What do you think are some reasons certain Christians refuse to read certain parts of the Bible?

PloverWing

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What do you think are some reasons certain Christians refuse to read certain parts of the Bible?

I haven't encountered this. There are parts of the Bible that people may not get around to reading (more people have read Romans than have read Nahum, I'll guess), or parts that people may disagree with, but are there people who refuse to read specific parts of the Bible?
 
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Jipsah

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Here are my reasons why I think certain Christians may refuse to read certain parts of the Bible
I don't read Revelation any more because God is not the author of confusion, and that's all I see being produced there. Everybody "knows" precisely what the Revelation means, but few agree on what that precise meaning is. It's like multiple people describing a Rorshach inkblot, wholly subjective. In addition, the character of Christ has been changed out of all recognition, the loving and merciful Lord who said "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." has become the very opposite of that. He returns dealing out plague and torment and slaughter to an extent that would horrify the most vengeful fallen human. For a capper, it has served as at least the catalyst for the blasphemous notion that the Church is a mere parenthesis, and that in the Millennium, Temple Judaism will be restored, including animal sacrifice. That flies directly in the face of New Testament scripture, especially the letter to the Hebrews. (Maybe some of us are unwilling to read that.)
 
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Jipsah

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LOL!!!

The congregation I attended in college called the "Prayer of Jabez" the most selfish and ungodly prayer in all of scripture. They openly said they did not understand why God honored it.
God answered Jabez's prayer for His own reason, at that time and for that man. Modern Christians peddled reciting that prayer as a magical incantation to make God give them stuff. In that sense it is both selfish and ungodly.
 
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I haven't encountered this. There are parts of the Bible that people may not get around to reading (more people have read Romans than have read Nahum, I'll guess), or parts that people may disagree with, but are there people who refuse to read specific parts of the Bible?

There was a Christian I talked with who denied (for a time) that the song of Solomon was an inspired book of the Bible. There are others on this very forum who refuse to read certain books of the Bible. I noticed on the forums that one Christian said that Jesus told him to not read the Old Testament. Others deny the works of Paul. People have their own reasons for denying portions of Scripture or the Bible. Sometimes this is temporary, and I can only fear that for others, it is permanent. I believe there are problems when a person is not accepting the whole counsel of God's Word. God is trying to talk to them in a certain area of their life on something important and yet they are refusing to listen to it based on their own wrong bias, bad personal experience, etc.

I believe folks can also read the Bible and yet also not really read it. Example: When I was a child, I remember saying the Lord's prayer, but I had no meaning of the words that I was reciting or saying. I said that mindlessly as form of protection. I believe many today also read the New Testament and they read fast or they read without truly understanding what those words are saying. In essence, they are not really reading certain portions of God's Word that they prefer not to see. Usually these are God's commands in the New Testament. Most have a bad understanding of God's laws, and so when righteous instruction and condemnation by sin is taught in the New Testament, they read the verse, but they really are not reading it with trying to understand what those words are really saying at face value. This can be true even for other topics or truths in the Bible, as well. A person may deny the blood atonement, and so when they read those verses on the blood atonement, it is as if they are not in existence for them and when they are reading those verses, they are not really reading them with any comprehension in what those words are actually saying plainly. Outside ideas or beliefs can sometimes cloud people's thinking and or reading of Scripture. Some say it is a matter of interpretation. I believe in some instances that interpretation does play a role in certain cases within the Bible, but there are verses and or passages that are plain in what they say. Context, and cross references help to determine the truth of God's Word along with prayer. However, simplicity of basic reading of a text is ignored in many cases when it does not fit a person's worldview or belief.
 
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Dave G.

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To me the old testament is just so powerful and the whole counsel of God within the bible a treasure, right now I'm in a big surge of old testament readings. Lately the old testament has been speaking to me and pointing to the person of Jesus Christ more and more.

Like Brinny, I too had an encounter with God in the book of Job, it changed many things for me. It was very personal, God kept me in Job for nearly three months till I saw on my own Him in it ! Once that happened I could put it down. I wasn't seeing it right before. Only the Holy Spirit can teach us this way, don't stop reading, don't stop searching, don't stop asking God to show you more.

Don't be afraid.
 
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You who judge others, do you judge yourself?

Yes. Absolutely. If you were to keep reading, you would have noticed that I have said that I had to stop in reading the Old Testament one time because it was too violent for me to handle. But that does not mean I did not go back and read it later. Some folks completely reject reading the entirety of the Bible. The idea of reading certain parts of the Bible is unacceptable to them.
 
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To me the old testament is just so powerful and the whole counsel of God within the bible a treasure, right now I'm in a big surge of old testament readings. Lately the old testament has been speaking to me and pointing to the person of Jesus Christ more and more.

Like Brinny, I too had an encounter with God in the book of Job, it changed many things for me. It was very personal, God kept me in Job for nearly three months till I saw on my own Him in it ! Once that happened I could put it down. I wasn't seeing it right before. Only the Holy Spirit can teach us this way, don't stop reading, don't stop searching, don't stop asking God to show you more.

