Ask a Bible college Student

[Catholic_Lady]

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I would remind people that this is the Introductions forum. As it states at the top of the forum page "Whilst we are generally lenient with insulting language / rudeness in other forums, this kind of behaviour is explicitly disallowed in the Introductions forum. Please welcome new members to the community in a nice manner, or refrain from welcoming them at all."

Let us keep cool heads and civil tongues.

HUH?!!!
Why is the "Ask a..." subforum inside the introductions one?

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Personally I would not kill anyone if God told me to. Here's why. The God that I believe exists is the God of love and goodness. Like, he literally IS love. It would be against his very nature to want me to kill my child because killing children is just about the most evil thing you can do. If God wanted me to do that, my whole reality would be turned upside down completely.

You know, of course, that you follow one of the religions that sprouted from the so-called "Abrahamic" cult, right?
What was Abraham most remembered for? Here, check the first painting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham

That is the reason for such questions. According to the tale, god is very well capable of asking someone to kill their own child... and seemingly incapable of taking it back... needing to send an angel to prevent that blunder.

Or are you wanting to say that the god of Abraham was poorly portrayed in that particular tale, for he, as you point out, "literally IS love" and it "would be against his very nature to want me to kill my child"?


Personally, I think it's just a tale. A tale custom made to have a particular people stake a claim to some land.
The ages-old tale of fighting over resources.
The Middle-East has seen that aplenty... since "Abraham", through classical Greece, Romans, and now the Muslims.
The Fertile Crescent is the gift that keeps on giving.

I do not believe the stories in the ot are literal.

[pocaracas]

Who?!
Why should I care about a person with such an obscure name?

Yes, I'm one of those atheists who doesn't care about bible stories. I just know the few big ones and that's enough. Walking on water, multiplying fish, war, war, war, some bald guy that sicks a bear on some kids, some guy that hands out his daughter to be raped by a mob, as compensation for not giving up his two unknown guests.... Noah... Tower of Babel.... and the Adam&Eve thing... That's it, the bible in a nutshell.
I also don't know the Qur'an stories, nor the Vedas stories... Couldn't be bothered.

I know the Harry Potter story... the Song of Ice and Fire story.... I'm reading up on the Foundation stories... yeah.. these are fun and relatable.

I only mentioned him because, in his story, the child actually does get sacrificed to God.

Ah... but is it an expressed request from that god?

[GrandizerII]

I only mentioned him because, in his story, the child actually does get sacrificed to God.

Ah... but is it an expressed request from that god?

No, but as it was a vow made by Jephthah (sacrifice the first one to come out of the house to greet him after winning some battle), then it would've been against God's law to break it.

[pocaracas]

Ah... but is it an expressed request from that god?

No, but as it was a vow made by Jephthah (sacrifice the first one to come out of the house to greet him after winning some battle), then it would've been against God's law to break it.

But that's a tale of people vowing for something in case a particular event happens in their favor... Not much divine intervention is actually required.

If there was any divine intervention, then it seems god was more interested in the outcome of war than on being "love", back then...

[brewer]

You are all very opposed to killing children- Good! I believe that unborn babies are human beings from the moment of conception. That is why I am against abortion. I value human life- even the lives of unborn babies. I also understand that there are some extenuating circumstances such as the mothers health, rape, etc, and it is not my place to speak on those issues; they are very tough, though theologically I still believe that those babies have a right to life. Back to my point- killing a child is not something I take lightly. I hope I would obey God, no matter what He commands, but it would be very difficult.

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Do you mind if I take this a step further? Is your idea of conception, and therefore human life, the moment that sperm penetrates egg and a zygote is formed? Or is it when the fertilized egg actually implants? Or is it a some time frame further down the line?

Next, do you consider abortion to be on the same level as homicide?

Edit: Maybe you could start a new thread outside of introductions. Or a couple of new threads.

