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So, the "moral lessons" without the rest of what God has to say? The mercy without the judgement, the platitudes without the warnings?

Actually, yes, there is a term for that. It's not a term I like, and I know it offends people, but it's probably the best term: "Half-@$$ing things".

And ... acceptable to whom? Obviously, you find it acceptable for yourself, and I know plenty of people who feel the same as you. Personally, I doubt whether it's acceptable to God, Who wanted us to have all of His word (not tiny little bits, or whatever pieces we personally like), but that's only my opinion.

I'm not even sure you could call this "taking the fundamentals", since your examples include no acknowledgement of God -- the central character to the entire Bible. Seems to me a case of looking at trees and, not missing, but ignoring the forest.

Now, I know some are going to condemn my opinion. That's fine, that's okay. But being selective with the Bible -- or any religion, really -- isn't holding to the standards of that faith. It's cherry-picking, grabbing the bits you want and ignoring the bits you don't, treating religion as a self-serve buffet rather than a calling from a higher power.

Hm... I agree totally with 'Bait and Deidra, but I'm going to interpret your post a bit differently.

It's best to concentrate on forgiveness over judgement, yes. Selective reading is bad, but concentrating on the loving bits of God's Word is a great practice. It's always good to keep in mind judgement as motive for reaching out to non-believers and Law when helping believers grow--remember,



It's good to not lose sight of judgement and Law, but Love is the ultimate thing we should concentrate on.

I was thinking of that earlier. If someone, say, stole or broke a bunch of my stuff, I would forgive them, but I wouldn't be against them getting arrested and put in jail. Right and wrong is very important to keep in mind.

Like a good parent, or really any authority, they disciple/punish people when they mess up (sin). Parents don't want their children to grow up and end up in a bad place because of love, so they teach their children, which very often involves punishing them.

Similar to secular humanists. neutral

I'm thinking you are having a little difficulty articulating what you mean - so maybe if we clear up what exactly your question is, first, we will be better able to answer. (Let me know if I'm way off base).
My first question is your use of the word "condemned." Who is doing the condemning? Do you mean that, for example, Joe Snuffy did X and Jane Sally is calling him out on it or judging him? Or do you mean that Joe Snuffy did X and now he is being convicted - being moved by the moral compass God put in all of us and the Holy Spirit to identify X as wrong and possibly do something about it? Because being convicted, while generally unpleasant, is a very good thing in our lives. Among other things, it's one of the many ways God communicates with us and teaches us and grows us in our faith. Condemnation, however, is not generally a good thing because it involves passing judgment on other people and God is the only judge. (Having said that - I'm talking about a greater kind of judgment than just using common sense, morals, critical thinking, and so on to come to a conclusion about the wrong-ness or right-ness of something). As the other's mentioned, it is our duty as a family of Christians to help keep each other accountable - no one can go it alone, God said from the very beginning that it wasn't good for us to be alone.

So that is my first question/rant, but from the rest of what you said - it sounds a little like you are talking about the latter, and not the former, which is an entirely separate issue that needs working on.

Moving on -I'm going to talk about the Law a little.
Because I just finished reading Exodus and Leviticus, and am slowly making my way through Numbers, I'm gonna take an example straight out of the Torah. But first, in case you don't already know, the Torah is comprised of the first 5 books of the Bible and can be translated as "Teaching," "Doctrine," or "Instruction." It is the "Law of Moses" and applied to the people of God from the time they were given it in the wilderness of Sinai (after leaving Egypt) until the time of the Christ's death, which He told us wasn't to abolish or destroy the law (the Torah) but to fulfill it, or complete it. The law was given to the people after they left Egypt so that they would know how to keep themselves holy in God's sight. I don't remember exactly the verses that state that most clearly, but I could look for them if you want. The idea itself, that the law is a gift to the people from God and that it is a good thing, a tool for them to use for their own good, is repeated over and over throughout these books. Not in those words, but that is the message. The end of Leviticus talks about the choices we have and what the consequences of disobedience will be - that by disobeying God, we are choosing to break the covenant that we have with Him, but even then, He says several times it is never too late to turn back to Him. He will always take us back if we recognize the error of our ways and repent. At that time, it involved a lot of sacrifices and a 20% interest rate on everything. We don't do that anymore because God gave Himself, His only Son, as the ultimate sacrifice which covers all sin. However, the rules do still apply. That is, we shouldn't go around taking each other's stuff etc. (since that's the example you used.)

Now, the law regarding theft is this: First of all, don't do it. (Exodus 20:15) There's even a second commandment about this - Not only are we commanded "Thou shall not steal," but also, "Thou shall not covet... anything that belongs to your neighbor." (Ex. 20:17 - emphasis added)So don't even think about it. After the commandments are given is one of the first times (as I recall) that we are told this is for our own good. ("Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin." Ex 20:20) He's helping us out. Then there is all of Exodus 21:28 through Exodus 22:15 regarding property and restitution. To summarize, the thief is usually required to return the property and/or make restitution, often paying twice the amount they took, and then they are forgiven.

In the NT, we are instructed by Christ to settle our differences with our neighbor/brother before we go to court if possible, or to handle it according to the local law if we can't. We are told at various points throughout the Bible that the authorities over us were put there, they didn't just happen accidentally, and it is good for us to obey the laws of the country we are residing in (as long as doing so does not violate God's law) - so we see that that is another part of what Christ did/explained when He came and died for us. We don't have to pay back twice what we stole, but we might have to go to jail or pay 5 times or whatever, and we still just shouldn't do it. If we do, we need to repent and make that restitution.

Another example that sort of brings a lot of this together is adultery. In the OT, anyone that goes and cheats on their spouse is supposed to be stoned to death along with the person they were cheating with. But Jesus Himself showed us that we should have love, compassion, and mercy for those who repent. The woman that was caught in adultery and brought to Him was nearly stoned to death but she repented and He forgave her and commanded her not to sin any more. Her faith and His love saved her. Therefore, we should understand that people do make mistakes, we can't hold death as a threat over them if they aren't perfect - none of us is perfect. So we see there are rules, and there is room for mercy too.

And for when we don't know what to do, from the very beginning, we have always been instructed to ask God. Even Moses and Aaron did it. When they weren't sure about how to handle something, even with all those rules and laws and regulations, they went straight to the source and asked God himself.

I know I didn't give you an easy answer - I didn't say "yes" or "no" or "under these circumstances," and I really had no intention to in this post, but I hope this helps you understand how Jesus completed the law, and didn't just scratch it off the list of things to do.

Also, as always, I like input/insight on things I've said because I don't have it all figured out either, I just happened to have read this stuff recently. (Perfect example of why we need to stay in the Word, even if we've read it before)