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Let’s say you had never heard of or read the Bible. Someone gives it to you for you to read, & to read to your children. Upon reading, you read about a man being made from dirt, a woman being made from a bone of that man. A talking snake that tells you to eat an apple.

 

You read about a man that has powers, whom is referred to as God, who allows rape, slavery, the sex trade, & murder. The act of murder is rampant in this book you have been given. There are laws that command that people be killed for absurd reasons such as  working on the Sabbath, being gay, cursing your parents, or not being a virgin on your wedding night.

 

In addition to these crazy & immoral laws, there are plenty of examples of God's irrationality by his direct killing of many people for reasons that defy any rational explanation such as killing children who make fun of bald people, the killing of a man who tried to keep the ark of God from falling during transport.  There are also countless examples of mass murders commanded by God, including the murder of women, infants, and children.

 

He allows a man named Moses & his army to kill all boys, including infants & just let the little young girls live. Who knows what they did with those little girls. So these passages basically allowed murder and left all the virgins to themselves whom they obviously slept with.

 

People are forced into labor, basically becoming slaves. If they do not comply they are all killed accept the women & children. The women are the spoils of war & as the passages state, the men enjoy them. Another massacre & more raping.

 

You read of a pit of Fire that was made for you & others if you didn’t do what this God told you to do. You would have to spend eternity in this pit, burning, if you didn’t obey him.

 

I’ve touched on very little of this book called a Bible, but you get the idea. Would you read this book to your children or allow your older children to read it? Would you believe what's written in this book? Would you fall in love with this God, worship him & desire to obey his every command because he told you to? Or would you throw this book away & not give it another thought?

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It seems like people in churches are getting crazier and crazier. I remember having a lot of parental guidance/censorship when reading the bible when I was very young. There were a lot of things I read in the bible and heard in church that my poor mom had to smooth over, but it was nothing like now.

 Remember the little kid standing in front of the congregation singing 'ain't no homo gonna make it to heaven' and being cheered by so called christian adults. I can't even imagine anyone in the church I grew up in talking about, attacking, homosexuals to the congregation, or teaching a little kid such a song. They just did not teach or preach hate for people. Subjecting children to all the hate is wrong and they start indoctrinating them earlier and earlier, and it is a form of child abuse that is rampant in too many churches.

Last edited by Bestworking

As this guy comments:

---------------------------------------------------

Excerpts:

Posted by Les Jenkins

I’m not that disturbed that a 4-year-old is singing this song. It’s clear by his reaction to the cheering adults around him that he really doesn’t understand what it is he’s singing about.  He only knows that it makes all the adults in the room think he’s wonderful. It’s the adults with their enthusiastic standing ovation that disturbs me. It’s the adults who should be ashamed of themselves. The kid is a victim.

Consider the implications of this song: If the homosexuals aren’t going to Heaven then their obvious destination, according to their professed beliefs, is Hell — a place of endless suffering beyond imagining — and they’rejust delighted by that idea! Isn’t it wonderful that we’ve gotten this cute little boy to sing about how those nasty gays are gonna burn, burn, burn!

You’d think a good Christian would be saddened that anyone would end up in Hell, but that doesn’t appear to be the case here. And it’s not enough that they have to be bigots themselves, but they have to make sure their kids are bigots from as early an age as possible too. And people wonder why Richard Dawkins says indoctrinating your kids into religion before they’re even able to understand it is a form of child abuse. He’s darling! How could that be considered abuse?

It’s **** like this that sometimes makes me wish Jesus were real and would show up right there on that stage just about the time the kid stops singing just so I could see the looks on the faces of the people who were so happy about that cute little ditty.

With love like that who needs haters?

Last edited by Bestworking
Originally Posted by Bestworking:

Excerpts:

Posted by Les Jenkins

It’s **** like this that sometimes makes me wish Jesus were real and would show up right there on that stage just about the time the kid stops singing just so I could see the looks on the faces of the people who were so happy about that cute little ditty.

________

For all we know, Jesus might be proud of those people & that cute little ditty.

After all, who said homosexuality is an abomination?

Originally Posted by semiannualchick:

Let’s say you had never heard of or read the Bible. Someone gives it to you for you to read, & to read to your children. Upon reading, you read about a man being made from dirt, a woman being made from a bone of that man. A talking snake that tells you to eat an apple.

 

You read about a man that has powers, whom is referred to as God, who allows rape, slavery, the sex trade, & murder. The act of murder is rampant in this book you have been given. There are laws that command that people be killed for absurd reasons such as  working on the Sabbath, being gay, cursing your parents, or not being a virgin on your wedding night.

