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The bible is brutal

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Posted by: Frederik

I judges this one guy promises God to sacrifice the first thing which comes out of his house when he comes home and it's his daughter.
Why didn't God tell him not to sacrifice her ? I mean the bible is so brutal. I read judges yesterday and it's really pretty brutal.

judges 11;31-40


And what about this ?

judges 19; 29

This is sick !


Posted by: Soteria777

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frederik
I judges this one guy promises God to sacrifice the first thing which comes out of his house when he comes home and it's his daughter.
Why didn't God tell him not to sacrifice her ? I mean the bible is so brutal. I read judges yesterday and it's really pretty brutal.

judges 11;31-40


And what about this ?

judges 19; 29

This is sick !


Be careful what you pray for!

We cannot view God's Word through the eyes of our understanding but through the eyes of the revelation that God gives us. Many verses seems harsh and brutal to us, but we cannot know God's ways for they are higher than ours and His thoughts are not ours. Ask God for wisdom and understanding and revelation of scriptures for things you don't understand, and when the time is right, God will grant it to you.


Posted by: cgirl

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frederik
I judges this one guy promises God to sacrifice the first thing which comes out of his house when he comes home and it's his daughter.
Why didn't God tell him not to sacrifice her ? I mean the bible is so brutal. I read judges yesterday and it's really pretty brutal.

judges 11;31-40


And what about this ?

judges 19; 29

This is sick !

Matthew 5:33-37 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear NOT AT ALL; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is MORE than these cometh of EVIL.


Posted by: Soteria777

Quote:
Originally Posted by cgirl
Matthew 5:33-37 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear NOT AT ALL; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is MORE than these cometh of EVIL.


Translation of King Jimmy:
[NIV] "Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."

[Amplified] "Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not swear falsely, but you shall perform your oaths to the Lord [as a religious duty]. But I tell you, Do not bind yourselves by an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is the throne of God; Or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you are not able to make a single hair white or black.Let your Yes be simply Yes, and your No be simply No; anything more than that comes from the evil one."

[The Message] "And don't say anything you don't mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, "I'll pray for you,' and never doing it, or saying, "God be with you,' and not meaning it. You don't make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say "yes' and "no.' When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong."

Hey cgirl, did you steal my avatar or did I steal yours? Sure wish we could use our own avatars, don't you??


Posted by: Frederik

Calm down.
I didn't swear. I just said that it's sick cutting your wife into 12 pieces.
I don't understand why the bible is filled with such stuff.


Posted by: HisPrincess

I think thats gross too, and I also think boiling people and cutting off their heads is also disgusting, but it happened often in Biblical times and still happens in some less civilized societies today.

In Biblical times, the sacrificing or taking of a life was a way of proving how serious someone was about their word. If a person sealed their word with the giving of their life or another life, it was seen to be honorable. Also, the taking of a life was viewed as the only way to seek justice or to remove an ill from society. Prisons were rather scarce and their were no courts and breaches of contract. In addition, making a vow to God, which was taken VERY seriously, often meant that one had to prove their sincerity by making a sacrifice. Today, when we make a vow, we sign a piece of paper. If we don't keep our vow, the courts can go after us, but we still don't pay with our lives. I can see how you would view Biblical times as barbaric -- they were!

HisPrincess




Quote:
Originally Posted by Frederik
Calm down.
I didn't swear. I just said that it's sick cutting your wife into 12 pieces.
I don't understand why the bible is filled with such stuff.



Posted by: cgirl

LOL Fred, you misunderstood, the verse wasn't talking about YOU. It says not swear an oath to do something, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, anything more than yes and no comes from evil. Do you get it now?


Posted by: StarChilde

We have to remember also, that Jesus is the Ultimate sacrifice! And Frederik,no one said that you were the one swearing, they were talking about in the Bible passage, where ppl swear, or give their word. Not swearing as in profanity!

Here is what Easton's Bible Commentary says about this passage: Jephthah's vow
(Judges 11:30-31). After a crushing defeat of the Ammonites, Jephthah returned to his own house, and the first to welcome him was his own daughter. This was a terrible blow to the victor, and in his despair he cried out, "Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low...I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and cannot go back." With singular nobleness of spirit she answered, "Do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth." She only asked two months to bewail her maidenhood with her companions upon the mountains. She utters no reproach against her father's rashness, and is content to yield her life since her father has returned a conqueror. But was it so? Did Jephthah offer up his daughter as a "burnt-offering"? This question has been much debated, and there are many able commentators who argue that such a sacrifice was actually offered. We are constrained, however, by a consideration of Jephthah's known piety as a true worshipper of Jehovah, his evident acquaintance with the law of Moses, to which such sacrifices were abhorrent (Le 18:21; 20:2-5; De 12:31), and the place he holds in the roll of the heroes of the faith in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb 11:32), to conclude that she was only doomed to a life of perpetual celibacy."

