Kill them!
6 “If your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom neither you nor your fathers have known,
7 of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end),
8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him.
9 But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 1
10 So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Deuteronomy 13:6-10 NASB
Shun them!
14 Do not be bound together [lit. unequally yoked] with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?
15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?
17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord.
2 Corinthians 6:14-17, 17 NASB
Love and be kind to them!
You shall love your neighbour as yourself.
Matthew 22:39 (etc.) NASB
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
Matthew 5:44 (etc.) NASB
Claim
The critic claims that the Bible teaches three different and contradictory attitudes towards nonbelievers, prescribed for Christians. Of course the critic knows very well that this is not at all what the Bible teaches, as it is too simple to reduce nonbelievers into one homogeneous category.
Categories of nonbelievers
There are (and were) certainly different categories of nonbelievers:
– time: past and present,
– behavior: tolerance and intolerance,
– understanding and misunderstanding.
So it is quite normal for believers to behave differently in different times and situations. That’s part of FREEDOM and has nothing to do with Bible Contradictions.
Kill them.
Nonsense. In Old Israel it was a prescript for Israel to remain in the service of JHWH. If someone or some people started to preach new gods within the institutions of JHWH (e.g. local and or national assemblies) he or they was/were punishable (capital punishment). This had nothing to do with a general treatment of nonbelievers. It was simply forbidden to change the national service to JHWH and no one was forced to keep the law, except the moral aspects of the law in society.
There was also the prescript to turn against the service of Moloch with child offerings. As children couldn’t defend themselves against evil parents, everybody had the task to resist against this strange religion, if it appeared (Leviticus 20:1-3). At first a serious juridical investigation was prescribed in that case. As in an ordinary case of murder a capital punishment was the sentence if a child offering had happened.
Shun them.
Nonsense. This is related with the New Covenant (New Testament) of Christian fellowship (vs. 14), that is the gospel. Sometimes there are relations that are not acceptable, or not anymore, for a Christian if he is forced to act against the righteousness of the Christian life or faith. In that way he has to quit the activity or the cooperation. Most often it has to do with indecent and socially bad activities, recognizable at a distance.
2 Corinthians 6:14 is also a guideline in marriage, which is in fact a common yoke for man and wife, and so it is good and natural to follow the some religious path for the two.
Love and be kind to him.
Right. As Paul said: “Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.” (Philippians 4:5)
No Bible Contradiction