Why the Left Mocks the Bible
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
At PragerU, we have released about 400 videos on virtually every subject outside of the natural sciences and math. Along with two billion views, the videos have garnered tens of thousands of comments. So we have a pretty good handle on what people most love and most hate. For example, any video defending America or Israel inevitably receives many negative responses. But no videos elicit the amount of contempt and mockery that videos defending religion, explaining the Bible, or arguing for God do.
Why is that?
There is a good reason. The Bible and the left (not liberalism; leftism ) are as opposed as any two worldviews can be. While there are people who claim to hold both a Bible-based worldview and left-wing views, these people are few in number. Moreover, what they do is take left-wing positions and wrap them in a few verses from the Bible. But on virtually every important value in life, the left and the Bible are diametrically opposed.
Here are a few examples:
The biblical view is that people are not basically good. Evil therefore comes from within human nature. For the left, human nature is not the source of evil. Capitalism, patriarchy, poverty, religion, nationalism, or some other external cause is the source of evil.
The biblical view is that nature was created for man. The left-wing view is that man is just another part of nature.
The biblical view is that man is created in the image of God, and therefore formed with a transcendent immaterial soul. The left-wing view – indeed, the view of all secular ideologies – is that man is purely material, another assemblage of stellar dust.
The biblical view is that the human being has free will. The left-wing view – and again, the view of all secular outlooks – is that human beings have no free will. Everything we do is determined by environment, genes, and the matter of which we are composed. Firing neurons, not free will, explain both murders and kindness.
The biblical view is that, while reason alone can lead a person to conclude murder is wrong, murder is ultimately and objectively wrong only because there is a transcendent source of right and wrong – God – who deems murder evil.
The biblical view is that God made order out of chaos. Order is defined by distinctions. One such example is male and female – the only inherent human distinction that matters to God. There are no racial or ethnic distinctions in God’s order, only the human sex distinction. The left loathes this concept of a divine order. That is the primary driver of its current attempt to obliterate the male-female distinction.
The biblical view is that the nuclear family is the basic unit of society – a married father and mother and their children. This is the biblical ideal. All good people of faith recognize that the reality of this world is such that many people do not or cannot live that ideal. And such people often merit our support. But that does not change the fact that the nuclear family is the one best-suited to create thriving individuals and a healthy society, and we who take the Bible seriously must continue to advocate the ideal family structure as the Bible defines it. And for that, perhaps more than anything, we are mocked.
The biblical view holds that wisdom begins with acknowledging God. The secular view is that God is unnecessary for wisdom, and the left-wing view is that God is destructive to wisdom. But if you want to know which view is more accurate, look at the most godless and Bible-less institution in our society: the universities. They are, without competition, the most foolish institutions in our society.
For nearly all of American history, the Bible was the most important book in America. It is no longer. This is a moral and intellectual catastrophe. If you want to understand why, consider reading The Rational Bible , my commentary on the first five books of the Bible. The second volume of The Rational Bible , Genesis, is published today.
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Bible mocked?
"Jews will not replace us," covers it, right?
The Bible deserves to be mocked because it is obviously not to be taken as fact by rational people in the 21st century. The first lines of Genesis should be Once Upon A Time instead of In The Beginning .
The flood is an obvious parable, which was stolen from the poem Gilgamesh, because it could not have happened. Believing that it did only make fundamentalists look ignorant when it is physically impossible for that much water to be created in a closed hydrologic system such as the Earth.
Was Bigfoot on the Ark? Maybe unicorns don't exist because the tigers ate them?
Only in the bible could a whale become hotel room for a weekend.
You mean like the people who hate the President and hate whites and hate Christians? I don't think rational is the word that comes to mind.
Rational people despise a POTUS who cannot go a day without lying. I cannot think of anything about Donald Trump that does not make me sick. He is the epitome of the ugly American.
Who hates white people? Considering the fact that I am white I do not hate myself. I hate people who use their race to discriminate against others. Do you defend racist, bigots, xenophobes, misogynists, and homophobes
I don't hate Christians. I hate people who try to force their religious views on me as secular law and/or who are hypocrites. Is it a problem for you that I am logical and demand facts/empirical proof before I believe in something, or do you think that my logic should be limited where religious belief is concerned?
Human nature is indeed the source of evil. The listed examples are all a result of human intent and human action. The author is pretending that 'the left' does not realize human beings are at the helm.
However, some religious people think that Satan is the source of evil.
Is this really the left? Seems more like the findings of contemporary science.
Again, it seems 'the left' then is being rational and humble by noting what we have discovered and not putting forth speculation as truth. In contrast, those who insist the Bible is divine arrogantly profess to know that man is created in the image of God, and therefore formed with a transcendent immaterial soul, etc.
