A city turned to salt and another covered by a volcano just because they were worshipping other deities...
A city turned to salt and another covered by a volcano just because they were worshipping other deities...
Exodus, Chapter 34, verses 11-14,
Leviticus, Chapter 26, verses 7-9 - are other examples.
Oh, and in 1 Samuel Chapter 15, God orders the complete destruction of Amelek. And that includes "man and women, child and infant, oxen and sheep, camel and donkey.
I'm sorry, this guy is a maniac!
And remember when he ordered a Israelite solder and his whole family killed because he skipped a religious rite he was supposed to perform? And the fear was so great, that the order was actually followed unquestionably despite it's being BS.
Seriously, the Abrahamic god is such a bastard, he makes Ba'al look decent.
And remember when he ordered a Israelite solder and his whole family killed because he skipped a religious rite he was supposed to perform? And the fear was so great, that the order was actually followed unquestionably despite it's being BS.
Seriously, the Abrahamic god is such a bastard, he makes Ba'al look decent.
Not to mention ordering David to bring him back two hundred philistine foreskins. What kind of sick person would do that? It's not as if he needs the proof, being omniscient and all.
OK you guys. It's just a story. Surely it is not for real. It may not even be accurate in any way. Hearsay! Also, the world sucked then as much as it does today. Life ain't for sissies.
The whole "God is good and just" thing kinda seems off when you remember the things the Bible actually says though. That's the point.
If God is really omnipotent, then we would not be able to see Him, nor know any limitations. Perhaps it is more a case of our perception that is limited.
Human beings are really flawed by definition of good and bad. We are natural sinners. So really aren't qualified to make an enormous judgment of how God is and God is not. We probably would be limited to what we see in our own mirrors.
God being omnipotent does not necessarily rule out visibility.
Of course our perception is limited. Some people actually believe there is an invisible man... up in the sky... and he has a list of ten things he does not want you to do... and if you do them, he has a special place for you when you die, full of pits of fire, and brimstone, and burning, and suffering... but... he loves you.
That was a George Carlin reference, by the way.
Human beings are not "natural sinners". What is "good", "bad", or "evil" is all entirely individually subjective. As is, indeed, "sin".
The human race are the most vain animals on the planet. The bible is a good example. It says humans were "put in charge" of all other animals. It says humans are custodians of the whole damn planet! Then, it claims humans were created in the image of God. If there is such a being as "God", he would first of all laugh at the vanity of humans comparing themselves to him/her/it and then lose all hope.
Here's a good one I learned in a first year classics class:
But if horses or oxen or lions had hands
or could inscribe with their hands and accomplish such works as men,
horses would inscribe the figures of the gods as similar to horses,
and the oxen as similar to oxen,
and they would make the bodies
of the sort which each of them had.
- Xenophanes of Colophon
This is really a good one. Makes sense, except of course we are looking at oxen and horses as men. Maybe they have a different way of communicating.
I have to disagree. Police and the justice system may be able to tell you differently too. There is "evil", some people want to kill from the day that they are born. Pedophiles are born. I feel very lucky that I am not one of them.
There is no all-defining morality. That is why sin is individually subjective. An individual works out what's right for them. The Government will tell us their system is the only system of morality. What they say is right has always been right, what they say is wrong, is inherently wrong.
But think for just a moment and you find a thousand instances where the law has changed, where right and wrong have changed considerably. For example, it's no longer illegal or "wrong" for me to go off and have a night of passion with another man. It's also no longer "wrong" for me to kiss a woman in public.
As for pedophilia, in the Greek and Roman empires, it was commonplace for a grown man to have a relationship with a ten-year-old or so. In Manipur, India, the age of consent is 14. In Spain, it is 13. In Germany, it is 16. In the Phillipines it is 12 - as it is in Peru. So, at what point does it become pedophilia? There is no defining "right" age. It is about collective morality in society. But morality can change between individuals as well.
Personally, i think it should be a three-way idea. Based on individual morality. It should be mutual between the two getting in a relationship, and also acceptable to the parent if one is very young (as in below what the parent considers adulthood). If it is a matter of pedophilic assault, it shouldn't be treated any differently by society from rape.
Good point. The way we know pedophilia is something that usually turns out into being criminal as society regards it as wrong for someone to abduct someone much younger, which perhaps these pedophiles need to do. I can't see anything good in it though, has to have a corruptive influence on the children who are made into victims.
Unless of course the child was coerced into being abducted and it was not voluntarily. That has to be a crime!
That's rape and as I said, I was ignoring all other factors for sack of simplicity.
"Hell" being a burning place of eternal hell fire is actually a huge misconception. Hell actually means grave or tomb, for example the expression "like a bat outta hell" means like a bat out of a grave not a place of suffering. Also note that during ancient times caves were often used as places to keep the dead and as you may know bats tend to live in caves. Anyway according to the actual Christian belief when you die you 'sleep' like a person would do every night until the day of judgement where he or she would ether ascend to Heaven or simply be put back in this 'sleep' or "Hell" for all eternity. Note: I'm alittle rusty on all of this but I'm almost positive on all of this.
For me this is a very good description. I would even regard life on earth as a state of "hell", and working on dealing as best as we can with "hell" in order to get to "heaven"? Heaven being a state of mind, eternal peace, rather than a physical place with angels etc. in it.
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