Henry's Concise Bible commentary says this: 29-40 Several important lessons are to be learned from Jephthah's vow. 1. There may be remainders of distrust and doubting, even in the hearts of true and great believers. 2. Our vows to God should not be as a purchase of the favour we desire, but to express gratitude to him. 3. We need to be very well-advised in making vows, lest we entangle ourselves. 4. What we have solemnly vowed to God, we must perform, if it be possible and lawful, though it be difficult and grievous to us. 5. It well becomes children, obediently and cheerfully to submit to their parents in the Lord. It is hard to say what Jephthah did in performance of his vow; but it is thought that he did not offer his daughter as a burnt-offering. Such a sacrifice would have been an abomination to the Lord; it is supposed she was obliged to remain unmarried, and apart from her family. Concerning this and some other such passages in the sacred history, about which learned men are divided and in doubt, we need not perplex ourselves; what is necessary to our salvation,thanks be to God, is plain enough. If the reader recollects the promise of Christ concerning the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and places himself under this heavenly Teacher, the Holy Ghost will guide to all truth in every passage, so far as it is needful to be understood."

As far as Judges 19:29, one has to read before it to get all the story.From Grey's Home Bible commentary:Readings: - An Awful Deed and an Awful Retribution

Text: - cc. 19-21 Chapters 19 to 21 tell an awful story of lust, civil war and pillage fearfully illustrative of a world without God. A Levite, after the manner of those days, married a secondary wife who proved unfaithful. Returning to her father's house at Bethlehem, he followed her to persuade her to come back (19:1-4). After a few days they start on their journey accompanied by a servant, lodging the first night at Gibeah (19:5-21). Here wicked men abuse the concubine until she dies; her husband, his servant and his host acting so discreditably as to be almost unbelievable, were it not for the sacred record of the fact (19:22-28). Subsequently her husband took a remarkable way of obtaining redress, explicable only on the absence of regular government among the tribes. He divided the corpse into 12 pieces and distributed them with the story of the wrong among all the tribes, so that the latter came together saying: "There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day; consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds" (19:29, 30). The result was a conference of the tribes at Mizpeh (20:1).


Posted by: manda

this is only how i see it. true, sadly the content of the Bible can be brutal. why so? because the Bible shows in details and bluntly the effects of sins in human life.
However now there's: *Old Testament & *New Testament
in my view, we need to use both when trying to understand the Scriptures, since there's Old & New. Unfulfilled - Fullfilled...

about judges 11;31-40
thru-out the old testament, there's always sacrifice with blood in seeking salvation from God and to worship Him. animal sacrifices mostly. why sacfrice in blood? because Life is in the blood, therefore there will be no remission from sin/dead, without the blood. this is common sense and scientific, because our Life IS in the blood, without it we will be dead. also blood is the substance in our body that cleanse, renew, regenerate, rebirth all our tissues and cells, to live etc.

it is brutal to sacrifice the one you love by shedding their blood. Abraham did almost that w/ Isaac. but in the New Testament, even God Himself did NOT let Himself to be immuned to this when He ended all blood sacrifices...

He crucified Himself "His Son" for us... it is this Blood that is the Life for those who believe...

as for judges 19:29: if we read the surrounding verses, such as brutality & wickedness of men - rape & abuse 'till death. the concubine was raped and abused and she died then the man considered it proper to slice her "concubine"s body and show this to Israel ? the question is why he even gave her away in the first place? i think it's because she's not considered worthy, like many men still think about women even now. that too is the wickedness/sinful nature of men.

in the New Testament, Christ abolished this attitude. He accepts even a prostitute & a woman with many husbands! the first person He showed Himself and talked with, after He raised from the death was also a woman. women's dignity in this man's world is restored...


Posted by: babam

judges 11;31-40
And
judges 19; 29


Frederik
If its any consolation they always bothered me too -especially being a woman.

On the quote about swearing I have a question.
Should you, as a christian swear an oath on the bible in court?


Posted by: cgirl

Quote:
Originally Posted by babam
On the quote about swearing I have a question.
Should you, as a christian swear an oath on the bible in court?


Yeah, I think we have no choice about the court thing. But it's to swear to tell the truth and I think you just raise your right hand now a days in court, I don't think they use Bibles anymore. I mean we shouldn't swear to do things like how it was mentioned in the Bible to sacrifice something or do something when God does something for us.


Posted by: ChristianGal

Quote:
Originally Posted by cgirl
Yeah, I think we have no choice about the court thing. But it's to swear to tell the truth and I think you just raise your right hand now a days in court, I don't think they use Bibles anymore. I mean we shouldn't swear to do things like how it was mentioned in the Bible to sacrifice something or do something when God does something for us.




I had to appear in court and revealed that I was a christian and in no way will I swear on the bible. This is against my beliefs. I was allowed to state that I will tell the truth and nothing but the truth without swearing on the bible. This is in Australia of course.