I think the author is stretching things a bit. Hard to believe that most of 'the left' holds to a strictly deterministic reality.
Well, again, this simply declares an arbiter of objective morality. Not a shred of evidence supporting this declaration. But one can easily find all sorts of evidence for subjective (or relative) morality. We therefore all know that relative morality exists. Objective morality might exist too, but currently this is simply a religious belief on faith.
This is just a verbal tantrum. The author needs to do much more than simply claim 'the left loathes divine order'. Silly.
Well the author will continue to be disappointed, because apparently 'the left' does not condemn families that do not fit the religious stereotype. I suspect the author's head will eventually explode because this trend is unlikely to reverse.
Well, see, this now is just semantics. If you go by the dictionary definition for wisdom: " The quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgement; the quality of being wise. " there is no requirement to acknowledge God. So we have that. I certainly can see how one could argue that believing something without evidence is destructive to wisdom. For example, I do not find Islamic suicide bombers to be wise; they seem to be operating on pure faith in Allah. Have to wonder if the author would consider such faith (acknowledgement and submission to God) as wise.
I feel stupid for just realizing this but if the god of the bible is truly both omniscient and omnipotent then there can be no such thing as morality because if God knew what they were going to do before it happened then people didn't and cannot choose to be good or evil. They are no more at fault for their behavior than the computer programmer can blame the computer itself for a malfunction.
I agree (given those premises). If the future is knowable then free will is not possible. The Bible claims the future is knowable (by claiming God omniscient) thus it contradicts the claim of free will. This is is one of many logical contradictions that prove the God of the Bible (as defined) does not exist.
I had never followed the argument of determinism vs free will to its conclusion and considered the implications of biblical morality that could not exist with an omniscient god. I feel both lazy and stupid for missing something so seemingly obvious.
The conservative Christian idea of enforcing biblical morality as secular law just evaporated. But it would require logic to understand that claim.
Strict Calvinists would agree there is no free will. The Puritans preached that all was determined at creation including what souls were "saved". Men with free will would always choose sin, they so believed.
I have been saying that for years.
You misunderstand free will.
Your free will is not effected if God knows the future. You don't. You have the choice to get out of bed in the morning or to lay there.
The truth is that free will is part of human existence and is not effected by the existence or non existence of God. It is IMPOSSIBLE for you to not have free will. Even if you were to become suddenly convinced that there is a God, you would still have free will.
You are mistaking a God's attributes with our human attributes. They do not necessarily intermingle.
If your god already knows what people are going to do then how can there be free will?
That makes your god an ego maniac & completely narcissistic. The stories told about him (like Job) make him a sadistic god at that.
I do not dismiss the Christian god as being real, but I do not think he is the one and only. I believe there are many gods & goddesses - some good, some not so good.
If god knows you are not going to get out of bed then i guess you aren't really exhibiting free will. The choice has already been made.
People who decide to get out of bed experience choice.
It is actually literally impossible for a human being to not have free will every second they are alive.
God exists supernaturally, so what God knows or doesnt know is not really our concern. We make our own choices as a result of self consciousness.
I believe people have free will. But I also believe that the Christian god is not all knowing.
When shit like this article gets thrown out there it sure is our concern about what their god knows or doesn't know.
If what we are about to do is already know for a certainty, and we are fated to do exactly what some supernatural being knows we will do, then how exactly is that free will? It implies we are tied to some sort of strings of fate that go far into the future that some supernatural being can see but we can't thus we merely have the mirage of free will. And what would be the point of this supernatural being waiting to intercede on mankind's behalf if that's what fate says it will at some point? Why wait to pass judgement on anyone if their "fated free will" has already been determined? Why let human lives play out on earth at all if all the physical meat of our existence is meant to be a relative millisecond of our existence? If you believe we have an immortal soul that was created at physical human conception that continues on for eternity after the brief moments it spent inhabiting a physical shell, and everything that soul is ever going to do or think is already known by its creator, what's the point? What's the point of first, attaching an apparently immortal alien being (our supposed immortal soul) to a very limited sack of meat and water that has to struggle for survival in a harsh physical environment, all so it can spend 99.9% of the rest of its existence in an ethereal spirit form, and every spirits actions for all eternity are already known by the head spirit. Not only does that all sound rather insane, its certainly not describing any sort of "free will".
Because free will and GOD knowing something are not mutually exclusive. Can you WITH CERTAINTY communicate with God, or absorb or even understand it's knowledge? I doubt it. So what would be the practical result of God knowing the future of an individual ? Nothing. The individual still experiences free will, as we all must.
It is a direct contradiction based on the meaning of omniscience and free will.
