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Many people claim the bible is the "infallible word of god". However, there are hundreds of Christian sects and denominations, all of which have differing interpretations of parts of the bible.
If the bible is infallible, why are there so many different sects and interpretations? And if it's "all down to interpretation", does it make any sense to claim that it's infallible in the first place?
"fornication" is the word the Bible uses to refer to "sex before marriage" and it is used in many scriptures. Sex before marriage IS a sin and just as any other sin, it will send you straight to hell if you do not repent and develope a relationship with Jesus Christ. I am not interested in the name tags people want to place on themselves...Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic, Church of Christ. It doesn't matter. We are all striving to reach the same goal and that is to one day see Jesus face to face. I do believe that the Bible is the word of Almighty God himself. It was written by men of God who were under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I know there are some out there who will nit pick the word and arrange it to fit their lifestyle, and this is wrong. I also know that there are those who can read one scripture and get one meaning out of it, and someone else might get a whole other meaning. I believe this is because the word of God is for each person, individually...for their life. God doesn't speak to all of us in the same way or give us all the same message...because we are not all going through the same exact thing. Just read the word and ask God to give you the wisdom and understanding you need to understand what He would say to you through His word. He will lead you and guide you and teach you all you need and desire to know...IF you want Him too. The word of God is an amazing thing!! Just a last thought here..but, just think, if we took all the energy we waste on arguing petty differences in beliefs, and focused that energy on witnessing to someone and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ...just think how many souls we could help save from an eternal hell. God bless each and everyone of you that posted on this page. :D
stephanieg your answer is to the point. What you have written is correct. You have correctly described the behavior of the Catholic church. I do not say that other Churches are perfect. there are errors in them also. But most of what you described can be found in the Catholic Church.
If the bible is 'infallible', but nobody is able to interpret it accurately, in what sense is it meaningful to call it infallible?
Spiritual things are Spiritually discerned. We can understand the Bible through the Holy Spirit.
The Bible is infallible but that does not mean that every thing in it can be taken and applied to us. This is what people do not understand. It cannot be applied because of the simple reason that the Bible was written to people of different ages, of different cultures etc. But the main theme of the Bible, the crux of the matter is applicable to all. Here are examples:
I'm a witch, will you kill me if your a Christian? Why not? The bible says you shall not suffer a witch to live.
No because that instruction was given to a certain people of a particular time for a particular purpose. Moreover this in a punishment instruction for those people not a law for all.
The bible also says one should not have sex before marriage. I was one of the only virgins in the school, a good 70% of the school was Christian at least 50% of the pregnant teenagers also claimed to be Christians.
This is a law and violating this is a sin.
Finally let all understand that the Bible is an infallible book. It is not a Law Book from which everything has to be fallowed. The Bible is book of report of what a people did, it contains prophesies, it has laws, it has revelation of God etc.
The way I understand it, the Old Testament Law was replaced with the salvation of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. It's often difficult to understand just what is the purpose of everything in the Old Testament (even for a professing Christian), but I myself believe it to be a record of where it began and how the faith developed. Many of the stories are useful and practical, but not all are necessarily instructions on how to live or a definition of the Christian faith today. The old law wasn't working because men kept messing it up, so Jesus came and fixed that with a new plan of forgiveness and salvation. From that point on, man was not to inflict judgment on another man, other than what was expressly outlined by the laws of their countries (ie: the judicial system). If one believes that Christ speaks the truth, then he believes everything that has unfolded and been recorded in the Bible was planned to happen that way and that God developed this plan and put it into place because of his love for us and so that He would be glorified through our actions. I realize how far-fetched this all seems to someone who doesn't believe it, but as was mentioned before, it is a spiritual understanding. We are all members of one body but have different functions, which may be why there are so many denominations. We all serve God, but our purpose is diverse so we can reach different people where they are. If only we could stop nit-picking each other and love like we are supposed to, we might see what a beautiful thing Christianity is supposed to be and the "religion" itself would make more sense to everyone.
