#Cherry-picking in the Bible

[toubledrouble]

You know what we should bring back?

Older christianity. I mean the anti government, anti military, community based christianity. The one that cared the most about peace, equality, mercy, kindness, and radical love. The one with shared property. The one that didn't conform to society but instead existed mostly outside of it. The one where noone considered one sin worse than another because in the end, we are all sinners trying our best to be better.

[faithfulsheepdog]

Beware the cherry-pickers!

I saw something on Instagram a little earlier today that really had me concerned. Pastors who were all claiming the same thing: Maybe sin isn't what we thought. Maybe we're not broken. Maybe God sees us as already good. Because in the Bible God said, "It was good," after He created us.

This is why it is SO important to know your Bible. Study your whole Bible. Know it well!

Because part of what they're saying is true...a sliver of it is true. But not the whole. And that's what makes their claims so very dangerous.

"God saw all that He had made [including mankind], and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day." - Genesis 1:31 NIV

That part is the truth. At one point in time, God did look at His creation, man and woman and all, and saw it was good.

But do you know why the rest of what those pastors are saying is false? It's because they've completely ignored the fact that the verse they've cherry-picked is from Genesis 1. Genesis 3, where sin entered the world and ruined everything, had not happened yet.

Once sin entered the picture, everything in this world became tainted. Perfect things became imperfect. Whole things became broken. Good things became not good.

Ignoring the whole truth and picking and choosing what we want to believe is one of the most dangerous things anyone - especially a Christian - can do. Because if we choose to only believe Genesis 1:31, we miss the severity of Genesis 3. But we also miss the true hope for humanity that can be found in the very same chapter where everything went awry.

In Genesis 3:15 NIV, God tells the serpent, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head and you will strike His heel."

This is a prophecy from God. This is a promise from God. This is God promising that He will come as a man and will restore what had been destroyed in that moment. A promise that though Satan will try to fight God with everything he's got, he will not win. God will be victorious.

And this is why knowing the Bible for yourself is important.

We in this world are broken. Sin is just as bad and damaging as we've been told since the beginning, and we are not inherently good any longer because of sin. But through Jesus - through being saved by Him and believing in His sacrifice and believing that He did rise from the dead and making Him Savior and Lord of our lives - we can be made whole. We can be restored. We can know goodness. We can go to heaven and escape hell.

Learn the Truth for yourself.

Study the Bible. Know God's Word.

And defend the faith from cherry-pickers who will deceive and pervert God's grace to satisfy their own pride.

[deservedgrace]

something that i've been struggling to articulate but has been bothering me for a while is how some christians engage and interact with science and what i'm realizing is they have a like... almost love-bombing/discarding relationship with it. and i recognize science isn't a person and that's not literally happening but the christians that i grew up around have this relationship with science where it's real/valid/correct if it supports their side and fake/invalid/wrong if it doesn't. it's this like... engaging with science to get something from it when it can prove their point and condemning it when it doesn't. and this also ties into the belief that you, a layperson with no background in science, are more knowledgeable than actual scientists simply because you have god on your side, and therefore you can use science in whatever way you see fit, which means engaging with it in a way that is ultimately anti-science (but that also doesn't matter because god said it was okay). and it's exhausting engaging with these people for me because it's not that they believe all science bad, it's that they believe most science bad but some science good and they have the authority to determine what is bad and what is good, despite, again, not having a background in science (because what is a "background in science" to an all-knowing god that you have a personal relationship with?). the thing that is so frustrating to me is how these people recognize science is valued and use it to strengthen the validity of their points and to gain credibility while simultaneously refusing to acknowledge the validity of science as a field at all or put in any effort to understand/respect it.

[iamnotcoolenough]

MATTHEW 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves."

This line is so important these days. Everywhere I turn, especially on the Internet, I see people who are cherry-picking the bible and spreading misinformation. Or they use Jesus to spread hate and lies. It's sad. And alot of people won't pick the bible up to read it. They will just take anyone's word for it and call it a day. I am not ashamed to say I used to fall for the lies because I'd never read the bible for myself. And I know many christans who haven't either they just let someone else tell them what the Bible says and they let others tell them what the Bible means. But thats not what a relationship is. It's not talking through other people. It's direct. The bible is a revalation of God and what he wants for us.

So to anyone who hasn't read the bible this is your sign to do so.

