The other day I was reading about Moses and I came to the very popular part of the Golden Calf. But now, with a little maturity and freedom from the clutches of Witness thought I can see some terrible problems with the bible. In the beginning of Exodus 32 God is talking to Moses and sees that the Israelites have made a Calf out of gold and they are using it as their God. Note that this golden calf was Aaron's response to the people, it was his idea. So then God says “leave me alone Moses because I'm going to kill these people.” Then Moses talks God down and God says he won't kill everyone. Here is the interesting part. When Moses comes down the mountain he is furious and smashes the tablets, melts the calf and grinds it into a power then makes the people drink it. Moses asks Aaron why he allowed this to happen? Aaron's reply was, “calm down – you know how evil these people are”, which sufficed Moses and God. Here is the kicker, Moses is angry with everyone and calls for anyone who is dedicated to the Lord to step up, and the Levites step up. Then look at what happens in Ex. 32:27 – 29: (27 Then he [Moses] said to them [Levites], "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.' " 28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. 29 Then Moses said, "You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day." ) There are a bunch of things wrong with his. 1. Aaron was never punished, verse 35 says: “And the LORD struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made. “ He struck the PEOPLE for what AARON did. So apparently Aaron had no blame. 2. Moses had JUST talked God out of killing everyone not long before coming off the mountain! 3. Why was Moses surprised with anger? Why was he shocked to the point of killing everyone and smashing the commandments? The Lord JUST told him what was happening a few seconds ago. 4. Apparently God doesn't stay true to his word, he just said he wouldn't kill everyone for the golden calf but then he kills everyone. So, in a concluding thought, it seems to me that Moses had complete control over what God said and did. It was almost as if Yahweh and Moses were the same person. Because Moses said to the Levites “kill” they killed. Moses says “the Lord says” and everyone agrees. If Moses says pay me money (Ex 30:11-15) the Israelites pay him money. The whole idea is wrapped up in one sentence said in the midst of the Golden Calf incident, it's in Ex. 32:25: “Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. “ The people were not under control. Moses had pride in his enemies face and it was hurt. To Moses reputation was important and he wanted his enemies to think a certain way of him and his people. It sounds to me like Moses was just another Watchtower. One more person who has abused the idea of God and whored it out for the control and domination of peoples' minds. Moses was playing a game and had scores to settle with other nations, thats why he was so angry when he LOST CONTROL of his people. This is childish, simple, and pathetic and it is found in the Bible. By the way, apparently worshiping Yahweh in the exact way he demands, is far more valuable than “about three thousand” human lives. What selfishness. This is how Moses portrayed God? Sorry for the rant.
What is the deal with Moses? A rant on absurdity in the Bible.
by Morocco 20 Replies latest jw friends
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JK666
O Thitt! Dey r worthupping a caff! Bedder get Aaron! JK
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Stealth
Here is another absurdity.... 2 Samuel chapter 24.
David takes a census and pisses god off.
David takes blame and asks god for forgiveness, god give David 3 choices.
1. Seven years of famine.
2. Three months of your fleeing before your adversaries, with them pursuing you, or
3. Three days of petilence in the land.
Options 1 & 3 many people will die. Option 2 (maybe) he might die.
So what does David choose???? Option 3 and 70,000 people were killed because of his sin.
David was a pussy or god was one sadistic bastard to kill 70K people for the sin of one. And the sin? Counting!
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Leolaia
David was a pussy or god was one sadistic bastard to kill 70K people for the sin of one. And the sin? Counting!
Remember that the next time you are "turning in your time".
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New Worldly Translation
Another absurdity of the golden calf story is that the people were punished for doing something they didn't know was forbidden. The israelites had been in Egypt without knowledge of the hebrew god and had no idea what his requirements were. Moses hadn't even come down the mountain with the commandments yet and they couldn't even see their wrongdoing in retrospect cos he smashed them.
The census taking by David is a strange one too. There are two conflicting scriptures about who actually told David to take the census in the first place. In Samuel it says god told him to take it and in Chronicles it says satan.
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Morocco
JK666, heh, I get it -- cause Moses had a speech problem... lol that took me too long to get
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Justahuman24
Morocco, First, it wasn't Aaron's idea. Verse 1 of chap 1 says that THE PEOPLE asked Aaron to make a god for them. And also, Aaron wasn't the only one who made the false god. He obviously had helped from other people. And he wasn't the only one who was not punished. All the Levites were forgiven. After Moses went down from the Mountain, he asked everyone who was on God's side and the Levites showed they were by moving to Moses' side. This could explain that they weren't wholeheartedly rebellious/idolaters and that's probably why God forgave them. justahuman - but super nonetheless
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Justahuman24
I just saw something in the Bible that might explain why it was a sin for David to count Israel.
Exodus 30:11-15 says that whenever Israel was to be numbered or summed, they had to give sacrifices and it specifically states what was to be offered and how much. When David took the census, it doesn't say he offered any sacrifices at all.
Plus, it was Satan who instigated David into doing it. And 1 Chronicle 21:3 states that Joab knew it was wrong as soon as David ordered him to take a census of the people of Israel. So maybe David just wanted to pride himself based on the position of king knowing that thousands of people were under his command. Anyway, I still think the biggest "sin" was not the counting itself, but not offering sacrifices when the census was takn as God had told Moses.
justahuman - but super nonetheless
