Why is the Bible so Confusing and Contradicting?

That was the question asked on a Yahoo site today. Here are both the question and an answer, but ask yourself; how would you answer this person. To have an answer, or to know where to find one, gives us the privilege of communicating God’s Ultimate love, the Gospel, to sincere people asking the question:

The Question

“Since when is it ok to have your brother sleep with your wife because you could not produce.Or for a husband to have more than one wife. Also, Treat others as you would be treated, but not gays or lesbians or “others” But be kind to the different and less fortunate, do not judge people but only the ones who are less fortunate or have problems….I realize this is a bit thrown together, but the bible really does not fully make sense to me …is that bad?”

An Answer

Great question! It does seem to have a jumbled up, consistency to it, like the Law of Retribution (”eye for an eye” in Exodus 21:24, for example) so let’s look at your specific questions:

The first, about a brother sleeping with his wife is sometimes called a Levirate marriage. Since the Jews then and now have a very close tie with the land, that farming economy depended on family ownership of property that was designed by God to pass from father to son, or sometimes to daughter. In cases where there was no male heir to pass title to, the nearest kinsman (transliterated goel) was encouraged to raise up a child to thus pass on title to the family. A wonderful example of this is the tiny book of Ruth in the Old Testament.
Jesus also alludes the custom in Mark’s gospel chapter 12 around verse 19 or so.

As to having more than one wife, this was an allowed custom, and never meant as the defacto standard. Refer to Genesis chapter 2 verses 14 to 24 to see the God-standard. Jesus later expounds this in the case of divorce this standard and comments on the more-than-one-wife-thing in Matthews Gospel in chapter 19.

Treat others as you would like to be treated is of course repeated by Jesus, the Golden Rule.

God loves gays, lesbians, porn stars, rich people, poor people; all people. He loves us so much He let His Soon take the hit for our sins so that we could engage Him, know Him, hang out and be with Him. If some Christians condemn gay people or rich people, or Republicans or Democrats or Taliban, then we are not loving our neighbors as commanded. But loving the person does not mean acceptance of a lifestyle God knows to be destructive, be it sexual, chemical, or anything else. In short, God wants to keep us from the harm that comes from not living the way He would desire for us.

I hope this helps. I offer it in sincerity and the hope that you would continue to pursue your study of the Bible, it is a love letter to you.

Last Night — Wow!

I woke up this morning simply thanking God for blessing my wife and I with the privilege of living & serving Him in the town we fell in love with over 26 years ago: Morro Bay. Not only does the Central Coast boast of her beauty, cherish her serene & consistent weather and brag of her laid back atmosphere - Morro Bay still celebrates Christmas! Last night, I was blessed to rejoice with friends as we hung out on a trolley to participate with the Morro Bay Police Department in their annual taking Christmas to the streets. For over three hours we sang Christmas Carols, passed out candy canes, stuffed animals and booties (a precious senior spent all year knitting these tokens of love…) to numerous children & adults. The experience was just amazing: the expectancy of the children, the excitement on their faces, and the joy bursting forth from their smiles was a sight my memory bank will recall for days on end. And, check this out: this taking Christmas to the streets is an annual event that has been going on for some twenty years! Thank You Lord for the Morro Bay Police Department and their willingness to meet the children at their place of need with the hope of Christmas! May You Bless this department and this City of Morro Bay with favor from on high! Happy Birthday Lord…

Black Labs

I was hanging out with a buddy named Patrick at Top Dog’s Coffee Shop in Morro Bay.  For some reading this, I do apologize, sort of, for the snow and cold winds you’re experiencing (…a friend of ours sent out a Facebook status update that it was 1 degree in North Dakota with a wind chill factor that was crazy…).  Our weather has been pristine, practically perfect - which was a prologue to our discussion at one of our caffeine depositories here on the coast.  Patrick brought up a recent message I delivered to our fellowship on fear and trembling; namely, we are to work out our salvation with great awe and reverence before Almighty God.  He shared about an experience he had the other day when he finished surfing.  Let me paraphrase his insight, “…Randy, I came off the surf, holding my board and I noticed a Black Lab trembling before her master.  She was so excited, so focused, so intense her body was literally shaking.  The owner hurled a tennis ball into the water and the lab took off, navigating the surf, jumping through the water, collecting the ball to return to her master…to do it all again.  This went on and on and on.  Randy, I think it’s like this - that dog was trembling…not in a mode of fear and fright, rather in anticipatory expectation that her master was going to perform for her and create an experience that was suited just for her; namely, to retrieve…”  As Patrick and I reflected on that fun scene, we began to, metaphorically and figuratively, look at God this way.  He has created a future good for us, it’s all over Scripture.  Our role, not to compare us to dogs - stay with me - I think it works, is to show up for duty, with anticipation and expectation, that our Master has great things in store for us and He, God, desires to guide, direct and send us into our sphere of influence to not only bring us fulfillment & satisfaction, but to also bring Him glory.  The trembling piece, according to Patrick’s brilliant insight, is our heart overflowing with the knowledge that this life offers nothing of eternal value and our sole purpose/meaning is wrapped up in serving the True & Holy Master! 

Cool stuff folks…today - go retrieve, with His strength, all that He has for you…thanks Patrick for the coffee date, it made my day!  And thanks to you for reading, have a great day: Jeremiah 33:3 and Ephesians 2:10!