So i've been predominantly anti-christianity for the longest time, gathering many pages of flaws of the whole bible/god existence theory.
But as of yesterday I've decide that I do believe in God and that Jesus is my savior. My years of anti-christianity was more due to my interest in religion (christianity in specific) and I have always desired to be apart of it. I was more looking for a reason to believe but only focused on the reasons why not to. I was turned by my one friend who was the first person to really foster the LOVE of Jesus/christianity rather than to belittle it. She was the first who actually sat down with me and went through my long list of questions and answered them the best she could.


Unfortunately, there are still a few things that I need explaining. I was going to wait till I find a church and see if I could get a one-on-one conversation with the priest or some higher-educated spiritual person for my questions, but i'm going to see if I can eliminate a lot of questions by this forum. Most of my questions (if they target a specific point) will be cited, so feel free to look up the passage.

Slavery
Slaves were officially abolished on the US in 1865 after the passing of the 13th amendment, nearly 150 years ago. It is almost generally accepted that Slavery is immoral. But god says that slavery is good (Lev 25:44-46; Exod 21:2-8; Eph 6:5; Col 3:22).

One of the big problems of slavery was the way they were treated, aka as animals rather than human. They were set to work long hours with very little food and absolutely no pay. Also, they were beaten which was looked down upon by many. The bible, on the other hand, says it's okay to beat your slaves as long as they do'nt die within 2 days (exod 21:20-21).

Assuming the bible is god's words, then shouldn't christians follow it with as much faith as they follow everything else about god. Many things about god I accept as is too much for me to know. God has a plan, an idea that includes every one of us. Couldn't slavery be a part of his big plan, and we're making it difficult for him by saying that slavery is bad rather than good?

Homosexuality
150 years ago, the abolition of slavery. 100 years ago, the emancipation of women. 50 years ago: inter-racial marriage. today: same sex marriage. The Church has always been intolerant of many of the changes that the changing of time has brought, and as of today the biggest issue is homosexuality.

The bible says we should, not ostracize homosexuals, but rather KILL them (Lev 20:13, Rom 1:25-32). I personally have many gay and lesbian friends, and I am not happily going to accept that just because they like the same sex that they are marked for death and will be sent to hell regardless. I believe god is MUCH more loving and merciful than that, but then why is it in the bible?

Old Testament Laws
If your answers to the above two are "times change" and that the bible should be "a guide to live not a strict set of laws that one must follow" then I ask you this. In Christ - Matt 5:17-9, it says that every "jot" and "tittle" should be followed. If homosexuality/slavery is okay to do without, then why not rape/murder/theft allowed? Times change right? And if every "jot" and "tittle" should be followed then why don't we kill every homosexuality and allow slavery in the country?

Family
Now I have to say I am not all fond of my family, but I know that I will love them unconditionally and they love me back the same. My new found love for God is only rivaled by my love for my mother, father, brother, and all others in my family. Unfortunately, the bible tells me to do differently.

Christ tells us we must "hate" our entire family, and even our own life, if we want to be one of his disciples (LUke 14:26). Also in Matt 19:29 it says that those who abandon their families will be rewarded.

If being christian means I have to hate, not only my family, but myself as well to be one of God's followers, then I believe that Christianity has some serious flaws.

The Church
I find the church to be corrupt and to have drifted from the true meaning of Christianity. I read this somewhere and I think it has a pretty good point:
Consider This: Say the government claims to have discovered an ancient text, that tells all the secrets of the world, and gives many many rules to live your life by, all supplied by a supernatural being that created all of existence. They then declare the president to be the only person who can directly communicate with the supernatural being. The problem is, the ancient text can only be read by the higher-ups in the gov - so u don't have access and even if you did yo couldn't read the language it is written in. The only way for you to lean from the texts is to pay the gov while attending weekly ceremonies. Oh and if you break any of the rules (the ones that you don't know anything about because you can't read them) then you will be punished. And then your president declares war on several other countries because they don't accept his ways.

Now this is what it was like in the beginning...and if you put it this way it seems super flawed (the idea of church/christianity). I'm not saying it was ALL bad but that kind of veil around society's eyes for hundreds of years...couldn't the scholars have changed the scriptures a little? I mean the bible has good points...but we have no idea that it isn't corrupted by humans.

