And The Lord God Spoke And People Listened

[Solitary]

I've had Christians tell me they don't go by the Old Testament, just the New one, is if the Old one isn't God speaking. Did God get over His madness? Did He fine a good shrink?

Exodus 10:1-2 GOD HARDENED PHARAOH'S HEART

 10 Now the Lord said to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son's son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord."

This "lord" in the story did horrific things to the Egyptians including killing and torturing babies, children, animals, fish, etc...

Some notables:

Exodus 9:6 – KILLING INNOCENT ANIMALS

6 So the Lord did this thing on the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died; but of the livestock of the children of Israel, not one died.

Exodus 10:14-15 – LOCUSTS KILLING ALL PLANTS

14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all the territory of Egypt. They were very severe; previously there had been no such locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them. 15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.

Exodus 12:29-30 – GOD KILLING ALL FIRSTBORN

29 And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. 30 So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

All the plagues committed by god and crew:

•Plague 1: Waters Become Blood
•Plague 2: Frogs
•Plague 3: Lice
•Plague 4: Flies
•Plague 5: Livestock diseased
•Plague 6: Boils
•Plague 7: Hail
•Plague 8: Locust
•Plague 9: Darkness
•Plague 10: Death of the Firstborn

GOOD GOD! Sorry. :(

This "lord" just admitted to doing the horrific acts just to "show off" his skills.  This doesn't sound good or righteous at all, does it?

BIG YIKES TO THE YAHWEH GOD!

All just to show generations to come that he is the lord. Wow.

All done with "conditional love."  :roll:  Why believe in and worship just a horrible God? FEAR! Solitary

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Same reason to fear and unconditionally love me or I'll break into your house while you're asleep and switch the hot and cold water pipes to your shower.

[Solitary]

Same reason to fear and unconditionally love me or I'll break into your house while you're asleep and switch the hot and cold water pipes to your shower.

So your the one! May a thousand fleas invade your arm pits! When we first moved into our house the hot and cold water was mixed up in the shower.  :shock:  This time a year it makes no difference it is always hot water. I think I need a cold shower.  8-)  Solitary

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Same reason to fear and unconditionally love me or I'll break into your house while you're asleep and switch the hot and cold water pipes to your shower.

So your the one! May a thousand fleas invade your arm pits! When we first moved into our house the hot and cold water was mixed up in the shower.  :shock:  This time a year it makes no difference it is always hot water. I think I need a cold shower.  8-)  Solitary

I'll call a plumber when you die if that helps... :-k

[Solitary]

Same reason to fear and unconditionally love me or I'll break into your house while you're asleep and switch the hot and cold water pipes to your shower.

So your the one! May a thousand fleas invade your arm pits! When we first moved into our house the hot and cold water was mixed up in the shower.  :shock:  This time a year it makes no difference it is always hot water. I think I need a cold shower.  8-)  Solitary

I'll call a plumber when you die if that helps... :-k

As long as it isn't Plumber Joe.  :rollin:  Solitary

[Colanth]

The OT can be misread to say that God condemns homosexuality (it doesn't).  There's nothing in the NT about it, except to parrot the OT.  So Christians who condemn homosexuality ARE going by the OT.  If one tells you he doesn't, you can respond, "Oh, so you see nothing wrong with homosexuality, since that's the OT?"

Never miss an opportunity to blow a theist's mind.

[aileron]

The OT can be misread to say that God condemns homosexuality (it doesn't).

Leviticus 20:13 "If a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."

 :-k

[Colanth]

Lev 20:13 refers to the practice of some religions of the time having male temple prostitutes.  "Lying with" one of them was a form of worship - of another god.  It's a prohibition against violating the first commandment.  Christians who don't know anything about the times misinterpret it to mean "homosexuality".  Even if it did mean "lying with a man for sexual purposes", that's not homosexuality, which is a preference, not an act.  Until recently, many homosexuals never had sex with anyone of the same sex - they married people of the opposite sex to hide what they were.  (Because, until fairly recently [historically recently], Christians would kill them for being homosexual.)

[aileron]

Lev 20:13 refers to the practice of some religions of the time having male temple prostitutes.  "Lying with" one of them was a form of worship - of another god.

Centuries of Rabbinic tradition make it clear that it's a blanket prohibition on homosexual activity.   I've read this explanation before.  It does real violence to the natural reading of the two verses in Leviticus, and does not fit the larger context of how homosexual acts were viewed by the Jews in antiquity.

[Colanth]

Lev 20:13 refers to the practice of some religions of the time having male temple prostitutes.  "Lying with" one of them was a form of worship - of another god.

Centuries of Rabbinic tradition make it clear that it's a blanket prohibition on homosexual activity.

And about as Bible-derived as a celibate priesthood.  The rabbis didn't like gays, so they "interpreted" Leviticus as being a condemnation of homosexuality.

I've read this explanation before.  It does real violence to the natural reading of the two verses in Leviticus, and does not fit the larger context of how homosexual acts were viewed by the Jews in antiquity.

"Jews in antiquity", the educated ones, at any rate, were very familiar with Greek tradition, which viewed homosexuality as a completely normal thing.  None of those "Jews in antiquity" wrote anything against the Greek practice.  Later rabbis (rabbinical Judaism had its start more than 500 years after the Bible was first written) reinterpreted a lot of what the Jews in the Exile wrote, but at the time it was written, in Babylon, homosexuality wasn't viewed as such a terrible thing.  But having ANY congress with ANY other religion was.

When reading very old text, context is at least as important as the text itself.  Later commentary, written in a different context, is important to show how attitudes changed, but not to show what the original writers intended.

Besides, Christians use it to condemn homosexuality, as well as homosexual activity.  The Bible never mentions homosexuality itself at all.  As far as they (the rabbis who wrote the commentaries) were concerned, there was nothing wrong with a homosexual man who married a woman and never had homosexual sex.  It's only modern Christians who have a problem with homosexuality.

[ApostateLois]

I've had Christians tell me they don't go by the Old Testament, just the New one, is if the Old one isn't God speaking. Did God get over His madness? Did He fine a good shrink?

What they usually say is that God doesn't work that way anymore because Jesus made everything different. But then they say, "God is the same now and forever," and things like that. But if God was mean, angry, and bad-tempered back then, and he decided not to be that way anymore, then something about him must have changed.

Same reason to fear and unconditionally love me or I'll break into your house while you're asleep and switch the hot and cold water pipes to your shower.

At my previous apartment, the hot and cold were switched in the kitchen (so that hot was on the right instead of the left). In the bathroom sink, both faucet handles had a H on them for "hot," even though the right one was cold.

[Colanth]

At my previous apartment, the hot and cold were switched in the kitchen (so that hot was on the right instead of the left). In the bathroom sink, both faucet handles had a H on them for "hot," even though the right one was cold.

Old (and bad) joke - in Quebec, both faucets have C on them. The right one for 'Cold' and the left one for 'Chaud' (French for hot).

If God changed his mind, does that mean that having other gods before him is okay now?  And homosexuality is just a choice?  Or did he not change his mind, and he's still the mean murderer he used to be in the OT?  Or are Christians cherry-picking which parts we have to believe again?

[ApostateLois]

Perhaps we could persuade God to change his mind about his hands-off approach regarding children who are starving, sick, abused, beaten, orphaned, and raped all over the world every day.  :-?

[Colanth]

Have to wait until he wakes up.  Doing that burning bush trick got him so tired that he still needs another millennium or so of nap.

[Solitary]

Has anyone thought that maybe God is really the devil and deceiving everyone?  :shock:    Solitary