The entire Bible is worthy of study but, I agree with Servat Mike and for a better understanding of the gospel, it is most important for you to understand, concentrate on the New Testament. As you need more about Jesus Study Mathew, Mark, Luke and John and where Acts is regarded more of a historical document, I would concentrat on Romans and beyond.
I love the Old Testament's richnest and amazing stories about God and His interaction with Man but, do not expect all of it to be pertinent to your way of living today. Remember Jesus said give unto Cesar what belongs to Cesar and give unto God what is God.Things were different in the ancient days. Today that means that you obey the current laws of the secular society. Eventhough I felt like stoneing my kids couple of times that wasn't permissable by law.
Here is a classic example of Gods Old Testament Covenants (law) and His New Testament Covenant (grace); Before Jesus death and His ushering in of the New Covenant: Jesus said, " Forgive your neighbor or God can't forgive you (a requirement or law, something to be done) but, after His death that change to: " Love your neighbor as your God loves you (grace, nothing to do, just live it).
Find where St. Paul talks about the gospel that he preached: the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is what you need to study, learn what all that means and live accordingly!
God Bless!

I don't believe that Paul's command is that all women should keep silent in all churches always. I believe that he gave the command to the Corinthian church so that orderly worship would replace the chaos in their worship described in 1 Cor 14:26-33. Note that verse 33 specifies that God is not a God of disorder.

Also, I think the fact that Paul uses the plural churches in verse 33 indicates that this was a circular letter to be read in other churches in the Aegean Sea area only, churches that had similar cultural backgrounds and issues. Paul's headquarters, where he wrote First Corinthians, was Ephesus, the chief city of the Roman province of Asia (which included Corinth).

SLE

I agree, for the most part, though I was thinking more of 1 Timothy 2:11-12

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.

But to develop this much further might derail this thread, which I think is developing on an interesting line.

My earlier point was to suggest a rule of thumb: if you are confused, look to Jesus.

I think it is possible to untangle the various teachings in the Bible – given to different people in different situations – and to bring them into harmony. But that often requires quite a bit of background research and fairly sophisticated approach to reading.

For those that haven't the opportunity to do that, or are coming across an issue for the first time, I would say start your explorations with the life of Jesus.

Also the gospels give us a good starting place for evaluating our priorities. How much attention does Jesus give to: the dignity of the poor, challenging hypocrisy, the creation/science debate, preaching mercy, osas/nosas, restoring relationships...?

Do you think theses 4 things apply to God? If I may the answer is yes.
1. Justice, 2. Wisdom, 3. Love, 4. Power (initials of J.W.L.P.)


God is just, that's why he will punish the ungodly who ignore their conscious and truth that they have offended God.
God is just, that's why he sent his Son Jesus to die on our behalf for us to have a sin bearer to clean our conscious as well.
God is wise, This plan of salvation is all of him nothing of us.
God is wise, A simple plan of salvation not of man's wisdom but in his power.
God is love. He left heaven to save us, God the Son his name Jesus.
God is love, not that we love him but that he loves us
God's Power, When we allow him he will show us
God's power, When we call on Jesus as Lord for Gods mercy in repentance, because we have offended God, he will show us the power of his grace through his Spirit by sealing us.

all Scripture is breathed by God, the bible. And when we understand God's view, not ours, everything becomes crystal clear more and more every day when we learn to walk with him.

The overall question borders on why and why not certain things God does allows and allows not. We at times cannot understand his ways. The reason I wrote the reply this way is if we dont believe God is Just, wise, love and power then we will not understand why certain things are from God's point of view.

I'm a writer so I see things in pictures.

I see God as my Heavenly Father. Every parent who loves their child will discipline that child when they do wrong. If God, does not discipline his children, but let's them do whatever they want, is that truly love?

I would say no.

Also, if God is truly holy and can not be present where sin abounds, does that mean we who are full of sin can be in God's presence?

Again I say no.

God is both Just and Love. Justice for our sin is death. God out of love sent His Son Jesus to die for all once.

If God was not love, I think we would all be either dead or on our way to hell.

I hope what I have said helps some.

God sees your heart, FoalMom. He sees intent and knows what will come to be. Put your Trust in Him. He will never let you down.

Hello Foalmom,

When the Mosaic Law covenant was given to the nation of Israel, God commanded that any son who proved to be "stubborn and rebellious, he not listening to the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and they have corrected him but he will not listen to them, his father and his mother must also take hold of him and bring him out to the older men of his city and to the gate of his place, and they must say to the older men of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he is not listening to our voice, being a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his city must pelt him with stones, and he must die. So you must clear away what is bad from your midst, and all Israel will hear and indeed become afraid."(Deut 21:18-21)

If an occasion arose where a son became absolutely rebellious and incorrigible after repeated warnings and the necessary discipline, a still sterner measure was taken. The son was brought before the older men of the city, and after testimony from the parents that he was an irreformable offender, the delinquent suffered capital punishment by stoning. Such arrangement evidently had reference to a son beyond the age of what is usually considered a young child, for this one the Scriptures describe as “a glutton and a drunkard.” (Deut 21:20)

One striking his father or mother, or calling down evil upon his parents, was put to death. The reason for such strong measures was that the nation might clear away what was bad from their midst and so that “all Israel [would] hear and indeed become afraid.” Therefore, any tendency in the nation toward juvenile delinquency or disrespect of parental authority would be greatly retarded by the punishment inflicted upon such offenders.(Ex 21:15, 17; Matt 15:4; Mark 7:10)

