http://www.fryroad.org/_fryroad/BibleSt ... fault.aspx
The Bible Knew First
(by Bob Pulliam)
We seem to know so much in this modern world of ours. And while ancient man had made some very keen observation, he just did not know some of the things we take for granted. But what if the Bible already made mention of these things before "modern science" discovered them?... Well, read on...
The Shape of the Earth...
The Earth is flat. That was the opinion of "science" before it’s serious reconsideration by more modern men. In the days of Columbus, it was feared that one might sail right off the edge of the Earth if he went too far. We can laugh at such matters, but it was not until this period that the shape of the earth was beginning to challenge general science. But now let’s go back further in time. Roughly 2,000 years before the time of Columbus we find a Hebrew Prophet named Isaiah writing the following:
"It is He who sits above the circle of the earth..." (Isa 40:22)
The word for "circle" in this text actually indicates an object with three dimensional character (a sphere, or ball). How did Isaiah know that the Earth was round? He hadn’t seen any pictures of it. Perhaps he figured it out the same way Pythagoras did, who lived about the same time. But consider for a moment that the Jews were not scientists by any stretch of the imagination, and the Bible never meant for the dabbling of opinions. For Isaiah to put such an opinion in scripture, and jeopardize the integrity of the Bible would have been unthinkable. But here it is asserted as a simple matter of fact. Long before any other peoples took it up as a matter of fact.
What’s Holding it Up?...
A vast majority of ancient man believed that the Earth had some means of support, and that all of the heavenly bodies moved above us. You’ll often hear this referred to as the Ptolemaic System. What does the Bible say about the Earth’s support?
"... He hangs the earth on nothing." (Job 26:7)
That the Earth is hung on nothing is denied by no one today. But the Bible knew it first.
Singing Stars...
We don’t usually think of stars as singing, but it is fairly common knowledge that they do emit a noise which we pick up with radio-telescopes and study. Who would have thought that those silent dots in the sky actually made any noise? But the Lord said to Job:
"When the morning stars sang together..." (Job 38:7)
Now one might think that this is just a figure of speech, applying a human act of praise to a portion of creation. Such is not unheard of in scripture (e.g. Ps 19:2). But there is a peculiar aspect of this passage that should be considered. The word "sang" in this passage actually refers to a shrill piercing noise, like that irritating noise of a rusty iron gate being closed. I don’t like to be picky, but if I were going to choose a word to describe the singing of the stars in praise to God, I would have chosen something much prettier than that. I submit that Job would have also. But Job is not speaking in this passage. The creator is, and he actually knew the sound made by the singing stars.
Refraction of Light...
We realize light follows a path, and that there is a method by which that light is divided. We all know that a prism will bend light, separating the various colors into visible bands (creating a rainbow). Think about these two statements:
"What is the path in which light dwells? .... By what method is light divided ...?" (Job 38:19, 24)
Light in a path, and a method for dividing it. Today, an entire branch of science (spectroscopy) is based on this principle. The Lord said something about it to Job long before mankind discovered it.
Paths in the Sea...
One of the most famous instances of God’s word teaching man about nature is in the story about Matthew Fontaine Maury. During an illness, Maury’s son was reading to him from the Bible. As he read, he came to this passage:
"Whatever passeth through the paths of the sea." (Ps 8:8)
The passage arrested Maury’s attention. He is said to have told his son, "It is enough, if the word of God says there are paths in the sea, they must be there, and I am going to find them." After a few years, Maury had charted many of the currents and sea lanes.
Maury is responsible for establishing Annapolis Academy, and a statue of him stands in Richland, Virginia. In one hand he is holding charts, and in the other.... You guessed it, ... A Bible.
Conclusion...
We might expect the Chinese to discover something early, the Egyptians something else, and the Greeks something as well. But the Bible spoke of these things before "scientific observation" discovered them. The Bible was not written by scientists. And the Bible does not dabble at trying to scoop the intellectual community of it’s day on some new way of thought. If the Bible was indulging in simply stating the ideas of it’s day, then we could expect it to be wrong in some matter taken for granted now. But the Bible is always right! How did men so long ago know so much about the mechanics of creation?... Perhaps the creator spoke to them, giving them firsthand knowledge... Hmmmmm....