Don't be afraid.

I think people have to deal with the Moral issues (if they truly care about Morality).
For example: Polygamy was not something that was outright condemned in the Old Testament. Men like David had multiple wives and yet God was said to still be moving within his life in other ways. But this does not mean polygamy was okay, though. I have come to discover that the very OT stories themselves are instructional lessons against polygamy. But the person who is not the careful student of God's Word and who remains faithful to His Word (even when they don't understand), will miss this and may even use this as an excuse not to read the Old Testament.
 
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Dave-W

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The God of the Old is too mean
The God of the Old is not the Christian God
Leviticus (yuck)
Etc
That is actually the ancient heresy of Marcionism.
 
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Dave-W

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God HONORED Jabez, because against ALL ODDS, Jabez turned to the God of Israel, in all of his pain and anguish and suffering, as he recognized that his ONLY "help" came from the Lord.
Yes I get that now. What they were concerned with was his over-use of first person singular pronouns.

1 Chronicles 4:10
Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!” And God granted him what he requested.​

Not one "us" or "we" in there at all. They were of the mindset that anything that promoted or benefited yourself was bad. Promotion and benefit had to come to the entire community.
 
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Oh, and I also don't see God's commands or instructions condemning a person unless there is a specific clause saying that there is punishment for doing so.
That group follows the teachings of the reformer Ulrich Zwingli. One of his big arguments with contemporary Luther was over divine permission. Zwingli maintained that anything not specifically commanded or shown by example as permitted was strictly forbidden. Luther argued that whatever was not specifically prohibited was (at least in some circumstances) allowed.

This group further limited the command and examples to be ONLY taken from the NT. So if the NT never says an instrument was used in worship - God hates it and it is forbidden.
 
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Dave-W

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Polygamy was not something that was outright condemned in the Old Testament.
IT was, in fact, COMMANDED in certain rare instances.

Aside: it is not condemned in the NT either.
 
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2PhiloVoid

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What do you think are some reasons certain Christians refuse to read certain parts of the Bible?

Does the Bible speak about this?

Some of us don't refuse to read certain parts of the bible; but some of us may refuse to think that the bible can be simply flopped open at any point whatsoever, briefly read, and assumed to be perfectly clear in its conveyance of meaning which the various writers of the biblical literature were providing.
 
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Maria Billingsley

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Here are my reasons why I think certain Christians may refuse to read certain parts of the Bible:

#1. They find it hard to accept (in the fact that it conflicts with their morality).
#2. They find it hard to accept because it is not so easily explained.
#3. They lack faith that all of the Bible is God's Word (even when they don't have an answer).
#4. There is a certain part of God's Word that is too personal for them to deal with at that moment in their life (even though GOD wants to talk to them about it).
#5. They have a desire to be religious, but they were not born again by the Spirit, and or by water (i.e. Scripture).
#6. They had a vision, dream, or prayer that guided them to not want to read the entirety of the Bible anymore.
#7. They believed another person or church that made a convincing argument that the Bible as a whole is not God's Word.


In explaining #1, a person could think that the Old Testament is too violent to read and it upsets them. I know how they feel. There were times I had to stop reading because it felt like it was really violent, but I did not refuse to continue in going back to read again at a later time. But I know of folks who flat out refuse to read the OT eve again because of this reason.

I think others do not like to read or they reject the words of Paul because he appeared to be against the Law. However, I think they misunderstand Paul in the fact that Paul was arguing against the keeping of the 613 laws within the Law of Moses as a whole or contract (or Law Alone Salvationism without God's grace) and He was not arguing against Sanctification by the Spirit or holy living after a person was saved by God's grace (See: Titus 1:16, 1 Timothy 6:3-4, and Romans 8:13).
I think you missed one:
#8 They may find it hard to understand at their stage in their walk.
 
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brinny

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Yes I get that now. What they were concerned with was his over-use of first person singular pronouns.

1 Chronicles 4:10
Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!” And God granted him what he requested.​

Not one "us" or "we" in there at all. They were of the mindset that anything that promoted or benefited yourself was bad. Promotion and benefit had to come to the entire community.

HE needed the intervention. Not only his mother, but his brothers, and most likely his community deemed "him" a "curse" because of his name. He must've been living a horrendous nightmare and a terribly persecuted life up until he cried out to the God of Israel. He was crying out for God to "break the curse" that he had endured ALL of his life. No one else was the object of that curse nor suffered the way he did. God HONORED Jabez for doing so. No other name was mentioned but Jabez's. (I suspect there's a REASON for that).

Jesus did the same, when He cried out to God, asking why He had forsaken Him.

Jabez didn't sin. Nor did Jesus.

What most boggles my mind and heart is the zero-ing in on and condemnation of not only Jabez, but also Job, instead of empathizing with the inexplicable suffering they endured.
 
