The Bible - Can These be the Words of God?

Verses from Compilation by Donald Morgan.

Can these be the words of God? If they can't be the words of God, then is it not safe for us to conclude the Bible is not entirely the work of God because it has been altered by man?

You decide:

MT 5:18-19 The OT law is to remain in effect until heaven and earth pass away.

GE 1:28 Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over all living things. (Note: God appears to be totally unconcerned with population control or ecology.)

GE 3:16, CO 11:3-9, EP 5:22-24, CN 3:18, TS 2:5, PE 3:1-6 The husband is to rule over his wife. Wives are to be subject to their husbands even when the husband is disobedient to God. Man is the image and glory of God, while woman is the glory of man. Man was not created for woman but woman for man.

GE 3:16 Women should suffer pain during childbirth. (Note: This verse was used by the Church to oppose the use of anesthesia during childbirth.)

GE 15:18 Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and part of Iraq belong to the Jews only.

GE 17:10 "This is my covenant, ...every male among you shall be circumcised." (Note: God seems to have an obsession with this--the words circumcise, circumcised, circumcising, circumcision, uncircumcised, uncircumcision, foreskin, and foreskins appear 157 times in the KJV. Although the KJV correctly translates the oldest Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, versions since the KJV attempt to soften this apparent obsession by creatively translating these words in a different fashion wherever possible.)

GE 17:14 A child/man be punished by having his "soul cut off from his people" if his parents fail to have him circumcised when he was an infant of 8 days old.

GE 38:8-10 A man who refuses to impregnate his widowed sister-in-law is "wicked in the LORD's sight" and so is put to death.

EX 20:8-11, 31:15-17, 34:21, 35:1-3 No work of any kind is to be done on the Sabbath, not even lighting of a fire. This commandment is permanent. Death is required for infractions. (Note: This would require even that essential services, such as hospitals, police departments, etc., shut down on the Sabbath.)

EX 21:7-11 A father can sell a daughter into slavery to pay a debt. A daughter sold into slavery is not released at the end of six years as is an ordinary male slave.

EX 21:12 Whoever strikes a man so that he dies is to be put to death--except that, in some cases, God will appoint a place to which the offender may flee instead.

EX 21:15 Whoever strikes his father or mother is to be put to death. (As opposed to Islam where a man ia ccountable to God for a misdeed such as this.)

EX 21:16 Whoever steals a man is to be put to death. (Note: This is in spite of the fact that a father can sell his daughter into slavery; see EX 21:7-11.)

EX 21:17, LE 20:9, DT 21:18-21 A child who curses his parent(s) is to be put to death. A stubborn and/or rebellious child is to be put to death.

EX 21:20-21 A slave owner is to be punished if he strikes his slave and the slave dies shortly thereafter. If the slave lives a day or to and then dies, the slave owner is not to be punished. A slave is the same as money to his owner.

EX 21:23-25, LE 24:17-21, DT 19:21 An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, etc.

EX 21:28-32 When an ox gores a man to death, the ox must be stoned. If the ox has gored a man previously, the animal's owner must also be put to death; in the case of the goring of a slave, the only requirement is that the owner of the ox must pay thirty shekels to the owner of the slave.

EX 22:16-17 An unbetrothed virgin is required to marry her seducer.

LE 12:2 A woman who has a child, especially a female child, is unclean and purification rites are required.

LE 15:19 A woman who is menstruating is unclean. Anyone who touches her is unclean.

LE 15:20 Anything which a woman who is menstruating sits on or lies on is unclean.

LE 15:21 Anyone who touches the bed of a woman who is menstruating must wash his clothes and bathe, and is unclean until evening.

LE 15:22 Anyone who touches anything which was sat upon by a woman who is menstruating must wash his clothes and bathe, and is unclean until evening.

LE 15:28 After her flow stops, a woman who was menstruating must count off seven days before she is considered clean again. On the eighth day, she must present two birds to the priest for an atonement for having had a menstrual discharge.

