The Student Room Group

How do Christians defend this verse in the Bible.

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Original post by ihatehannah
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'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. If the old testament is the sacred word of God, then how can he command such evil deeds.

First of all, we are discussing a law of God. Not a f*****g law of a f*****g government, but a law, established by God, commandment. God is very kind, but He doesn't like when people break His laws. It is called sin.
Second, God created the world. Great job! And you, dude, are part of this creation.
Now, God very kindly asked Jews to appreciate His job and devote Him one day, just one day, a week. Is it too much, dude? You still have six days for all kind of stupid things. A person, who breaks this law, expresses disrespect to God, to His job and to His commandments. So, what punishment do you expect in this case? A fine of one pound?
Original post by JNDSAN
When Christ came the New Testament followed his life - He was God

Another one? OMG :cool:
Reply 62
I've always taken issue with the idea of a God that demands devotion. Surely it would be better to allow worshippers to take whatever day they saw fit off or not at all.*
In addition to it being in the Old Testament and not having to follow it, I'm pretty sure in the last 100 years no one has ever enforced this rule.

The Qu'ran however...
Original post by JNDSAN
sorry but quite a lot of people answered your question perfectly adequately in my opinion and you dont seem to get it

I disagree. While it may be true that Christians do not and need not follow the old testament law, that doesn't deal with the problem that God declared that people should be put to death for working on the Sabbath.

If you believe this was the word of God, that seems like a seriously immoral law. Even Jews today don't follow it (did they ever?).

So is/was God immoral? Did He realise His mistake and change His mind? Or is putting people to death for working on the wrong day actually OK?
You sound like you have literally searched the Internet for verses that you believe will make an argument with Christians, however, why did you that ? Well, only your hidden instincts know

For your information: First, when Jesus came, he overruled many of the verses that were in the OT (if you want examples I will 100% give), that's why Christians follow the NT and I think Jews still follow the OT because they believe Jesus has not come yet!

Second, the words written in the OT doesn't actually mean what we would have thought in our generation, if you would ask a Priest, he would actually explain what it does mean and the verses are not understood word by word, nah the verse is understood by the general meaning and this general meaning should be applied in the Christian life which I believe is the most important

Third, if you search the whole of NT, you would not find a verse that involves killing other people, Jesus has always said, forgive others, if someone hit you on the left cheek, put him the right cheek

Forth, the verse you have mentioned, ACTUALLY means that you should dedicate at least one day from your busy week to go to church and pray, this day has to be Sunday or Saturday night because many are not able at all to go on Sunday

So yeah please, before you come again, trying to convince everyone about a verse you don't actually understand, ask a Priest or Christians, wouldn't do any harm but expand your knowledge

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(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by ihatehannah
The fact of the matter is many Christians still follow the moral laws of the old testament and God said himself not to disregard it. i.e
'Do not think that I [Jesus] have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke or a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished'. Many other quotes that show Jesus supported the laws of the old testament. But what I am arguing is that how can a book that is called the 'word of god' have slavery, genocide etc etc etc in it.

Nobody has yet to tell me why the book thought to be the word of God has all these vile things and quite frankly I do not care anymore, believe what you want to believe- but personally I think religion should not exist in the 21st century.


Slavery and genocide were the order of the day. God was simply dealing with man using the same methods men used to deal with each other. I doubt any of these were seen as vile, Genocide for example, may have been looked on as regrettable but necessary.
Original post by chazwomaq
I disagree. While it may be true that Christians do not and need not follow the old testament law, that doesn't deal with the problem that God declared that people should be put to death for working on the Sabbath.

If you believe this was the word of God, that seems like a seriously immoral law. Even Jews today don't follow it (did they ever?).

So is/was God immoral? Did He realise His mistake and change His mind? Or is putting people to death for working on the wrong day actually OK?


In your first paragraph you declare the fact that God ordering death for anyone working on the Sabbath as a "problem." I'm sure God appreciates your forensic
analysis but you have to accept the fact that God is God. You can't argue with anything he does. You can only accept it. That may be hard to accept for man today but you have no choice.
Alright
Reply 69
I am guessing it is more of a metaphorical death because I can't picture God just killin' all the peeps working on Sunday when he sees them. I think what it means can be taken literally or metaphorically. I personally believe that it is a metaphor and a sort of test so God can see if you are serious about worshiping him. If you decide to disregard this sacred day then you fai the test. It doesn't mean you literally die but maybe you die in Gods heart for you are ignoring his warning. Idk.
Anyone who uses a Bible or any other holy book to rule their lives has to be either not very bright or is unable to think for themselves. For centuries, these books, supposedly written thousands of years ago, have been used to control. They have been interpreted to suit the whims of power hungry maniacs both in government and in religion to start wars, murder, abuse, maim and destroy for their own ends.
I prefer the Beano.
Original post by ihatehannah
instead of actually forgiving the sins of mankind without the need of a scapegoat ( Jesus Christ) , he sends himself on a suicide mission to get himself tortured and then executed in order to forgive the sins of mankind. @ facepalm@ And what kind of Omni- benevolent God allows his only son to be tortured and killed when he has the power to stop it.