Bible verse by verse
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_LittleNipper
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Re: Bible verse by verse
August 10, 2010
Why disbelievers can't understand the Bible
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By Dan Popp
Speak, LORD, for Thy servant is listening. — 1 Samuel 3:9 NASB
These days it seems that every time you turn around you hear another nonsensical leftist "interpretation" of the Holy Scriptures. Where is all this hermeneutical wackiness coming from? Maybe from people who literally cannot grasp God's written message. I'm using the term "disbeliever" here to mean someone actively opposed to the Biblical Jesus, as distinguished from someone without Christ but not openly hostile to Him. Here are some possible explanations for the bewildering explosion of bad exegesis:
1. Disbelievers don't know the context, and sometimes don't even know that context is necessary.
The Bible is a big book, and people who aren't interested in hearing what God has to say aren't likely to take time to read the whole thing. But quoting a verse without knowing its context is like the squawking of a parrot. Polly can mimic the sounds of speech, but you can't carry on a conversation with her. The disbeliever can copy and paste verses, but the meaning is opaque to him (though he insists he sees it perfectly). The old chestnut, "Judas went away and hanged himself; Go thou and do likewise" satirizes the skeptic's disregard for context.
When such a bird lights upon a sentence like, "Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities" (Romans 13:1a), he's likely to create an instant doctrine: "Shut up and pay your taxes." He doesn't know that the Apostle who penned those words was executed for disobeying the governing authorities. He's unaware that all the Apostles ran afoul of the Roman rulers, and tradition says that all except John died horribly, rather than shut up. He's ignorant of Peter's retort to the religious leaders, "We must obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29) Hundreds of thousands of Christians were burned, flayed alive or torn apart by wild beasts, rather than obey the governing authorities. And without these martyrs, today there might be no church, no Bible, and thus no way for us to read Romans 13:1a.
That's the historical context. If we stick only to the textual context we find Daniel and his three friends defying an earthly king in deference to their heavenly one. Indeed, Moses — who wrote the five books on which the entire Bible is built — led the largest slave rebellion in history. Blinding himself to information mastered by every 5-year-old Sunday School student, the disbeliever makes half a verse into an absolute universal edict, rather than an instruction for a particular circumstance. This brings up the second problem:
2. Disbelievers don't know what kind of book the Bible is.
Opponents of Christ want the Bible to be a book of short prescriptions and proscriptions similar to The Analects of Confucius. But in addition to Proverbs, the Scriptures contain historical narratives, parables, lists, poems, songs, instructions, commands, prophecies — many kinds of text, each of which must be read in the way appropriate to its nature. You wouldn't read a court order the same way you would read a newspaper, but disbelievers can't seem to help reading Leviticus, the Sermon on the Mount and Revelation in the same way — and then accusing believers of "simplistic" or "literal" interpretation!
3. The Bible was not written to disbelievers.
One of the more anxiety-producing ordeals of courtship is meeting the future in-laws. Within this group of familiars, I am the stranger. It may take a while for me to understand how the family communicates. "Was your dad kidding when he said...?" "That's just Aunt Harriet's way of telling you...." The family's shared experiences and values frame all of its communication. Until I experience life with the family over a period of time, I may feel like I'm losing something in translation. The only difference with God's family is that it has a much longer history, and even deeper values.
4. Effective communication must be species-appropriate.
I could write a letter to my cat, including the word "TUNA" in great big letters, and he probably wouldn't respond at all. Some human-feline communication is possible (or so I've been told), but this isn't the right approach. Communication must be adapted to the species.
Disbelievers are the wrong species to get a written message from God. To think about it from the other perspective, God would be sending Morse Code to turtles if He tried to get a complex message to scoffers. The disbeliever is still Man, Version 1.1. — the model with the Fatal Error. The believer is Man, 2.0. "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature" (2 Corinthians 5:17) — he is a new kind of being.
"But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." (1 Cor. 2:14)
Disbelievers shouldn't be offended by this. We have hints in the Word of God that even the holy angels are not the correct species to grasp that particular communication. The prophecies of the Old Testament as well as the gospel of the New are called "things into which angels long to look." (1 Peter 1:12)
5. God actively hides His message from disbelievers.
You remember that the Lord said, "Do not give what is holy to the dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." (Matthew 7:6) Well, Jesus is no hypocrite; He practices what He preaches. Christ revealed the nature and will and plan of God to those who would listen, and with the same words He concealed God from those who would not.
And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" And He answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. ...