[Pat Mustard]

Do believe it's sinful to mix meat and dairy in one meal, or that women should be stoned to death for having short hair? What are your views on slavery, as it relates to the OT? Oh, and would you be upset if I told you I was wearing Lycra and cotton at the same time?

Old Testament laws. Some Jews still strictly follow all of these. I was working in a camp kitchen when a Jewish group was there and they could not eat meat and dairy in one meal. It was very interesting. 

But off of that bunny trail, no, I do not believe its sinful to mix meat and dairy. I do not think it is sinful that women have short hair. I do not condemn wearing lycra and cotton at the same time. I see slavery as wrong, though culturally, it may have once been acceptable granted masters treat their slaves rightly. 

The Old Testament law was irradiated when Jesus came. There are some moral implications that are still important to follow- those are reiterated in the New Testament. The Old Testament's purpose in the life of the Christian is to give the history of our faith system. It also shows how prophecy was fulfilled, which reaffirms our beliefs.

So you go against Yeshua then? Very brave of you if god exists. Remember Yeshua didn't comr to replace the laws of Moshe but to enforce them.

[Whateverist]

I predict his answer is "because God says so".

Clearly, from the question about the hypothetical son, if God said murder was fine then according to him it would be fine.

That would be a rather shallow, overly simplified version of the answer, but it isn't the incorrect answer according to our beliefs.

God created natural law, which is consistent with his nature. His nature is love. Murder goes against natural law. It goes against the way our world was designed to work and against the way we were designed to feel, which is empathy for our fellow humans.

Like Abaris said, a rather shallow, overly simplified understanding of the bible is kind of a fundamentalist's specialty.  Unfortunately that is our new member's beginning state.  I think he shows some promise for advancement though.  Perhaps he can move on up to a more nuanced grasp of what xtianity can be about.

Catholics have been rolling back literal interpretations for years and years.  At one time the blasphemy that the earth revolved around the sun instead of the other way might net you imprisonment or death from the catholic church.  To its credit that is no longer the case.  Your religious tribe has gone on to embrace evolution.  I'm pretty sure that there are Catholic priests and higher ups who regard heaven, hell and God as allegorical.  Who knows, some day they might decide the hoi polloi are ready to join them.

But it is harder for evangelical literalists.  They're dug in like tics on every bible verse and have seeming immunity to all the cognitive dissonance.  Our new guy has it much harder than you to hold on to his faith while also make sense of the modern world.

[Doubting Thomas]

Personally I would not kill anyone if God told me to. Here's why. The God that I believe exists is the God of love and goodness. Like, he literally IS love. It would be against his very nature to want me to kill my child because killing children is just about the most evil thing you can do. If God wanted me to do that, my whole reality would be turned upside down completely.

And I'm sure you understand that certain mental illnesses, like schizophrenia, make you hear voices which often tell you to do horrible things that you don't want to do.  Which is why it really does frighten me to hear religious people say that they would kill someone if God told them to.

[brewer]

But it is harder for evangelical literalists.  They're dug in like tics on every bible verse and have seeming immunity to all the cognitive dissonance.  Our new guy has it much harder than you to hold on to his faith while also make sense of the modern world.

Only the ones that suit their agenda. I see: "But ya know, it's all true. Wait, what? Oh, that's out of context, yeah, I don't want to talk about that. Let me explain what that really means because you can't possibly understand."

[Doubting Thomas]

That is the reason for such questions. According to the tale, god is very well capable of asking someone to kill their own child... and seemingly incapable of taking it back... needing to send an angel to prevent that blunder.

And wasn't he lucky that the angel didn't get stuck in traffic that day?  Or have the following scenario take place:

Angel:  "Abraham, Abraham, I am a messenger of God.  God says don't kill Isaac."
Abraham:  "Don't what?"
Angel:  "Kill Isaac."
Abraham:  "OK."  *brings knife down stabbing Isaac to death, cue sad trombone*