"how can you follow a teaching that is so outdated" In the past i got frustrated [with this question]
The Jewish religion is the root of the Christian and Muslim religions. You will see that the Christian religion uses many parts of the Jewish religion (thou shalt not kill)....yet, often ignores God's orders in favor of fighting terrorism.
Christians pick and choose what they want to follow in their bibles"
Example 1:
fight against Gay politicians (judge not lest ye be judged). What about
Christian forgiveness? Is that only for Reverend Jimmy Swaggart who sinned with prostitutes, and not for President Clinton who sinned with Monica, but for President GHW Bush who sinned with Jennifer Fitzgerald.
Double standards.
Example 2: ignore Revelation that says that if
they fight Iraq they will face God's wrath, such as Revelation 15 (seven plagues, including COVID).
Kings have altered the bible and the religion:
Example: King Henry VIII divorced Queen Catherine of Aragon, found that his supreme power was limited by the Catholic church, so founded the Anglican Church, then demanded to head that church himself (perhaps because he was such a moral upstanding man?--dodge flying chicken bones), then chopped off the head of Queen Anne Boleyn (needed a boleyn ball?), and proceeded to bear false witness against other queens to gain divorces).
Popes have altered religions and bibles.
Some popes felt that Christ, having risen from his grave, should not appear as a freak (albino, white hair and red eyes), so they altered his appearance in art.
Numerous bible versions have been made. Are all of them the original word of God?
The King James version was created to possibly take power from the clergy (then, only extremely educated men, especially in the clergy, could read Latin (a dead language spoken by ancient Romans), and the bible had been written only in Latin, so the common people could not read it themselves in their native language but had to have it interpreted by the clergy (and pay the clergy and follow their teachings).
The
late Reverend Gene Scott (and the living daughter, Reverend Melissa Scott) try to gain greater knowledge of the Christian religion by undertaking the humongous task of translating each passage from the early languages (Hebrew, Latin, and occasionally Greek), and comparing it to ancient documents, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. They have found
startling differences in translation.
Are all bibles perfectly accurate if they were translated incorrectly, or intentionally altered by kings or popes?
Apparently God wrote the bible, though he gave that task to those who quoted his son or to those who received divine revelation (ESP, psychic vision), to write what the apostles heard, a hundred years after the death of said apostles (or perhaps from word of mouth from them).
Was God wrong when he wrote the original version? Did he need a Messiah (as predicted by Jews and followed by Christians....if their Messiah is the correct one)?
It could be argued that God gave a different version of the bible to different people at a different time because they had to follow different rules:
Example: God told
Jews "eye for an eye" but told Christians "thou shalt not kill" and "turn the other cheek." Ancient Jews would have been wiped out by the various warring factions (Egyptians attacked Solomon's Kingdom and took it).
Modern Christians have nuclear bombs, so they had better be pacifists because they can destroy all life on earth.
So, it might be that old teachings are outmoded?
Did God
only give information to those in the Middle East? Or, did God go to America, as the Mormons believe? Many Christians call the Mormons "nonchristian" but they believe in Christ. Many Christians argue that Mormons are Pagans because they have their own bible, and they don't believe that a prophet of God could have divine insight (though that is precisely how the Christian bible was written, and how Revelation was written).
Each religion seems to backbite all others (with few exceptions). This keeps followers in their control.
Thus, many religions say that the Jews are evil (wring chicken necks for ritual sacrifice). Actually, Jews try to kill food animals as humanely as possible, and this is a reminder to be humane. They also don't drink the milk of the beast and meat of the beast at the same meal.
Such backbiting is at the root of antisemitism, and that culminated with Nazis torturing them and murdering them by the millions. (Is that the Christian thing to do?) Remember, Germany started out Christian when they started backing Hitler.
Many Christians would love to learn the roots of their own religion, but they don't want to attend Jewish temples or talk to rabbis. They feel out of place, or somehow hate Jews.
On the other hand, many Jews (Messianic) have left the Jewish faith to become Christians--they believe that Christ was the Messiah that their ancient prophecy was talking about.
I leave you with more questions than answers. But my advise is to learn as much as possible about all religions, try to compare them, and try to learn the total message of God to all of the people of the world.
I believe that God, at the Tower of Babel, separated the races, made the different languages, and separated them by vast distances, with the idea that with maturity, some day, they will see all of God's children as God sees them, and merge in harmony, once again.
But then i started to think ( YEY i am thinking
