God mauls little children with bears. (2 Kings 2:23,24)

by easyreader1970 80 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  chrisjoel

  Under the Law if a parent couldn't control their children and the parents brought them before the priests and said: "I can't control my child" then the congregation stoned them to death. (Don't laugh!!! This is not funny!) So much for a career as a Jewish juvenile delinquent. So maybe God saw these were clearly bad apples who would only get worse so he put them out of their misery only on.
  
  So a very believable story is the place where this occurred was a narrow area of the road that was flanked by high ridges on both sides. Now if the Bible said just ONE bear came and killed them all, then you'd say, "Okay, why didn't they run out the other end!!" But with two, you see, they could corner them from either end.

  Dont you see JC, that its just so convienent that all YOUR details are left out of the account. So much is left out of so many Biblical accounts from Genesis to Revelation. Another reason the account Reads like a "story" is precisely because of the implication of it. This attitude .... toward Gods prophet ....brings this result(death and destruction) instead of reasong we have killing. Instead of "learning curves" we have killing. Also, instead of YHWH making His word more understandable we have ambiguity. It becomes far too easy to dismiss such stories as fable than too take them seriously. In the end we have to question how HE managed to give such meticulous laws to the Israelites that they were stoned to death for disobedience, but then. was unable to provide us with a Bible NOT open to interpretation and ambiguity, so much so that we end up questioning it. What I am left with is for JC to come along and fill in the blanks for me. Thands JC but you didnt write the Bible did you?
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  Galileo

  In all seriousness, I think the bible makes it pretty obvious: God is playing a bizzare and petty game that only he knows the rules to. For all we know, those kids may have been worth one hundred points each.
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  chrisjoel

  Galileo

  Now I know what the householder meant when he opened the door and asked me ..."So whats the latest score...who's winning?"
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  trevor

  Real one: Trevor, the reason I asked this question was because if you are not a believer then how do you determine what love is? God sets righteous standards for us to live by so how do people who don't worship him come up with righteous standards?

  When I read your comment, I was for a moment speechless but have found my tongue. What your saying is that people who don't share your beliefs can not determine what love is, or live by righteous standards.

  I would suggest that those who understand love, do not need righteousness in order to live a moral life.

  You seem to be confusing love, decency and morality with the worship of an angry Deity.

  trevor
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  greendawn

  There was apparently a mistranslation of a Hebrew word which could mean children in their late teens rather than prepuberty children. Joseph when sold to slavery was described by that same word.
  
  Also Bethel was a great centre of Baal worship and child sacrifices at the time so the taunting by them of Elijah may have involved more than just teasing him as a bald head. It probably had undertones of Baal worship against jehovah worship, baalists insulting what elijah worshipped and stood for.
  
  But I also find that the mauling of 42 children by just two bears is a later exaggeration to impress the reader.
• 

  Galileo

  There was apparently a mistranslation of a Hebrew word which could mean children in their late teens rather than prepuberty children. Joseph when sold to slavery was described by that same word.
  
  Also Bethel was a great centre of Baal worship and child sacrifices at the time so the taunting by them of Elijah may have involved more than just teasing him as a bald head. It probably had undertones of Baal worship against jehovah worship,a baalists insulting what elijah worshipped and stood for.

  If a frog had wings he wouldn't bump his ass hopping. A lot of things could have been. Show me in the text where it says they weren't simply teasing him. If god found it offensive to kill children for simply saying "go up you bald head", then he would have explained how they had done more than that to deserve death.

  Further, I submit that responding to taunts of any kind with a bear attack is immoral, regardless of the age of the taunter. Nowhere in the bible does it accuse Satan of such a thing. In fact, while Yahweh kills millions in the bible, the only people in the bible that Satan kills are Job's family, with god's permission.
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  Galileo

  I think Elisha was a total asshole, and I find his bald head comical. I'm starting the bear watch now. I'll let you know when they show up.

  I just wanted to update everyone on the bear watch. I know a lot of you have been concerned for me. We're into day two now and so far I'm still safe and unmauled. I had a bit of a scare last night around 11. I heard something walking on my deck, and of course I immediately thought "Oh god! Here come the bears!!" But upon investigation it turned out to be my neighbors cat. I'll keep you guys posted as the experiment progresses.

  If anyone else is interested in taking part in this extremely perilous experiment, you'd better be prepared: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYkWWnZm6-w
• 

  DaCheech

  why has god punished us for calling his prophet "washtower and trash sociopaths" similiar (rather worse) words?

  wow, god must have been more powerful in the past?

  seems like god punishes his (washtower slaves) own these days?
• 

  AlmostAtheist

  The article Snowbird linked is a fine example of how grotesque defense of Bible God can get.

  The article points out that these weren't necessarily "small children", they may even have been men in their 20's. How exactly does THAT make mauling 42 of them on the basis of their mocking ok? Can you imagine a mass-murderer's defense attorney saying, "Hey, c'mon. It's not like my client murdered KIDS, right?"

  It reminds us that Elisha didn't call for bears. That was God's idea. (I really don't know how this was meant to be a defense. If anything, it would've been better if almighty God-is-Love Yahweh DID NOT come up with this one on his own.)

  And finally, it points out that "mauled" doesn't necessarily mean "killed", nor do we know how many escaped unharmed. True, all 42 may only have been horribly disfigured and maimed, likely dying from infections over the coming days and weeks, while their other comrades were merely PTSD-stricken. But again, this doesn't strike me as a defense, per se.

  Rather than trying to explain why such stories are "ok", why don't Bible defenders instead find an excuse to excise them from the text altogether? Surely they can find SOME way to justify calling it a later addition, or something.

  Dave
• 

  Homerovah the Almighty

  There are always a certain amount of coercive lies to support those that say they are god's personal spokesmen .

  This persuasive lying was even present in biblical times just as it is today........now thats real

  Lying for power and money is the astringent root of most established religions present today, including JWS.

  And I am not lying !