Yes, I figured you were confused on this point. Even if reality is deterministic (meaning that it is an incomprehensibly complex network of cause & effect) sentient entities (e.g. people) will still make choices. When you choose to buy a latte at Starbucks that is technically a choice. The question, however, is at that instant when the choice was made could you have chosen a cafe Americana instead? If reality is deterministic then we could replay that personal moment in time endlessly and you would always choose to buy a latte. It is like a movie, every time you watch it the characters make the same choices and the outcomes are always identical.
If reality is NOT deterministic then free will is possible. This is the case where you could have chosen an Americana. That choice changes the future. (Look up the Butterfly Effect.) As people with free will go about their daily lives they will all make choices that interact to produce what we call the future. The future, in this case, is unknowable. Given an unknowable future, no entity could know the future. Right? An unknowable future contradicts omniscience. Thus the presence of free will contradicts omniscience (and vice-versa).
In short, free will means you have a movie that changes every time you play it (the future in the movie is NOT knowable). No free will means the movie never changes (and thus the future in the movie is knowable). If God is omniscient that means the future is knowable and thus free will is impossible.
Correct. An entity that knows the future does not necessarily make all the choices. Knowing the future means tracing the cause & effect network forward to see a future outcome (fast forwarding a movie, skipping to the last chapter in a book, etc.) It is about knowledge, not control.
This should be interesting.
How can the future be knowable if the individual sentient entities are making choices in real time that collectively determine the future? If the future is unknowable then God cannot possibly know it.
This applies even if there is no God. Even if no entity is omniscient. It all depends on whether or not the future is knowable. If the future is knowable then it is determined before the choices are made. That means the choices at every level are determined. Like dominoes in a complex pattern, the cause & effect chains are all setup ready to act.
If reality is deterministic the free will is impossible. If reality is not deterministic then the future is not knowable (and thus omniscience is impossible).
You need to do more than simply claim this.
This argument does not need God. This argument applies even if there is no God. It is about determinism. If the future is knowable then reality is deterministic and free will is impossible. If the future is not knowable then reality is not determined and free will is possible.
So let's take God out of the equation and make this real simple:
Pretty definitive statement there TiG.
Are you sure, beyond a shadow of doubt ?
Or
just Theorizing !
Read my argument. If you disagree then make a rebuttal.
If you have a thoughtful question I will answer it.
I did have a thinking question. You chose to respond with:
"Read my argument. If you disagree then make a rebuttal.
If you have a thoughtful question I will answer it. "
Again I ask:
Are you sure, beyond a shadow of doubt ?
As if it was unrefutably a proven "FACTOID" too !
Note that you showed up not to provide any value but to make this personal. Merely to spin a derogatory allegation.
I saw Value in Texans Comment: "all the while shouting down any and all questions or answers."
You made a definitive statement, I questioned your Definitive Statement, and you go off on some other adventure.
Why is that ??
Why?
If your course of actions is knowable before you take those actions, and is 100% accurate meaning that knowledge of what you will do is never wrong (which is implied by God supposedly knowing that information, thus it must be 'knowable') then your free will is nothing but an illusion.
And no, I cannot with any certainty, communicate with God. I could pray till I sweat blood and if I did hear a voice responding to me in my head, I'd have no objective way to prove it was the voice of God and would likely be a far better indicator of induced insanity.
But back to the point, if everything we will ever do and everything we've ever done is all pre-written in some account God has access to, then we are nothing but characters in a book written by a universal author and thus not responsible for any of our actions as we can but do what the authors says we will do.
"So what would be the practical result of God knowing the future of an individual ? Nothing. The individual still experiences free will, as we all must."
Well there you have a point. There would be no practical result of God knowing the future unless it took some active role in human lives which is what millions seem to believe as they constantly pray to one God or another. And in that case it implies even less free will since if God takes an active role in our every day lives, protecting those who beseech him, and he blesses them so that some outcome he knew would happen occurs, then he truly is the puppet master making fate dance to his will.
Saying "the individual still experiences free will" is basically an admission that free will is more about perspective, that as long as we feel like we "experienced" free will, then that's as good as the real thing.
Imagine if you will, a prayer answered...
"Oh father, who art in heaven, hallowed be they name..."
"Hey kiddo, I hear ya, God here..."
"What? Really? Oh thank God! Oh, I mean, thank you!"
"So what did you want to ask me about?"
"Well, don't you know?"
"Of course I do, I just wanted you to say it..."
"Wait a sec, is that like some kinky thing you have? You know humans will pray to you and know what they will ask for, and know the outcome of whatever actions they take and what your influence, if you choose to help them, will do, but you still need us to ask for your aid?"
"Well, yeah, that's sort of the deal, you ask, I give you what you need, not what you want..."
