Acts 17:11
Test the Scriptures
11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-22
Test the Prophecies
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good,22 reject every kind of evil.
John 4:23
The Time Has Come to Worship the God of Truth
23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
Matthew 5:18
The Law of Moses is True
18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
Luke 4:14-30
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
14Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
Test the Scriptures, all of them...That is what St. Luke wrote in the Acts...Test the prophecies and Scriptures, test them all...
I have read some atheists and some non-believers say that believing in God is like believing in Santa Claus...They believe that there is no God and man made Him up, either out of fear of death and dying (so we could have an afterlife), or during great times of troubles we need a Great Comforter...And some believe without all the science back in the ancient days, we did not have a way to test the writing, miracles, and prove that Moses and Joshua, and the different prophets, and the authors of the wisdom books were making things up as they went along...Because they had a simpler society is one argument) and many things revolved around God, then it was easier to be convinced that God existed back four and five thousand years ago...So today some see Him as a delusion much like Santa...They reject Him and His Son from Nazareth...
Some say the Old Testament is riddled with violent scriptures with verses like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Uzzah touching the Ark of the Covenant and then God striking him dead, Tamar was raped by her brother Amnon, David beheaded Goliath, and Jephthah's unnamed daughter, his only child, is killed by her own father as a human sacrifice...These are just of a few of the violent Bible Old Testament verses...These are violent events back in the Biblical times...But when we look around today, we can see on many TV shows and many movies with graphic violent events depicting fiction that not only mimics the real world, but is the real world...The world today is as violent as it ever was and we have the news, movies, internet to show us that their is still people dying, and sadly being raped, children are abused, and people are being autopsied on shows such as CSI...
The Bible gets criticized for these writings and others about the violence pictured in these readings...Are we just upset that their was violence back in the ancient days, and their is still violence today?...Are we upset that God gave the rules on the Ark of the Covenant and no one could touch it, but somehow Uzzah tried to steady the Ark and had to pay the consequences -so we are mad and don't believe that?...Are we upset that God gave judgment to Sodom and Gomorrah?...Does the ancient violence make the Bible less true?...Or is it that we do not want to read about these things and that is what makes them a little untrue?...
I think the reader of the first five books of Moses had a very different view on the sacred texts that were written, when they first heard them or read them...They, I think, and this is only a guess, saw this in context with their own culture...These things sadly happened and they were written about...I think the Hebrews very much believed in these stories...Could have they been left out for future readers to influence belief or non-belief?....Yes, God could have inspired each author to leave out the violent or bad parts today, that make us think of rape, sacrifice, genocide, and crimes against humanity and war crimes...The authors could have just given us the nice parts...But that is not the way it happened, and the authors were writing about some violent things...Can I write about these violent things and justify theses events today to others?...I think the answer is probably not...Most people do not want to read, write, or talk about violence in the Bible, even though there seems to be a war or police action in some country of the world every day, if not every month -even today...If we were to see these death of our soldiers on TV or the internet -we would think it atrocious...
I personally, do not like to read about some of the bloody things in the Bible...I also, did not like to watch the Passion of the Christ movie, when they were torturing, flogging and beating my Savior, before He was nailed to the cross...Does that mean these things did not happen, and do they take away from the very truth of God...My point is the Bible is gives us an account of what each author saw, and believed, and it was inspired by God...Whether, I like what I read, does not not it true or untrue...It either happened as the Bible says it happened or it did not...God gives us a choice to believe in His Book or not to believe...One believes in something because it is true...Why else believe?...
In my opinion, it is best to try to put these events and happenings into their proper context in time and then make a decision to believe in the Bible or not believe in it...I personally think just reading the Old Testament and never reading the New Testament is reading the Bible out of context...If there is no God, all the authors of the Old Testament are liars...If God does not exist and is only a Santa Claus, then all the New Testament Books and authors are liars...And the biggest liar of all, if there is no God, is Jesus...He, in fact, says He is the Messiah, and has filled the scripture of the Prophet Isaiah...