Expert: Paul Walker - 2/24/2005

Question
hi,
I really want to know what's all this is about? I'm pretty offended when I look at these verse:

gen19:31-36
if there are no unmarried men of the same faith available, a woman shall get her father drunk and have sex with him ( that's obviously immoral)

deut22
marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. if she's no a virgin, she shall be executed.
death is the only exit from marrige. should a married man died without having fathered any male heirs, his brother shall take the widow as ONE of his wives.

gen 3:16
to the woman he said," I will greatly increase your pains in child bearing; with pain you will give birth to children. your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

exodus 21
when a man strikes his slave, male or female with a rod and the slaves die under his hand, he shall be punished. but if the slave survives a day or two, he shall not be punished: for the slaves is his money.

leviticus 25
as for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy your male or female slaves from the nations that are around about you...you may bequeath them to your sons after you, to inherit as a possesion forever.....that the lord intended the blessed institution of slavery to last forever!

I'm not a first timer and had asked many many christian about this issues and the general answers I've received:
1)YOU don't understand the bible....
2)there are "meanings" behind the bible(well that's fine), but ended up everybody giving me many different answers some even contradicts each other.
3)we can't know about it, it's the lord's word, so our duty is to believe in the holy bible.
4)you got to ask the pastor, I don't know.
5)what? you doubt the bible? you better not! you will go to hell!

I never will lied to you, but many christians I've asked said that slavery is OK because it's the lords word! it goes for other nasty things to.

slavery, excutions, sex with father are IMMORAL!!!! it has nothing to do with whether it's the past or future, god's word or or not! it makes people SUFFER! that's what I know about, if you also believe its OK then I really have nothing to say....

I'm seriously concern about this issue and I meant no offense. Hope to hear from you soon.
thank you  

Answer

Dear Kenny,

I certainly appreciate your conundrum. The Bible can be difficult to understand at times, especially if one does not have all the pieces. I also realize that many Christians would rather mess up a good question rather than admit their ignorance. From what you have stated, I take it that you are not a saved person. That is have not trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, that he was God's Son and died for your sins. This is not a problem, I just want to know who I am addressing and how best to answer their questions.

There are many advanced precepts involved in the questions you have asked and I must address some of them first so that you will understand my solutions to the problems you have set before me. Whether I have any satisfactory answers remains to be seen.

To begin you have to understand that all my answers will be based on the Authorized Version or King James Version of the Bible. I recognize no other in the English language. Many of the questions I receive are simply enough taken care of by referring the enquirer to this version for an accurate quote. This is a subject all on its own but you have to know what I am using and that it does make a difference.

We have to begin a little far back, but I will try and come up to date quickly, please bear with me a little. We have to make our first decision, is there a God or is there not? I realize you are not saying there is not, but bear with me.

If there is no God then there is no right or wrong, no moral law, no responsibility to any thing or anyone. The only thing that matters is who has the power to push what he wants to push on others, survival of the fittest. Obviously, my opinion is as good as yours and all that matters is who can force theirs on the other, being that there is no higher authority to answer to.

If there is a God then all that matters is what he says and there is no reason for anyone to be offended at whatever that might be. If he created all things, then he can do with them as it pleases him. This is the first precept one has to understand if they are to comprehend God's word. If God wanted to he could just hang us all by a vapor over hell and use us for pea shooter practice. This is not difficult to understand, it is just there are many hard things that are hard for us to accept in the pride of life.

Next, God takes responsibility for all things, good or evil, except the desire of the human heart, to be toward him or away from him. He does, however, use those desires to fulfill his purposes and reach his ends. To discuss this would take more time than we have here. (I am on a dead line with allexperts.com, so I cannot take to much time to give you your answer.)

Now let me move along and get to some of your questions.

    gen19 :31-36 if there are no unmar ried men of the same faith avail able, a
    woman shall get her fathe r drunk and have sex with him (that 's obvio usly
    immor al)

Well first, it is not immoral unless God says it is. As stated above; No God, No Law.  Second, God did not initiate the action nor did he bless it. As I stated before, God must take responsibility and he does, but it is a matter of using this ungodly act for his own purposes. He did not accept the offspring as pure and they were not allowed into the congregation of Israel until the tenth generation. That is the people formed from these children had to marry a Jew, there kids marry Jewish and theirs also for ten generations before the stain of this act was purified from them and they could be counted as a member of the congregation of Israel.

God allows many things for his own reasons (at least that is as far as I can go here) and many of the recorded events in the Old Testament are not sanction nor approved of by God, but put there for our learning and his revelations.

    deut22 marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. if she's
    no a virgin, she shall be executed.

  death is the only exit from marrige.

    should a married man died without having fathered any male heirs, his brother
    shall take the widow as ONE of his wives.

God is pretty much against fornication and for obeying his moral laws. The penalties are harsh. It was also a matter of presenting oneself as something you were not.

Actually, their are a couple of exceptions to death do us part, but all and all, yes it is death do us part. God is not for all the confusion like we have these days.

If that is what God said to do, what is the problem. It took care of the widow, it kept the deceased name alive and maintain the continuity of property inheritance.

    gen 3:16 to the woman he said," I will greatly increase your pains in child
    bearing; with pain you will give birth to children. your desire will be for your
    husband, and he will rule over you."

God's penalty for her disobedience, what can I say?

    exodus 21 when a man strikes his slave, male or female with a rod and the slaves
    die under his hand, he shall be punished. but if the slave survives a day or
    two, he shall not be punished: for the slaves is his money.

I do not think I fully understand the lesson this would point to at present and it is a hard thing to accept, but again, if it is what God said, who are we to be offended.

    leviticus 25 as for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy
    your male or female slaves from the nations that are around about you...you may
    bequeath them to your sons after you, to inherit as a possesion forever.....that
    the lord intended the blessed institution of slavery to last forever!

God allows for and regulates ownership of one by another. Many men would be far better off to be owned by a good master. You may be to ignorant or to young to realize this, but nonetheless it is true. However, God does not condone manstealing, that is the type of slavery you are thinking of. It was not right for anyone to go to another country, Africa for example, to steal men and enslave them.

Just because we were raise in American society and culture does not make American society and culture Godly nor the only correct way to live. Your claim of outrage at these things is only the product of your upbringing. This is  obviously proven in todays world where we have children blowing themselves up with the consent and aid of their parents. You will never understand much if you cannot get past your own predispositions.

    slavery, excutions, sex with father are IMMORAL!!!!

As stated above, by what authority do you claim to know what is or is not immoral??? Except there be a God and then it is whatever he says is immoral or not. (Yes, sex with your own offspring is against God's law.) The death penalty is ordained by God.

    it has nothing to do with whether it's the past or future, god's word or or not!
    it makes people SUFFER! that's what I know about, if you also believe its OK
    then I really have nothing to say....

It is not what I think, it is what God said. If you cannot handle this then I can do nothing to aid you.

Your Servant In Christ Jesus,

Paul Walker
paulwalker@aficj.org