Quote:
Originally posted by Faceman:
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.
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If the Bible is percieved in a certain way, like you have illustrated Faceman, like Yorick has illustrated and like John D. is in the process of illustrating it can be fairly argued that the bible has "few" or "no" contradictions.
I still dont see it this way and I think I have outlined "enough" why. When it comes down to it, I can only restate my multi-faceted gem analogy. It boils down to a matter of perception for this soul. This answer is going to be unsatisfactory for certain camps in the discussion, who believe absolute truth discounts individual perception. I have no arguement for this other than absolute truth is a matter of perception.