[vaguelyaperson]

alright Imma need tumblr philosophers to accept that just cause something is in a Book™️ doesn't mean it's the ✨️Absolute Truth.✨️

need y'all to accept that most non-fiction books are a thesis, which means it selects evidence to make an argument; more so, with different/new evidence, that argument can be built upon, made more nuanced, or outright disproven. need y'all to accept this goes doubly true with any book discussing philosophical theory - which often base their arguments less on empirical evidence and more on hypothetical/anecdotal scenarios.

if you believe something cause you agree with books you read on it, that doesn't make you 100% automatically right; you still need to be able to support your argument, and be willing to accept new evidence.

[commonmexicanname]

We were told visually that Aziraphale would become the Supreme Archangel

When we are first introduced to Aziraphale and Crowley, they are facing the right side of the screen, what a lot of us link to being east. Makes sense since he's guarding the eastern gate.

But Az is on the left and after this, Az faces the left side of the screen. From their introduction, he's almost always to the left or facing the left side of the screen.

"Yes, the angel is always on the left. We've known that! It's supposed to represent the angel being on your left shoulder."

Right, but you know what else is represented on the left?

I can't claim that this was all done on purpose from the very beginning, but it was fun finding this. We were shown from the very beginning that Aziraphale would replace Gabriel and become the Supreme Archangel.

Then again, it could all have just been a coincidence.

What do the hands of God mean?

I asked myself the same thing! Welcome to the brain rot religious rabbit hole portion of this post. Running away is encouraged.

When I found this connection, I decided to delve a little deeper to see what exactly are the symbolisms and meanings behind the left hand of God. I was hoping to see if there was anything about being the left hand of God was somehow connected to Aziraphale and could give us a fun "this is sooo him" description. Kinda like getting the results of a personality test!

Spoiler alert, there isn't much to go off on:

The left hand is paradoxical, you say? It works in indirect and subtle ways? Almost sounds like the actions and decisions of a certain angel! It was a good start, until I kept going.

I couldn't find a lot of bible quotes about the left hand of God. What I did find were people's thoughts and interpretations of the left hand. There wasn't really a consensus because whenever I'd find one speculation or explanation, I'd find something that contradicted it. Some say it represents judgement, some say it represents a "self-deification and bow to no one" attitude. In some beliefs, the left hand represents evil and those who are born left handed were forced to use their right hand instead, although that's mostly a thing of the past now. Simply put, all I found were people disagreeing about what the left hand is all about. (heh) It's all a bit... complicated.

Then I pulled back and noticed that the conversations of the left hand reminded of the conversations around Aziraphale. Then my brain spiraled into thinking that maybe, just maybe, the fact that there's disagreement on the left hand was actually what the creators wanted the fandom to be like with Aziraphale. To cause this whole "actually bad! actually good!" contradictory thinking. That is the left hand is Aziraphale connection my brain latched on, the people's conversation! MIND BLOWINGLY CREATIVE WRITING IF INTENTIONAL!

*deep breath* Anyway!

If I now convinced myself to think God's Left Hand is Aziraphale coded, what about the Right Hand and it's meaning? Well, it just so happens that there are so many quotes about God's right hand:

10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 11 All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Isaiah 41

That sounds rather protective to me. Almost as protective as a certain demon towards a certain angel. So far so good! Very generally speaking though, the right hand represents the power of a god. The very general consensus is that the right hand of God represents omnipotence. Something an occult being would need in order to say... create stars, galaxies, nebulas and even stop time.

Hmm, I wonder who is the right hand of God...

Ah darn, so close. That could've worked so well with a certain demon always being on the right.

A demon that got to hang out with the right hand of God...

Jesus said to James and John: "but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not for me to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." Mark 10:40

It could all still just be a serendipitous and unplanned coincidence.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

"If you're going to pick and choose which parts of these you follow and which parts you conveniently ignore, at least pick the parts that only affect *you* and do not abuse others, violate their human rights, discriminate against them or otherwise cause them harm. Humans matter. Religion doesn't."

And have the decency not to lie when we point out that if you can pick and choose without divine repercussions, you've elevated yourself above your god.

[alpaca-clouds]

Of Christians and St. Paul

I have been venting about atheists recently, but I gotta vent about Christians, too. Like, I hate that the loudest Christians there are, are naturally those who do not give a fuck about the bible. Of course they claim to do and defend basically everything they do by cherry picking the bible, duh, but... they so clearly either have not read the entire thing or willfully misrepresent it.

