Ridicule Sightings - The Bible Can’t Be Serious

Ridicule Sightings - The Bible Can’t Be Serious

 

By Kwokman

Date: 21^st November, 2008

 

 

How often do you hear Christians say that certain passages of the bible are not to be taken seriously or certain passages of the bible are out of date? Some Christians even dismiss anything written by or related to certain people in the bible. Ironically, Paul, being one outspoken and steadfast apostle of Jesus, is one of the most ignored authors of the bible. Paul was a man of strong statements, some of which are quite hard to swallow. Hence, many people just ignore him altogether, even call him disparaging names. Some of Jesus’ commands and teaching are quite challenging also and there are Christians who even ignore some of Jesus’ commands as well. Some veteran Christians haven’t even read the bible once. Whatever happened to “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

 

The problem is that once you ignore any part of the bible, you actually don’t believe in the bible at all. If you only believe in the bible where it appeases you, why would you even need the bible? Aren’t you relying on yourself? Even non-believers can find something they could agree upon in the bible. Likewise, when you think you’re right all the time, it’s not difficult to find confirmation elsewhere. Ask ten people and if two agree with you, there’s your confirmation. You can ignore the other eight like you ignore the bible. The bible isn’t a device for you to selectively reaffirm what you already know when it happens to contain some messages that support your view points. Don’t you know that there’re already many Christian-like organizations that use modified versions of the bible, remove what they disagree with and add to it whatever they want? Do you know that some variations of Buddhism even include Jesus as one of their gods? How are you different from them when you pick and choose what to believe in the bible? By the way, Paul was hand picked by Jesus to spread the gospel outside of Israel. If you ignore Paul, who are you really rejecting? Paul was the first missionary to spread the gospel outside of Israel and like many others after him sacrificed his live doing so. Every gentile Christian owes it to Paul and many other missionaries. All of you who claim that you have a personal relationship with Jesus and ignore Paul’s messages, who are you kidding? All of you who take salvation by grace as salvation by doing nothing, don’t you know that out of all the apostles, Paul was the one who put the most emphasis on salvation by grace? Did Paul just sit there and do nothing?

 

Some people argue that if the bible is to be taken literally, slavery would still be practiced today because even Paul asked the slaves to obey their masters. That is a completely baseless claim. The bible is an honest and true account of events. People involved in these events were not perfect. They often made mistakes, some of which were even condemned within the bible. Moreover, neither the bible nor Paul has ever endorsed slavery. Slavery was a fact of life back then. Lincoln had to go to war to free the slaves in America. I wouldn’t expect Paul to go that far, especially when Christians themselves were being oppressed, especially when he was called to spread the gospel and spreading the gospel was his primary goal. The fact that Paul asked slaves to submit to their masters was in itself liberation. Paul asked them to choose to be submissive as if it was their choice. Indeed it was their choice to do it for Christ. That was freedom that no slave had experienced before. After all, Jesus did not come to solve all the problems on earth. He told us that there’s a better place waiting for us. In fact, “ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.” (Matthew 24:6-9)

 

Again, choosing selectively what to believe in the bible is not what a believer would do. You can’t believe just a part of the bible. You can’t believe in the bible except where it says one should not be drunk. You can’t believe in the bible except where it says one should dress modestly. You can’t believe in the bible except where it says one should not lie, one should not take advantage of others, one should not commit adultery, one should spread the gospel to the ends of the world, etc. When it comes to the bible, it’s all or nothing. Otherwise, you’re following a different doctrine, which is anything but Christian. Don’t ignore God’s messengers as you should know what happened to the Israelites when they ignored Jeremiah. As human beings everyone has her or his own views and preferences, which do not always agree with what the bible says. However, as Christians we know the bible is true. If you disagree with what the bible says, either you don’t understand it or you’re wrong. There are indeed events in the bible that are particular to the situation and period of time. If you can’t make anything out of it yet, study harder with an open mind. Don’t just dismiss it. People have preferences but human beings also have self-control. If we put aside morals, put aside the truth and vigorously pursue each person’s personal preference, how are we different from monkeys, donkeys and rats?