A question for Christians, bible thumpers, and heathens. (page 2)

Abaddon

I am a heathen;

1 : an unconverted member of a people or nation that does not acknowledge the God of the Bible
2 : an uncivilized or irreligious person

One has to hand it to the bronze age goat herd who is meant to have written Exodus. You have to be pretty stupid to contradict yourself within 2 chapters. God will punish children for their parents actions... oh, no, hang on, he won't.

I find it increasingly amazing that people can base religions on such a humongous load of poo.

Of course, the modern theories of Bible authorship make such contradictions a little more understandable, but also show that after being stuck together someone forgot to have the manuscript properly sub-edited.

I am now going to start a religion based upon Chicken Soup for the Soul...

... and bebu, the god I make up will not sometimes allow "the children or [sic, I assume you mean of] evil people to suffer, as a kind of object lesson". Any such creature, irrespective of whether they created us or not (which seems unlikely given that Genesis is a load of tosh) would not get my worship; it would be like worshipping Charles Manson or some other repugnant beast.

I mean, if a man allows one grandchild to be tortured and killed (because their father didn't meet a certain standard) as an 'object lesson' to the others, people call him a monster.

Why is it different for god?

xLaurax

Thae fact that the bible is absolutely full of contradictions means that i refuse to take it literally anymore and instead adapt it in a more liberal way. I agree with what people have been saying in the fact that alot of the stuff in there could be described as 'poo' etc. but there is no denying that there is also alot of good. I belive that is Mans interpretation of what God believes and therefore contains alot of human error.

Here is a question i have been longin to ask somebody that can give me a decent answer........... in the bible incestr is clearly stated as an immoral act that should never occur. However, if we believe that we all came about by two humans, aka Adam and Eve then surely in order to carry the human race on there must have been sexual relations between the brothers and sisters? Does this not make God to be a hypocrite???

Somobody help me.... im confused

El blanko

However, if we believe that we all came about by two humans, aka Adam and Eve then surely in order to carry the human race on there must have been sexual relations between the brothers and sisters? Does this not make God to be a hypocrite???

It depends whether you define Eve as being Adam's sister or his wife?

Yet that leads on to other questions, as to their children and their own sexuality.

So yes, it is awkward.

Maybe our inherent repulsion (for the most part) sexually towards our own close family members is as logical as fear of spiders or snakes. Inbred genetically to safeguard us in some way from physical harm? Close sexual harmony between siblings appears to contain a high risk factor regarding deformity physically (and mentally?) according to my own knowledge.

If we believe in the fall of man and all that may have meant towards our flesh, then it is possible that incest at some point became a danger to us as a species.

Can't give you a definite, but life and certainly faith is not always as black & white as I'd like it to be.

Abaddon

xLaurax

I think the solution is simple; the Bible has nothing to do with god, if any god exists. All the Bible is is a historical document with the creation myths of a culture in it. That the creation myths are silly is no more suprising than other cultures creation myths being silly.

The only other alternative is that god would foist a flawed, contradictory, down-right wrong piece of work on us as a guide to life.

That's a silly idea.

If there is a god, then discarding the Bible as a source of accurate information is step one to understanding him.

gumby

ElBlanco,

You wrote 6 paragraphs......and NOT ONCE did you address the question. Yes or no.......god punishes the children for the parents error? Why a difference in the scriptures as to the answer?

Gumby

Gretchen956

Apply those texts primarily to ancient Israel.

Its funny that you should say that. I think its very ironic that you get to pick and choose which ones to apply to ancient Israel and which ones still apply today. Seems these days that the ones such as this get ignored because they "don't apply" and the ones that concern sexuality suddenly do apply.

Since I don't believe any of it, I don't think any of it applies.

Gretchen

czarofmischief

I think - abaddon's anti-biblical ranting aside - that this specific contradiction can be resolved fairly easily.

Since both seemingly opposite phrases occur even within the same context, I have to assume that the author was referring to different ideas.

first, the guilty are punished according to their own sin. This idea is paramount. However, there is a corollary: even if the father seemingly was NOT punished for his sin (indeed, much correction of a human soul takes place beyond our comprehension, out of our sight) that is no excuse for the SON to continue in the same wayward path as his father.

The first statement emphasizes the need for individual accountability for our actions. If we assume that the second statement must complement the first, it becomes a significant concept in Judeo-Christian philosophy: Each person stands on his own for what he did. Even if people as close to the individual as the PARENTS did something wrong, that does NOT in any way excuse the need for punishment for the individual's wrong. God will correct each individual in His own time and way, possibly even after death.

Part of the problem is the conceit of modern Western society that punishment is bad, something to be avoided. In a way, it is. But we neglect to emphasize the positive consequences of punishment, or discipline. We learn to behave, to share, to be kind to the weak through consequences.

A second positive result is the establishment of absolute morality. Today's society is relativistic, a self-defeating concept that destroys the fabric of society. However, according to this standard of God, there is a morality that we are ALL held to, no matter what we were taught or what our neighbors and parents SEEM to be getting away with.

Here's an example: The elders, our spiritual "parents" in many respects, have treated many of us in a wrong, neglectful, tyrannical or abusive fashion. Does that give US the right to abuse the "sheep" that come to us for spiritual comfort? Should we perpetuate the abuse? No, here God is clearly stating that it is each individual's responsibility to stand up and do the right thing no matter what the traditions we have learned are.

We will have to account for everything we said and did, and the notion that our "parents told us to" is not a valid excuse for violating certain basic tenets of the absolute moral law.

CZAR

Satanus

It dissappeared, just like that. Oh well.

shotgun

Gumby clearly God did not pen those words....he would not use a word like thy

Maybe you could think in terms of the writers and not attribute it to God.

As a parent we make decisions which affect our own lives, but sometimes it has far reaching effects for generations.

Other than that I don't see a God with enough intellegence to create the Universe and all that's in it bothering to hold children responsible for their parents mistakes or even making too much of an issue of our mistakes either.

If he was able to scrutinize our every mistake it would reflect back on him to some degree as our creator.

Spare me the free will speech, if you believe the bible you were born imperfect destined to fail and sin due to God allowing sin to continue!

Where's the free will in that, the free will to sin less but still destined sin because of factors beyond your control!

Gumby I don't think God holds thy children responsible.

The decisions you and I make knowingly or unknowingly affect them and their children after them...actually buddy, we recognize this more than many others.

A question for Christians, bible thumpers, and heathens.

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