"You can cite a hundred references to show that the biblical God is a bloodthirsty tyrant, but if they can dig up two or three verses that say God is love, they will claim that *you* are taking things out of context!"
-Dan Barker,
Losing Faith in Faith
2006-10-30 14:13:09 · 27 answers · asked by Toronto 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
timjim,
Take your pick, hoss:
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/cruelty/long.html
2006-10-30 14:22:01 · update #1
joez,
If this god of yours loves me, then why will be punish me with pain, suffering, and torture for all eternity just because I disagree with him? Jesus also said either you're with him, or you're his enemy (Luke 11:23, Matthew 12:30). That's not very loving at all, it sounds like something Darth Vader would say.
2006-10-30 14:24:54 · update #2
Agree 110%
2006-10-30 14:15:18 · answer #1 · answered by jedi1josh 5 · 3⤊ 2⤋
I disagree with Barker's broad statement that God is a "bloodthirsty tyrant" even though I understand where he is coming from.
The people that God had the Israelites wipe out were guilty of child sacrifice and a host of other vile and barbaric practices. They were not as innocent as some would have you believe. God was actually doing the world a favor by getting rid of those people.
Have a good one!
2006-10-30 22:34:46 · answer #2 · answered by Kidd! 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i disagree. God makes certian laws and rules and when they are broken, there is a consequence. For example, Adam and Eve...You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because you shall surely die. They did. They began to die physically and spiritually. For example the story of the lieutnant walking beside his troops while they are transporting the arc of the covenant to its new location. The soliders stumble and the arc almost falls, but the lieutnant reaches out and catches the arc so it wont fall. Because he touched the arc, he died. God said no man shall touch the arc or they will die. This one puzzled me for a long while. God revealed to me that He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
2006-10-30 22:52:22 · answer #3 · answered by ? 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Clearly you have a messed up view of the God of the bible. dishing out judgement is not being bloodthirsty. Is that to say that when a courtroom judge convicts 10 people in a row for a life sentence for killing someone that they are thirsty to throw people in prison? Judgement must be fitting to the law. God is a righteous judge and punishes those who break the law.
2006-10-30 22:18:05 · answer #4 · answered by buckhouse_ryan 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I actually can't cite anything in the bible that says God is a bloodthirsty tyrant. What He did was sent His Son to be crucified -but I would say in this case the Romans was "bloodthirsty". If you were talking about animal sacrifice, well how many gods in the history of human kind required this type of sacrifice?
When God asked Abram to sacrifice his son though, it was a test and nobody ended up dead. I agree with Dan, really you can't judge the book by its cover - especially if it was written thousands of years ago.
2006-10-30 22:22:28 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
Disagree
2006-11-02 02:22:17 · answer #6 · answered by suthrndaysi 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I do agree and they will also say how you are quoting the Bible out of context to make a point. Yet they will fling scripture around like crazy to make their own point. Don't even get me started on some of their extremely contrived apologetic explanations for some of the stuff in the Bible. I'm not interested in converting them though, I would just like them to see the other side and not say people who don't believe only don't because they are ignorant of God's word. I do think there are some good things in the Bible, it is a wonderful documentation of societal evolution, search for meaning, and explorations of moral philosophy. I couldn never believe it literally though or take it as a text to base all of modern society on.
2006-10-30 22:20:27 · answer #7 · answered by Zen Pirate 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Well it's not about context at all.
It's about weighing it all up.
The point is, is your god all loving and peaceful and merciful like you say or is he (and you) a hypocrite.
You can't say you're good and holy but also dish out punishments like the death penalty and make people spend an eternity in hell for doing little things wrong.
2006-10-30 22:18:43 · answer #8 · answered by Fluffy 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Agree, completely. For those who don't know, Dan Barker was a Christian minister for 19 years, who is now an atheist. Don't bother saying that he is taking things out of context or that he should read the Bible. It's a guarantee than he knows the Bible far better than you do.
2006-10-30 22:16:34 · answer #9 · answered by Kathryn™ 6 · 2⤊ 3⤋
It's true that there is a lot of blood in the Bible, but the most violent act recorded in Scripture is not the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, or the slaughter of the Philistines, or the drowning of Pharaoh's army. The most violent event in the Bible is when the Son of God shed his blood for you and for me.
2006-10-30 22:18:25 · answer #10 · answered by David S 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