Call me naive, but I kinda think that Christianity - if you call yourself a Christian - should be about Christ. That is Jesus. Meaning that for the most part the thing central to the religion should be the teachings of Jesus. And, well... As others have noted before, Jesus was a pretty leftwing guy. You know, the guy healing everyone, promoting living in poverty, saying that being rich was a sin, who supported sex workers and queer folks. Like, you know, as someone who has read the thing: Jesus was not like perfect. He also was fairly racist against some minorities within Galilae back then. Though he would still help the people from that minority, though he did so while venting about them. But all in all he is very much more basically the antithesis to any rightwing politics - and the politics of either the megachurches or the Catholic church for that matter.

Having grown up Catholic, I would so often think how appalled Jesus would be about all the gold and rare stones and what not presented in churches. That was like completely opposite to his teachings.

But the big thing is also that... you know. All the hateful stuff self-proclaimed Christians keep defending with their "religious freedom" is also quite opposite of the teachings of Jesus - and at times opposite of the entire fucking bible.

You know, the bible doesn't have an opinion on trans people. But this idea that Christians keep saying about it like that god made us perfect and that we should be thankful for our bodies very much is something the bible does not say.

Jesus also hung out with people that were considered queer at their time. And when you reference the old testament, you also should keep in mind that Jesus outright says "abandon the old teachings".

Oh, and another big stuff that modern Christians keep whining about is the entire abortion thing. But... Actually the bible is fairly clear that yeah, life starts at the first breath and not a moment earlier. Becuase it was believed in the ancient world, that the soul would only enter the body with that first breath.

Most of the hate those so called Christians keep spreading either goes back to the old testament or - even more commonly - to the letters written by Paul. Paul mind you, who was not an apostle or deciple of Christ, who also was not a prophet. He was just one of the earliest followers of the religion and helped to establish the religion in Rome.

I always keep saying, a lot of the "It is my religious freedom to discriminate" folks are actually followers of Paul, not of Jesus. And yeah, Paul was a horrible person. He was misogynist, he was ableist, he was racist and he was queerphobic. But again, he just was an early follower of the religion.

Like, the only reason why his stupid letters are in the bible is, because of political reasons. Because the bishops who decided on the canon wanted to defend their fucking hate against everyone else.

And I am sorry, but if you don't fucking care about what Jesus does say... Well, I am sorry, then you are not a Christian in my point of view.

[technicallyaminecraftsimp]

My Christian math teacher just started arguing for gay right???????? Against a homophobic student?????????????? Using the Bible???????????????????

[urdtarah]

it's pretty shocking to see just how fast Republicans jumped to "amendments aren't really part of the constitution" mentality

[venusflitrap]

bible core

They can't pass any gun control because it goes against the constitution.

But they can revoke the citizenship of people who were born here, which goes against the constitution.

They never cared about the constitution.

[mindfulldsliving]

Salvation and Scripture: A Latter-day Saint Approach to Faith, Works, and Modern Revelation

Faith, grace, and works are often hotly debated topics in Christian theology, and Ephesians 2:8–9 and Galatians 1:8–9 have long been central to these conversations. As Latter-day Saints, we affirm salvation through grace but understand that faith and works together reflect true conversion. Critics often claim these verses contradict our beliefs, but with context and revelation, they align…

[wow-its-me]

GUYS I FOUND THE MEANING OF LIFE

Genesis : 26 “Then God said, “let us make mankind in our own image, in our likeness so that they may rule over the fish”

[here-for-the-vibe]

As a Catholic, I find it so ironic that the people who would preach to me every Sunday “Jesus said, ‘Love each other as I have loved you’” are the same ones who apparently just completely ignored the whole thing.

[soberscientistlife]

You can't cherry pick the bible

[rodeo-dyke]

danny's writing in TRG

honestly i'm so proud of danny mcbride's writing about homophobia in righteous gemstones. he makes it clear that what the homophobes are doing is hateful and fucked up and doesn't try to make us sympathize with them. he points out how they cherry pick and weaponize the bible. he also humorously addresses queerness in the family. "i love my bi son" is TOO iconic!! they know that they're odd ones out in the evangelical community and they don't hide it. i love love love it!! thanks danny for making a safe space for queer ex-evangelicals to giggle at their past.