Are these verses of the Bible implemented by Christians?

[Compassionist]

Christians have been around for about 2000 years and there are currently around 2.3 billion Christians on Earth.

Are these verses of the Bible implemented by Christians at present? Have they been implemented throughout the last 2000 years Christians have been around? If they are not implemented, why are they not implemented by Christians? After all, Christians claim to hold the Bible as the Word of God. Perhaps YOU can help me understand?

Galatians 5:14
The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbour as yourself."

Matthew 5:40-42
If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.

Matthew 5:44
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Matthew 6:19
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Luke 14:33
Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

Matthew 6:24
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Money.

Matthew 19:21-24
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Matthew 19:28-29
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

Luke 9:23-25
Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?

Matthew 13:22
The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Phillippians 2:3
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Acts 2:44-45
All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.

[Goat]

Thank you Goat your last point was very good.

The Bible was bringing in a more compassionate view and teaching people to care for others.

Paul was also dealing with the society of his time. When many of the early Christians were slaves. It is wrong to remove the Bible quotes from the cultural period in which they were written.

On the other hand, when the time came to cull what the 'powers that be' wanted, you can see the council of Nicea, gathered together by the emperor , would want to push obedience.

[samuelbb7]

Very true. Which is why I do not totally trust the councils. Being a late Protestant church with a strong Old Testament view My church is out of phase with many of the councils.

[Compassionist]

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (New International Version)

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Thank you for your respective posts. It seems that you are saying that the Bible is the work of human beings who are biased by their location in place and time and also by their culture.

Yet, the Bible claims that it is of divine authorship. Is it lying? I think it is. I think it is of human authorship and that is why it is so inaccurate and self-contradictory. What do you think?

Incidentally, Buddha was teaching compassion long before Jesus allegedly arrived on Earth. Compassion is not something Christians have monopoly over. In fact, Christians have acted without compassion through most of history and are still doing so.

[McCulloch]

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Thank you for your respective posts. It seems that you are saying that the Bible is the work of human beings who are biased by their location in place and time and also by their culture.

Yet, the Bible claims that it is of divine authorship. Is it lying? I think it is. I think it is of human authorship and that is why it is so inaccurate and self-contradictory. What do you think?

One of the difficulties in generalizing from 2 Tim is that it is somewhat problematic to determine what writings the author (probably not Paul) means by All Scripture. This was clearly written before what the Christians the New Testament had been compiled. Was he referring only to Jewish scripture? Could he have been anachronistically referring to the New Testament?

[samuelbb7]

Howdy Compassionist

Thank you for your respective posts. It seems that you are saying that the Bible is the work of human beings who are biased by their location in place and time and also by their culture.

Not Exactly. I am saying the Bible is affected by the writers and their time period. They are inspired by GOD but you are not going to get them to write the way a modern person would.

Yet, the Bible claims that it is of divine authorship. Is it lying? I think it is. I think it is of human authorship and that is why it is so inaccurate and self-contradictory. What do you think?

First I have found the claims of inaccuracy and contradictions to be greatly exaggerated. True there are some minor differences in reporting events but nothing major. I believe the Bible is telling the truth.

Incidentally, Buddha was teaching compassion long before Jesus allegedly arrived on Earth. Compassion is not something Christians have monopoly over. In fact, Christians have acted without compassion through most of history and are still doing so.

True there have been many religious hypocrites like the people who murdered JESUS. I am speaking of the teachings. Now Budda and JESUS doe have some common points about compassion. Budda also greatly wished to improve Hinduism and get off the wheel of reincarnation. JESUS was Jewish and speaking of a GOD of love and justice.

Howdy McCulloch

Paul was primarily speaking of the Old Testament which many modern Christians ignore.

[Compassionist]

Howdy Compassionist

Thank you for your respective posts. It seems that you are saying that the Bible is the work of human beings who are biased by their location in place and time and also by their culture.

Not Exactly. I am saying the Bible is affected by the writers and their time period. They are inspired by GOD but you are not going to get them to write the way a modern person would.

Yet, the Bible claims that it is of divine authorship. Is it lying? I think it is. I think it is of human authorship and that is why it is so inaccurate and self-contradictory. What do you think?

First I have found the claims of inaccuracy and contradictions to be greatly exaggerated. True there are some minor differences in reporting events but nothing major. I believe the Bible is telling the truth.

Incidentally, Buddha was teaching compassion long before Jesus allegedly arrived on Earth. Compassion is not something Christians have monopoly over. In fact, Christians have acted without compassion through most of history and are still doing so.

True there have been many religious hypocrites like the people who murdered JESUS. I am speaking of the teachings. Now Budda and JESUS doe have some common points about compassion. Budda also greatly wished to improve Hinduism and get off the wheel of reincarnation. JESUS was Jewish and speaking of a GOD of love and justice.

Howdy McCulloch

Paul was primarily speaking of the Old Testament which many modern Christians ignore.