 

In addition to these crazy & immoral laws, there are plenty of examples of God's irrationality by his direct killing of many people for reasons that defy any rational explanation such as killing children who make fun of bald people, the killing of a man who tried to keep the ark of God from falling during transport.  There are also countless examples of mass murders commanded by God, including the murder of women, infants, and children.

 

He allows a man named Moses & his army to kill all boys, including infants & just let the little young girls live. Who knows what they did with those little girls. So these passages basically allowed murder and left all the virgins to themselves whom they obviously slept with.

 

People are forced into labor, basically becoming slaves. If they do not comply they are all killed accept the women & children. The women are the spoils of war & as the passages state, the men enjoy them. Another massacre & more raping.

 

You read of a pit of Fire that was made for you & others if you didn’t do what this God told you to do. You would have to spend eternity in this pit, burning, if you didn’t obey him.

 

I’ve touched on very little of this book called a Bible, but you get the idea. Would you read this book to your children or allow your older children to read it? Would you believe what's written in this book? Would you fall in love with this God, worship him & desire to obey his every command because he told you to? Or would you throw this book away & not give it another thought?

Excellent question for consideration Semi darling, keeping in mind the Bible hypothetically never existed before in the minds of humans, what causes and effects would not exist now that do exist  when one allows for the fact that the Bible has been around for thousands of years?  

 

We would not be having this conversation being a child in in an infinite number of them tracing back to a parent event quickly comes to mind.

What say ye darling?

Originally Posted by semiannualchick:
Originally Posted by CountryBoy:
We would not be having this conversation being a child in in an infinite number of them tracing back to a parent event quickly comes to mind.

What say ye darling?

_____

I say I'm confused.

It is still the best question that has been asked on this forum in quite some time. It opens several avenues of thought.

Originally Posted by Jack Flash:

The Bible is a Book of Fiction or Truth. Depending on the mind set of the

person reading it. Many determined the book fiction only after reading it.

I don't believe anyone indifferent about religion would just happen to pick

a Bible, read it, and then be convinced in a belief in God.

Probably not this day and time would a first reader conclusively determine there was a God based simply on that action. At the same time having read the Bible for the first time this person would have unbeknownst to him been effected by the fact that mankind around him for the past few thousands of years did know of its content.

Originally Posted by CountryBoy:

Perhaps someone would care to explain what the world would be like had there never been "The Bible".

After an extended length of time, scripture considered sacred was being

written by way of tradition before Jesus. If there wasn't a Bible there would

still be tradition and if Hell was no problem for Jesus or the word of God, there

would still be Catholic, Protestants and the same usual confusion as always.

  short version........

 

Originally Posted by Jack Flash:
Originally Posted by CountryBoy:

Perhaps someone would care to explain what the world would be like had there never been "The Bible".

After an extended length of time, scripture considered sacred was being

written by way of tradition before Jesus. If there wasn't a Bible there would

still be tradition and if Hell was no problem for Jesus or the word of God, there

would still be Catholic, Protestants and the same usual confusion as always.

  short version........

 

….so if the written traditions that supposedly evolved into scripture are fake should one assume that there was no fear of gods, a God or any supreme officiator for early humans?

Originally Posted by CountryBoy:
Originally Posted by Jack Flash:
Originally Posted by CountryBoy:

Perhaps someone would care to explain what the world would be like had there never been "The Bible".

After an extended length of time, scripture considered sacred was being

written by way of tradition before Jesus. If there wasn't a Bible there would

still be tradition and if Hell was no problem for Jesus or the word of God, there

would still be Catholic, Protestants and the same usual confusion as always.

  short version........

 

….so if the written traditions that supposedly evolved into scripture are fake should one assume that there was no fear of gods, a God or any supreme officiator for early humans?

I can only assume you mean the word of mouth, handed down from

generation to generation, that's tradition. If they are fake you still can't

assume early humans didn't worship and fear snakes, shooting stars, the

sun, gods or whatever. And you assume the Bible could be fake, so does

that limit your belief in God.? It should......

 

 

Hi semi,

 

I usually do not like hypothetical questions, but you have some good ones there.

 

First I do not believe God simply "allows" anything. If I'm to believe He is truly all powerful, all knowing and everywhere at once then that makes Him the cause of everything and is therefor completely responsible for all evil in the world. This statement will probably not sit well with some, especially for those who believe in the free will theory.

 

To be honest I do not completely understand it all. I often ask why did God create such evil and why does it have to be this way? I mean not only things you have read about in the bible, but also in today's news. It's really bad.