LE 20:15-16 If a person engages in sex with an animal, both the animal and the person must be put to death. (What fault is it of the innocent animal?)

LE 21:9 If a priest's daughter becomes a prostitute, she is to be burnt with fire.

LE 21:14 A priest (or descendant of Aaron) must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, a woman who has been defiled, or a harlot, but only a virgin.

LE 25:44-46, DT 15:17, EP 6:5, CN 3:22, TS 2:9, PE 2:18 Slavery is an everlasting institution. Slaves are to obey their masters in everything.

LE 27:3-7 Males are more valuable than females.

LE 27:29 Human sacrifice is condoned.

NU 3:10 An unauthorized person who acts as a priest must be put to death.

NU 31:18, 35, JG 21:12 Young virgins are considered a spoil of war and can be taken for the use of the victors.

DT 15:1-3 Every seven years, a brother (meaning a fellow Israelite) should be released from his debt. Only a foreigner should be required, again, to honor his debt.

DT 22:6-7 If you want to live a long time, you must not take a mother bird from her young, but you may take the young from the mother.

DT 22:13-21 A bride in whom "the tokens of virginity" are not found is to be put to death. (Note: The bridegroom who falsely accuses his bride gets off with a fine.)

DT 22:23-24 A betrothed virgin who is seduced in the city is to be put to death unless she cries for help.

DT 22:28-29 A virgin who is raped must marry her rapist (if they are "found").

DT 23:2 A bastard--and his offspring to the tenth generation--are to be punished for his illegitimacy and cannot enter a congregation of the Lord.

DT 25:5-10 A man has an obligation to produce a child for his widowed sister-in-law.

1KI 5:13, 9:3, 15 Forced labor is apparently sanctioned inasmuch as the Lord consecrated the house that Solomon built for the Lord using forced labor.

PR 13:24, 22:15, 23:13 Children are to be disciplined with the rod-- if beaten with a rod, they will not die. (Note: Many Christian parents have inadvertently beaten a child to death following this precept.)

HO 4:14 The sins of female prostitutes and adulterers can be excused when the men themselves set a bad example.

MT 23:9 Do not call any man on earth "father."

MT 19:12, RO 8:13 Men should consider castration, thereby making themselves eunuches, for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. If you live after the flesh, you shall die, but if you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. (Note: During the dark and middle ages, saints castrated themselves by the thousands in order to become more godly. Even now, the practice continues in some sects.)

MK 10:2-12, LK 16:18 Divorce is wrong, and to remarry is to commit adultery.

MK 10:29, LK 18:29 A man who leaves his house, wife, brothers, parents, or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will receive special rewards.

LK 14:26 One cannot be a disciple of Jesus unless he hates his mother, father, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even his own life.

LK 14:33 "... any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."

RO 13:1-4, PE 2:13-14 Be subject to every human institution. All authorities (laws and governments) are from God. (Note: This would include those of a Nazi Germany, yet believers seldom follow this injunction. Even Jesus and his Disciples violated this principle.)

1CO 7:1-38 Men and widows should not marry. Although it is well for a man to remain chaste, the temptation to immorality is a valid reason to marry; a man should marry if he cannot control himself. Yet, a man who is already married should live as if he were not. He that is unmarried is concerned about how he can please the Lord while he that is married is concerned about pleasing his spouse. It is better to remain single so as to attend to the Lord without distraction.

1CO 14:34-35 Women are to be silent in church. If they have any questions, they are to ask their husbands at home. It is a shame for women to speak in church.

2TH 3:10 Anyone who doesn't work should not be allowed to eat. (So much for charity)

1TI 2:11-12 Women are to learn in silence (from men) in all submissiveness.

1TI 2:12 Women are not permitted to teach or have authority over men.

1 JN 1:9-11 Do not allow anyone into your house who is not a fellow believer.