The Bible Is Not a Public Policy Manual

[Stevil]

The bible (and therefore God) does not promote one religion over another, but puts forth God only and that life everlasting is only through Christ.

This is contradictory, to assert "through Christ" you are asserting Christianity, it is as simple as that.

[Stevil]

Exactly right.  You think you have all the answers and (if God is) know better than He.

Simply put.  Pride.

Huh?

Am I proud that I know all the answers?
I have never stated, nor do I think that I have all the answer. The "all the answers" mantra is that held by religious belief.

Am I proud that I know more than "He"?
Who is this "He", a fictional imaginary character?
My neighbour's cat know more than "He". The bar isn't set very high here.

I am proud of my children though, they are wonderful kids. I am also proud of my wife, she is a terrific wife and mother and person. I am so very proud of them.

[AnimatedDirt]

The bible (and therefore God) does not promote one religion over another, but puts forth God only and that life everlasting is only through Christ.

This is contradictory, to assert "through Christ" you are asserting Christianity, it is as simple as that.

Of course I assert Christianity...I am Christian.  The bible states it is through Christ...  Which part is contradictory? 

[Too Few Lions]

Oh, and it is interesting to me that AD focuses on Christianity, we he recognises that the specific religion is human made and unimportant. To me this points out that it is distractive noise with regards to what is actually important.

The bible (and therefore God) does not promote one religion over another, but puts forth God only and that life everlasting is only through Christ.  No religion.  It's not about a set of rules to follow, it's why you follow.

I couldn't disagree with you more AD, have you read the Old Testament? It was written by priests of Yahweh in the 9th-6th centuries BCE and it's largely based around promoting the worship of one Israelite god, Yahweh, and denigrating and outlawing the worship of other Israelite gods such as Baal and Asherah. It's religious intolerance incarnate. It's also full of laws and rules telling the common man what they have to do. The Old Testament is a large part of every Bible, and it's not a pleasant book, neither on a literary level, nor on a historical level given the fanaticism and intolerance it's a product of.

The bible promotes the worship of Yahweh, that's the god the writers of it believed in. It promotes the worship of that god over the worship of Zeus, Baal, Odin, Osiris, Marduk etc etc. Plus the New Testament promotes Jesus, only Christians believe he is the son of any god and some sort of saviour, and only Christians define their god by his relationship to Jesus. All other faiths can believe in God(s) that don't involve any mention or involvement of someone called Jesus.

[Stevil]

The bible (and therefore God) does not promote one religion over another, but puts forth God only and that life everlasting is only through Christ.

This is contradictory, to assert "through Christ" you are asserting Christianity, it is as simple as that.

Of course I assert Christianity...I am Christian.  The bible states it is through Christ...  Which part is contradictory? 

Grrrrr

The bible (and therefore God) does not promote one religion over another

Swings and roundabouts

[AnimatedDirt]

Oh, and it is interesting to me that AD focuses on Christianity, we he recognises that the specific religion is human made and unimportant. To me this points out that it is distractive noise with regards to what is actually important.

The bible (and therefore God) does not promote one religion over another, but puts forth God only and that life everlasting is only through Christ.  No religion.  It's not about a set of rules to follow, it's why you follow.

I couldn't disagree with you more AD, have you read the Old Testament? It was written by priests of Yahweh in the 9th-6th centuries BCE and it's largely based around promoting the worship of one Israelite god, Yahweh, and denigrating and outlawing the worship of other Israelite gods such as Baal and Asherah. It's religious intolerance incarnate. It's also full of laws and rules telling the common man what they have to do. The Old Testament is a large part of every Bible, and it's not a pleasant book, neither on a literary level, nor on a historical level given the fanaticism and intolerance it's a product of.

The bible promotes the worship of Yahweh, that's the god the writers of it believed in. It promotes the worship of that god over the worship of Zeus, Baal, Odin, Osiris, Marduk etc etc. Plus the New Testament promotes Jesus, only Christians believe he is the son of any god and some sort of saviour, and only Christians define their god by his relationship to Jesus. All other faiths can believe in God(s) that don't involve any mention or involvement of someone called Jesus.

Maybe I need to clarify.  I acknowledge the OT is full of laws and promotes God.  However "God" is not a religion.  IF there is any religion the bible promotes, it promotes the "religion" of the bible.  It does not promote the Jewish religion, nor the Christian per se.  It promotes itself as the only manner in which to gain salvation from death...and that is through only Jesus Christ, or so it claims.  The diverse religions are simply differing interpretations by Man of that bible.  However there is not one religion that is totally correct.  So God's people are in all religions...we cannot assume just because one call him/herself a Hindu that they are lost.  Only God knows (or claims to know) the heart.   

The OT is the time of God's people when they were "Christian infants" if you will.  So there is a lot of do's and don'ts there and much punishment for not following God's law.  The NT is the "grown up" Christian that while the law still stands and whatever consequences in not following that law remains, the literal punishment is not enforced.  (the easiest way I know to put it without getting into sounding preachy.)

