Your Favourite Bible Verses

[bruto]

Ecclesiastes 9

11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

12 For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

 

[blobru]

19 Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Please notice, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the ground barren.”
20 And he said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. 21 Then he went out to the source of the water, and cast in the salt there, and said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘I have healed this water; from it there shall be no more death or barrenness.’” 22 So the water remains healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.
23 Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some youths came from the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!”
24 So he turned around and looked at them, and pronounced a curse on them in the name of the LORD. And two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.
25 Then he went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

I must admit that being able to summon bears to maul my oppressors would be fair compensation for going bald at a young age.

I love how casual this is.. heal some water, summon bears to maul kids, check out Mount Carmel and then head back to Samaria.

You know, there's actually a children's book based on that uplifting tale: The Two Bears by J C Ryle. Here it is as a free audio book. Read in a kind, avuncular voice, the moral of the story for all the little xtian girls and boys is: don't ever laugh at God, or you'll go to hell... The author, John Charles Ryle^WP, Bishop of Liverpool (1880-1900).

 

[bjornart]

Ecclesiastes 3

18 I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?"

22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

I feel I am safe from God because my car is made of steel.

Judges 1:19
King James Bible
And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.

From: http://bible.cc/judges/1-19.htm

Especial amusing are the mental efforts that the believers go to to explain why God cannot defeat iron chariots. See Wesley's Notes on the same page:

Could not drive - Because of their unbelief, whereby they distrusted God's power to destroy those who had chariots of iron, and so gave way to their own fear and sloth, whereby God was provoked to withdraw his helping hand.

These people saw God performing miracles on a daily basis helping them pillage, kill and rape, and yet they "distrusted God's power to destroy"? How the **** are we expected to believe in God then when He has done nothing miraculous for the last two-thousand years or so?

 

[FreshHat]

"Thou shalt not take...moochers into thy...hut."

Unspecified Bible quotation from Homer Simpson.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

I must admit that being able to summon bears to maul my oppressors would be fair compensation for going bald at a young age.

I love how casual this is.. heal some water, summon bears to maul kids, check out Mount Carmel and then head back to Samaria.

This is the story I brought up when debating whether the Bible could be used as a source of moral teaching. (I pointed out that if you didn't already have a sense of morality, or another teaching source, the Bible would NOT be a good moral guide.)

I asked the person to tell me the moral teaching of this story. He said it's to teach kids the lesson that they shouldn't make fun of people.

I said it makes a lot more sense to say the lesson was not to mess around with Elisha because he's got powerful connections.

Without another source of morality, how could you possibly choose which of these "lessons" is the correct one to glean from the story? (BTW, I think mine more accurately reflects the motive of the author.)

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

These people saw God performing miracles on a daily basis helping them pillage, kill and rape, and yet they "distrusted God's power to destroy"? How the **** are we expected to believe in God then when He has done nothing miraculous for the last two-thousand years or so?

This reminds me of a New Testament issue. We had all these miraculous events surrounding Jesus' birth (the visit of the Magi and the magical moving, stopping and moving star; the slaughter of the innocents and the escape to Egypt, angels appearing to shepherds, etc.)--including an angel appearing to Mary telling her she's going to get pregnant with the messiah even though she's a virgin. So Mary knows she's a virgin and bears the child.

Yet, when the child is 12 and stays behind in Jerusalem to discuss the scriptures with teachers:

When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."
"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

I guess they forgot about all that magical stuff that went on at his birth and figured he's just a regular kid. Seems to me that wouldn't be the sort of thing you forget about, but that's just me I guess.

 

[Herzblut]

1.Korinther 13 (NIV)

I love this.

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

 

[temporalillusion]

You know, there's actually a children's book based on that uplifting tale

Lol wow, that makes my day a bit worse

I asked the person to tell me the moral teaching of this story. He said it's to teach kids the lesson that they shouldn't make fun of people.

I said it makes a lot more sense to say the lesson was not to mess around with Elisha because he's got powerful connections.

Without another source of morality, how could you possibly choose which of these "lessons" is the correct one to glean from the story? (BTW, I think mine more accurately reflects the motive of the author.)

Good point. Maybe the moral of the story is that consequences don't have to be proportionate to the incorrect action. That would explain a lot of things.

 

[blobru]

You know, there's actually a children's book based on that uplifting tale

Lol wow, that makes my day a bit worse

Sorry about that, ti. If it's any consolation, the SuperBowl just made my day a lot worse :

48 And it hath come to pass [into the endzone on the last play of the half], that the Philistine hath risen, and goeth, and draweth near to meet David, and David hasteth and runneth to the rank to meet the Philistine,
49 and David putteth forth his hand unto the vessel, and taketh thence a stone, and slingeth, and smiteth the Philistine [James Harrison] on his foreheadarms, and the stone sinketh into his foreheadarms, [and lo as the clock ticketh down did he returneth the rock all the way to the promised land,] and he falleth on his face to the earth.
[And yea though the Arizonites would stageth a mighty comeback after the Boss had strummeth his songs, yet cruel Baal did somehow snatcheth victory from the very jaws of defeat, and Yahweh's team did bite it in the end -- though at least they covereth the spread, amen -- final score: David 23 Goliath 27.]

 

[temporalillusion]

Lol!

It's funny, before I had a kid going to Church and just picking out the stuff that I could find wisdom and throw away the rest wasn't a big deal.

When I had a kid and started to think about the kinds of things he'd be teaching him, the kinds of things I was raised up in and had to overcome, that's what really solidified my exit from the church.

Sorry, bit OT there.

My second favorite verse:

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding." - Proverbs 3:5

Second favorite because when I was young, I was prophesied over that my mind was my greatest God given asset and that I would use it for God's glory.

Then later on, I had this verse quoted to me by leadership saying that my mind was my biggest hindrance, that I had to stop thinking and just trust God.



So it's my favorite verse to remind myself what being in the church was like.

 

[Wildy]

"Thou shalt not take...moochers into thy...hut."

Unspecified Bible quotation from Homer Simpson.

And in the same vein:
"Thou shalt not horn in on thy husbands racket"



I can't really think of my favourite Bible verse at the moment.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

(Luke 6:41-42)