"So you help us overcome hardship and never let those of us who stay faithful all our lives more than we can handle, but some do fall away so you knew they would fail even when they were praying to you before they failed, right?"
"Well yeah, of course I knew they couldn't handle it and would leave the faith"
"But didn't you say you wouldn't test us more than we could handle?"
"Well, I never test those who I know will stay faithful to me more than they can handle..."
"But those you know will abandon you, you allow to be tested till they predictable break?"
"Well, that's not me doing it, that's them, that's free will..."
'facepalm...'
You can't have an argument like that with God! You'll be struck with lightning!
has anybody heard anything from God lately, that there is real proof of?
He's coming to my monthly poker game this week
Your idea is only the appearance of free will, which is not actually true.
Why should I believe in a deity that has the very same proof of existing as Snow White or Humpty Dumpty? Does my belief in a myth make it true or is my devout belief irrational; and/or delusional? I am sure that you want to believe and have been told to believe but neither wanting nor trying to follow the orders of church fathers or your parents do not constitute existence or fact.
If God knows how you will act then you only have the appearance of free will and not actual free will. God could not know how you are going to act if we truly had free will. The fact that we cannot communicate with God is irrelevant to the issue that of god knows how you are going to act then you do not have free will.
I know that as a believe you want to be both rational, and at the same time to follow the teachings of your religion but that logical fence sitting is not logically defensible.
If you actually do have true free will then your god is neither omniscient and omnipotent, so why would you pray to a deity that doesn't know what you are praying for and cannot answer your prayers? This is a religious catch-22 that you are currently caught in.
If there was a god, there would be no such ting as free will. To us, free will is an illusion.
It just means our "choices" are already pre-determined. Since we do not definitively know the future, then our "choices" may make it seem like we have free will. But free will is an illusion.
Then god should know way ahead of time who will stroke his ego and who won't. Again, no free will.
Because there's no evidence/proof.
I am incapable of believing without proof. Any rational individual would want proof before blindly accepting any claim, especially the more outrageous ones. Why should claims of god be any different?
That's not actually the case.
If by "us" you mean "married men", then yes.
Not at all. Do you have children?
You married the wrong person because I would never try to control my partner, just as I would not allow him to control me.
Wow.
Do you even understand how astonishingly rude that is?
Do you understand how that's not really a socially acceptable response to a joke?
I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, assuming this is just another one of those times where you've been really offensive without realizing it.
Uh yeah, that is the case. Unless God is not omniscient.
"Us" as in everyone who believes in an omnipotent, omniscient god and thinks we have free will. Such a god and free will is logically incompatible.
If god already knows our choices ahead of time, then there is no way we will choose differently that what is known and expected. Unless god is either wrong or doesn't know.
Relevance?
it seems to be the case - freewill requires the elements of surprise and chance, these elements are not possible with an omniscient God who knows everything in advance
We can even take an omniscient God out of the equation. Free will is not possible if the future is knowable. Even if no sentient entity knows the future, if the future is knowable then reality is deterministic and free will is at the very best an illusion.
absolutely ! a simple concept many can't seem to grasp....
Interesting how you defend this position when there are real world examples all around you to the contrary.
If you had children this would be easy to understand.
There are countless times in our lives where we see another person faced with a choice and we know ahead of time what that person is going to choose. It's almost daily with small children, but even with other adults, it's common.
Let's say your kid hates mustard. You're at a cookout, and somebody asks "GordyJr, do you want mustard on your hot dog?". Now...you know exactly how this is going to turn out, and you're not even remotely surprised when GordyJr says "no thank you".
So you're trying to tell me that because you knew ahead of time what he would choose that it wasn't his decision?? Really?? I don't think so.
Knowing somebody's choice ahead of time does not mean it isn't still their choice.
Why?
You know right now who LFOD is going to vote for. Does that mean it isn't his choice?
Problem One: You are conflating predictable patterns of human behavior with knowing the future. I can easily predict that when I clink my dog's food dish she will come running over ready to eat. And we certainly would find that to be an apparent free will. Nobody forced her to run towards her bowl.
That is predictable behavior. Just like predicting a mustard-hating son will likely refuse mustard the next time he is asked. Predictable behavior can even occur in a reality that does not allow a knowable future. That is, even in a non-deterministic reality (where it is impossible to know the future), there are predictable patterns (some with extremely high levels of reliability).
The presence of predictable patterns does not distinguish between a knowable and an unknowable future.