If there is a specific question, I can attempt to answer though I don't have all the answers.
 

[Crow]

The OT is the time of God's people when they were "Christian infants" if you will.  So there is a lot of do's and don'ts there and much punishment for not following God's law.  The NT is the "grown up" Christian that while the law still stands and whatever consequences in not following that law remains, the literal punishment is not enforced.  (the easiest way I know to put it without getting into sounding preachy.)

If there is a specific question, I can attempt to answer though I don't have all the answers.

I haven't heard this one before, so why would a god hypothetically decide to impart wisdom to the "Christian infants" centuries before waiting to give the rest of the information to the "grown up Christians"?

[Too Few Lions]

Maybe I need to clarify.  I acknowledge the OT is full of laws and promotes God.  However "God" is not a religion.  IF there is any religion the bible promotes, it promotes the "religion" of the bible.  It does not promote the Jewish religion, nor the Christian per se.  It promotes itself as the only manner in which to gain salvation from death...and that is through only Jesus Christ, or so it claims.  The diverse religions are simply differing interpretations by Man of that bible.  However there is not one religion that is totally correct.  So God's people are in all religions...we cannot assume just because one call him/herself a Hindu that they are lost.  Only God knows (or claims to know) the heart.

that's a very Christian interpretation of the Bible, and obviously not the interpretation I have of it as a non-Christian. For me it doesn't promote 'God', it promotes Yahweh, a specific god. The OT promotes the worship of Yahweh that was to become Judaism in later times, but it also promotes the worship of Yahweh in a specific religious manner, sacrificing only at the temple, linking that god to Jerusalem and the Judaean royal Davidic family, and following lots of other very specific rules. It's very much promoting a specific god and a specific way of worshipping that god, and for me that's a religion.

Plus we've got to remember that the Bible is a product of religions, without Judaism or Christianity it wouldn't exist. The OT was put together by Jews in the 5th Century BCE, and the NT by Christians in the 4th Century CE. I don't see how it can be said that these books don't promote a certain religion when they were created by that religion. There were plenty of other texts that were deliberately left out of both books because they didn't agree with the exact sort of religion and view of god(s) or son of god (in Christianity's case) that was being promoted as orthodoxy at the time.

Plus if 'God's people are in all religions' why does Yahweh constantly demand the destruction of altars, statues and temples to any other deity / religion in the OT, along with the murder of anyone following those gods / religions? And why did the early Christian emperors outlaw all other religions under the penalty of death in the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries?

The OT is the time of God's people when they were "Christian infants" if you will.  So there is a lot of do's and don'ts there and much punishment for not following God's law.  The NT is the "grown up" Christian that while the law still stands and whatever consequences in not following that law remains, the literal punishment is not enforced.  (the easiest way I know to put it without getting into sounding preachy.)

Again, a very Christian interpretation, which is fair enough from a Christian   but I find it a little insulting to Jews. I don't think they'd consider themselves or their forebears to be "Christian infants"! But I understand your Christian interpretation of scripture, even if I also think it's utter poppycock.

[Sandra Craft]

This is contradictory, to assert "through Christ" you are asserting Christianity, it is as simple as that.

Of course I assert Christianity...I am Christian.  The bible states it is through Christ...  Which part is contradictory? 

The part that "through Christ" does not automatically mean Xtianity.  Unless "through Christ" means Buddhism, or Shintoism, or animism, or not-Xtianity.

My neighbour's cat know more than "He". The bar isn't set very high here.

I love that, can I quote it in my tag line?

[Sandra Craft]

Exactly right.  You think you have all the answers and (if God is) know better than He.

Simply put.  Pride.

It's not about having all the answers, "knowing the Truth", knowing more than anyone or anything else, but about not being convinced by the story the bible writers/compliers were telling.  Or that any bible promoters after them have been pushing. 

It's about honesty, simply put.  If I were being prideful, I'd say it was about having standards as well but I'm not being prideful.

[The Magic Pudding]

Christian interpretation of scripture, even if I also think it's utter poppycock.

I hope you were wearing a monocle when you used the phrase "utter poppycock," it's de rigueur I'm sure.

[Too Few Lions]

Christian interpretation of scripture, even if I also think it's utter poppycock.

I hope you were wearing a monocle when you used the phrase "utter poppycock," it's de rigueur I'm sure.

I was dressed something like this

[The Magic Pudding]

Christian interpretation of scripture, even if I also think it's utter poppycock.

I hope you were wearing a monocle when you used the phrase "utter poppycock," it's de rigueur I'm sure.

I was dressed something like this

I was just going to suggest that and I got a funny message.

[Too Few Lions]

great minds and all that. I think it may be time to change my avatar, particularly as I do love Lancelot Link

[AnimatedDirt]

I haven't heard this one before, so why would a god hypothetically decide to impart wisdom to the "Christian infants" centuries before waiting to give the rest of the information to the "grown up Christians"?

The same reason a child starts in school learning the basics of education and progressing.  However, the plan of salvation has always been the same from the very beginning (see Genesis 3:21) it has never been different.