“All The Verses”

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

     I know there are verses in the Bible that condemn homosexuality, and the church is fervent on that.  The Bible also says in Deuteronomy 21:18-21 to put to death rebellious children, and in Lev 24:16, it says to stone foreigners, and in Deut 13:5-10, it says to kill false prophets and anyone that serves false gods.  I’ve also come to understand that the Bible endorses slavery.  Why aren’t all things being preached about, and why aren’t we held accountable for all of them?

Sincerely,
You Forgot Something!

Dear You Forgot Something,

You bring up a fair point.  It isn’t okay to fervently support the beliefs in the Bible that we like while ignoring the ones we don’t.  That is called subtracting from God’s Word, and it is strictly condemned (Rev 22:18-19).  God expects us to take the total sum of His Word and apply it (Ps 119:160), and part of taking the sum of God’s Word is keeping it in context.

Here are a couple of things to remember:

1. The Old Testament laws should never be used as proof verses for Christian practices.  The Old Testament laws were for Jews, and the New Testament laws are for Christians.  Click here to watch a short video on the difference between the Old and New Testament.  The Bible does clearly condemn rebelling against parents (Col 3:20), idolatry (1 Cor 10:14), and false teaching (Jas 3:1)… but the commands to stone those who did such things were given to the nation of Israel, not the kingdom of Christ.
2. The Bible doesn’t endorse slavery, but it does make provision for how a godly person can live in a culture that has slavery.  After all, when a slave becomes a Christian, he doesn’t automatically get yanked from his bondage and made free.  The Bible teaches us how to live godly in all cultures and scenarios (1 Pet 3:21).  You might like to read our post, “Freedom Is Better”, for more details on the slavery question.

The Bible does make it clear that we can’t pick and choose the verses we like and the sins we prefer to condemn.  The apostles taught the whole counsel of God, and so should we (Acts 20:27).  At our congregation in Monroe, that is exactly what we strive to do every day.

Share