make a bronze snake (see Numbers 21:9 and John 3:14) and the ARC OF THE COVENANT which had "winged creatures" (see Exodus 25:18)?  Or, do the people who criticize others for their faith concerning this commandment have a distorted perspective of this commandment?
201070
There are no contradictions in God's command concerning idols, only truth, but often truth is shown in pictures.\n\nOften the case is in the Bible that God uses a physical picture of a spiritual truth which is to come later. For example the Noah's ark was a picture of Jesus Christ who was not yet to come for thousands of years, even as a few entered the ark and were safe inside so it is that all who are "in Christ" are saved from the wrath of God. Another example would be the Tabernacle in the wilderness. This structure was to be made presisly the way God had described it to Moses. The reason? It was a picture of God's redemtive plan which was fulfilled in Jesus.\n\nThe bronze serpent was not an idol (by the way, when the time came that the people began to worship it as an idol a godly king had it destroyed so it could not be used in the way that God forbade in Exodus) the serpent was a picture of the Messiah that was to come. We are filled with a poison called sin, the only antidote is Jesus Christ lifted up on a cross. All who look to Him are saved, all who refuse retain the poison that fills our very nature.\n\nExodus 20 vs 4-6 declare God's position on idolatry. We are not to worship anything but our Creator. Any other woship is idolatry (by the way this meens more than just images, it also icludes desire for material posesions or covetousness see Colossians 3: 5) When God commanded Moses to make these things He was making physical pictures of the spiritual reality which was to come. This seems to be the order that God has chosen to do things obviously for illustrative purposes. 1 corinthians 15:46 says, refering to Adam as a "type" or picture of Christ, "Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual." God has often shown a natural or physical reality first in order to demonstrate a spiritual truth which is to come. In the case of the serpent and the Ark of the Covenant both are pictures of the attonment for sin that was made by Jesus Christ. For the Ark of the Covenant as a picture see Hebrews 9:6-28
548061
then we created Him to explain us and the critters...  In our own image no less.\n\nImagine that, a contradiction in the bible.\n\n(I can just feel the thumbs down from the fundies already)
94553
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? \n\nYou can read the chapter for more details.\n\nRemember, the Jews are His own. God gave them honor even though they did not give honor to Him\n\nIsa 43:4  Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.
27594
Please remember that the Jewish listing of the Ten Commandments is not the same as the Roman Catholic Ten Commandments, and they are not the same as some denominations of Protestant Christianity. We all look at the same text from Exodus 20:1-17, but divide the verses up differently to make the Ten of the Ten Commandments.\n\n  p.s. 'b' is the right answer, another of the Ten that is very misunderstood, and misrepresented.........
4414
It is also not god's will for you to eat shrimp, wear clothes made of 2 kinds of thread or for men to shave their beards.  In the same chapter where it describes "man laying with men as with women" it also outlines how a daughter may be sold into slavery.\n\nIf you are going to hold these beliefs please be consistent and don't pawn off your bigotry as the "will of god"
120987
A little clarification regarding snakes and poisons... \n\nTo willfully do such things is testing God. However, if you look in Acts when Paul was bitten by the incredibly venemous viper, he did not die. In fact, the people of Malta wanted to worship him as a god. Paul set them straight--it was just a sign that what he was saying is true.\nWhat this scripture is saying is that when you are working for Him, you are invincible until it is time for you to come home. The movie End of the Spear will show you how God can use one brother's death to save an entire people. Other times, like Paul, saving from death can do wonders for faith. So be careful with such verses and don't go drinking Draino to prove your saved. You might see God quicker than you anticipate.
