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Christians: do you believe that the WHOLE bible is the inspired word of god? [Spirituality & Religion]

If so, how do you reconcile the many immoral things in the bible like the owning of slaves, the inequality of women and the murder of homosexuals?

Now, this is a bit of a gotcha question but i am still genuinely interested in how the faithful reconcile these immoral things with the idea that god is unfailingly moral and just or that the bible is the ultimate source for morality.

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SW-User

This is a question that is far too broad to answer in this type of forum. However, I'll do my best.

Yes, I believe that the whole Bible is the inspired word of God. He is the author, though He used human authors to physically write His message to us.

The problem is that, today, we are imperfect in our interpretations of His word sometimes. The Bible is to be taken as a whole, IN CONTEXT, of its entirety, and in the context of each verse we read and the others around it. Things were culturally very different back then. So while certain activities may not apply today, the premise still does.

It's also easy to take a verse out of context and twist it to mean something it doesn't. So, when reading the Bible, or listening to those who are teaching from it, it's our responsibility to go back and check to be sure that what is being read or taught is accurate within the context of the verse, the culture, the author, and with the Bible as a whole.

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Pikachu

@SW-User

Well then let's take this to a specific scope.

In context, how do the rules about owning other humans as property represent a morally correct position?

PikachuTrainer · 31-35, M

He didn't need Moses to physically write his commandments but needs people to physically write a book? Please do explain that one.

SW-User

@Pikachu God didn't command us to own others as property. It simply was the way of life back then. He set rules on how masters were to treat their servants and how servants were to treat their masters. But again, that was the culture of the time.

SW-User

@PikachuTrainer He didn't NEED them, He CHOSE them. I don't know why, but I do know that God has been choosing people and allowing them to work out His plan since the beginning. It is a privilege.

Pikachu

@SW-User

Right. Instead of speaking out against owning humans as property the way he does against murder and lying, he includes in his Word a list of rules for owning humans as property.

So How can we consider the bible to be a source of morality when it so clearly endorses an immoral action like slavery?

PikachuTrainer · 31-35, M

@SW-User right, so he didn't need them, but obviously needed them to write a book that is inconsistent from one page to the next.

SW-User

@Pikachu It is not condoning an immoral action. It is setting guidelines that are timeless and for every generation. In THAT time, generation, and culture, it was right for the guidelines set out in the Bible for slaves and masters to be followed. Today, the concept carries through for us in terms of our bosses. We are to respect their authority, work honestly and do our best, etc.

PikachuTrainer · 31-35, M

@SW-User the concept of hierarchy has been with Humanity for generations, well before the timeline of events of the Bible with Moses such as with the Egyptians, the Babylonians etc. It really has nothing to do with slaves and their masters.

Pikachu

@SW-User

It IS condoning an immoral action. Saying "that was the culture" is an excuse.
People were always lying and stealing and killing but god found time to come out against those.

It is setting guidelines that are timeless and for every generation

lol no, no. It is NOT timeless. There is no morally acceptable slavery today.
There is NO parallel between being allowed to beat your slave bloody as long as they survive a couple days and how you have to respect your boss's authority.

SW-User

@Pikachu First of all, again, you have to take the Bible as a WHOLE. There are several places, especially in the New Testament, where any attitude of pride or feeling of superiority over another is explicitly condemned. Nowhere does the Bible say we SHOULD own slaves. It very much says the opposite of you simply read God's expectations of how we're each supposed to serve one another in love. So that's why I'm saying, those verses about slavery are in the Bible and can't be ignored, but the point of them is NOT to say slavery is ok.... it's to establish a proper order and teach timeless principles such as respect of those in authority over us.

PikachuTrainer · 31-35, M

@SW-User if we take the Bible as a whole, and sorry for dragging this off topic (my favourite pastime), why is there no evidence of any of the Biblical events?

SW-User

@PikachuTrainer We can go round and round in circles all day and the fact is, I'm unlikely to change your mind, and you're not going to change mine. There IS evidence...Lots of it. If you TRULY want answers to the question of evidence, I'd suggest the book, The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel. He's a former atheist who set out to prove there was no Jesus and no evidence for His existence. Perhaps you'll be surprised by what he found. ☺

Pikachu

@SW-User

Well it also never says that we SHOULDN'T own slaves and since there exists a codified set of rules for owning slaves, i rather think the evidence falls on the side of the bible being in favor of slavery.

What i'm getting from you is that you can choose to ignore the immoral parts of the bible if you decide that "As a whole" the bible doesn't support them.

PikachuTrainer · 31-35, M

@SW-User you mean a guy who went out for evidence and only found confirmation bias? There actually isn't any evidence to prove Christ existed either.

SW-User

@Pikachu I very specifically said those parts cannot be ignored. However, your assertion that because the Bible doesn't specifically say "thou shalt not own slaves" it is condoning slavery, is false.

Pikachu

@SW-User @SW-User

your assertion that because the Bible doesn't specifically say "thou shalt not own slaves" it is condoning slavery,

But that's not my assertion at all.
My assertion is that since the bible describes how to own slaves that it's condoning slavery.

PhoenixPhail · M

@SW-User Your conjecture and interpretation doesn't address the bible contradicting itself, which it does in several places:

[image/video deleted]

PikachuTrainer · 31-35, M

@PhoenixPhail that is just the first 2 contradictions.

SW-User

@Pikachu Like I said, we're not going to come to a meeting of the minds on this... and that's ok. I answered your question, you don't feel it was adequate, fair enough. I don't know how else to get across that it is NOT condoning slavery just because it says how masters and slaves should treat each other.

@PhoenixPhail That was not what we were discussing, and as I said, this question is way too broad and gets into far too many topics to try to delve into in this way. And honestly, there's little reason to. The answers are out there if one truly wants to find them.

PikachuTrainer · 31-35, M

@SW-User you didn't actually answer the question, you actually did you hardest to avoid answering it.

Pikachu

@SW-User

Well we'll have to agree on that.
I don't see how telling people who they can enslave and for how long and what they can do with them can be considered anything other than condoning slavery.
Nice talking to you.

PhoenixPhail · M

@SW-User Well, one thing on which I agree is, The answer lies within.

SW-User

@PikachuTrainer No. I did answer. You just don't like or agree with my answer. I said YES, I believe the whole Bible is the inspired word of God. That was your first question.

Then I explained that slavery is NOT condoned in the Bible when the Bible is taken as a whole. I also explained that a lot of these seeming discrepancies are because we fail to read scripture in context. You don't like my answer, but I did not ignore the question.

SW-User

@Pikachu I enjoyed talking with you as well. ☺

PikachuTrainer · 31-35, M

@SW-User you actually did avoid the question about the condoning of slavery, nothing about whether or not I agree with it or not.

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