Is it normal to not believe in the old testament?

61% Normal
18 Comments

I am a practicing, confirmed Christian, but I do not believe or take advice from what I read in the old testament.

Although some of the prophets may have preached the word of god it was often specific to the Israelites and was said a long time ago and may have been mistranslated or misunderstood. Morover the old testament also contains a lot of things that are clearly not the word of God. There are myths such as Genesis 1,2 and 3 as well as things which look like laws but are clearly not. The old testament says that you can sell your daughter into slavery if you are short on money or kill your neighbour if they work on the sabath. According to the old testament if you walked into your office on a Saturday and murdered everyone there, it would be perfectly acceptable.

I believe that the old testament is included in the bible so that we can understand the signifcance on the coming of Jesus Christ and the background to the society in which he preaches so that we can better interpret his message. Thus I would be very unwilling to do anything just because the old testament tells me that it is right.

Is it normal that I am a Christian yet I hold this view?

Voting Results
61% Normal
Based on 57 votes (35 yes)
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Comments ( 18 )
  • Teh4HorsMen
    8 years ago

    It's difficult to say which Testament album is the best, as all but maybe demonic were excellent.

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  • [Old Memory]
    12 years ago

    The bible is fake. Man made shit.

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  • smarsh
    12 years ago

    It's normal to doubt the Bible because it's a work of fiction! If you sit down and truly examine your beliefs, you might find that you're not really a Christian after all. That is what happened to me.

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  • cosmiccitizen
    8 years ago

    This recently has come out as a first in an interesting series of recordings. The title reads:

    "The Actual Historical Events Secretly Hidden in the Old Testament’s Fictional Analogies"

    Excerpt:
    "The Old Testament was not written for spiritual purposes, it was written in a unique way using code words to secretly hide actual events and scientific facts within fictional analogies. Our series of instant download recordings explains the numerous events and facts secretly hidden in the Bible."

    Source:

    http://store.loveenergytechniques.org/historical-events-hidden-in-old-testament/

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  • DemonicFortuneCookie
    8 years ago

    80's Testament was good, but The Gathering and everything afterwards kicks just as much (if not more) ass.

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  • jesusdiedlol
    12 years ago

    I apologize for being offensive and I respect your beliefs. But I could say the same about Muhammad being just as humble and loving. I know that's not the truth because I read the Quran. I also know that Jesus himself said that he didn't come to bring peace but he came to bring a sword. So if you want to believe some parts of the bible and deny the rest that's up to you. I am a good person and I treat people with love and respect. I didn't need Jesus as an example. People are either good or bad. In order for good people to do bad things it takes religion. I'm sorry if I offended you with the Christian joke... I have a weird sense of humor.

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  • jesusdiedlol
    12 years ago

    Yay you're on your way to being a recovering Christian. Just a few more months in Reason Rehab and a few lessons in logic and you'll be completely cured of common sense deficiency! Proud of you and can't wait to welcome you into the Atheist Alliance club :)

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    • Hmmaybe
      12 years ago

      Please don't be offensive about my religion. I'm a liberal Christian and I do believe in God.

      I'm a scientist and I don't think any mainstream science contradicts my beliefs, even they do contradict those of others who also call themselves Christian.

      In my opinion the most important thing about being a Christian is not believing in the bible but following Jesus' example of a humble, loving and forgiving life.

      If any aetheist comes up to me and says that this way of life is invalidated if there is no God, then he is wrong. If any fundamentalist comes up to me and says that this way of life is invalidated because a verse in the old testament makes an exception to it, then he is also wrong.

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  • [Old Memory]
    12 years ago

    What the hell, the Old Testament is great! It has lots of cool action, epic battles, great dialogue and lots of violence. Meanwhile the New Testament is a typical by the book sequel: still enjoyable but done on a much smaller scale, way talkier and not as exciting as the first one. The only really amazing part is the Book of Revelation, which itself is essentially a remake of the Ten Plagues of Egypt, made on drugs.

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    • Hmmaybe
      12 years ago

      Perhaps you could argue this point from the point of view of someone who sees the book as useless and only reads it for enjoyment (which I do not suggest as it is quite boring). However the level of action and violence is irrelevant to those who seek to find guidance from the book. Therefore in the context of this argument, your point is invalid.

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  • DhGlory
    12 years ago

    You are an atheist, welcome to the club bro.

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    • Hmmaybe
      12 years ago

      No. I believe God exists and I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and what he said is the word of God. I just don't believe that much of the old testament is the word of God. It's in the bible to help us appreciate the new testament.

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  • petawawacouple69
    12 years ago

    I don't believe the old testament as it is written, i believe fully in the new testament tho, you have brains and you feel guilty that your brains are getting in the way of your faith. Believe what you believe. What good is it to pretend to believe something you obviously don't believe in your heart. Are you fooling god???

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  • chezycheze
    12 years ago

    I make models for decision making. In particular, I like to classify ideas into three categories: things I believe, things I trust, and things I consider. I am a catholic and I believe in God. There are very few ideas that I would classify as my beliefs. However, there are many ideas that I would classify as having some degree of trust in. In general, I trust in the bible. By this, I mean that I trust that the words I read from the bible are a result of God's guidance of others and these words help people to make 'good' decisions. I believe that God guides people. Anyways, I consider and maybe even to some degree trust that God intends each of us to believe in the few significant ideas that we encounter and our beliefs can often lead to trust in other ideas that are not as significant and God doesn't intend for us to believe in these but merely develop a degree of trust.

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    • chezycheze
      12 years ago

      A way of describing how I distinguish my beliefs from my trusts is: If I believe in something, then anything I see will not change my belief. However, most of the things I trust in come directly from what I see and hear.

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  • Tehboss
    12 years ago

    It's not correct to choose what to believe you can't decide because all law is good. Christ himself is just the fulfillment of such law so if you choose not to believe in the old testament you can't truly believe in the new one. Because you don't believe in the need for the justification of sin if you don't believe in the definition of it (old testament law) You can't say that the old is for older times and a specific people because God was before everything and always will be so saying that the law is outdated is like saying people changed in their core (they haven't we still have wars and slaughterings and slavery just not near us) or that the law is not perfect (therefor making God himself flawed)and even your justification that it was to the Israeli people is wrong because it's not that there is a new chosen people or that everyone is the chosen people but that the non Israeli are in fact ADOPTED into the people of God. So it's not correct to do so what you should however do is study the law by your own head and season it with your own conscience.

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    • Hmmaybe
      12 years ago

      If I believed that the Old Testament was, in the main, the word of God. Then indeed it would be wrong for me to nglect it and only pay attention to the New Testament. However the very reason for which I only appreciate the old testament as a context in which to understand the new is that I think that most of it is not related to the word of God. This can be seen in the ways that God is said to act in the Old Testament. On at least one occasion he tells the israelites to go to war with another civilisation and wipe them out. How is the reconcileable with Jesus' message of peace and forgiveness? I grant that the old testament may contain some wisdom, but I find it highly unlikely that the majority of the Old Testament is the word of God.

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  • lc1988
    12 years ago

    Everyone picks and chooses what they want in the bible to apply so why not just take half of it out?

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