167085
An observation -- you are clearly arguing that Gen 2:17 is contradicted by what follows.   But don't you find it just a bit odd that the writer (or editor), who clearly is presenting God's words as TRUE, would in such a short span contradict his own story and not even recognize it??   Couldn't it be that, as obvious as it seems to you, there is something going on here that you are unaware of?\n\nIn fact, God's threat IS carried out, and swiftly.  The language he uses is found several other times in the Old Testment, esp. of kings pronouncing sentence or warning that the death sentence will most certainly follow if the person disobeys.\n\nExamples: (using ESV; I ordinarily use NIV, but this was closer to hand on my computer!)\n\nGenesis 20:7)\nNow then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you, and all who are yours." \n\nExodus 10:28)\nThen Pharaoh said to him, "Get away from me; take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die."\n\nby Saul:  1 Samuel 14:44,   20:31,  22:16\n\nSolomon's warning to Shimei, in which he puts Shimei under oath, on pain of death, not to leave Jerusalem\n\n1Ki 2:37)  \nFor on the day you go out and cross the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall die. Your blood shall be on your own head." \n\nAnd when Shimei violates the oath\n1Ki 2:42)  \nThe king sent and summoned Shimei and said to him, "Did I not make you swear by the LORD and solemnly warn you, saying, 'Know for certain that on the day you go out and go to any place whatever, you shall die'? And you said to me, 'What you say is good; I will obey.' \n\nThe point of all these is the DEATH SENTENCE will surely follow. (Solomon even speaks of "the day when", but clearly it is not the day that the violation occurs, but when Solomon apprehends him.)\n\nAnd the sentence DID follow in Genesis -- God pronounces sentence in Genesis 3:17-9:\n\nAnd to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. \nBy the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." \n\nNow there IS indeed a delay in the 'final execution' of this sentence, but as God as said, it most surely does happen -- he passes sentence, and Adam DOES die.   In fact, the genealogy of Genesis 5 makes a great point of this, for it ends each entry (with the notable exception of Enoch, who "walked with God") with "and he DIED". \n\nBut there is something more immediate.\n\nYou note the reference to the tree of life, and others comment that if man had eaten from it he would live, which 'proves' what God had said wasn't true.  But God did NOT say the sentence would be automatic --as if the fruit was POISON.  Rather, he would pronounce SENTENCE, that HE would carry out.   His BLOCKING the way to the tree of life is PART of God carrying out thesentence!   Thus man CANNOT eat of it and will, instead, die.\n\nThere's even more to it than that.   Some have suggested that Adam "died spiritually" that day.  There is something to this, but again it fails to see that the DEATH sentence was something GOD was passing and seeing to the carrying out of.   So, what did God do THAT DAY?   He CAST Adam & Eve OUT of the Garden (in which the tree of life was found!),  from the special place of HIS presence...  into a place of hardship and ultimately death. \n\nThe rest of the OT builds on this picture -- that 'real life' is living i
571918
You are very right.  When people cut things out of the Bible, they start with Rev  22:18.  ; )  But almost everyone actually just chooses which things to follow, there are VERY few groups that obey everything in the Bible (keeping kosher, not eating shellfish, not allowing men to have long hair, treating their slaves well, etc.).  Really it's all just a buffet.
510094
Job 41:19-21 says of Leviathan that, "Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. Out of his nostrils goes smoke as out of a seething pot or caldron. His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth." \n\nand BTW. I'm an atheist who knows the Bible, apparently better than the four Christians above who clearly don't.
95367
I pasted the story below... it was funny you asked this because I was just reading it this week. I believe the Bible is true and I believe the sons of Noah represent the three major races. Now I don't which race came from which son, but I believe the curse on Canaan represented the black race... and if you look at colonialism it sort of makes you say hmmm?? Also enlarging Japath... if that is the Asian race then hmm again because some 3/5 of the worlds population is Asian.\n\nNow, I have to warn, that many people have/can/will take this scripture out of context to suit their racist agendas. That is on them, the fact is that God is a loving God and at the other end of the Bible He said, that He so loved the world ...read all of Noah's decendants... that He gave up what was most precious to Him. We all have equal acess to God's love, forgiveness and mercy.\n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\nGenesis 9:20-27 \n20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded [a] to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness.\n 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,\n       "Cursed be Canaan!\n       The lowest of slaves\n       will he be to his brothers."\n 26 He also said,\n       "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!\n       May Canaan be the slave of Shem. [b]\n 27 May God extend the territory of Japheth [c] ;\n       may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,\n       and may Canaan be his [d] slave."
599659
Not all of it, but quite a bit of it. The creation of mankind relates most closely to the myth of Enki and Ninhursag. The Creation itself relates to myths that can be found throughout Sumer. Cain and Able comes from the myth Inanna prefers the farmer. The biblical myth of the snake and the tree comes fgrom a portion of Gilgamesh even so much as to include lilith. Much of the begats were taken as the hebrew version of the kings list. Noah can be taken from the sumerian flood stories. \n\nMuch ot the later stuff is Canaanite. Job was taken from Canaanite stories forexample. \n\nThis was because Abraham came from the city of Ur. He would have worshiped the sumerian gods by their Akkadian names and would have done things in a sumerian manner. \n\nThe ten commandments are actually rather close to a sumerian contract, and the commandments, if taken in the proper historical context, can be shown to make much more sense from a sumerian point of view.\n\nAdendum:\nto T.O. snooze !: the tablets we have from the sumerians can be easily dated both by scientific means and by comparing them to the historical accounts shown elsewhere. If compared with the bible we see that Abraham was said to come from the city of Ur and so if we find biblical stories in an erlier form then we can tell who had the stories first. \n\nTo Kevin: Where are you getting this? Your information doesn't fit with the known archeological evidence. \n\nTo Jengen: Why answer the question if you know nothing about the subject. He asked a simple archeology based question. He did not request a flawed sermon.