Problem Two: Free will applies to an entity who is affected by and affects reality as a whole. An individual's choice is a function of the state of its body (especially the brain) and its environment (all of reality outside of the individual's body). If my son gets a bad grade on a test I might sit down and give him (yet another) fatherly perspective, tutor him to ensure he is ready for the next test, or any number of actions. What I choose will affect the future of those in my sphere of influence. My choice will, in part, determine their choices. Now unpack the history. The choices the teacher made on test content and timing affected the grade. My son choosing to spend too much time with friends rather than study affected the grade. The details of the friends' lives (including their choices) affect the time they spent with my son. There are uncountable causal factors that all ultimately lead to the bad grade. And the bad grade is a factor in other choices (such as my parental choice).
Given we are all interconnected (consider now the butterfly effect) knowing what an arbitrary individual will choose to do at any moment in time would require knowledge of all the factors that contribute to the choice and the ability to comprehend the causal chain that will determine the choice made (again, to know the choice before it occurs). It is not just knowing an individual's patterns of behavior, but knowing the causal chain and being able to play that out into the future to see how the dominoes fall.
To wit, for the future to be knowable, reality must be deterministic - a complex causal chain.
And if reality is deterministic free will is simply an illusion. ( This is true even if no entity knows the future. )
for freewill to exist in your example - there absolutely has to be a CHANCE that LFOD will SURPRISE you and possibly pick another candidate or decide not to vote or even come up with another option that you hadn't thought of. (and your example isn't a great example of "freewill" - it would fall more towards predictable behavior based upon characteristics of the person and predicting how they will react/act in a given situation)
This can get very interesting. What ultimately causes a person to vote a certain way? At the exact moment of the choice, the brain has produced a biochemical signal that represents the 'vote for anyone with an R next to their name' decision. That is, all the information required to make the choice would -at that exact instant- be part of the cognitive mechanism (inside the brain). It is a calculation computed by action potentials (etc.) in a highly complex neural network, but a calculation nonetheless. The state of the brain at the instant of the choice determines the choice. To make a different choice, the brain must be in a different state.
So, backing up, the actual free will must have preceded the choice. Free will must be that which determines the brain state that produces the aforementioned choice. Brain state is determined all sorts of factors including hormones, sensory input, health, etc. So free will must have come from one or more of these other factors.
This is basically what is studied in the area known as behavioral biology. Free will, if it exists, is a very tough thing to nail down.
But, of course, this is a sidebar. Free will cannot logically exist if the future is knowable. So if we do indeed have free will then our future is not yet determined (and thus it is unknowable - no entity could possibly know it).
He follows me on twitter, been pretty quiet lately.
Such as?
Why don't you elucidate for me rather than get snarky about it.
We can predict with a degree of certainty how someone will choose based on how well we know them or by a pattern of past experiences. That is no guarantee they will choose the way you think they will. But we're talking about a supposedly omniscient god who already knows, with absolute 100% certainty ahead of time, how someone will choose. Therefore, there is no way for someone to choose differently. That choice is pre-determined well in advance. The idea there is a choice to be made is the illusion.
See previous statement. I could predict the answer based on my knowledge and experience. But that doesn't mean the choice is automatc or immutible. Jr. can possibly surprise me by trying mustard. But that is only possible if i have no knowledge of the actual outcome. As I am not omniscient, I don't know what the choice will be with absolute certainty. An omniscient god has that absolute knowledge and certainty.
See previous statement. The best I can do is predict what the choice will be.
It means they are incapable of choosing differently if the choice is already known. They will make the same "choice" 100% of the time if that choice is already known in advance, as god supposedly does. So the choice itself is an illusion. one only thinks they have a choice.
Exactly. Why does our ability not interfere with free will but somehow his does?
Good. Now imagine your knowledge and experience being limitless.
The same is true when God knows how we will decide. It doesn't mean it's not your choice. It just means he knows you don't like mustard. (that's a metaphor, BTW)
Sure. That does not interfere in any way with the decision maker.
It simply does not. Any more than your knowledge of the mustard hating child means he is incapable of making a different decision.
Omniscience does not interfere with free will. Rather, omniscience is possible only if the future is knowable. And free will can only happen if the future is not knowable (i.e. the future is not determined ... it is formed in real time by free will choices).
That is why they are mutually exclusive ... there is no interference. So all we need do is determine if the future is knowable or unknowable. From that we know if omniscience is possible or if free will is possible.
Correct.
Nonsense, on a myriad of levels.
The predictability of an event does not remove the free will of the participant(s).
Arbitrary philosophical declarations tend to fall apart quickly in the real world.
You and I both know someone in America will be murdered in the next 7 days. That does not remove the free will of either the killer or the victim.
We know there will be a recession in the future. That does not interfere with the decisions that will be made to bring it about.
You just cherry-picked my explanation and ignored the operative parts. You ignored that actual explanation.
First there is no notion of removing free will. No interference, right? You just agreed. Next, predictability is too weak. This is about knowledge. That is why I use the phrase 'knowable future'. If the future is knowable that means it is possible to state what will happen. That includes stating the choices a person will make.