 

All that being said I do not believe God forces anyone to do something they do not already want to do. Yet God is responsible because He created humanity too weak to resist sin, which in turn made it destined to fail.

 

Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceeding weak - who can know it?

 

Rom 8:20  For the creature (Gk: 'humanity') was made subject to vanity (GK: 'futility'), not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

 

God quite often commanded that wicked people, cities and regions to be destroyed. He also often did it Himself e.g. Sodom and Gomorrah, Noah's Ark and the Egypt that Moses came out from. But no where that I can find did He command that women and children be raped. If anything these women and children were probably being badly abused by the wicked people God destroyed.

 

So, how can I follow God knowing He is responsible for all the evil we see in the world? I truly believe God will more than make up for it in the end. The evils of the world will be as nothing compared to the unfathomable good God has in store for all of humanity. God has a plan which in no small part includes the experience of evil. Could He have done it differently? Sure He could have, but in my opinion God's infinite wisdom decided that the plan He has now was the best one.

 

Here below are some verses I hold dear and near and have to constantly remind myself of. I first heard them read to me by my grandmother when I was a child not long after my mother had been murdered.

 

Isa 25:8  He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off ALL FACES; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.

 

Rev 21:4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

 

There was a time when I hated God with a passion. Because Ive always known for a long time God was somehow responsible for all the incredible evil I had experienced. So sometimes it's a struggle to try not to blame Him.

 

Anyway thanks for the questions semi, they really got me thinking.

 

Peace

Originally Posted by gdriggs:

Hi semi,

 

I first heard them read to me by my grandmother when I was a child not long after my mother had been murdered.

There was a time when I hated God with a passion. Because Ive always known for a long time God was somehow responsible for all the incredible evil I had experienced. So sometimes it's a struggle to try not to blame Him.

__________
I'm so sorry about your Mom, my heart hurt for you when I read that.
Do you still believe that God is responsible for all the evil you've experienced? It's amazing to me that a God that's supposed to be so loving allows or causes so much pain for people, most especially for a child.
Originally Posted by gdriggs:

Hi semi,

But no where that I can find did He command that women and children be raped.

So, how can I follow God knowing He is responsible for all the evil we see in the world? I truly believe God will more than make up for it in the end.

______

I'm short on time right now, but I'll find that as soon as I can & tell you where it is.

Why would God cause the evil at all just to make up for it in the end?

Originally Posted by semiannualchick:
Originally Posted by CountryBoy:

Perhaps someone would care to explain what the world would be like had there never been "The Bible".

________

No hypocrites?

Semi dear I don't think that is a logically possible proposition. Hypocrisy could exist in relations between any two persons when personal gain is the underlying motive rather than benevolent goodwill.  

Originally Posted by semiannualchick:
Do you still believe that God is responsible for all the evil you've experienced? It's amazing to me that a God that's supposed to be so loving allows or causes so much pain for people, most especially for a child.

 

Yes I do still believe God is responsible. Not only that but God will hold everyone accountable for there sins.

 

It is amazing and still very hard for me to grasp at times.

 

semi you asked:

 

"Why would God cause the evil at all just to make up for it in the end?"

-------------

 

I believe He wants us all to have a working knowledge of good and evil. Seems the best way to do that is to cause us to experience it. All this because ultimately God wants sons and daughters in His image. To know what He knows and to show us why we cant be evil.

Originally Posted by Jack Flash:

Tell me CB,

Outside of the biblical indoctrination you endured from scratch to present

day including the fine adjustments and addendums you deem necessary

for your better understanding could in any way point to, for you, one shred

of evidence for proof of existence for your God..??

since I was never “indoctrinated” and claim no personal relationship with a Knowledge[super entity] which represents the actual facts, I claim there is that Knowledge that can say what is “natural”. So far present physical law is faced with the dilemma of not knowing with any certainty what is “natural” because of the uncertainty principle and symmetry breaking [those two so far].

 

It is with that knowledge of my own that there is that Knowledge that can and has represented what is natural in what we see in physical forms and the metaphysical.

Originally Posted by CountryBoy:
Originally Posted by Jack Flash:

Tell me CB,

Outside of the biblical indoctrination you endured from scratch to present

day including the fine adjustments and addendums you deem necessary

for your better understanding could in any way point to, for you, one shred

of evidence for proof of existence for your God..??

since I was never “indoctrinated” and claim no personal relationship with a Knowledge[super entity] which represents the actual facts, I claim there is that Knowledge that can say what is “natural”. So far present physical law is faced with the dilemma of not knowing with any certainty what is “natural” because of the uncertainty principle and symmetry breaking [those two so far].