"Therefore I speak to them in parables, because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
"You will keep on hearing, but you will not understand;
And you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive." (Matthew 13:10,11,13,14)
Isaiah also ironically revealed, "Truly, Thou art a God who hides Himself." (Isaiah 45:15a)
A fascinating Old Testament scripture is Psalm 18:25,26 (This is also recorded in 2 Samuel 22:26,27):
With the merciful
You will show Yourself merciful;
With a blameless man
You will show yourself blameless;
With the pure
You will show Yourself pure;
And with the devious
You will show Yourself perverse. (RSV)
The words "devious" and "perverse" both mean twisted. Other translations variously render them as willful, contentious, a wrestler, astute, crooked, crafty and shrewd. If you desire an open and honest relationship with the Creator, He'll give you that. But if you want to play games with God, He'll look you in the eye and say "Set 'em up."
To those who earnestly asked the way to heaven, Jesus candidly said, "I am the Way." But to the rich young man who lied both to himself and to God, the Good Teacher responded craftily to the same question, "Keep the commandments."
The Bible is simply not open to scrutiny by the insincere. The Scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees had read God's word diligently every day of their lives. They didn't have the context problem of the present-day disbeliever. They knew what kind of material they were looking at; they even revered it, in a way. But when the Word-Made-Flesh, the Fulfillment of every prophecy, the long-expected Messiah stood right in front of them, they didn't recognize Him. Jesus told them, "You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me." (John 5:39 NASB) They had scrutinized the sacred scrolls until their eyes bled, but missed the whole Point.
In His terrifying way, as He did when He hardened Pharaoh's heart, the Almighty is honoring the disbeliever's wish for God to "go away," by solidifying that decision. The scoffer waving the Bible is claiming knowledge that he has pointedly refused: the knowledge of God. That's what the Bible gives. That's what the disbeliever will not, and therefore cannot, have.
Someone will say that I'm proclaiming a "Secret Decoder Ring" theology. And in a way, that's true. No competent General announces his plans to the other side. But God in His goodness and love has given each human being a decoder ring. You have one, believer. You have one, too, unbeliever. Disbeliever, you have the very same secret decoder ring I do.
That ring is your will.
All you have to do is turn it.
Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes. — Jesus (Luke 10:21, Matthew 11:25)
Why disbelievers can't understand the Bible
FacebookTwitterGoogle+
By Dan Popp
Speak, LORD, for Thy servant is listening. — 1 Samuel 3:9 NASB
These days it seems that every time you turn around you hear another nonsensical leftist "interpretation" of the Holy Scriptures. Where is all this hermeneutical wackiness coming from? Maybe from people who literally cannot grasp God's written message. I'm using the term "disbeliever" here to mean someone actively opposed to the Biblical Jesus, as distinguished from someone without Christ but not openly hostile to Him. Here are some possible explanations for the bewildering explosion of bad exegesis:
1. Disbelievers don't know the context, and sometimes don't even know that context is necessary.
The Bible is a big book, and people who aren't interested in hearing what God has to say aren't likely to take time to read the whole thing. But quoting a verse without knowing its context is like the squawking of a parrot. Polly can mimic the sounds of speech, but you can't carry on a conversation with her. The disbeliever can copy and paste verses, but the meaning is opaque to him (though he insists he sees it perfectly). The old chestnut, "Judas went away and hanged himself; Go thou and do likewise" satirizes the skeptic's disregard for context.
When such a bird lights upon a sentence like, "Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities" (Romans 13:1a), he's likely to create an instant doctrine: "Shut up and pay your taxes." He doesn't know that the Apostle who penned those words was executed for disobeying the governing authorities. He's unaware that all the Apostles ran afoul of the Roman rulers, and tradition says that all except John died horribly, rather than shut up. He's ignorant of Peter's retort to the religious leaders, "We must obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29) Hundreds of thousands of Christians were burned, flayed alive or torn apart by wild beasts, rather than obey the governing authorities. And without these martyrs, today there might be no church, no Bible, and thus no way for us to read Romans 13:1a.
That's the historical context. If we stick only to the textual context we find Daniel and his three friends defying an earthly king in deference to their heavenly one. Indeed, Moses — who wrote the five books on which the entire Bible is built — led the largest slave rebellion in history. Blinding himself to information mastered by every 5-year-old Sunday School student, the disbeliever makes half a verse into an absolute universal edict, rather than an instruction for a particular circumstance. This brings up the second problem:
2. Disbelievers don't know what kind of book the Bible is.
Opponents of Christ want the Bible to be a book of short prescriptions and proscriptions similar to The Analects of Confucius. But in addition to Proverbs, the Scriptures contain historical narratives, parables, lists, poems, songs, instructions, commands, prophecies — many kinds of text, each of which must be read in the way appropriate to its nature. You wouldn't read a court order the same way you would read a newspaper, but disbelievers can't seem to help reading Leviticus, the Sermon on the Mount and Revelation in the same way — and then accusing believers of "simplistic" or "literal" interpretation!