You are back to interference ("remove the free will"). That is not what happens. Free will is not removed. Remember, you agreed that interference is not at play.
Again, you even quoted my upfront statement that this is not about interference. You agreed with my comment yet continue to argue interference. Hello?
Omniscience is possible only if the future is knowable. And free will can only happen if the future is not knowable (i.e. the future is not determined ... it is formed in real time by free will choices):
Determine if the future is knowable. Given that we would know if omniscience is possible or if free will is possible.
It is amazing that no matter how this is explained it never sinks in.
God's knowledge of the future, in this context, is omniscience.
Our ability to make choices that determine the future is free will.
Omniscience does not prevent free will. That is not precisely what is going on.
What is going on is this:
For any entity to be omniscient, the future must be knowable. Obviously. If the future is not knowable then it cannot be known. Basic logic, right?
To have free will, the future must NOT be knowable. Obviously. If the future is knowable then the choices one will make are predetermined (known before they are made). No free will.
The point is that omniscience and free will are both dependent upon whether or not the future is knowable. The knowability of the future is the key:
Determine if the future is knowable. Given that, we would know if omniscience is possible or if free will is possible.
I'm not surprised. When someone s so engrossed in their beliefs, they are not receptive to logic or rational reasoning. But your explanations are spot on and logical.
Thanks. I am scratching my head trying to figure out how to make this more obvious.
I suspect the problem is a refusal to accept the reality that for any entity to know the future, the future must be knowable. I have heard 'arguments' in the past that God has a special kind of omniscience because He is not bound by time. Even if that (mere declaration) is true (whatever the individual thinks that actually means), that simply offers the method whereby God knows the future. The question is whether or not the future is knowable; not the method by which it is known.
Bottom line, omniscience requires a knowable future.
And thus can reach conclusions such as dinosaurs and human beings coexisting.
I don't think there is a way.
Rigid thinking based on inflexible beliefs.
It's just more believer logic pretzeling to rationalize their positions or beliefs.
Is that regular omniscience, or the "special kind" of omniscience?
If your god knows what decisions people will make then they do not have free will. They have the appearance of free will but the truth is already pre-determined, even if his followers do not know it. That is still ultimately determinism, despite your obvious attempt to be a theological fence sitter.
How can the concept of religious morality exist if god knows what decisions they will make? If his follower's decisions are predetermined by God, even if it is without their conscious knowledge, then they do not have free will so their choices, good or bad cannot be credited/blamed to/on them.
You mean I pointed out flaws in your argument.
Not if that predictability is 100%.
Oh good grief. OK, if you don't like the word "interference", substitute your own. Abridge? Affect? Abolish? Impede? Negate? Whatever. You pick it.
Advanced knowledge of a person's decisions does not in any way mean that person does not make them of their own free will.
OK.
Why? Because you say so? Seems a bit arbitrary. Also seems one of those wholly philosophical ideas that doesn't actually hold up very well in reality.
You ignored the argument and now are claiming to have pointed out flaws. Deliver an actual rebuttal rather than simply pretend to have done so.
Ergo why I used the word 'knowledge'. So we at least agree on the requirement that when speaking of knowing the future it is truth; not mere predictability based on a pattern of behavior such as your son's historic dislike of mustard. You predicting your son will (as usual) not choose mustard does not mean you know the future, right? In short: knowing what will happen in the future is not the same as predicting what is likely to happen in the future.
The meaning is the problem, not the word used to impart the meaning.
Your 'rebuttal' is to simply repeat your claim without making even an attempt to address my argument.
If the future is knowable then all choices could be known (100% accurate, right?) before they are actually made. If your choice tomorrow to wear a blue tie is knowable then you will pick a blue tie tomorrow. Your 'choice' of a blue vs. a red tie may seem like free will but in this knowable case your free will is an illusion.
With genuine (not an illusion) free will we have the ability to choose among our options. When we make a choice we enable future possibilities and disable others. Each choice determines the future; the future is inched along ... revealed by every choice we make. If the future is a function of the choices we make, the future cannot be known until those choices are made (making it 'the present'). The future, allowing genuine free will, is unknowable.
Ironic that the author claims the bible holds the nuclear family to be the ideal when the bible is full of polygamous marriages
Poor poor Christians. I really feel sorry for them. I'd bet they wish they could just be gay Haitian junkies or Mauritanian child slaves so they could finally get some respect.
If you got a new machine and the instructions were written like the bible, you would not be able to get it to work right
We have lemon laws to protect consumers from products such as those.
It's Prager and his followers that are being mocked. They should go off and build their own little commune somewhere and leave the rest of us alone, since they can't live and play well with others.
