We should not be surprised when God's directives are contrary to our culture or social standards, or even our "faith" standards. Jesus, during His earthly ministry, often stood against the prevailing beliefs of His day, even the beliefs of the Jewish faith.
Jesus famously said,
"You have heard that it has been said..."
"But I say unto you..."
Over the centuries' organized religion has replaced Biblical teaching with the doctrines of men. God has intervened from time to time, and corrected the errors, and restored His abandoned truth.
We are living at a time when people are so Biblically illiterate and so spiritually malnourished that deception is making it almost impossible to find Biblical truth anymore. This is not a surprise, when we realize that the most prevalent sign of the end times is deception.
Be very careful. Cults and popular "Christian teachers" are deceiving many people. This is to be expected because we are living at a time of Biblical famine.
One test of Biblical accuracy is to ask the question, "Does this teaching conform my life to the standards of the New Testament?"
The fruit of the Spirit (godliness) grows a garden of truth.