If God is the source of the Old and New Testaments, the Bible should be an extraordinary book that could not be created by people and should not be culturally constrained.

Why is an omnipotent God resorting to using a flawed and contradictory book like the Bible to communicate?

Kindly review http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/ and http://www.godisimaginary.com/

Life is a rat race where the able survive and reproduce and the unable die out. Suffering is everywhere. Exactly how is God loving and just?

[samuelbb7]

To Compassionist

If God is the source of the Old and New Testaments, the Bible should be an extraordinary book that could not be created by people and should not be culturally constrained.

Well as one of your sites says reading the Bible should make us disbelieve it. Yet I have read the Bible many times and still believe it. Also one of the quotes speaks about we should not kill Parents who give their children to Moloch. Considering that to give a child to Moloch was to strangle the child and burn it up I do not think any court today would argue that we should let those people get away free for murdering their children.

Why is an omnipotent God resorting to using a flawed and contradictory book like the Bible to communicate?

Why okay I did not read every point in the two sites. But I have read similar points before. Humans are flawed and so is our language. So we should not try to communicate with others because our language is flawed? The two points on two separate creation stories is one I have dealt with in my mind ages ago. You will find that the Bible and even jewish people today say a story then repeat it slightly different to make a point. That is a common practice. Many ignore that to make their point. Second since the Bible does not tell us when the beginning was I have not problem with the possibility that it was billions of years ago. When the specific six days of earth formation was I also do not know. But plants can survive one day with out sunlight.

Life is a rat race where the able survive and reproduce and the unable die out. Suffering is everywhere. Exactly how is God loving and just?

The Bible explains that we feel from what we were supposed to be and ended up in a kind of hell. We await the time when suffering will be no more. We are also to do our best to stop as much of it as we can while we live.

[Compassionist]

You are turning a blind eye to all that is wrong with the Christian conception of God and with the Bible.

The account of creation in Genesis doesn't make any sense. God - who is supposed to be omnipotent and loving seems more like a bloodthirsty sadistic tyrant than anything else.

Exactly how is human language flawed? Exactly how are humans flawed? And if humans are created by God isn't that God's fault that humans are so flawed?

[samuelbb7]

Howdy Compassionist

You are turning a blind eye to all that is wrong with the Christian conception of God and with the Bible.

Since not all Christians have the same concept of GOD or agree with each that statement make no sense. I have my concept as a SDA Christian which differs from many others.

The account of creation in Genesis doesn't make any sense. God - who is supposed to be omnipotent and loving seems more like a bloodthirsty sadistic tyrant than anything else.

In the six day creation account there is no account of GOD destroying anyone. So how does allowing men free will and giving them a perfect place to live make Him bloodthirsty and sadistic?

Exactly how is human language flawed?

Well I love my wife and I love Cheesecake. Both are true but do they mean the same thing? Language is often inexact and can be taken to mean many things. People often takes what a person says and gets a totally different meaning then what was intended.

Exactly how are humans flawed?

Humans kill, maim and hurt others for no reason except selfish desire to get only what they want. Pol Pot murdered millions and you think that is not a flaw?

And if humans are created by God isn't that God's fault that humans are so flawed?

Did GOD force the Governor of New York to make his decision and spend $80,000 on his desires instead of helping others with that money? Not it is not GOD's fault since we have fee will.

[Compassionist]

http://www.livescience.com/history/top1 ... signs.html

Please review the 10 creation myths listed in the above weblink. The genesis account is not true. Life is a horrific and unfair rat race where the able survive and reproduce and the unable die out.

The Bible claims that God is love. Exactly how is God being loving when 5 out of 6 pregnancies naturally abort? Exactly how is God being loving when 11 million children die of poverty every year? Exactly how is God being loving when millions die of natural disasters? Exactly how is God being loving when 99.99% of all living things to ever live on Earth have already become extinct?

I am sure your wife understands the difference between your love for her and your love for cheesecake even when you use the same word 'love' for both. The context makes the meaning clear. Besides, English is not the only language on Earth. There are over 600 languages and many of them have different words to express love for wife versus love for food.

Yes, people do awful things. So do other living things. The question is why do they do what they do. My studied answer is causality. All things happen according to causality. I became a vegan because vegans have lower environmental impact and veganism prevents suffering of animals. I have donated half of my gross annual income my entire earning life because I want to share with those who don't have enough. If you had my genes, environments, nutrients and experiences you would be me - if a dog had my genes, environments, nutrients and experiences it would be me and live as I do. I prefer the taste of vanilla ice-cream and my wife prefers the taste of chocolate ice-cream - we don't choose our preferences - we merely experience them. You claim that living things have free will. Please demonstrate it. Since you are so free why don't you start thinking in Bengali right now? You can't - not unless you have previously learned Bengali through your experience. Causality rules.

My point is simple. If God created living things - the various vagaries of living things e.g. killing each other for food or power or status or mate - God is liable for the actions of his creation. God's alleged omnipotence makes God omniculpable.