His son, Jesus Christ, is actually God himself. So he comes to Earth and sacrifices his son, who is Him, on the Cross.
Original post by ihatehannah
The fact of the matter is many Christians still follow the moral laws of the old testament and God said himself not to disregard it. i.e
'Do not think that I [Jesus] have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke or a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished'. Many other quotes that show Jesus supported the laws of the old testament. But what I am arguing is that how can a book that is called the 'word of god' have slavery, genocide etc etc etc in it.

Nobody has yet to tell me why the book thought to be the word of God has all these vile things and quite frankly I do not care anymore, believe what you want to believe- but personally I think religion should not exist in the 21st century.

they are not 'vile' things because humans don't get to decide what's right and wrong- God does. God always knows what's right for us and what's the most loving thing to do for us. And that's what he always does. Your opinion on what's vile and what isn't vile is not important because everything God does is good.
Reply 73
Original post by Seamus123
Anyone who uses a Bible or any other holy book to rule their lives has to be either not very bright or is unable to think for themselves. For centuries, these books, supposedly written thousands of years ago, have been used to control. They have been interpreted to suit the whims of power hungry maniacs both in government and in religion to start wars, murder, abuse, maim and destroy for their own ends.
I prefer the Beano.

Me to tbh. Minnie the Minx doesn't go to hell for minxing on a Sunday does she now?
It doesn't apply to Christians because the Old Covenant has been superseded by Jesus and it doesn't apply to Jewish people because those laws only applied when judicial matters were carried out by Priests of the second Temple.


It is frustrating when people think they can Google some random violent verse of the Bible and think they've caught someone out. A similar thing is how Catholics draw their authority on religious matters from the Pope before the Bible, so people think they've found some sort of contradiction invalidating Catholicism when in actual fact they were too stupid to even understand how Catholics think.
Original post by oldercon1953
In your first paragraph you declare the fact that God ordering death for anyone working on the Sabbath as a "problem." I'm sure God appreciates your forensic
analysis but you have to accept the fact that God is God. You can't argue with anything he does. You can only accept it. That may be hard to accept for man today but you have no choice.


OK sure, but now you can't criticise Islamic State (Daesh) when they murder gay people, or unbelievers, or adulterers etc; or the Westborough Baptist Church for their antics. After all, "God says so".

In fact, you should be criticizing Jews who don't murder people who work on the Sabbath. They are not doing what God told them.
Original post by chazwomaq
I disagree. While it may be true that Christians do not and need not follow the old testament law, that doesn't deal with the problem that God declared that people should be put to death for working on the Sabbath.

If you believe this was the word of God, that seems like a seriously immoral law. Even Jews today don't follow it (did they ever?).

So is/was God immoral? Did He realise His mistake and change His mind? Or is putting people to death for working on the wrong day actually OK?


You may not have noticed but as a religion, Christianity has done quite a good job of adapting to the modem day. Most people I know are loosely Christian who visit church only occasionally or never, but find comfort in the teachings. They're not ostracised because they don't attend regularly - priests understand that people have lives, jobs, families.

It is quite clear that Christians are taught that their religion was written long ago in different circumstances, nobody tries to use it to justify slavery etc. Unlike a certain -word of God- religion, Christians are not encouraged to learn the Bible ver batim because it is not infallible and the church no longer encourages the teaching of the more barbaric parts.

This is why, in the West, our countries developed civilised law that equally recognises men and women. It's kind of difficult to do that if you have the Quran at the centre of your nation.
Original post by chazwomaq
In fact, you should be criticizing Jews who don't murder people who work on the Sabbath. They are not doing what God told them.

They are. The point is that Jews know about their religion a little bit more than you.
Original post by 1010marina
You may not have noticed but as a religion, Christianity has done quite a good job of adapting to the modem day. Most people I know are loosely Christian who visit church only occasionally or never, but find comfort in the teachings. They're not ostracised because they don't attend regularly - priests understand that people have lives, jobs, families.

It is quite clear that Christians are taught that their religion was written long ago in different circumstances, nobody tries to use it to justify slavery etc. Unlike a certain -word of God- religion, Christians are not encouraged to learn the Bible ver batim because it is not infallible and the church no longer encourages the teaching of the more barbaric parts.

This is why, in the West, our countries developed civilised law that equally recognises men and women. It's kind of difficult to do that if you have the Quran at the centre of your nation.

I think that it only means that Christianity as religion loses its positions.
Original post by 1010marina

It is quite clear that Christians are taught that their religion was written long ago in different circumstances, nobody tries to use it to justify slavery etc.


I agree with you totally - I am such a Christian myself.

But then you have to admit that at least some of the Bible is not the word of God or should be followed. The OP (and many other parts of the Bible) is a problem for those who disagree.

BTW, Christians absolutely used the Bible to justify slavery during the time of the slave trade.

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