Well since I'm not on the left this hit piece really isn't aimed at me, but here's my two cents anyway. The bible is a fine old book of mythology and fables derived from the tales, cultures and other religions of middle eastern bronze age farmers and goat herders over two thousand years ago who were completely ignorant of the way the world actually worked then collated and amended by men who wanted to use it for their own ends. No I have no problem with the bible (other than it is poorly written) I save my mocking for those who despite all the current knowledge available believe it to be the literal truth of things and/or want to use its meandering, archaic writings to tell others how to live.
Nicely written.
Thank you Veronica
These people thing everyone that doesn't walk lock step with them is "left".
It's those who cherry-pick through the book to tell others how to live that riles me up. Every time you point to their failing they deny it, move the goal posts or God works in mysterious ways. It's not about religion. It's certainly not about freedom of religion. It's about control, for they must be in control to prove they are special. They are "chosen" above all others.
Evil that is certainly true of the leadership and indeed a portion of their followers. However a lot only use their beliefs to control their own lives (outside the public domain) and those I have no problem with whatsoever.
Nor do I. There has been a large divide among Evangelicals in the last several years. Many people (mostly younger people) want to be inclusive instead of divisive. They see that they can still be Christians without the hate preached by people like Prager. They see that most of us are very much like themselves with the same wants and needs. They see the hate for lies that it is.
Why the Left Mocks the Bible
More bullshit.
Many members of the so called left are practicing Christians (perhaps not your flavor but Christians none the less), the notion that they mock their holiest of articles is a bit ridiculous.
No one that I am aware of mocks the Bible, they may question why one would place so much stock in such a thing or an individual who may utilize it to further an agenda, but I myself have never heard the Bible mocked.
I may be prone to mock someone that puts forth such an absurd generalization as this, but I do not mock a true believer.
My personal experience, and I'll let those of you on "the left" correct me if I'm wrong, is that the mocking is less directed at the Bible and more directed at those who thump it.
Pretty much on target with that one Jack....
The Westboro Babtist weenies are pretty much what I see as being the poster children for the entire evangelical movement. You want people to leave you alone to pray as you wish....? Do unto others!
The Bible says for believers to do exactly that.
Matthew 6:6 and Luke 6:31
True. I have read the bible cover to cover a few times. It's a fantastic book of stories and I think everyone should read it once. But take it literally? No, never. You'll find more truth in a King novel.
I tried to read it once. It just kept going on and on about Joe begot Fred, Fred begot Frank, Frank begot Ulysses...
Couldn't take it, so I quit.
How can the right judge the left when they don't even follow the bible:
67 Bible Verses about Republican Party
Proverbs 22:16 ESV / 27 helpful votes
Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.
Proverbs 19:17 ESV / 26 helpful votes
Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord , and he will repay him for his deed.
Leviticus 19:33-34 ESV / 26 helpful votes
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Malachi 3:5 ESV / 24 helpful votes
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
Proverbs 24:11-12 ESV / 22 helpful votes
Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?
1 Kings 8:41-44 ESV / 18 helpful votes
“Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name's sake (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name. “If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,
Ezekiel 16:49 ESV / 16 helpful votes
Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.
Habakkuk 2:6-11 ESV / 14 helpful votes
Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, “Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own— for how long?— and loads himself with pledges!” Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoil for them. Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. ...
1 Corinthians 6:2-3 ESV / 12 helpful votes
Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!
Jeremiah 17:11 ESV / 12 helpful votes
Like the partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch, so is he who gets riches but not by justice; in the midst of his days they will leave him, and at his end he will be a fool.
Proverbs 13:11 ESV / 11 helpful votes
Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.
1 Corinthians 5:9-13 ESV / 10 helpful votes
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
Proverbs 31:8-9 ESV / 10 helpful votes
Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Exodus 23:7 ESV / 9 helpful votes
Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.
Zechariah 7:10 ESV / 8 helpful votes
Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”
Ecclesiastes 10:16 ESV / 8 helpful votes
Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning!
Ecclesiastes 5:1-20 ESV / 8 helpful votes
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words. When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. ...
Revelation 18:1-24 ESV / 7 helpful votes
After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.” Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. ...
Revelation 2:1-3:22 ESV / 7 helpful votes
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. ...
2 Thessalonians 3:1-18 ESV / 7 helpful votes
Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. ...
1 Thessalonians 4:10-18 ESV / 7 helpful votes
For that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. ...
Ephesians 6:1-24 ESV / 7 helpful votes
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, ...
Galatians 6:1-18 ESV / 7 helpful votes
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. ...
Romans 12:1-13:14 ESV / 7 helpful votes
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ...
Romans 3:1-31 ESV / 7 helpful votes
Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.” But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) ...