70364
Its a metaphorical story taken from even older texts.  If you read your Bible, it states that the serpent tempted Eve and not Satan.
402116
These were figurative and not literal representations.\n In Genesis...\nGen 3:1  Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? \nSatan is represented as a serpent (snake) here..alludes to his sneaky nature and the poison which he spreads..\n\nIn Nehemiah..\nNeh 2:13  And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well...\nthe word translated in from Hebrew to mean dragon actually means...sea serpent or jackal\n\nIn Revelations...\nRev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, \n\nThe word used for dragon, here, means...(from Strong's greek and hebrew Dictionaries)\n"a fabulous kind of serpent (perhaps as supposed to fascinate)"\n\nThe Bible is not endorsing the idea of a literal flying, firebreathing reptile. It is symbolism..so that only the "chosen" would understand.\n\nHere's an example:\n(Rev 17:7)  And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.\n\n(Rev 17:8)  The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.\n(Rev 17:9)  And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.\n(Rev 17:10)  And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.\n(Rev 17:11)  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.\n(Rev 17:12)  And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.\n(Rev 17:13)  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.\n(Rev 17:14)  These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
204997
Yeah! i agree with you 100% and a lot of them that i've talked to claim that it doesn't "SPECIFICALY" say that its wrong in the bible and uhhh hello! Leviticus 18:22, "Do not lie with another man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." So my advice would be attack them with their own source of their job, the bible and god, also im pretty sure god wouldn't have song of solomon in the bible with a man and a woman instead of two men or two women. I mean c'mon people use some common sense! Like there was this gay guy and his bf that wanted to come to our youth group and we obiously had no prob. w/ it except it was really wierd and he claimed there was nothing wrong with it! HOW DARE HIM! i tried to not get upset and be respectful because its the devil whispering in his ear and ya don't fight fire with fire\n\n\n\n\nGod made adam and eve not adam and steve... lol sry, cheesy :)
445421
They didn't venerate the Ark of the covenant. The angels were artwork that was representational. They were not worshiped. God promised to appear to the High priest on the day of atonement when he entered the Most Holy of the Tabernacle. The Presence of God was represented by a cloud . (Exodus 25:22)
383406
In the Scriptures, certain numbers have symbolic significance. The number seven, for example, is often used to symbolize that which is complete, or perfect, in God’s eyes.\n\nSix is one short of seven. Would it not be a fitting symbol of something imperfect, or defective, in God’s eyes? Yes, indeed! (1 Chronicles 20:6, 7) Moreover, six repeated three times, as 666, powerfully stresses that imperfection. That this is the correct view is supported by the fact that 666 is “a human number,”. Thus, the beast’s record, its “human number,” and the number 666 itself all point to one unmistakable conclusion—gross shortcoming and failure in the eyes of Jehovah.\n**************\n\nWho is this angel? He must have tremendous power to be able to dispose of Jehovah’s archenemy. He has “the key of the abyss and a great chain.” Does this not remind us of an earlier vision? Why, yes, the king over the locusts is called “the angel of the abyss”! (Revelation 9:11) So here we again observe Jehovah’s Chief Vindicator, the glorified Jesus Christ, in action. This archangel that cast Satan out of heaven, that judged Babylon the Great, and that disposed of “the kings of the earth and their armies” at Armageddon would surely not step aside to let a lesser angel deliver the masterstroke in abyssing Satan!—Revelation 12:7-9; 18:1, 2; 19:11-21.\nWhen the great fiery-colored dragon was hurled down from heaven, he was spoken of as “the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth.” (Revelation 12:3, 9) Now, at the point of being seized and abyssed, he is described again in full as “the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan.” This infamous devourer, deceiver, slanderer, and opposer is chained and hurled “into the abyss,” which is closed and sealed off tightly, “that he might not mislead the nations anymore.” This abyssing of Satan is for a thousand years, during which time his influence on mankind will be no more than that of a prisoner in a deep dungeon. The angel of the abyss removes Satan completely from any contact with the Kingdom of righteousness. What a relief for mankind!
483319
The God of the Old Testament certainly exhibits a violent nature. He is truly not a God of love or compassion. I notice his personality makes drastic changes from time to time. The more I study the Bible, the more I am coming to think that it is no more than myth.