3. The Bible was not written to disbelievers.
One of the more anxiety-producing ordeals of courtship is meeting the future in-laws. Within this group of familiars, I am the stranger. It may take a while for me to understand how the family communicates. "Was your dad kidding when he said...?" "That's just Aunt Harriet's way of telling you...." The family's shared experiences and values frame all of its communication. Until I experience life with the family over a period of time, I may feel like I'm losing something in translation. The only difference with God's family is that it has a much longer history, and even deeper values.
4. Effective communication must be species-appropriate.
I could write a letter to my cat, including the word "TUNA" in great big letters, and he probably wouldn't respond at all. Some human-feline communication is possible (or so I've been told), but this isn't the right approach. Communication must be adapted to the species.
Disbelievers are the wrong species to get a written message from God. To think about it from the other perspective, God would be sending Morse Code to turtles if He tried to get a complex message to scoffers. The disbeliever is still Man, Version 1.1. — the model with the Fatal Error. The believer is Man, 2.0. "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature" (2 Corinthians 5:17) — he is a new kind of being.
"But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." (1 Cor. 2:14)
Disbelievers shouldn't be offended by this. We have hints in the Word of God that even the holy angels are not the correct species to grasp that particular communication. The prophecies of the Old Testament as well as the gospel of the New are called "things into which angels long to look." (1 Peter 1:12)
5. God actively hides His message from disbelievers.
You remember that the Lord said, "Do not give what is holy to the dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." (Matthew 7:6) Well, Jesus is no hypocrite; He practices what He preaches. Christ revealed the nature and will and plan of God to those who would listen, and with the same words He concealed God from those who would not.
And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" And He answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. ...
"Therefore I speak to them in parables, because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
"You will keep on hearing, but you will not understand;
And you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive." (Matthew 13:10,11,13,14)
Isaiah also ironically revealed, "Truly, Thou art a God who hides Himself." (Isaiah 45:15a)
A fascinating Old Testament scripture is Psalm 18:25,26 (This is also recorded in 2 Samuel 22:26,27):
With the merciful
You will show Yourself merciful;
With a blameless man
You will show yourself blameless;
With the pure
You will show Yourself pure;
And with the devious
You will show Yourself perverse. (RSV)
The words "devious" and "perverse" both mean twisted. Other translations variously render them as willful, contentious, a wrestler, astute, crooked, crafty and shrewd. If you desire an open and honest relationship with the Creator, He'll give you that. But if you want to play games with God, He'll look you in the eye and say "Set 'em up."
To those who earnestly asked the way to heaven, Jesus candidly said, "I am the Way." But to the rich young man who lied both to himself and to God, the Good Teacher responded craftily to the same question, "Keep the commandments."
The Bible is simply not open to scrutiny by the insincere. The Scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees had read God's word diligently every day of their lives. They didn't have the context problem of the present-day disbeliever. They knew what kind of material they were looking at; they even revered it, in a way. But when the Word-Made-Flesh, the Fulfillment of every prophecy, the long-expected Messiah stood right in front of them, they didn't recognize Him. Jesus told them, "You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me." (John 5:39 NASB) They had scrutinized the sacred scrolls until their eyes bled, but missed the whole Point.
In His terrifying way, as He did when He hardened Pharaoh's heart, the Almighty is honoring the disbeliever's wish for God to "go away," by solidifying that decision. The scoffer waving the Bible is claiming knowledge that he has pointedly refused: the knowledge of God. That's what the Bible gives. That's what the disbeliever will not, and therefore cannot, have.
Someone will say that I'm proclaiming a "Secret Decoder Ring" theology. And in a way, that's true. No competent General announces his plans to the other side. But God in His goodness and love has given each human being a decoder ring. You have one, believer. You have one, too, unbeliever. Disbeliever, you have the very same secret decoder ring I do.
That ring is your will.
All you have to do is turn it.
Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes. — Jesus (Luke 10:21, Matthew 11:25)
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_LittleNipper
- _Emeritus
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- Joined: Wed Jun 06, 2012 5:49 pm
Re: Bible verse by verse
Jeremiah 21:1-14
Jeremiah gained the word of Lord when King Zedekiah sent to Malkijah's son Pashhur and Maaseiah's son a priest named Zephaniah.
