Chrisitans, have you really fully read the bible?

Not a doctored up, pretty version either (there is alot). My question is, how can you take all that into account, believe it whole-heartedly and want to live your life by this book.It promotes horrible things: Rape, Ritualistic sacrifices, slavery, incest, violence, etc. How can it be justified? How can you devote your life to living by this book when it contains such elements?Please READ the whole question...Thanks Brendan.....that is.. IF I get any answers.Karen, would you like some verses? Please do not be ignorant.Lo, a day shall come for the Lord when the spoils shall be divided in your midst. And I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle: the city shall be taken, houses plundered, women ravished; half of the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be removed from the city. (Zechariah 14:1-2 NAB)But if this charge is true (that she wasn't a virgin on her wedding night), and evidence of the girls virginity is not found, they shall bring the girl to the entrance of her fathers house and there her townsman shall stone her to death, because she committed a crime against Israel by her unchasteness in her father's house. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst. (Deuteronomy 22:20-21 NAB)From there Elisha went up to Bethel. While he was on his way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him. "Go up baldhead," they shouted, "go up baldhead!" The prophet turned and saw them, and he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two shebears came out of the woods and tore forty two of the children to pieces. (2 Kings 2:23-24 NAB)Please address some of these issues....you are saying that keyword searches means that it is not part of the bible?As for reading the bible myself, yes I have more than once. How can different 'versions' be justified when god FORBID to mark or alter the bible in ANYWAY, because your church says so?You CANNOT pick and choose which parts YOU think should be applied to your 'religion'. As chrisitans, you are to live by this book and follow the commandments, which is impossible for anyone to do.Anyone who works one the sabbath is to be put to death.Rebellious teens are to be put to death.Non-virgins on their wedding nights are to be put to death.Get to practicing...

yesI also have it on DVD so I can listen will I work around the house...

Yes. I've read it. I've read several different versions of it. The Jerusalem Bible, the Peshitta, the New American Bible...It does not promote these things you mention. If you'd actually read it, you'd know that too.

You have to look deeper into the symbollical meaning of the stories.

The bible narrates horrible things, but it does not promote the things on your list. Go back and read again, but read more carefully next time. Come again when you can show me one place where rape is "promoted" in the Bible. I also challenge you to show where the Bible "promotes" incest. Incest is recorded in the Bible, but not "promoted" after the law is given against it.Do you have a TV? Do you watch it? Do you have internet? Do you spend time on it? Both TV and the internet actually DO promote all of those things you listed. My, my aren't you inconsistent. Practice what you preach before you start dipping into other people's business that you don't understand and haven't thoroughly researched.

Read Thessalonians in the New Testament. Jesus tells us how to be good Christians. Jesus would never hurt us. He loves his children very much. Read the New Testament and get to know him. As you read, he will touch your heart and you will know the truth.

Apparently you know nothing about what you speak of. The Bible is a record of historical events and does not promote the things that wicked human beings have done and still do. Read the book of John and then maybe we can talk.

The Bible is also a couple of other things, for one it is a history book that records the history of a family, it will include items that do not look good in retrospect and, more importantly, God does not approve of. Second, the Bible is also a practical book of instruction for people, man is imperfect and so rules must be established for them. As to the specific examples:The first verse you use is describing what will happen in judgment, it is not an endorsement so much as a warning of what will happen once the city is sacked because that is how things worked back then.The second verse is not just about sex before marriage and how apparently that is someones "right" but also about breaking contracts and trust and doing what they know is wrong. If they find the man she had sex with they stone him as well because they are called to be pure and this was not a pure action.The third verse is a personal favorite of mine for people who try and say the Bible is bad. People do not seem to realize that the young men were in the equivalent of a gang and were threatening someone with death. This group was going to kill Elisha and God protected him from that.To answer the top question, yes I have read the Bible all the way through in multiple translations including NIV, NASB, KJV, NKJV, and I am now reading it in the HCSB.