Quote:Alan, actually if you ask most Jehova's Witnesses, Catholics, and possibly many sects of Christians, they will quote parts of the bible that tell you that if you try to contact the dead you are a ... er... witch....(not that word but word to that effect) and are evil.
I have actually seen these quoted scriptures in the bible so I know they exist. The bible is pretty cut and dry on this one. No contact with the dead, no being gay, no sodomy etc.
Then again... the one guy in the bible took his sheep and put them near a striped fence and the sheep became striped like the fence. <----- ACTUAL SCRIPTURE IN THE BIBLE!!!!!
So yeah.... I have no respect for the Bible. (I personally feel was a book created 100% by man as a means of religious control.)
GEN 30:25-43
JACOB'S 'SCHEME' TO MULTIPLY SPOTTED SHEEP - DOES IT CONTRADICT TRUE SCIENCE?
(v. 37) Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches.
(v. 38) Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink,
(v. 39) they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.
You should more consider the Bible out of date. It does have several things which I think you could grasp and apply to your life, but you must consider that 1) Much of the Bible was adapted for the minds of that time and was easier for them to access than us and 2) Many things that seem strange and to not make sense actually contain deeper meanings through metaphor.
You don't need the Bible to experience the love of god, but it does have some good teachings and fundamental truths.