They said, “Speak to the Lord for us because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is attacking. Perhaps the Lord will do a miracle for us as in times past so that Nebuchadnezzar will leave us alone.”
But Jeremiah answered them, “Tell Zedekiah, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: "I am about to turn upon you the weapons of war that you possess, that you are applying in the fight against the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who are outside the wall besieging you. And I will bring them inside this city.
I Myself will fight against you openhandedly in furious anger and great wrath.
I will kill many who live in this city both human and animal ---- they will die of a terrible plague.
After that, declares the Lord, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors of the plague, sword and famine, over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to enemies who wish to kill them. He will slay them, showing them no mercy, pity, nor compassion.’"
"Additionally, tell the people," ‘The Lord says: See, I am revealing to you the way of life and the way of death.
Whoever remains city will die by the sword, famine or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will survive.
I have made up my mind to do harm and not help. Jerusalem will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.'
To top it off, say to the royal house of Judah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says to you, decedents of David:
Administer justice daily; rescue from the oppressor the one who has been robbed, or my wrath will spread and move like fire because of the evil you have done— burning with no one to quench it.
I am against you, Jerusalem, you who live above a valley upon this rocky plateau, declares the Lord—saying, “Who can come against us? Who can enter our fortress?”
I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares the Lord. I will kindle a fire in your forests that will consume everything around you.’”
Young's Literal Translation (YLT)
1 The word that hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, in the king Zedekiah's sending unto him Pashhur son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
2 `Inquire, we pray thee, for us at Jehovah, for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath fought against us; perhaps Jehovah doth deal with us according to all His wonders, and doth cause him to go up from off us.'
3 And Jeremiah saith unto them, `Thus do ye say unto Zedekiah,
4 Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel: Lo, I am turning round the weapons of battle That [are] in your hand, With which ye do fight the king of Babylon, And the Chaldeans, who are laying siege against you, At the outside of the wall, And I have gathered them into the midst of this city,
5 And I -- I have fought against you, With a stretched-out hand, and with a strong arm, And in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath,
6 And I have smitten the inhabitants of this city, Both man and beast, By a great pestilence do they die.
7 And after this -- an affirmation of Jehovah, I give Zedekiah king of Judah, And his servants, and the people, And those left in this city, From the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, Into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, And into the hand of their enemies, And into the hand of those seeking their life, And he hath smitten them by the mouth of the sword, He hath no pity on them, Nor doth he spare, nor hath he mercy.
8 And unto this people thou dost say, Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am setting before you the way of life, And the way of death!
9 Whoso is abiding in this city -- dieth, By sword, and by famine, and by pestilence, And whoso is going forth, And hath fallen unto the Chaldeans, Who are laying siege against you -- liveth, And his life hath been to him for a spoil.
10 For I have set My face against this city for evil, And not for good -- an affirmation of Jehovah. Into the hand of the king of Babylon it is given, And he hath burned it with fire.
11 And as to the house of the king of Judah, Hear ye a word of Jehovah;
12 O house of David, thus said Jehovah: Decide ye judgment at morning, And deliver the plundered from the hand of the oppressor, Lest My fury go forth as fire, And hath burned, and none is quenching, Because of the evil of your doings.
13 Lo, I [am] against thee -- an affirmation of Jehovah, O inhabitant of the valley, rock of the plain, Who are saying, Who cometh down against us? And who cometh into our habitations?
14 And I have laid a charge against you, According to the fruit of your doings, An affirmation of Jehovah, And I have kindled a fire in its forest, And it hath consumed -- all its suburbs!
Jeremiah gained the word of Lord when King Zedekiah sent to Malkijah's son Pashhur and Maaseiah's son a priest named Zephaniah.
They said, “Speak to the Lord for us because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is attacking. Perhaps the Lord will do a miracle for us as in times past so that Nebuchadnezzar will leave us alone.”
But Jeremiah answered them, “Tell Zedekiah, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: "I am about to turn upon you the weapons of war that you possess, that you are applying in the fight against the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who are outside the wall besieging you. And I will bring them inside this city.
I Myself will fight against you openhandedly in furious anger and great wrath.
I will kill many who live in this city both human and animal ---- they will die of a terrible plague.
After that, declares the Lord, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors of the plague, sword and famine, over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to enemies who wish to kill them. He will slay them, showing them no mercy, pity, nor compassion.’"
"Additionally, tell the people," ‘The Lord says: See, I am revealing to you the way of life and the way of death.