 

It is with that knowledge of my own that there is that Knowledge that can and has represented what is natural in what we see in physical forms and the metaphysical.

I thought you might dance around the question for lack of an answer, but

the bull s*** was almost surprising. Thanks for your consistency anyway. 

 

 

God is that Knowledge which is represents the “natural” which we struggle to find what it is in our physical and metaphysical universe.

 

 

 

If our knowledge can ever represent what is the “natural” we would be as smart as God[ God being the Knowledge which represents the natural]

 

 

GBRK posted a Biblical scripture that says just that

 

Romans 8:5-9 (New International Version)
5  Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
6  The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
7  the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.
8  Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9  You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.  

 

I wonder where these so called "sheepherders" came up with that?

Originally Posted by CountryBoy:

vic your attempt to argue failed miserably when you erroneously claimed that I was indoctrinated.

 

Your problem is always that your knowledge never represents the truth.

 

if you are not satisfied with that dilemma don't blame me.

 

side note: more than likely you didn't understand what-tee-hell-I-said.

Again, thanks for the dance and then the song......

Originally Posted by gdriggs:

Hi semi,

But no where that I can find did He command that women and children be raped.
______
Even though these scriptures don't actually use the word rape, I can't see any woman going along with what those men did to them.
If you'll notice in this first scripture, it mentions women AND children. Being told to enjoy the spoils of your enemies, as far as the females were concerned, could only mean one thing & I'm sure the women & especially the children, weren't willing. If a woman isn't willing, it can only be rape.

Deuteronomy 20:10-14: As you approach a town to attack it, first offer its people terms for peace.  If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor.  But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town.  When the LORD your God hands it over to you, kill every man in the town.  But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder.  You may enjoy the spoils of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.

 

2 Samuel 12:11-14:  Thus says the Lord: 'I will bring evil upon you out of your own house.  I will take your wives while you live to see it, and will give them to your neighbor.  He shall lie with your wives in broad daylight.

 

Deuteronomy 21:10-14: When you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD, your God, delivers them into your hand, so that you take captives, if you see a comely woman among the captives and become so enamored of her that you wish to have her as wife, you may take her home to your house.  But before she may live there, she must shave her head and pare her nails and lay aside her captive's garb.  After she has mourned her father and mother for a full month, you may have relations with her, and you shall be her husband and she shall be your wife.  However, if later on you lose your liking for her, you shall give her her freedom, if she wishes it; but you shall not sell her or enslave her, since she was married to you under compulsion.

 

Zechariah 14:1-2: Lo, a day shall come for the Lord when the spoils shall be divided in your midst.  And I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle: the city shall be taken, houses plundered, women ravished; half of the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be removed from the city. 

 

These scriptures were just four of many in which females were given to men to do with as they pleased.

 
Originally Posted by semiannualchick:
Originally Posted by gdriggs:

Hi semi,

But no where that I can find did He command that women and children be raped.
______
Even though these scriptures don't actually use the word rape, I can't see any woman going along with what those men did to them.
If you'll notice in this first scripture, it mentions women AND children. Being told to enjoy the spoils of your enemies, as far as the females were concerned, could only mean one thing & I'm sure the women & especially the children, weren't willing. If a woman isn't willing, it can only be rape.

Deuteronomy 20:10-14: As you approach a town to attack it, first offer its people terms for peace.  If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor.  But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town.  When the LORD your God hands it over to you, kill every man in the town.  But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder.  You may enjoy the spoils of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.

 

2 Samuel 12:11-14:  Thus says the Lord: 'I will bring evil upon you out of your own house.  I will take your wives while you live to see it, and will give them to your neighbor.  He shall lie with your wives in broad daylight.

 

Deuteronomy 21:10-14: When you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD, your God, delivers them into your hand, so that you take captives, if you see a comely woman among the captives and become so enamored of her that you wish to have her as wife, you may take her home to your house.  But before she may live there, she must shave her head and pare her nails and lay aside her captive's garb.  After she has mourned her father and mother for a full month, you may have relations with her, and you shall be her husband and she shall be your wife.  However, if later on you lose your liking for her, you shall give her her freedom, if she wishes it; but you shall not sell her or enslave her, since she was married to you under compulsion.

 

Zechariah 14:1-2: Lo, a day shall come for the Lord when the spoils shall be divided in your midst.  And I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle: the city shall be taken, houses plundered, women ravished; half of the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be removed from the city. 

