But that was the Old Testament

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But that was the Old Testament! is a favorite tactic used by Christian apologists when confronted with evidence of how violent their religion, and God really is. Supposedly when God gave us his son Jesus he turned over a new leaf and became much more forgiving and kind, Jesus was supposed to represent a way to redeem people from their sins. Accordingly The New Testament tends to be much less gruesome than The Old Testament but still contains a number of instances of violence and intolerance in The New Testament. Of course if The Old Testament were really so irrelevant to their religion one would wonder why they even bother including it at all in their holy book, especially when it makes up about 75% of said holy Book.[1]

Contents

[edit] Violence

God isn't quite so trigger happy in the New Testament, at least when it comes to killing innocents and people who really didn't deserve it. However, there are still some killings and of course that whole end of the world thing in Revelations. Most notably in Acts 12:23 Herod was killed for his failure to praise God.

[edit] Jesus

Despite the New Testament being God's way of reforming, his son Jesus still has a bit of a violent and mean streak.

  • Matthew  10:34- where Jesus says "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword."
  • Luke  22:35:38- where Jesus basically told people to sell clothes and buy weapons so that they can kill for him. "And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end. And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough."
  • Jesus's cleansing of the Temple
  • Matthew  5:17- Jesus says that all the bad stuff in the Old Testament like rape and genocide is okay and that the Old Testament is relevant.
  • Matthew  11:20-24- Jesus condemns people to an eternity in Hell because they didn't want to hear him preach. Jesus actually threatens more people with the threat of going to Hell in the New Testament more than he does in the Old Testament.[2]
  • Luke  17:26-27- Jesus says that God murdering most of the world's population with a flood during a temper tantrum was completely okay and justified.

[edit] Book of Revelation

Of course according to The Bible, these killings haven't actually happened yet but are prophesied to occur at some unspecified date. For instance, in Revelation 16:2 it is said that those with the mark of the beast will be killed with a disease of sores. Then we have this charming passage in which those in Satan's army are described being thrown into a giant (perhaps metaphorical) wine press and being crushed.

The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
Revelation 14:18-20

[edit] Intolerance/misogyny

First of all we should note that, in Matthew 5:18, Jesus clearly states, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." This implies that all of the blatantly homophobic, misogynistic or otherwise intolerant laws from the Old Testament are still effective.

Unfortunately The New Testament is also fairly misogynistic. Here are just a few of the more offensive passages:

  • 1 Timothy 2:11-15 "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety."
  • 1 Corinthians 11:3-6 "But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered."
  • 1 Peter 3:7 "Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered."
  • Ephesians 5:22-24 "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing."
  • Ephesians 6:5 "Slaves,[3] obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ."

[edit] References

  1. http://www.christianity.com/christian-life/political-and-social-issues/why-dont-pastors-preach-from-the-old-testament-11531237.html
  2. http://wiki.ironchariots.org/index.php?title=Selective_use_of_Old_Testament_law#Ignored_good_stuff
  3. Note that this is one of the (many) places where many bible translators have found it convenient to render the Greek "doulos" (pl. "douloi") as "servant", rather than the more accurate "slave". This is the case in the King James version that is used for The RationalWiki Annotated Bible. See also: Slavery in the Bible
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