Refuting Christians with their Own Bible

[GrandizerII]

He never said everyone was your neighbor. Samaritans were, after all, still literally neighbors to the Jews. And again, this could've been interpreted as not including slaves because slaves were their own group according to these interpreters. Perhaps the lesson is that who you perceive as an enemy may be the one to show you mercy, so show mercy and love to them as well. But furthermore, even if this applied to slaves, it doesn't mean Jesus was moving them to stop owning slaves.

Examples of vague commandments are the ones listed in your quotes. What does it mean in full details to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, in terms of action, and then love your neighbor as yourself? Does it mean "stop owning slaves"? Then why not say so? Does it mean "polygamy is ok or not"? Why not just make it clear if polygamy is strictly not ok? Is pirating Christian movies ok? When does talking about someone in their absence become gossip? Is abortion really wrong? Or is it wrong that we are not loving the women of this world enough to respect their bodily/reproductive rights? Is smoking sinful? etc.

You need to read everything together and you'll understand the message of Jesus was decidedly not conducive to slavery. Paul expounded on a lot of things (that was kind of his job).

Galatians 3:27 "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

I would argue that "love your neighbor as yourself" is incompatible with owning a slave so therefore teaches slavery is wrong. Polygamy not clear except that church leaders should be the "husband of one wife". Pirating movies is stealing. Proverbs deals harshly with gossip. Abortion falls under the murder prohibition so it trumps anyone's 'rights'. Smoking is harmful to the body and harming the body is sinful -- gray area. 

As I said above to Veritas-Vincit, we encounter many situations that are not found in the Bible, so basic principles of morality are extracted and used to apply to the new situation. Is that process flawless, no.

Again, you're still using your personal standards as you interpret the relevant Bible passages according to those standards. Just because some book tells you to, for example, respect one's parents doesn't mean that the author is explicitly saying that one should therefore be ok with them verbally or physically abusing him.

I mean, look at the words "I would argue". Those words indicate subjective belief about what it means to love one's neighbor as oneself. You believe it means loving all people as yourself. But it's not explicit that neighbor in this context means all people unconditional (therefore, including slaves). And it's not like you're the ultimate interpreter of the scriptures, and everyone else who interprets it differently is wrong.

Regarding polygamy, what about those who aren't church leaders? Ah, see, personal interpretation and moral standards once again.

Pirating movies: Is pirating really stealing? I know many Christians who believe it's not, and that it's rather about sharing resources with other Christians, in the case of Christians movies.

Gossip: But what is gossip exactly? You didn't address this question properly. I asked you something along the lines of what constitutes gossip? Did Paul gossip about people in his epistles? Was that bad gossip, or just righteous talk?

Abortion: Where does it say abortion is murder in the Bible? Again, interpretation.

Same for smoking.

So it all boils down to interpretation rather than just extracting clear and explicit information from the Bible about every moral matter. And interpretation will vary, partly depending on what kind of person you are morally and what moral standards and attitudes you hold about moral matters.

At the end, you admit the process is not flawless. Shouldn't this nullify everything you confidently said before that?