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Dave-W

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What most boggles my mind and heart is the zero-ing in on and condemnation of not only Jabez, but also Job, instead of empathizing with the inexplicable suffering they endured.
Most people who refuse to read Job cannot get past the idea the devil is in heaven accusing Job. And yet they seem to have no trouble with this verse:

Revelation 12:10
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.​

Or the fact that the devil asked Jesus permission to sift Peter "like wheat."

Inconsistent.
 
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IT was, in fact, COMMANDED in certain rare instances.

Aside: it is not condemned in the NT either.

Here is a quote from a really good article that condemns polygamy:

“I see at least a few indications here that Jesus was siding with the anti-polygamists of His day:

1. He cites Genesis 1:27 with Genesis 2:24 (Matthew 19:4-5), a common anti-polygamist combination of scripture.

2. He quotes the anti-polygamist paraphrase of Genesis 2:24 (Matthew 19:5), not the original Hebrew, which has a history of use by anti-polygamists.

3. He emphasizes the word "two" by mentioning it again in Matthew 19:6.

4. He uses the phrase "from the beginning" (Matthew 19:8), which is known to have been used in anti-polygamist argumentation.

It should be noted that Paul also repeatedly uses the anti-polygamist rendering of Genesis 2:24 (1 Corinthians 6:16, Ephesians 5:31). Ephesians 5 is inherently anti-polygamist. Paul tells us that there's only one Christ and only one church (Ephesians 4:4-5), then he makes that relationship the model for the marriage relationship. He also uses the head/body imagery (Ephesians 5:23), and there can be only one head and one body. Paul goes on to cite Genesis 2:24 (Ephesians 5:31). I think that the most natural way to read Ephesians 5 is as a New Testament expansion of Genesis 2. In other words, Ephesians 5 is about the nature of all marriage, not just some marriages (monogamous marriages). To argue that Ephesians 5 doesn't apply to polygamists would be like arguing that Genesis 2 doesn't either. If polygamists aren't going to get their model for marriage from Genesis 2 or Ephesians 5, then where are they going to get it?

Romans 7:3 seems to be contrary to polygamy as well. Douglas Moo writes:

"he [Paul] certainly uses the word ['law'] in 6:14, 15 and in most of chap. 7 with reference to the Mosaic law...It is almost certain, then, that Paul here refers to the Mosaic law...Since Paul does not mention divorce, we can assume that the remarriage of the woman has taken place without a divorce of any kind; and any such remarriage is, of course, adulterous. Further, any body of law that Paul may be citing - Roman or OT (cf. Deut. 25:1-4) - allows for remarriage on grounds other than the death of the spouse." (The Epistle To The Romans [Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1996], pp. 411-412, n. 24 on p. 413)

Some of the most explicit passages that can be cited against polygamy are from the Old Testament, such as Genesis 2 and Proverbs 5. In Proverbs 5, we aren't told to be satisfied with our wife if she's all God allows us to have. It isn't suggested that we could seek other women if we want to. Rather, we're told to be satisfied with her throughout our life. Solomon's answer to sexual temptation is monogamy with the wife of your youth, not polygamy. Bruce Waltke cites Proverbs 5 as an illustration of 1 Corinthians 7:4-5 and writes that "Marriage is here thought of as strongly monogamous." (The Book Of Proverbs: Chapters 1-15 [Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2004], pp. 317, 321) Proverbs 5:17 refers to your wife being yours alone, which can only be monogamy, and the wife is referred to as satisfying the husband's sexual thirst, which is, again, monogamy. The woman is to meet the man's sexual desires "at all times" and "always" (Proverbs 5:19), which, again, can only be monogamy. Solomon is referring to sexual relations, so he can't be saying that a husband is to be always satisfied with his first wife, even as he's having sex with his second, third, and fourth wives. Similarly, Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 9:9about how one wife is the reward a man is given, as if he should be satisfied with her alone.

I think there are plausible alternative interpretations to the Old Testament passages people often cite in support of polygamy. See, for example, Walter Kaiser's comments in Toward Old Testament Ethics (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1991). However, even if we were to conclude that polygamy was allowed in Old Testament times, the evidence against it in the New Testament era doesn't allow us to consider polygamy acceptable today.”

Article Source:
Triablogue: Polygamy Is Condemned By Scripture
 
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IT was, in fact, COMMANDED in certain rare instances.

Aside: it is not condemned in the NT either.

I think the best NT verse against polygamy is Romans 7:3. It says,

"So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man." (Romans 7:3).

Notice. It says any woman be married to another man while her husband lives, she is called an adulterous. If her husband is dead, she is free from that law and she is no longer an adulteress and she can then be married to another man.
 
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"IT was, in fact, COMMANDED in certain rare instances."

Chapter and verse please.

Deut 25:5 “When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6 It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.​

That says nothing about whether the surviving brother is already married or not. If he is married, then the command would be to take another wife.
 
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