Not being a fundamentalist, I see this as still being wrong and I think the portions of the OT advocating ethnic cleansing should be removed from the Bible.
After all, morality is absolute and, subsequently, unchanging.
So the idea of God saying "Do X, now don't do it" strikes me as a self refuting argument.
Removed from the Bible? Sure...go ahead and do that. Publish it. You can call it the "Community Bible" or some other "friendly name". With all the liberals around here you might just make a million bucks selling it.
Politically we're both small govt types and partly for this reason: we agree that the mentality "Do as I say not as I do" is the excuse for every form of tyranny man has ever known.
By that logic, no religion (or state) should sanctimoniously posture for moral high ground by condemning another group for behavior it's committed in its past and still defends.
In other words, A = A.
Until you believe that the Bible is God's Word, we won't agree on much. If you believe it's acceptable to remove items from the Bible that you don't like, you don't believe it is God's Word.
I do believe the Bible is the word of God.
I don't believe the portions of the OT advocating ethnic cleansing are either the Bible or God's word.
:jesus:
Also, it's not a matter of my not liking them, per se.
It's a matter of morality being absolute and unchanging.
:)
Reading the OT is like reading your neighbor's mail. Unless you are a Jew or are living in Israel most of it has no application to the rest of the world.
No, he isn't.
There are lots of passages that don't speak of Jesus either in the literal or figurative sense of the term.
And that doesn't take anything away from Jesus.
I wouldn't want to read a Bible in which every single word or every single sentence or every single verse was/is about Jesus.
It would essentially sound like this, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, etc" which would be pretty meaningless without any specifics.
And specifics about Jesus require nonJesus details.
FWIW, I do agree that the context of the Bible, in fact, the entire context of the Bible is about Jesus.
If this is what you meant then my apologies for misunderstanding.
First of all, I'm not smart enough to do any sort of translation work.
(Wish I was.)
Second of all, I don't doubt the original autographs were infallible and inspired by God.
Nor do I doubt our access to them today.
But, IMHO, the parts of the OT that contradict the grace of God should be removed from the canon.
Not because I say so, I'm not an authority worth listening to, but because logic says so.
If we condemn Hitler, Stalin, Islam for ethnic cleansing then how we can assign such evil to God?
Third of all, if the message of Scripture is really about Jesus (and I posit that it is) then removing portions of Scripture antithetical to His nature would be preserving the Spirit of the Bible.
As it really is all about Him, not about genocide.
Fourth of all, I hope you had a good Easter filled with lots of plastic eggs w/ chocolates.
I know I did.
:wavey:
Forgot to add: regarding the OP, I completely agree that the Koran contains many wicked and cruel ideas about human rights.
All of which should be removed from Islam's canon.
It's shameful that so few prominent Muslim leaders have denounced the violence of their sacred writ.
Yes, it is all about Jesus, but He isn't only compassionate and full of grace.
He is also the judge and the OT descriptions of the Israelites killing other nations, is God's judgment against them, using Israel as the means.
Didn't have any eggs, but I had birthday cake since it's my b'day today!
:tongue3:
I cannot believe that you would suggest that all the judgments of God rendered in the OT should be purged from our Bible. If so, you are saying that God had no right to judge the wickedness of an idolatrous people and work through His chosen people to eradicate them from the earth. I know it doesn't sound pretty and may not suite the liberal minded, politically correct, socially conscience "christians" of today, but God is a God of judgment and as much as you want to sweep it under the rug, it t'aint gonna happen!
Deuteronomy 9:4
Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.
9:5
Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.