the usual misquoting of Leviticus, honestly…

You can’t dismiss this by saying that only the new testament counts. Jesus said, in the Sermon on the Mount, no less, that you can’t ignore the old testament. So all that has been said counts, and, as I’m sure we all realise, is complete nonsense