 

These scriptures were just four of many in which females were given to men to do with as they pleased.

 

semi , do you really believe that?

Originally Posted by CountryBoy:
Originally Posted by semiannualchick:
Originally Posted by gdriggs:

Hi semi,

But no where that I can find did He command that women and children be raped.
______
Even though these scriptures don't actually use the word rape, I can't see any woman going along with what those men did to them.
If you'll notice in this first scripture, it mentions women AND children. Being told to enjoy the spoils of your enemies, as far as the females were concerned, could only mean one thing & I'm sure the women & especially the children, weren't willing. If a woman isn't willing, it can only be rape.

Deuteronomy 20:10-14: As you approach a town to attack it, first offer its people terms for peace.  If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor.  But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town.  When the LORD your God hands it over to you, kill every man in the town.  But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder.  You may enjoy the spoils of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.

 

2 Samuel 12:11-14:  Thus says the Lord: 'I will bring evil upon you out of your own house.  I will take your wives while you live to see it, and will give them to your neighbor.  He shall lie with your wives in broad daylight.

 

Deuteronomy 21:10-14: When you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD, your God, delivers them into your hand, so that you take captives, if you see a comely woman among the captives and become so enamored of her that you wish to have her as wife, you may take her home to your house.  But before she may live there, she must shave her head and pare her nails and lay aside her captive's garb.  After she has mourned her father and mother for a full month, you may have relations with her, and you shall be her husband and she shall be your wife.  However, if later on you lose your liking for her, you shall give her her freedom, if she wishes it; but you shall not sell her or enslave her, since she was married to you under compulsion.

 

Zechariah 14:1-2: Lo, a day shall come for the Lord when the spoils shall be divided in your midst.  And I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle: the city shall be taken, houses plundered, women ravished; half of the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be removed from the city. 

 

These scriptures were just four of many in which females were given to men to do with as they pleased.

 

semi , do you really believe that?

actually semi this insanity is the work of the Catholic church. I can see vic writing a verse or two, to later somewhere in history, the cause for a similar conversation.

Originally Posted by CountryBoy:
Originally Posted by CountryBoy:
Originally Posted by semiannualchick:
Originally Posted by gdriggs:

Hi semi,

But no where that I can find did He command that women and children be raped.
______
Even though these scriptures don't actually use the word rape, I can't see any woman going along with what those men did to them.
If you'll notice in this first scripture, it mentions women AND children. Being told to enjoy the spoils of your enemies, as far as the females were concerned, could only mean one thing & I'm sure the women & especially the children, weren't willing. If a woman isn't willing, it can only be rape.

Deuteronomy 20:10-14: As you approach a town to attack it, first offer its people terms for peace.  If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor.  But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town.  When the LORD your God hands it over to you, kill every man in the town.  But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder.  You may enjoy the spoils of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.

 

2 Samuel 12:11-14:  Thus says the Lord: 'I will bring evil upon you out of your own house.  I will take your wives while you live to see it, and will give them to your neighbor.  He shall lie with your wives in broad daylight.

 

Deuteronomy 21:10-14: When you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD, your God, delivers them into your hand, so that you take captives, if you see a comely woman among the captives and become so enamored of her that you wish to have her as wife, you may take her home to your house.  But before she may live there, she must shave her head and pare her nails and lay aside her captive's garb.  After she has mourned her father and mother for a full month, you may have relations with her, and you shall be her husband and she shall be your wife.  However, if later on you lose your liking for her, you shall give her her freedom, if she wishes it; but you shall not sell her or enslave her, since she was married to you under compulsion.

 

Zechariah 14:1-2: Lo, a day shall come for the Lord when the spoils shall be divided in your midst.  And I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle: the city shall be taken, houses plundered, women ravished; half of the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be removed from the city. 

 

These scriptures were just four of many in which females were given to men to do with as they pleased.

 

semi , do you really believe that?

actually semi this insanity is the work of the Catholic church. I can see vic writing a verse or two, to later somewhere in history, the cause for a similar conversation.

Really dog, I can't speak for Vic, but in his well earned sabbatical I would

wish you would prove anything he said wrong. Could you wake up from

your dream land and do something even close to it..?? You have always

been able to say whatever you want, but that's when it stops. Convince me

 

Originally Posted by CountryBoy:

actually semi this insanity is the work of the Catholic church. I can see vic writing a verse or two, to later somewhere in history, the cause for a similar conversation.

_____

That "insanity" as you call it is the work of the "Holy Bible". Look the scriptures up yourself & read them. But you're right on one point, it is indeed insanity! Thank you for pointing that out.

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