/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

Even from a "skeptical" viewpoint, I don't really see the problem with any of those passages.

They probably weren't using the King James. Good place to start.

Dont cast pearls before swine

Literally dont argue. Tell them the truth if they ask. Dont bother trying to justify it to people who wont accept the truth anyway

>Ephesians 6:5

The gloss over Ephesians 6:5-8 is that the good of a bondservant is equal to the good of the master. Note that verse 9 tells the master to remember his Master which is in heaven. It isn't intended as a call to slavery.

>Malachi 2:3

This is a somewhat vulgar reference to the dung that was discarded from burnt sacrifices. It isn't a literal rubbing of dung in the faces of unfaithful priests but means that priests, like the dung of the sacrifices, will be discarded from the sactuary and burned in the "Lake of Fire".

>Numbers 5:11-31

The woman represents a Christian, the swelling and rotting etc. represents the suffering those who, while claiming to be good Christians, are unfaithful to the Husband that is Christ.

>Leviticus 14:49-53

The Bird is Christ, who sanctified the house that is the Church with His Blood. The living Bird represents that although Christ died, He was resurrected and alive.

If you're not good at determining the symbolism of such things for yourself you should try getting a study bible or reading the Church Fathers or something like that.

>>656182

The real title should be: Responding to cherry-picked verses from bad teachers.

Anon, there are entire denominations built around taking disparate verses and twisting them into something else through constant "Bible Study" classes, you have to be seriously educated in theology and (I hope you're Catholic, or at least Orthodox) tradition to mount a coherent defense against Judaizers.

Take this as a call from God, time to brush up on your knowledge.

Can someone please help me explain numbers 31:18

>>656236

The man represents sin. It is telling you to remain close to (in particular) the good and attempt to convert them to Christianity, and to avoid those who have been revel in sin and will likely attempt to seduce you to sin.

>>656236

It's interesting to me that this verse is the point of offense and not the one beforehand.

Anyways, look at the context:

In Numbers 25 the Midianite women whore themselves out to the Israelites in order to get them to commit idolatry together with them (with the approval of the Midianite men), which causes a plague in the camp of the Israelites. We learn later, that the prophet Balaam advised them to do this, likely because he couldn't curse the Israelites otherwise.

God tells Moses in Numbers 31 to avenge the children of Israel against the Midianites and then Moses commands the people to go to war. Later, when the people return, having burned the Midianite settlements and having killed the men, they bring the women and children as captives.

Moses then commands the women to be killed, because they are the ones that caused the children of Israel to commit idolatry. Moses also commands the male children to be killed, for which there is really no reason given.

On the other hand, the girls are extended mercy and are saved alive. Given that the law very much protects female captives, one can expect that they will have no worse lives than the native-born Israelite women.

I don't think that this is divinely sanctioned pedophilia is what I'm trying to say, I guess.

>>656182

I've come across a really interesting article about the jealousy ritual of Numbers 5. >>656221 gives a good quick overview of the spiritual significance of some OT rituals, but there are of course pretty much always more connections in the scriptures, if you look for them.

https://alastairadversaria.com/2013/02/09/the-cup-of-the-adulteress-understanding-the-jealousy-ritual-of-numbers-5/