How do Christians defend this verse in the Bible.

OP

Original post by Supersaps

You have to justify this link.

Follow it, yes. Why literally?

Many things are true without being literally true.

Me: "It's raining cats and dogs."
Random Strawman Alpha: "You're such a liar, there's no felines in the sky."
Me: "You're right. It's still true though because we're ****ing drenched, son."

The bible is true. It's not all literally true. Much of it is metaphorically, figuratively or historically true.

SS

ok so whats the truth behind the verse :
'For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death.'

Reply 22

XxKingSniprxX

Original post by ihatehannah

'
'For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death.'

So people who work on Sunday should be killed? This is the student room and I presume we all have a decent amount of intellect- so how can anyone who says the Bible is a great moral compass defend this verse, I'm actually curious for an answer.

I'm surprised this is the first thread that's not with Islam as its focus. :laugh:

Inb4 people turn this to Islam. :rolleyes:

Reply 23

user73867

19

Original post by ihatehannah

ok so whats the truth behind the verse :
'For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death.'

The truth behind the verse is that you should keep one day for God and not do any work on that day. Everyone needs a rest.

I would say the punishment is obsolete (reference: the points others have been making on the thread)

Hope this helps! :smile:

SS

Educational all this

OP

It's funny how you say the laws of the OT are not applicable, so how do you explain these verses.
' Scripture cannot be broken’ (John 10:35). He referred to Scripture as ‘the commandment of God’ (Matthew 15:3) and as the ‘Word of God’

The word of God is clearly condoning slavery , genocide and murder.

Reply 26

the bear

20

Original post by ihatehannah

But if the Bible is the Word of God and the way to salvation, should you not follow it literally and word for word??? Why do you have the right to cherry pick what to follow when God is clearly telling you what to do. So one verse in the Bible can be wrong, so you do not have to follow it and others are not so let's follow that. Most importantly, how can a omni-benevolent God condone slavery, genocide and as I mentioned above- killing someone just for working on sunday.

ermm it was not Sunday... it was Saturday *

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 27

OP

Original post by Supersaps

The truth behind the verse is that you should keep one day for God and not do any work on that day. Everyone needs a rest.

I would say the punishment is obsolete (reference: the points others have been making on the thread)

Hope this helps! :smile:

SS

so you believe in the fact that it says you should keep one day for God , but not the fact that anyone who does not follow it should be put to death, so if the OT is completely null and void and not applicable , why believe in ANYTHING in it. Shouldn't the word of God be followed, even if it commands vile deeds such as this? Why do you cherry-pick what you like to follow and what you do not like to follow.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 28

Betelgeuse-

19

Original post by ihatehannah

'
'For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death.'

So people who work on Sunday should be killed? This is the student room and I presume we all have a decent amount of intellect- so how can anyone who says the Bible is a great moral compass defend this verse, I'm actually curious for an answer.

About as well as Muslims defend their violent texts (Not well at all) however Christians rarely have to defend this because Christians dont go around killing people for working on Sundays (Fwiw i dont believe the bible is a great moral compass)

Reply 29

username1539513

Original post by ihatehannah

It's funny how you say the laws of the OT are not applicable, so how do you explain these verses.
' Scripture cannot be broken’ (John 10:35). He referred to Scripture as ‘the commandment of God’ (Matthew 15:3) and as the ‘Word of God’

The word of God is clearly condoning slavery , genocide and murder.

I find it funny how you are placing more literal importance in the Bible than we are as christians rofl. Yes and your point is? Nothing you've said in the above verses contradicts anything I've said. Of course the Bible is the inspired word of God.

A lot of people get confused with the OT because they don't understand the socio-historical context behind it. 'Slavery' in the OT doesn't mean the kind of slavery we are used to thinking about with black people in miles and miles of chains being treated horrifically. It was more like someone working for someone else in accordance with the laws set out in the OT to repay back a debt, kind of like the modern day equivalent of community service.

As for genocide I assume you are referring to the Israelites fighting against the native tribes in the region through which they were passing? Do you realise that these groups were trying to kill the Israelites by poisoning their water? That is why the prohobitions against 'witchcraft' literally 'pharmakeious' are prevalent in the OT. It's God warning against people using drugs against people

I'm not sure what you mean where God condones murder. He quite clearly condemns it in the ten commandments and the punishment for murder is the death penalty. Anyway like I said none of it is relevant now because like it says in the Bible Jesus's life and death nullify the old covenant

Reply 30

Trapz99

Original post by ihatehannah

But the fact is that if the old testament is the sacred word of God and thought to be the word of God( this is not debatable) so how can he be commanding someone to kill someone else just for working on sunday? Many people still follow the laws of the old testament, but decide to cherry pick on what to follow and ignore the horrific verses such as this.

No. Jesus removed a lot of the laws of the Old Testament. Christians do not need to follow Old Testament law because it was only intended for Jews before the Messiah came.

Reply 31

OP

Yes you're right, what the OT was talking about was the good kind of slavery LOL. Yes and it also says you should submit even to your 'cruel masters'. And by genocide there are numerous examples I am talking about,

1.

In Genesis 7:21-23, God drowns the entire population of the earth: men, women, children, fetuses, and animals.

2.

In Exodus 12:29, God the baby-killer slaughters all Egyptian firstborn children and cattle because their king was stubborn.

3.

In Numbers 16:41-49, the Israelites complain that God is killing too many of them. So, God sends a plague that kills 14,000 more of them.