Other

Some other things that i'm going to quote that I'm questionable about, feel free to reference these by number as well:

1. I believe that EVERYONE, regardless of age/sex/gender/religion/sexuality/etc, is one of God's children. I don't think we should use violence for anything, from war to figuring out what to eat for dinner. Everything can and should be fought out with only civilized debate, not inhuman slaughter. Unfortunately, Luke says that if you don't have a sword, sell your clothes to buy one (luke 22:36). This philosophy is strikingly contrasting to what I thought Christianity and the love-of-god was about. also, Christ-matt says "I come not to send peace, but a sword" (Christ-mass 10:34). This again I find not what God is about.

2. This is rather trivial but it adds to my confusion. Christianity is a new life style that I look forward to. But it has some weird quirks that I don't get. Curse fig trees for not bearing fruit in off-seas (Mark 11:12-4, 20-1). Cursing Fig trees for...wait what? This seems so stupid. God MADE fig trees like this, why would we want to curse one of god's creations?

3. It's best if all people remained unmarried. Marriage is a less-of-two-evils compromise for Christians too weak to resist their sexual urges, "for it is better to marry than to burn." (Paul - 1 Cor 7:1-2, 8-9, 25-26, 38). I guess that makes sense in that lust is a sin and it is better to love God rather than to love another but....entirely? Like that pretty much says after 1 generation of hard core christians...there'll be no more. How senseless is that? Christianity is a missionary religion, then shoulding we be spreading the love of christ around bother verbally...and by raising our kids to love God? We can't do that if its better to not have kids than to have kids.

4. No citations here, this is a thought problem about sin. Yes I know man is full of sin and the only way to cleanse ourselves is to believe in Jesus. But to accuse everyone to be BORN with sin is a bit rough. How can a new born child, who has yet to open his eyes, be ridden with sin? It has yet to know what any of the 7 deadly sins are let alone commit them. Actually I feel it has a few years before some of those are even committable by it..

5. Leviticus was a very very very angry man I feel. He said that there are many things that I enjoy doing every day that he says to ban. Some of which are: Shaving (19:27), Gossip (19:16), Eating Lobster (11:10), Eating Pork (11:7), Associating with women who are having their periods (15:19-20).


REMINDER
I am not trolling. This is not a troll post no matter how much it seems like it. I truly believe that I have found Jesus in my life and am extremely happy to say so. These are purely questions for intellectual debate NOT to say "haha christianity sucks". If you can help answer any of these, do so the best you can. If you are here to say that i'm trolling/flame me/point out random grammatical mistakes or little nuances then please refrain from doing so. The point of this topic is not to see if I am using the correct your/you're/ur or if I can spell committable (haha i missed the double t). I might add more as time passes but we'll see...

So yeah...any help would be appreciated! Also donate for spending 5fg on bold

romans does NOT say we should kill gays, it says the practice should not be tolerated.
homosexuality is the same sin as getting to third maybe even second base with your girlfriend.

old testiment laws had a very different audience than the NT. at the beginning of every chapter of lev that dishes out rules it says something like 'and god said to moses, tell this to the congregation of isreal'
aka the jews. the NT was a message to the gentiles (who are now christians)


family section:
did you read the chapter? or just that verse. that verse is explaining that being a christian is going to cost you selfish pleasures in life.
no you dont have to hate yourself, but you must relinquish yourself unconditionally to god.insert camel through the eye of a needle parable.

you CAN be christian and not approve of the catholic church. thats why youre christian and not catholic.


did you even read luke 22 or just single out that verse?
http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/luke%5F22%5F36.htm

fig tree.
bearing fruit is a phrase that is very common in christianity
i doubt jesus is cursing this tree for not having fruit in an off season but instead is alluding to those people who not longer 'bear fruit' and how they are cursed by god

you kind of ramble on about point 3 in your other section i couldnt follow it too well

children and sin of children is sort of a gray area. we know a child as young as 7 days has a soul. however to sin is to knowingly go against god so a child must know they doing wrong before they can truly sin. and you are not 'born with sin'. thats a catholic idea of original sin which is refuted in ezekiel as 'the son does not inherit the sin of the father'

again levitical laws are not meant for christians

your main problem is that since youve hated christianity for so long youve grown accustomed to reading things out of context in order to support your conclusion. you should never read one single verse by itself. it should be read with the entire chapter, or at least with the section in which it is organized.

further 'being a christian' is alot like quitting smoking in that you do not one day simply become a christian or quit smoking. its a life long decision that must be upheld every day of your life in order for it to be true.

jesus said you must confess with your mouth and mean it in your heart that he is lord.
for that to be true he says if you love my you will follow my commandments.
so as you can see, it is easy to say you are a christian but you must do alot more than say you are righteous for it to be true.

This post was edited by Kamikizzle on Jan 10 2011 05:21pm