Highlights from the Bible: Matthew

I'm going to post highlights from the Bible, brought to us by The Skeptic's Annotated Bible.

Matthew

1. Jesus strongly approves of the law and the prophets. He hasn't the slightest objection to the cruelties of the Old Testament and insists that its laws will be binding forever. 5:17
   5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
   
   
   
   
   
   Leviticus 20:13 'If a man has sex with a man in same way as with a woman, they have committed an abomination. They are certainly to be put to death.'
   
   
   
2. To avoid sin, Jesus recommends that we cut off our hands and pluck out our eyes. This advice is given immediately after he says that anyone who looks with lust at a women commits adultery. 5:29, 18:8
3. Jesus tells his disciples not to pray in public. 6:5-6
   6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
   6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
   
   
4. He says that most people are going to hell. 7:13-14
5. He sends some devils into a herd of pigs, causing them to run off a cliff and drown in the waters below. 8:32
   8:34 And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.
   After Jesus kills the herd of pigs by sending devils into them, the "whole city" asks him to leave. Who could blame them?
   
   
6. Families will be torn apart because of Jesus (this is one of the few "prophecies" in the Bible that has actually come true). "Brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death." 10:21
7. Jesus says that he has come to destroy families by making family members hate each other. He has "come not to send peace, but a sword." 10:34
8. John the Baptist is still not sure about Jesus (he's in prison and is soon to die). He sends his disciples to ask, "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" Well, if he isn't sure after seeing and hearing the events at Jesus' baptism, then how can anyone else be? 11:3
9. Jesus condemns entire cities to dreadful deaths and to the eternal torment of hell because they didn't care for his preaching. 11:20-24
10. He explains that the reason he speaks in parables is so that no one will understand him, "lest ... they ... should understand ... and should be converted, and I should heal them." 13:10-15
11. "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath." Isn't this from the Republican Party platform? 13:12, 25:29
12. Jesus is rejected by those who know him the best -- the people of his home town of Nazareth. 13:55-57
13. Herod thought Jesus was a resurrected John the Baptist. Apparently, it was a common opinion at the time. If so many of Jesus' contemporaries could be so easily fooled regarding John the Baptist, what does this do to the credibility of Jesus' resurrection? 14:2, 16:13-14
14. Jesus mistakenly tells his followers that he will return and establish his kingdom within their lifetime. 16:28, 23:36, 24:34
15. Abandon your wife and children for Jesus and he'll give your a big reward. 19:29
    Imagine all of the disciples he could recruit now!
    
    
16. Matthew has Jesus ride into Jerusalem sitting on both an ass and a colt (must have taken some practice!). 21:2-7
17. "His blood be on us, and on our children." This verse blames the Jews for the death of Jesus and has been used to justify their persecution for twenty centuries. 27:25

Note: Why SAB uses the King James version-
-There are no copyright restrictions on the KJV.
-It is still the most familiar version and some Christians consider it to be the only "authentic" version.
-It has not been subjected to cosmetic editing, as have some of the more modern versions.
Most of the Bible's problems, though, are unrelated to the particular version that is read. Still, it is a good idea to compare the various versions, and to help with this they have provided links to some of the more common ones.