Micah 2:1-5 ESV / 7 helpful votes
Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. Therefore thus says the Lord : behold, against this family I am devising disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be a time of disaster. In that day they shall take up a taunt song against you and moan bitterly, and say, “We are utterly ruined; he changes the portion of my people; how he removes it from me! To an apostate he allots our fields.” Therefore you will have none to cast the line by lot in the assembly of the Lord .
Isaiah 30:21 ESV / 7 helpful votes
And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
Galatians 5:14 ESV / 6 helpful votes
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Revelation 11:18 ESV / 5 helpful votes
The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”
1 Peter 2:1-25 ESV / 5 helpful votes
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ...
Hebrews 13:1-25 ESV / 5 helpful votes
Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” ...
1 Timothy 6:1-21 ESV / 5 helpful votes
Let all who are under a yoke as slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these things. If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. ...
1 Timothy 2:1-5 ESV / 5 helpful votes
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
Romans 2:28-29 ESV / 5 helpful votes
For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
Luke 20:1-47 ESV / 5 helpful votes
One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ ...
Luke 16:1-31 ESV / 5 helpful votes
He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ...
Luke 3:14 ESV / 5 helpful votes
Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”
Matthew 6:2 ESV / 5 helpful votes
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
Amos 8:1-14 ESV / 5 helpful votes
This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. And he said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them. The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,” declares the Lord God . “So many dead bodies!” “They are thrown everywhere!” “Silence!” Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end, saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances, ...
Amos 2:1-16 ESV / 5 helpful votes
Thus says the Lord : “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom. So I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet; I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will kill all its princes with him,” says the Lord . Thus says the Lord : “For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have rejected the law of the Lord , and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, those after which their fathers walked. So I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.” ...
Daniel 2:1-49 ESV / 5 helpful votes
In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins. ...
Isaiah 2:22 ESV / 5 helpful votes
Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?
Proverbs 29:1-27 ESV / 5 helpful votes
He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing. When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan. He who loves wisdom makes his father glad, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth. By justice a king builds up the land, but he who exacts gifts tears it down. A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet. ...
Proverbs 28:1-28 ESV / 5 helpful votes
The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion. When a land transgresses, it has many rulers, but with a man of understanding and knowledge, its stability will long continue. A poor man who oppresses the poor is a beating rain that leaves no food. Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law strive against them. Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it completely. ...
Proverbs 11:1-31 ESV / 5 helpful votes
A false balance is an abomination to the Lord , but a just weight is his delight. When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight, but the wicked falls by his own wickedness. ...
Proverbs 4:1-27 ESV / 5 helpful votes
Hear, O sons, a father's instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight, for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching. When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. ...
Psalm 146:1-10 ESV / 5 helpful votes
Praise the Lord ! Praise the Lord , O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, ...
Revelation 6:12 ESV / 4 helpful votes
When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,
2 Peter 2:1-3:18 ESV / 4 helpful votes
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; ...
Philemon 1:1-25 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, ...
1 Corinthians 1:1-2:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— ...
Acts 6:1-15 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. ...
John 18:36 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
John 15:1-27 ESV / 4 helpful votes
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ...
John 13:1-38 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ...
Luke 11:42-52 ESV / 4 helpful votes
“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.” One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. ...
Mark 12:30-31 ESV / 4 helpful votes
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 4:18-19 ESV / 4 helpful votes
And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
Matthew 23:1-39 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, ...
Habakkuk 1:1-17 ESV / 4 helpful votes
The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. O Lord , how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. ...
Micah 6:1-16 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Hear what the Lord says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord , and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the Lord has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel. “O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me! For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the Lord .” ...
Hosea 9:1-17 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Rejoice not, O Israel! Exult not like the peoples; for you have played the whore, forsaking your God. You have loved a prostitute's wages on all threshing floors. Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail them. They shall not remain in the land of the Lord , but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria. They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord , and their sacrifices shall not please him. It shall be like mourners' bread to them; all who eat of it shall be defiled; for their bread shall be for their hunger only; it shall not come to the house of the Lord . What will you do on the day of the appointed festival, and on the day of the feast of the Lord ? ...
Daniel 7:1-8:27 ESV / 4 helpful votes
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. Daniel declared, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagles' wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ ...
Isaiah 10:1-3 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?
Proverbs 22:1-29 ESV / 4 helpful votes
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all. The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life. Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked; whoever guards his soul will keep far from them. ...
Numbers 1:20-22 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful
The people of Reuben, Israel's firstborn, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go to war: those listed of the tribe of Reuben were 46,500. Of the people of Simeon, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers' houses, those of them who were listed, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go to war:
Leviticus 19:18 ESV / 4 helpful votes
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord .