Gravity said:
Wow, even more cliche-speak. Anything YOU quote from the Bible stands as you interpret, any usage you disagree with you rationalize away.
On that subject, read (don't be lazy and skim) this:
Also, if the horror/torture/genocide done by ''god'' in the Old Testament doesn't count - does that mean none of it counts? Or do you just PICK which are valid?
And then . . . there is this:
-- All the OT laws still apply in the NT. Matt 5:17-19
But the Word of God does stand on it's own! Well it does for me and I am just a man like you! As for 'couldn't God have done a better job of it' - well all I can say is that you completley 'reject' the work of Jesus Christ. There is God, doing it right under your nose, you read about it, you hear the message but you reject the message. What do you want? I tell you the truth, Jesus could come right here on the internet and tell you He loves you and that you may enter life eternal with Him and still you would reject it!
As for the OT laws still apply in the new testament - well of course they do! The laws are just and are right!
Ill explain the law thing in context of the new testament promise ...
A man loves his wife. He loves her completely. He works hard to ensure that they have enough food to eat and that their children are fed. He gives to the poor and is always prepared to help someone in need whether they be friend or stranger.
One day on his way home from work he meets a man who is down on his luck. The stranger has just lost his wife and is obviously having a nervous breakdown. The stranger is crying on a park bench. The man sits next to him struck by the stranger's pain and asks him if there is anything he can do to help him.
The stranger replies "The loneliness is too much to bear, I have lost my wife, she has died unexpectedly and now my home does not feel like my home, on top of this I have now lost my job because I just cannot cope"
The man takes pity on him and offers a room in his own house until the man is ready to face the world again. He offers to arrange some counselling and promises that the man is most welcome in his house. He even offers to help find him a job"
The stranger having no where else to go, agrees to the man's kind offer and they both set off to the man's house.
The man's wife is a little displeased with her husband's generousity because she just wants a quiet life but concedes to her husband nonetheless.
The wife does not work because she stays at home to care for their 2 very young children. The stranger open's up to the wife whilst the husband is away at work and pours out all his troubles.
The wife listens and listens and sees that the stranger just desperately needs to be loved. She finds herself falling in love with him. Her husband is so self assured she feels that the stranger is even more worthy of her love than her own husbands. In a moment of weakness she takes the stranger by the hand and leads him to the bedroom.
The stranger who feels so down on his lot says "But what about your husband?"
The wife says "Oh he is ok, he doesnt worry about anything. Come on, it is you who needs to be loved, come with me!"
So they sleep together and keep it a secret from the husband.
The husband comes home from work one day full of joy because he has won a promotion at work. His wife opens the door to him and he says "Come on darling, get your glad rags on, daddy is taking us all out to dinner"
The wife racked by guilt says "I really cannot share your joy. I need you to leave right away. Please take your things and go!"
The man begs his wife not to do this to him but she stands firm and tells him he must leave. He asks for a reason but she gives none.
After some time a messenger comes to the husband and tells him that his wife is sleeping with the stranger and now the stranger wears his clothes and the stranger bounces his babies on his knee.
The husband cannot believe his ears and is furious. He wishes both his wife and that stranger dead for what they have done to him! He cries out to God at the injustice of it all!
Now what should God say to that husband? If God said "Oh I dont know what you are getting angry about. Why dont you stop moaning and accept your lot?" how could that husband ever feel that God understood his pain and suffering. Now if God said "Your wife has behaved wickedly towards you her husband because she has forgotten who she made a promise to in marraige. That woman should be punished for what she has done to you." - then the man would know that God empathises with him and the man would expect justice to take place."
God's anger is righteous and it is God's anger that justifies men. The law therefore is good and should never be done away with.
Now what of the wife? She 'has' forgotten her husband whom she married under oath and this is not acceptable to a loving God. She has a chance to repent. She could turn her heart now to her husband who she knows is broken hearted and beg him to forgive her. The husband loves his wife therefore he will listen to her and will understand why she fell prey to temptation given all the circumstances. It does not matter how much that stanger begs though - the husband will not permit him in his house any longer!
If the wife repented she would see God's mercy through her husband and the husband would be blessed by God because mercy is better than anger.
What if the wife never repented? Well God's anger would sit in judgement against her until she died and the husband would be justified in his own anger at what had been done to him.
The Law is good and will always be!
Praise be to God through Our Lord Jesus Christ.
