crumbs2000 said:
Well, you see, this is where you and Lismore contradict yourself. So, why do you insist quoting OLD TESTAMENT TORAH LAW when you yourself state that the NEW TESTAMENT covenant basically corrects a lot of the old testament beliefs except perhaps the Messianic prophecies.
If you take the Bible literally word for word, then you have a major problem. This goes for you as well Lismore. Your Hannibal Lecter analogy is very poor and irrevlevant. I don't understand the connection you are trying to make???
What is written about Judas buying a field with his money and dropping dead with his intestines spilled out, is TOTALLY DIFFERENT to the account that he died by hanging himself. You can't insert things that aren't written. You have to go by what is written in the bible because that's the way you interpret it, word for word. I'm sorry, but for those who read the two passages, they are clearly contradictory. Where does it say that Judas, comitted an act like Hara-kiri opening his guts out? All it says is that he bought a field with the moeny and he dropped dead. That is mutually exclusive from hanging one's self and then ritually disembowelling yourself.
Sorry fellas, can't have it both ways. One minute you are interpreting things literally word for word, then you say this isn't really the case, ummm, it's not as black and white as that.
Well, yes, it is black and white. If you are a disciple of Christ (not just a believer) and study the scriptures, everything and anything is either good, or bad. Certain things may not seem that way to most becasue they see life as a physical existence, but God sees life as eternal existence - you have to veiw right and wrong from God's perspective, not your own. God has no 'in between." The Levitical Law passed away with Christ, the New covenant was established with His resurrection. There are parts of the Old Testament which did NOT pass away, such as parts of the Abrahmic and Noahic Covenants, which God said will be in effect forever. Nor did the law of Seed, Time, and Harvest which applies to all aspects of life from literally planting gardens to matters of the heart and consequences for our actions. You must study the scriptures with the Holy Spirit's assistance in order to understand some of it, if you are not filled with the Holy Spirit, you will never understand the things of God, no matter how much you read the Word and study it. I assert there are no contradictions. Different witnesses have different accounts of events; all accounts are equally true when taken in the perspective of the witness- they were recording what they saw and heard as they understood it. This is why there are slight differences in some of the accounts of what Jesus did, for example. When taken as a whole, ALL of the events happened. When you piece together the different accounts, you get the entire story.
With Judas, for instance, you have a few things msitaken-
1. Judas did not buy the field, the preists did after Judas tried returning the money (Read Matt.27:6-7) Because it was blood money, the preists did not accept it, so it was still belonged to Judas. The priests took the money and purchased the field on behalf of Judas. Because the silver still technically belonged to Judas, Acts 1:18 does not contradict the statement that Judas bought the feild. Technically, Judas still owned the money; he never actually gave it to the preists, he just left it there and went to hang himself.
2. Nowhere does it say Judas disemboweled himself. Acts 1:18 only says that Judas fell headlong and his bowels spilled out, and in context with Matt 27:5, it implies one possible scenario - Judas did not have a horse or a camel, so in order to hang himself effectively, he climbed up into the tree and jumped off with the rope around his neck. Maybe he slipped and fell headfirst, or maybe he jumped headfirst intentionally. The force may have been so great that his intestines spilled out, or perhaps he tried cutting himself first; the scriptures don't say.
But then, exactly how Judas killed himself is entirely irrelevant- the only important things are the events which are described did happen, and do not contradict other scriptures. The contradiction is only apperent because people have preconceived ideas like Judas just fell on his feet (i.e. tripped) in the feild - but the scripture does not say that either. Get my point? I am not inserting things itno the scriptures; here are the facts: Judas' money was used to buy the feild. Judas Hanged himself. His bowels came out. Anything else is speculation.
3. I never said the entire Bible was 100% literal; there are numerous analogies, parables, and figurative examples presenedt, but all have aspecific meaning which may be described in the scriptures (e.g. The fig tree is analogous to the Israel, the Jewish descendants of Abraham, as is the olive tree in places. The "wild olive branch" are the grafted in Christians who are heirs to Abraham by "adoption" through Christ. Various animals represent various kingdoms, etc.) Do you understand this, or am I just blowing words?
4. There are no contradictions in the scripture. Find me one. Since none of this has anything to do with BC, feel free to PM me.
