2007-09-02 09:09:00 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
You got it.
For more biblical shenanigans:
Injustice
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/inj/long.html
Absurdity
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/abs/long.htm
Cruelty and violence
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/cruelty/long.html
Intolerance
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/int/long.html
Contradictions
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/by_name.html
Family Values
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/fv/long.html
Women
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/women/long.html
Science and history
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/science/long.html
Prophecies
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/proph/long.html
Sex
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/sex/long.htm
Language
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/lang/long.html
Homosexuality
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/gay/long.htm
2007-09-02 09:17:55 · answer #1 · answered by Dreamstuff Entity 6 · 1⤊ 4⤋
How is God the monster in this instance? This is just another example of people using God as the "reason" something happens.
Jephthah made a vow to God. It was a rash vow said in the heat of emotion. It is easy to make foolish promises to God in a time of trouble. The promises sound very spiritual when we make then, but may produce only guilt and frustration when we have to fulfill them. Making spiritual "deals" are never wise.
God does not ask for promises for the future. He asks only for obedience for today.
2007-09-02 16:22:44 · answer #2 · answered by justanotherone 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
We're talking about the same God who sent his only begotten son to die a bloody horrible death on a cross, right? The one who considers our body to be a tent and the real us to be what is spirit? the one who considers death to bring us to heaven faster where there is no more pain and suffering? Maybe life has just become to darn easy down here on planet earth and people can't imagine anything better. You think? On top of that the book of JOB proves that what men wrote in the Old Testemant although inpsired by God was not perfect because Job blamed all his trials on God and it was actually satan doing it all. Satan approached God said "take away your hedge of protection and Job will curse you"........So God did and satan did his dirty work. Maybe he was behind this one too but the person who wrote it thought it was "God" that wanted all that to happen. The Old Testemant has some things to learn out of it but we walk by the New Testemant as given by our Saviour Jesus Christ. Back then the things God said for his people to do was really MILD compared to the barbaric things that were going on in the world.
2007-09-02 16:23:51 · answer #3 · answered by sisterzeal 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Jephthah clearly had an intent to give something valuable to God in exchange for help in battle, and some would say to the point of burning that gift to him. But if he did literally sacrifice her to God, there is no way God could have been pleased by it, for it was a violation of the law of the burnt offering in Leviticus and "Thou shalt not kill" of Exodus 20:13. God did help him in battle, but it was Jephthah who took the blame for the outcome of that vow. Despite this however, it is possible that he satisified the vow in another way by offering her up as a living burnt sacrifice, meaning she would stay a virgin for the rest of her life as a dedication to God. In this way, the vow could be fulfilled in the same way the Levites were offered to God in Numbers 8 or in the way the Nazarenes were separated to God in Numbers 6. In either case, God takes no blame for what happened there.
2007-09-02 16:22:28 · answer #4 · answered by w2 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Consider this Judaic teaching on Judges 11:
Judges 11:39 - "did with:" That Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter, but consecrated her to the service of God in the tabernacle, in a state of celibacy, will we imagine be evident from the following consideration -
1. Human sacrifices were ever an abomination to Jehovah, of which Jephthah could not be ignorant; and consequently he would neither have made such a vow, nor carried it into execution.
2. We are expressly told (Jdg_11:29) that Jephthah was under the influence of the Spirit of God, which would effectually prevent him from embruing his hands in the blood of his own child.
3. He had it in his power to redeem his daughter (Lev_27:4); and surely his only child must have been of more value than thirty shekles.
4. Besides, who was to perform the horrid rite? Not Jephthah himself, who was no priest, and in whom it would have been most unnatural and inhuman; and the priests would certainly have dissuaded him from it.
5. The sacred historian informs us, that she bewailed her virginity, that she knew no man, and that the Israelitish women went yearly to comfort or lament with her. Jdg_11:31; Lev_27:28, Lev_27:29; Deu_12:31; Isa_66:3
2007-09-02 16:22:57 · answer #5 · answered by Depoetic 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
How exactly does that story make God a monster. Is he a monster for standing by the side of his followers against another nation that followed another God and attacked Israel? ...or is it the story of the daughter that bothers you? If so, then blame her stupid father for making a stupid vow like that. There is NO suggestion that God commanded or even asked him to make that vow and given the history of Israel with God, they should have already known God would help them without them needing to make stupid deals with him.
To me this sounds like just another example of man's inability to trust God...God had already promised to help defend Israel against her enemies...but obviously this guy didn't believe that promise and tried to offer God a bribe to keep that promise.
2007-09-02 16:35:26 · answer #6 · answered by KAL 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
don't forget for every idle word you speak you will give an account for, and on the day of judgement you will get your chance to call GOD a monster. Go in peace brother
2007-09-02 16:18:23 · answer #7 · answered by trinity 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Satan had enough pride to speak against Yahweh also, so you are a copy cat.
Be original and teach the people to keep the Laws that would stop the senseless deaths and quit doing Satan's work.
2007-09-02 16:15:15 · answer #8 · answered by YUHATEME 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Jephthah made an oath that was not required by God... in fact against what God wishes.. but bound by "tradition" he was bound by it in his mind and it was so ingrained in the mind of the daughter that she sacrificed herself unnecessarily.... this is given as an example of what NOT to do... they paid the price for their ignorance and slavish adherence to "tradition" rather than to God and His Will.
2007-09-02 16:16:37 · answer #9 · answered by ? 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋
No, GOD fulfilled what was asked of HIM. It was not GOD that was at fault for making the wager. GOD is faithful and just. We want mercy, not justice. This was justice.
2007-09-02 21:02:06 · answer #10 · answered by mesquiteskeetr 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
That was for another (now outmoded, thankfully!) dispensation.
I may be wrong, but I've heard that this Commandment is the ONLY one that is **not** repeated in the New Testament.
2007-09-02 16:13:53 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