The All Loving God

Could you give references for this? I obviously haven\'t read that part of the Bible recently. Context is so important.

Although I could go into my thoughts on the subject and direct you to books that I\'ve been blessed to read, I am afriad I am not quite that great with my explanations. I do however have a great Dad that happens to be a priest, who is very down to earth and very funny and knows how to anwser these very important questions. If you are able to get on my page he is frj1951. He writes the \\"Ramblings of a Redneck Priest\\". Contact him, he loves chatting with people! Let me know how it goes and if you get any good anwsers!

croppincolburn - I couldn\'t find the passage that tells them how much to sell a slave for. Although, the Old Testamtent AND New Testament condone slavery. \\"If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property.\\" Exodus - 21:20 \\"Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching of God our Savior attractive.\\" Titus 2:9-10 I couldnt find the passage about deflowering virgins either. It\'s difficult to find, although Ive read it before. Although, whats with this next passage? \\"If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married, and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl\'s father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.\\" Deuteronomy 22:28-29 Paying her father is hardly a good enough penalty. And then, the victim has to marry him! And why does St. Paul seem to go against women? \\"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. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be kept safe through childbirth, if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.\\" St. Timothy 2:11-15 \\"Wives, sumit to your husbands as to the Lord...\\" Ephesians 5:22 He commanded the deaths of others so many times, I can\'t post them all here. karatebon - Thank you very much, I may do that.

There are a lot of questions that you have there, but I was surprised that you added, \\"\\"Wives, sumit to your husbands as to the Lord...\\" Ephesians 5:22\\" I\'ve noticed that many people seem to have a problem with this verse, and many use it as anti-women (I don\'t think you are, but I had a lot of very angry woman ask me about this). I asked my Dad about this, and he said, \\"Most people don\'t read the verse right after this one. Do you know what commandment that is made of the husbands right after this commandment to the women? To the husbands it is said, \'Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it\'-Ephesians 6:25\' How much did Christ love the Church? He died for it!\\" The verse goes on to say that husbands must adore their wives, love their wives like they might love themselves, protect them, and work for them. Have you ever noticed what happens when a man scarifices himself for his wife? She becomes subject to him, not in slavery but in love for him! Its a natural thing that happens. I recently was blessed to get married to a very loving, kind, prayerful, happy man who scarfices himself everyday in love for me. Because of his gentleness and goodness, he thus makes me want to follow him wherever he might lead. I don\'t do this because I am a slave, but because he is such a good and loving person. I learned what this verse meant from my Dad and now I experience it with my husband, and it makes life so wonderful!

I also wanted to note, you might want to get the new Orthodox Study Bible as well as talking with priests. I\'ve been using the study Bible at home, and it is oh so helpful!

[1] Much of the Old Testament concerns the Israelites and how God chooses them and sets them apart from the other nations. God chooses these people in view of salvation history that comes to fulfillment with Christ. Many of the laws, while seeming harsh today, kept the Israelites free from pagan defilements. Other laws were to maintain the integrity of Israel, which depended on the recognition and following of God. The people that God commanded to be destroyed (e.g. the Amalekites) initiated the problems. For example, while the Israelites were still in the desert, the Amalekites came out and attacked them. Scriptural guidances on things we might think strange today--e.g. how to \\"deflower\\" a virgin--actually would have made sense back then. There are several examples which would suggest the Canaanites had perverse sexual rituals: e.g. \\"A woman must not offer herself to an animal, to have intercourse with it. This would be a foul thing.\\" (Lev 18:23) A verse shortly thereafter suggests this was the norm amongst the Canaanites: \\"For all these hateful things were done by the people who inhabited this land before you.\\" (v. 27) [2] The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was in direct response to their sins, including inhospitality. They offered direct abuse to God, and the destruction of the two towns was to serve as a enduring sign. Solomon in Wisdom writes of \\"fire raining down on the Five Cities in witness against whose evil ways a desolate land still smokes, where shrubs bear fruit that never ripens, and where, monument to an ubelieving soul, there stands a pillar of salt.\\" (Wisdom 10:6) From a Scriptural standpoint, the actions of God are quite frequently undertook by the angels. This is seen in the Old Testament whenever angels are sent to do the will of God. Elisha opens the eyes of a servant to see a heavenly host of chariots around him. In the New Testament, God deigned the angels to minister to Christ in the wilderness, and to be the ministers of the seven seals. [3] Cruel by what standard? Child sacrifice was practiced in Caananite culture (children were burnt as offerings to Molech). God already promised to Abraham in Gen 17:19 that He would make an everlasting Covenant with Abraham\'s son Isaac, and would bless Isaac\'s descendants. Abraham believed this promise. He may not have understood why God was seemingly asking Abraham to sacrifice his son, but he trusted in God\'s promise (which would be null if Isaac were sacrificed/dead) [4] God entrusted the Church with spreading the Gospel. The Scriptures are the true, inspired Word of God, their place in the Church, in the Liturgy, and preserved and interpreted through the Holy Spirit. More the case than not, it\'s the people who interpret rather than the translations themselves that are the source of the problem. Those who interpret from outside the Church and without recourse to Tradition, often distort the true meaning of Scripture. [5] He did make this clear by sending his Son, made Incarnate, who died for our sake; and God, who sent the gift of the Holy Spirit to testify of this reality. If one does not believe in the Gospel, in the death and resurrection of Christ, mystically celebrated each Sunday in the Eucharistic celebration that Christ Himself instituted, what else would lead one to believe?

StGeorge, Thanks for the responce, it really helped. I do have a couple more questions, though. #3. Okay, Abraham had faith in God, Well, let me ask you about the child sacrifice thing. In the Old Testament again: The following three passages, I dont understand. The first two seem bad that God would order such things, and the third seems like a contradiction compared to the first two. \\"But the Lord our God delivered him over to us; so we defeated them, his sons, and all his people. We conquered all his cities at that time, and we utterly destroyed every city, one after the other, and we did not leave their women and children alive.\\" Deuteronomy 2:33-34 \\"The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open.\\" Hosea 13:16 \\"There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him....hands that shed innocent blood.\\" Proverbs 6:16