You can understand why some people claim the Bible is confusing and contradicts itself can’t you. How about this nice little throw away line at the end of this chapter. “They are made to do forced labour.” Hold a minute is that God saying that some people are worth less then others? Does that mean that slavery is OK? Well I am pretty sure when Jesus told us to love one another, that ruled out slavery. What we have to remember is, there were things that people did all those years ago that wound God up, just like there are today. There are great guys alive today, that live their lives on fire for God. But every now and then, they muck up. Not only that, there are something’s that they do every single day that are not part of Gods plan for them. Maybe things they know God doesn’t want them to do, or they maybe things they just find hard to avoid. It was no different back when the Bible was written either. Just because parts of the Bible record the daft things some of Gods people got up to, doesn’t mean that God wants us to do them now. Think of the Bible like an early version of YouTube. It records and puts on display all the good and bad things Gods people got up to. YouTube does the same today, there are videos of all the good and bad things that people get up to. Do you watch a video of someone doing something stupid on YouTube and then go and do it yourself? Of course you don’t, so why would you read about someone who mucked up in the Bible and think that God wants you to do it? You wouldn’t would you, you’re not that daft. We can tell the difference between God using examples of things he wants us to do and examples of things he doesn’t want us to do. How? Because we have his Holy Spirit to guide us, and because we are not stupid. Maybe the Bibles not confusing and doesn’t contradict itself after all.
