Quote:
Originally posted by Chewbacca:
When one must wonder things like "should I be for or against issues like the death penalty, abortion, gay rights, unprovoked war, womens rights, pacifistsim, ect." and hits a brick wall of messages mixed thats when I think the contradictions are most visible and need the most scrutiny.
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This is because the Bible is not "the book of all answers". Wisdom never gives you an easy answer just guidance. The issues you listed are controversial for good reasons and if you look for guidance in the Bible you'll find arguments pro and contra because they exist and because the Bible is NOT a single-minded rulebook like many blame it and many praise it to be. The Bible (especially the New Testament) tells us educational stories to get important points across to us in an easily understandable way.
Now to the structural differences between Old and New Testament:
The Old Testament is scripture of the official religion of the Hebrew people. Thus it supports the existing structures and e.g. advocates for capital punishment.
The New Testament is the biography of something that started out as a cult and therefore disagreed with the existing social structures in many viewpoints while seamlessly integrating with the old writings. So it does not contradict but base itself on the Old Testament while having a different attitude towards society.
When Jesus says: "This is my blood of the New Testament" he's reforming but not denying the Old Testament.
!bad comparison coming up!
Calling that a contradiction would be like saying: "The new Corvette contradicts the '89 Corvette because it has another engine" The new Corvette will only "contradict" the Old one once it has 5 reverse gears and only one for forward or if it needs to be pushed to generate gasoline (I just realized how funny that woudl be [img]smile.gif[/img] )
So basically what I'm trying to say is that the Bible is no rulebook. So seek advice and guidance but no easy answers!
And that the New Testament is not a counterpart to the Old Testament but rather a reforming sequel.