One of the reasons I am doing this blog is to see what lessons one could learn from reading the bible. Some of it I like, some of it I do not. I am just doing a quick summary here, I figured if I wanted to see any of the points more in depth I can easily go to my other blog posts or better yet, I have included the verse, I can go back to the source.
One thing I am not particularly interested in is the miracle claims. As far as I can tell, the reason for them is to convince the reader that Jesus is the real deal. I would prefer to focus on what can be learned from the lessons in the bible.
The Good:
5:23-24 Family is a high priority
5:25-26 Try to work things out with each other before going to court
5:31-32 Divorce is bad
5:39 Turn the other cheek
5:44 Love your enemies
6:19 Don't be greedy
7:1 Don't judge other people
7:12 Golden Rule
18:4 Encourage Humility
18:22 Don't stop forgiving
18:23-34 Pay it forward
21:28-32 Don't just talk, get out there and do stuff
25:14-30 Don't be lazy
25:40 Treat the poor/needy well
26:52 live by the sword, die by the sword
The Bad:
4:18 Encourage people to abandon their family
5:22 Equate all crimes. Both murder and insulting someone results in eternal hellfire
5:28 thought crimes. Simply having lust is the same as adultery.
6:25-34 Don't prepare for tomorrow
7:7 Ask and you shall receive. (Unrealistic, sets people up to be disappointing)
9:5 Blame the victim for paralysis
10:34-39 Encourage violence
12:31 Blasphemy against the holy spirit is the worst possible crime. It is unforgivable
15:20 encourage people to eat without washing hands.
16:5-12 discourage the gathering of knowledge
23:31 held accountable for sins of your father
Interesting idea on the miracles. You might be aware of the Jefferson bible, by the great TJ himself. He actually went through the bible and took out all of the references to miracles and the supernatural. I've never gone through it myself, but possibly someday I will check it out.
ReplyDeleteI think there are good and bad things in the bible. It's pretty easy to ignore the bad and focus on the good. I remember doing this when I was younger. I think one should read the bible as a whole and judge it based on its entire content. It's just more honest.
I totally agree, it is also easy to focus on the bad and ignore the good. That's the main reason I wanted to start this blog in the first place, I just want to see it for myself.
ReplyDeleteJefferson bible sounds cool, its also short and only a buck
http://www.amazon.com/Jefferson-Morals-Nazareth-Little-ebook/dp/B004L9KGAU/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1329611464&sr=8-1
I might check it out some time.