4.

In 1 Samuel 6:19, God kills 50,000 men for peeking into the ark of the covenant.

5.

In Numbers 31:7-18, the Israelites kill all the Midianites except for the virgins, whom they are allowed to rape as spoils of war.

6.

In 2 Kings 2:23-24, some kids tease the prophet Elisha, and God sends bears to dismember them.

And by murder I meant killing someone just because they are working on Sunday.

Reply 32

Tootles

Original post by ihatehannah

'
'For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death.'

So people who work on Sunday should be killed? This is the student room and I presume we all have a decent amount of intellect- so how can anyone who says the Bible is a great moral compass defend this verse, I'm actually curious for an answer.

Saturday, actually. Shabbat is Saturday. Also I'd like to know what translation you're quoting; I don't recognize that from among my own (rather extensive) collection.

First off, it's in the Old Testament, which is superceded by the new - 'the Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath.' But the point is that people (and what they do) need rest. SImilar laws in the OT say that farmland should he left alone every seventh year; this is to allow the soil to recover its nutrients, otherwise it'll become useless.

As for putting people who work to death on the Sabbath, I can't say with certainty.

You ask what Christians think - well, Christian law says, as I said above, that the Sabbath is there simply as a day to rest. We are not bound by law to abstain from working, though practising Christians observe Sunday as a holy day, and
(mostly) abstain from working then, which is why people assume Sunday to the day we observe Sabbath - we don't observe it at all, except at Easter.

Reply 33

Siberiaan

How does a holy book become outdated? If it's god's word why does it need to get changed and updated.

Reply 34

Trapz99

Original post by TSR Mustafa

How does a holy book become outdated? If it's god's word why does it need to get changed and updated.

God said in the Old Testament that it will be updated when the Messiah (which Christians believe to be Jesus Christ) comes:

Jer. 31:31: "Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah."

Reply 35

TruthToYa

1

Original post by TSR Mustafa

How does a holy book become outdated? If it's god's word why does it need to get changed and updated.

Because the Jews broke the covenant.

Reply 36

username1539513

Original post by ihatehannah

Yes you're right, what the OT was talking about was the good kind of slavery LOL. Yes and it also says you should submit even to your 'cruel masters'. And by genocide there are numerous examples I am talking about,

1.

In Genesis 7:21-23, God drowns the entire population of the earth: men, women, children, fetuses, and animals.

2.

In Exodus 12:29, God the baby-killer slaughters all Egyptian firstborn children and cattle because their king was stubborn.

3.

In Numbers 16:41-49, the Israelites complain that God is killing too many of them. So, God sends a plague that kills 14,000 more of them.

4.

In 1 Samuel 6:19, God kills 50,000 men for peeking into the ark of the covenant.

5.

In Numbers 31:7-18, the Israelites kill all the Midianites except for the virgins, whom they are allowed to rape as spoils of war.

6.

In 2 Kings 2:23-24, some kids tease the prophet Elisha, and God sends bears to dismember them.

And by murder I meant killing someone just because they are working on Sunday.

1. The verses preceeding this explain why; because the 'earth was filled with violence.' If you think what's happening these days with all the terrorist attacks is bad imagine that but on a worldwide scale 100x worse. Are they really kind of people you would have liked to live among?

2. This is too, is explained, God gave Pharaoh ten chances to free the Israelites from slavery (not the kind described by the Israelites btw, this is the kind more akin to the trans-atlantic slave trade which if anything this story should show you how much God is against slavery) Pharaoh did not free God's people so he and his nation paid the price for it.

3. The people of Israel had become disobedient and ungrateful to God after saving them from Egypt and keeping them sustained supernaturally throughout the entire time he was with them. Also note that God stopped as soon as Moses and Aaron started making atonement for them

4. Looking at God kills you, what do you expect? The supreme spirit creator of the universe, that's how powerful he is. Even Moses (the one man who got the closes to God, couldn't look at him directly without dying)

5. The midianites were conspiring to kill the Israelites by poisoning them. Rape of the virgins would not have been permitted as the soldiers would have to be clean before God before going into war and rape would not only violate that but come under punishment as detailed elsewhere in the OT. If you don't believe me read it more

Reply 37

OP

The flood killed children and innocents as well, not all of them were evil and yet God killed them.

Reply 38

TruthToYa

1

Original post by ihatehannah

Yes you're right, what the OT was talking about was the good kind of slavery LOL. Yes and it also says you should submit even to your 'cruel masters'. And by genocide there are numerous examples I am talking about,

1.

In Genesis 7:21-23, God drowns the entire population of the earth: men, women, children, fetuses, and animals.

2.

In Exodus 12:29, God the baby-killer slaughters all Egyptian firstborn children and cattle because their king was stubborn.

3.

In Numbers 16:41-49, the Israelites complain that God is killing too many of them. So, God sends a plague that kills 14,000 more of them.

4.

In 1 Samuel 6:19, God kills 50,000 men for peeking into the ark of the covenant.

5.

In Numbers 31:7-18, the Israelites kill all the Midianites except for the virgins, whom they are allowed to rape as spoils of war.

6.

In 2 Kings 2:23-24, some kids tease the prophet Elisha, and God sends bears to dismember them.

And by murder I meant killing someone just because they are working on Sunday.

Every time God warned them of what the consequences would be over and over and over again.

If he didn't have gone through with it? guess what?? people would of called him a liar.

Reply 39

username1539513