Also under the Mosaic Law, the nation of Israel were to observe a weekly sabbath, whereby no work was to be done. The desisting from all labor and observing other God-given Sabbath requirements not only gave rest to the body but, more important, provided opportunity for the individual to demonstrate his faith and obedience through Sabbath observance. It gave parents the opportunity to inculcate God’s laws and commandments in the minds and hearts of their children. (Deut 6:4-9)

Christians today are not under the sabbath arrangement, for only upon the Israelites were it enjoined. At Exodus 31:15-17, God told the Israelites: "As for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘Especially my sabbaths you are to keep, for it is a sign between me and you during your generations that you may know that I Jehovah am sanctifying you....Six days may work be done, but on the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest. It is something holy to Jehovah. Anyone doing work on the sabbath day will positively be put to death. And the sons of Israel must keep the sabbath, so as to carry out the sabbath during their generations. It is a covenant to time indefinite. Between me and the sons of Israel it is a sign to time indefinite."

Some churches have taught that Sunday is the "Lord's day". This is not the case, for Revelation 1:10 speaks of the "Lord's day", which began with the crowning of Jesus as heavenly King. Even after Jesus executes judgment on Satan’s world, the Lord’s day continues, with the restoration of Paradise and the perfecting of mankind, until Jesus finally “hands over the kingdom to his God and Father.”(1 Corinthians 15:24-26; Revelation 6:1, 2) Therefore, there is no law from God saying that one cannot work on Sunday.

I agree with most of what is said above, but aren't we slipping around the side of the question, rather than tackling it head on.

Imagine that after a church meeting a close friends of yours confide in you that they have reached the end of their tether with their son. He's a drunkard, glutton, selfish, dishonest and lazy.

Having brought him before the pastor and elders of the church they have decided, in line with the teachings of the Bible, to publicly stone him to death.

The stoning will take place next week and you are invited along to come along and join in with throwing the rocks.

Would you feel

• honoured to be invited
• a little concerned
• horrified that they could contemplate such a barbaric thing

Most of us would consider this not simply as laws that are no longer binding, such as the food laws, but as something that is morally wrong.

We sometimes have honour killings in the UK (they are more often to do with marriage issues than disobedience) and the whole nation is appalled. But it is in the Bible. I find that difficult.

Allow HolySpirit to lead and teach you. The flesh is hostile towards God and it is not the targeted recipient of God's plan of reconciliation.

That should never happen as doing that would condemn the folks carrying out. Having placed themselves under the Law they would be responsible for the whole Law.
Thank God for the new covenant we have in Christ.
The Law demonstrated not only man's weakness and inability but also the harshness of living without the grace of God.
All the honor killings we have had (to my knowledge) in the USA are lost Muslim souls. They do not have Christ nor are they born again and therefore they live (sadly) under the judgment of the Law.

Hello Hekuran,

To some, it seems harsh to kill a person even when these are have repeatedly shown themselves as incorrigible, committing sadistic acts. If a person contracts a viral illness, would that one want to allow it to grow even more, even to the point that death results ? It is only reasonable that they would seek medical help to hopefully destroy the viral infection. Likewise with one who, though grown, despite repeated warnings, still persists in their rebellious course.

Hence, under the Mosaic Law, God decreed that a son who was a "glutton and a drunkard", was deemed worthy of death, in order to clear out that which is wicked from their midst. Allowing it to continue unabated shows gross permissiveness that would have emboldened others to follow a similar course.

This was what happened before the flood of Noah's day. Rebellious angels materialized as humans and took "wives for themselves, namely, all whom they chose."(Gen 6:2) These wicked angels then fathered a generation of rebellious sons called the Nephilim, meaning "Fellers; Those Who Cause [Others] to Fall Down".(Gen 6:4)

As a result, the Bible account says that God "saw that the badness of man was abundant in the earth and every inclination of the thoughts was only bad all the time."(Gen 6:5) Did God overlook all this badness ? Genesis 6:7 says: "So Jehovah said: “I am going to wipe men whom I have created off the surface of the ground, from man to domestic animal, to moving animal and to flying creature of the heavens, because I do regret that I have made them."

Hence, true justice was served on that "generation", with God telling Noah: "Go, you and all your household, into the ark, because you are the one I have seen to be righteous before me among this generation."(Gen 7:1) Among his "generation", only Noah and his family were deemed worthy to remain on the earth after the Noachian Flood. Proverbs 2:21, 22 says that "the upright are the ones that will reside in the earth, and the blameless are the ones that will be left over in it. As regards the wicked, they will be cut off from the very earth; and as for the treacherous, they will be torn away from it."

This removal of the "wicked...and treacherous" is not to be done by Christians, for we are to love even our enemies.(Matt 5:44) Rather the apostle Paul told the Romans: "Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but yield place to the wrath; for it is written: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says Jehovah.” (Rom 12:18, 19)

Jesus spoke of "meek" ones who will inherit the earth at Matthew 5:5. Therefore, for these "meek" or teachable ones to enjoy the earth as God originally intended, the "wicked...and treacherous" must be removed, for David wrote that "the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace."(Ps 37:11)

Today, there is what Jesus called "a wicked and adulterous generation".(Matt 16:4) In many parts of the earth,the Bible's moral values have been cast aside, with the resultant moral decay causing a widespread lack of love.(Matt 24:12) Only those who put on the "new personality", patterned after Jesus and discarding the "old personality", will be those who remain forever on the earth.(Eph 4:20-24)