WHAT YOU HAVE IS A LOT OF CARNAL PEOPLE HIDING BEHIND THE BIBLE FOR THEIR PERSONAL GAIN, USUALLY MONEY. I HAVE SEARCHED AND WILL BE FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE, BUT WHAT I AM SURE OF NOW IS THAT GOD IS HOLY AND WHOEVER COMES TO HIM MUST REGART HIM AS HOLY. YOU CAN NOT UNDERSTAND HIS TRUTH WITHOUT HIS HOLY SPIRIT GUIDING YOU. THAT IS WHERE ALL THE INTERPRETATIONS COME IN. THIS RELIGION SAYS YOU WILL GO TO HELL IF YOU WEAR PANTS OR MAKE UP, THE OTHER SAYS YOU CAN STILL PARTY AND CONFESS SUNDAY MORNING, SOME SAY MUSIC IS OF THE DEVIL LET'S NOT USE IT IN THE CHURCH, OTHERS SAY YOU ARE AN OUTCAST IF YOU LEAVE YOUR RELIGION AND SO ON. I SE MAN MADE RULES AND NO HOLINESS. THAT IS WHY YOU HAVE ALL THE PEOLPE IN CONFUSION AND SAYING THAT GOD IS NOT REAL OR POWERFUL. GOD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MANS LIES, THEY INCLUDE HIS NAME IN HOPES OF PUTTING FEAR IN THE PEOLPE, THAT WAY THE MONEY KEEPS ROLLING IN OR FOR THEIR OWN PERSONAL GAIN. I KNOW THAT IF PEOPLE RELLY SOUGHT GOD WE WOULD NOT HAVE ALL THESE RELIGIONS TRYING TO SAY THEY ARE RIGHT. I WAS RELIGIOUS ONCE BUT NOW I HAVE A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GOD THAT CREATED THIS WORLD,THE HEAVENS, AND ALL OF US. GODS WORD WILL CHANGE YOU IN AN INSTANT IF NOT SEEN IN THOSE @ YOU I CAN TELL YOU THAT THEY ARE LIERS AND THE TRUTH IS NOT IN THEM. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE PLEASE CONTACT ME. THANKS. GOD GIVES TRUE PEACE AND HE IS A GOD OF ORDER.
Every faith claims that only its followers are on the right path, only their scripture is the word of god and only they are going to heaven. Well, let me enlighten you about these so called word of gods, they are all lies that were written to control people like you and I. You must not take everything at face value and you will be wise to do some research on Criticism of religion and the bible. You will learn that the old testament was written by many different authors which was then translated into languages such as Greek and Latin and then finally into German, Ducth, English, etc. Indeed the new testament is much the same and the quraan which claims to be 'canonical' are sometimes directly taken from the bible or from the judaic histories. Similarly, I looked at the Baghvad Gita, Vedas and other Puranic literature. They all sound like they came from some person's wild imagination. Would you take the greek legends to be true? I think not. These religions will pass too as did the ancient Greek and Egyptian religions. No one worships Zeus today, and no one suffers any more from not doing so...
Then why is it so hard to find any two self-proclaimed Christians who agree on their spiritual understanding of the Bible?
NO it is not hard to find agreeing Christians. In fact Christians agree on a lot of things. There may be a few very insignificant things that they me have a disagreement with.
Where does the bible state which bits are now obsolete? And why can't any two sects agree on which bits are obsolete?
Things that don't apply to us are not obsolete. For example in the Bible talks about a man who went and laid with another man's wife. That is a report of a man and obviously is not supposed to be followed. If a punishment is pronounced on that man again that does not mean that, that is the punishment for such acts always. In all this what is the view that He has expressed is what we have to study and apply to us. It is really weired what people expect from a the Bible.
A Christian does not pick and choose what to follow. If one does that he is not a Christian.
I'm a witch, will you kill me if your a Christian? Why not? The bible says you shall not suffer a witch to live.
The bible also says one should not have sex before marriage. I was one of the only virgins in the school, a good 70% of the school was Christian & at least 50% of the pregnant teenagers also claimed to be Christians.
Oh, when was the last time you killed someone for committing adultery? The bible says you should do so.
must I continue?
Every follower of the bible picks & chooses what they do & do not follow, even yourself. Some will say "well it's outdated," ot "that's not how our society is now a days" It's the word of god, is it not? god doesn't expire, since when does his words expire? He is all knowing, isn't he, he knows what he's doing, if he's real that is, lol.
**Spiritual things are Spiritually discerned. We can understand the Bible through the Holy Spirit. **
Then why is it so hard to find any two self-proclaimed Christians who agree on their "spiritual" understanding of the Bible? Are we going to get into a no-true-scotsman fallacy here?
The Bible is infallible but that does not mean that every thing in it can be taken and applied to us. This is what people do not understand. It cannot be applied because of the simple reason that the Bible was written to people of different ages, of different cultures etc. But the main theme of the Bible, the crux of the matter is applicable to all.
Where does the bible state which bits are now "obsolete"? And why can't any two sects agree on which bits are obsolete?
**There may be a few very insignificant things that they me have a disagreement with. **
...deny...deny...deny...
For example in the Bible talks about a man who went and laid with another man's wife. That is a report of a man and obviously is not supposed to be followed.
...riiight... the Bible tends to have ''IFs'' at the beginning of verses like that; making it general instructions, not a report of some random man.
"IF a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die." [Deuteronomy 22:22]
"IF a man commits adultery with another man's wife--with the wife of his neighbor--both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death." ['Leviticus 20:10]
How is this question ever logical? The Bible is the infallible word of God but that has nothing to do with the formation of the different sects. The Bible is infallible but man is fallible. Man can misunderstand an infallible book that is not surprising.
That's covered by the second part of my question. If the bible is 'infallible', but nobody is able to interpret it accurately, in what sense is it meaningful to call it infallible? Or to put it another way, how is an infallible text nobody can interpret accurately different from a fallible text that's clearly understandable, practically speaking?
How is this question ever logical? The Bible is the infallible word of God but that has nothing to do with the formation of the different sects. The Bible is infallible but man is fallible. Man can misunderstand an infallible book that is not surprising.
A Christian does not pick and choose what to follow. If one does that he is not a Christian. The Bible is a book of tat contains reports and does report some people's mistakes to show that they are mistakes. It would be foolish to follow those mistakes.
People have a wrong idea of what Bible is that s why such meaningless accusations arises.
A Christian does not pick and choose what to follow. If one does that he is not a Christian. The Bible is a book of tat contains reports and does report some people's mistakes to show that they are mistakes. It would be foolish to follow those mistakes
So, when was the last time you stoned an insolent child, or put a homosexual to death? I mean, if it's the infallible word of God, you should follow it word for word, right?
**But most of what you described can be found in the Catholic Church. **
WRONG. Most of what she described can be found in virtually ALL denominations of Christianity... including yours. We know you like to demonize Catholicism every chance you get, you've made that quite obvious... grow up...
This is a law and violating this is a sin.
WRONG... as usual... there is NO law in the bible against premarital sex... AT ALL.
*** And if it's all down to interpretation, does it make any sense to claim that it's infallible in the first place?
To anyone who views the Bible as simply a collection of ancient books, it obviously makes no sense to declare it infallible. As you pointed out, there is not any sense in which the Bible is infallible if there is even a single person* who has misunderstood it.
(* or a married person for that matter)
How is this question ever logical?
Logic and religion don't mix... a better question would be: WHICH Bible is infallible?
People have a wrong idea of what Bible is that s why such meaningless accusations arises.
Its hilarious how you call a question that YOU cannot answer intelligently, meaningless.
The bible also says one should not have sex before marriage.
No it doesn't.
In fact Christians agree on a lot of things. There may be a few very insignificant things that they me have a disagreement with.
Sure, little things like whether or not homosexuality is okay, whether women should have civil rights, and whether or not all of geology and biology is a sham. Small stuff, really.
If it's truly infallible, why is there any disagreement at all?
hey good question! it doesn't make sense. Hasn't the bible been translated edited and in many ways corrupted over the years as church leaders tempted to control their followers? That's why modern day revelation is so important, as well as necessary. God would call a prophet; not unlike Adam, Moses or Noah to spread his word and lead His people.
--Actually most people who say God isn't real, say so because God's existence cannot be proven.--
...actually, I'd say it because history, science, common sense, etc. support it.
saying because it can't be proven sounds as if we think there's something to the god myth, which I certainly don't.
All these laws about killing witches and stoning adulters and whatnot are all a part of the old testament. Laws which were established under the law of moses. these laws were done away with when Christ came and fulfilled the law of moses and replaced it with a higher law.
I too find it amazing how it's apparently the infallible word of 'God', yet those who follow it pick and choose which bits they go along with. I wonder if 'God' is feeling vengeful over them treating his infallible word like a pick-and-mix candy stand...
religion is up to the individual to believe personally all I believe in I karma and partying lol I think if you can live truely with no guilt then you will have a peaceful afterlife which ever way the afterlife is
THAT IS WHY YOU HAVE ALL THE PEOLPE IN CONFUSION AND SAYING THAT GOD IS NOT REAL OR POWERFUL.
Actually most people who say God isn't real, say so because God's existence cannot be proven.
maybe, it's so people have a variety, and lots of people like options... so it could be to make them follow the religion the way they want?
stephanieg's answer is strait to the point and correct. I just would not put it in complete caps cause it makes it hard to read.
So part of the Bible is obsolete then? How can a book be both obsolete AND infallible?