Whoever remains city will die by the sword, famine or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will survive.
I have made up my mind to do harm and not help. Jerusalem will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.'
To top it off, say to the royal house of Judah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says to you, decedents of David:
Administer justice daily; rescue from the oppressor the one who has been robbed, or my wrath will spread and move like fire because of the evil you have done— burning with no one to quench it.
I am against you, Jerusalem, you who live above a valley upon this rocky plateau, declares the Lord—saying, “Who can come against us? Who can enter our fortress?”
I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares the Lord. I will kindle a fire in your forests that will consume everything around you.’”
Young's Literal Translation (YLT)
1 The word that hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, in the king Zedekiah's sending unto him Pashhur son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
2 `Inquire, we pray thee, for us at Jehovah, for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath fought against us; perhaps Jehovah doth deal with us according to all His wonders, and doth cause him to go up from off us.'
3 And Jeremiah saith unto them, `Thus do ye say unto Zedekiah,
4 Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel: Lo, I am turning round the weapons of battle That [are] in your hand, With which ye do fight the king of Babylon, And the Chaldeans, who are laying siege against you, At the outside of the wall, And I have gathered them into the midst of this city,
5 And I -- I have fought against you, With a stretched-out hand, and with a strong arm, And in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath,
6 And I have smitten the inhabitants of this city, Both man and beast, By a great pestilence do they die.
7 And after this -- an affirmation of Jehovah, I give Zedekiah king of Judah, And his servants, and the people, And those left in this city, From the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, Into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, And into the hand of their enemies, And into the hand of those seeking their life, And he hath smitten them by the mouth of the sword, He hath no pity on them, Nor doth he spare, nor hath he mercy.
8 And unto this people thou dost say, Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am setting before you the way of life, And the way of death!
9 Whoso is abiding in this city -- dieth, By sword, and by famine, and by pestilence, And whoso is going forth, And hath fallen unto the Chaldeans, Who are laying siege against you -- liveth, And his life hath been to him for a spoil.
10 For I have set My face against this city for evil, And not for good -- an affirmation of Jehovah. Into the hand of the king of Babylon it is given, And he hath burned it with fire.
11 And as to the house of the king of Judah, Hear ye a word of Jehovah;
12 O house of David, thus said Jehovah: Decide ye judgment at morning, And deliver the plundered from the hand of the oppressor, Lest My fury go forth as fire, And hath burned, and none is quenching, Because of the evil of your doings.
13 Lo, I [am] against thee -- an affirmation of Jehovah, O inhabitant of the valley, rock of the plain, Who are saying, Who cometh down against us? And who cometh into our habitations?
14 And I have laid a charge against you, According to the fruit of your doings, An affirmation of Jehovah, And I have kindled a fire in its forest, And it hath consumed -- all its suburbs!
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_Maksutov
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Most Christians tend to ignore the awkward parts of the Bibl
BELIEF
11 Kinds of Bible Verses Christians Love to Ignore
Most Christians tend to ignore the awkward parts of the Bible.
By Valerie Tarico / AlterNet May 26, 2014
Some Bible-believing Christians play fast and loose with their sacred text. When it suits their purposes, they treat it like the literally perfect word of God. Then, when it suits their other purposes, they conveniently ignore the parts of the Bible that are—inconvenient.
Here are 11 kinds of verses Bible-believers ignore so that they can keep spouting the others when they want to. To list all of the verses in these categories would take a book almost the size of the Bible; one the size of the Bible minus the Jefferson Bible, to be precise. I’ll limit myself to a couple tantalizing tidbits of each kind, and the curious reader who wants more can go to the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible or simply dig out the old family tome and start reading at Genesis, Chapter I.
1. Weird insults and curses. The Monty Python crew may have coined some of the best insults of the last 100 years: Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries. But for centuries the reigning master was Shakespeare: It is certain that when he makes water his urine is congealed ice. Had John Cleese or William Shakespeare lived in the Iron Age, though, some of the Bible writers might have given him a run for his money. Christians may scoot past these passages, but one hell-bound humorist used them to create a biblical curse generator.
She lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. Ezekiel 23:20 NIV
You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. . . . The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. Deuteronomy 28:30-31,35
2. Awkwardly useless commandments. The Bible is chock-a-block with do's and don’ts. Some of them are simply statements of universal ethical principles like, do to others what you would have them do to you, or don’t lie, or don’t covet your neighbor’s possessions. But from a moral standpoint most of them are simply useless or even embarrassing—especially if you think God could have used the space to say don’t have sex with anyone who doesn’t want you to, or wash your hands after you go to the bathroom.
Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material. Leviticus 19:19
Ye shall not round the corners of your heads. Leviticus 19:27
3. Silly food rules. The early Hebrews probably didn’t have an obesity epidemic like the one that has spread around the globe today. Even so, one might think that if an unchanging and eternal God were going to give out food rules he might have considered the earnest Middle-American believers who would be coming along in 2014. A little divine focus on amping up leafy green vegetables and avoiding sweets might have gone a long way. Instead, the Bible strictly forbids eating rabbit, shellfish, pork, weasels, scavengers, reptiles, and owls. As is, Christians simply ignore the eating advisories in the Old Testament, even though they claim that edicts like the Ten Commandments and the anti-queer clobber verses still apply.
All that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you. Leviticus 9:10
Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother's milk. Exodus 23:19
4. Holy hangups about genitals. God, or the Bible writers, is hung up about sexual anatomy in a way many modern Christians, fortunately, are not. In The Year of Living Biblically, the author, A.J. Jacobs, attempts to obey Mosaic laws about menstruation. When his wife finds out what those laws actually are, she gives him the middle finger by sitting on every chair in the house.
When a woman has a discharge, if her discharge in her body is blood, she shall continue in her menstrual impurity for seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. Everything also on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean, and everything on which she sits shall be unclean. Leviticus 15: 19-20
When men fight with one another, and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, then you shall cut off her hand. Deuteronomy 25:11-12
5. God’s temper tantrums. Modern Christians may talk about God as a loving father, or even a Jesus buddy, the kind you’d want to play golf with, but in reality Bible-God goes out of his way to be intimidating. Worse, he appears to lose control of his temper at times, lashing out like an oversized thwarted three-year-old; and his earthly representatives—including Jesus—do the same.
Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. 2 Kings 2:23-25 NIV
Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. Matthew 21:18-22 NIV
6. Times when the Bible God is worse than Satan. In the Bible, Satan is described as a roaring lion who prowls the earth, seeking whom he may devour. But if you actually read the stories, Satan doesn’t do much other than to tempt people into disobeying the dictates of Yahweh, who acts like a heavenly dictator with borderline personality disorder. God, by contrast, professes his undying love, kindness and mercy, but then commands his minions to commit brutal atrocities when he isn’t up for it himself. Some of the stories are so bad even Hollywood, with its passion for glorious biblical sex and violence, won’t touch them, especially the plentiful Bible stories about sexual slavery and human sacrifice.
Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately. But all the girls who have not known man intimately, spare for yourselves.Numbers 31:17-18
He [Josiah] executed the priests of the pagan shrines on their own altars, and he burned human bones on the altars to desecrate them.... He did this in obedience to all the laws written in the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found in the LORD's Temple. Never before had there been a king like Josiah, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and soul and strength, obeying all the laws of Moses. And there has never been a king like him since. 2 Kings 23:20-25 NLT
7. Instructions for slave masters. The reality is that the Bible says much more in support of slavery than against it. Even the New Testament Jesus never says owning people is wrong. Instead, the Bible gives explicit instructions to masters and slaves. Awkward.
You may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. Ephesians 6:5 NLT
8. Bizzare death penalties. Years ago, I wrote an article titled, “If the Bible Were Law Would You Qualify For the Death Penalty?” It identified 35 different offenses that earn a person capital punishment in the Bible. Hint: You probably qualify. And so does the dog who belongs to your kinky neighbor.
If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die. Deuteronomy 21:18-21
If a man has sex with an animal, he must be put to death, and the animal must be killed. Leviticus 20:15 NLT
9. Denigration of handicapped people. The yuck factor is probably wired into humanity at the level of instinct, a way to avoid contamination and pathogens. crap smells bad to us as does decaying flesh. Our revulsion at illness and injury fuels a whole Hollywood horror industry. The Bible writers had the same instincts, but unlike modern health professionals, who have the benefit of germ theory, they had no idea what was contagious and what wasn’t, and they blurred the ideas of physical purity with spiritual purity. Modern Christians largely escape their denigration of physical handicaps.
No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD. Deuteronomy 23:1 NRSV
Whosoever ... hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded, Or crookback, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken ... He shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries. Leviticus 21:17-23 KJV
10. Moral edicts that demand too much.If much of the Bible gets ignored because it is morally irrelevant, immoral, outdated, or factually wrong, another portion gets ignored because it sets the bar too high, like putting divorce on par with—omg—homosexuality. If you want to send a conservative Bible-believer into a froth, try suggesting Jesus was a socialist. Then, when he goes all Jehovah on you, quote from the book of Ephesians.
Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same. Luke 3:11 NIV
Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place. Ephesians 5:4 NIV
11. Passages that are a waste of brain space and paper. Some years ago I worked on a website called Wisdom Commons, a library of timeless quotes and stories from many traditions. I had the idea that I would go through the Bible and pull out bits that were relevant, so I started reading.
What I found was that most of the Bible was neither horrible nor inspiring. It was simply dull and irrelevant: long genealogies written by men obsessed with racial purity; archaic stories about ancient squabbles over real estate and women; arcane rituals aimed at pleasing a volatile deity; folk medicine practices involving mandrakes and dove’s blood; superstition that equated cleanliness with spiritual purity and misfortune with divine disfavor; outdated insider politics.
On top of that, it was badly written, with some stories garbled and others repeated, though rarely in complete agreement about the facts. The Bible’s supposed author seemed like a psychological mess, and I found myself irritated. With a finite number of pages to set the course of human history, this was the best He could do?
Thank God Bible-believing Christians don’t take the Good Book as seriously as they claim to.
Valerie Tarico is a psychologist and writer in Seattle, Washington, and the founder of Wisdom Commons. She is the author of "Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light" and "Deas and Other Imaginings." Her articles can be found at valerietarico.com.
11 Kinds of Bible Verses Christians Love to Ignore
Most Christians tend to ignore the awkward parts of the Bible.
By Valerie Tarico / AlterNet May 26, 2014
Some Bible-believing Christians play fast and loose with their sacred text. When it suits their purposes, they treat it like the literally perfect word of God. Then, when it suits their other purposes, they conveniently ignore the parts of the Bible that are—inconvenient.
Here are 11 kinds of verses Bible-believers ignore so that they can keep spouting the others when they want to. To list all of the verses in these categories would take a book almost the size of the Bible; one the size of the Bible minus the Jefferson Bible, to be precise. I’ll limit myself to a couple tantalizing tidbits of each kind, and the curious reader who wants more can go to the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible or simply dig out the old family tome and start reading at Genesis, Chapter I.
1. Weird insults and curses. The Monty Python crew may have coined some of the best insults of the last 100 years: Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries. But for centuries the reigning master was Shakespeare: It is certain that when he makes water his urine is congealed ice. Had John Cleese or William Shakespeare lived in the Iron Age, though, some of the Bible writers might have given him a run for his money. Christians may scoot past these passages, but one hell-bound humorist used them to create a biblical curse generator.
She lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. Ezekiel 23:20 NIV
You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. . . . The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. Deuteronomy 28:30-31,35
2. Awkwardly useless commandments. The Bible is chock-a-block with do's and don’ts. Some of them are simply statements of universal ethical principles like, do to others what you would have them do to you, or don’t lie, or don’t covet your neighbor’s possessions. But from a moral standpoint most of them are simply useless or even embarrassing—especially if you think God could have used the space to say don’t have sex with anyone who doesn’t want you to, or wash your hands after you go to the bathroom.
Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material. Leviticus 19:19
Ye shall not round the corners of your heads. Leviticus 19:27
3. Silly food rules. The early Hebrews probably didn’t have an obesity epidemic like the one that has spread around the globe today. Even so, one might think that if an unchanging and eternal God were going to give out food rules he might have considered the earnest Middle-American believers who would be coming along in 2014. A little divine focus on amping up leafy green vegetables and avoiding sweets might have gone a long way. Instead, the Bible strictly forbids eating rabbit, shellfish, pork, weasels, scavengers, reptiles, and owls. As is, Christians simply ignore the eating advisories in the Old Testament, even though they claim that edicts like the Ten Commandments and the anti-queer clobber verses still apply.
All that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you. Leviticus 9:10
Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother's milk. Exodus 23:19
4. Holy hangups about genitals. God, or the Bible writers, is hung up about sexual anatomy in a way many modern Christians, fortunately, are not. In The Year of Living Biblically, the author, A.J. Jacobs, attempts to obey Mosaic laws about menstruation. When his wife finds out what those laws actually are, she gives him the middle finger by sitting on every chair in the house.
When a woman has a discharge, if her discharge in her body is blood, she shall continue in her menstrual impurity for seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. Everything also on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean, and everything on which she sits shall be unclean. Leviticus 15: 19-20
When men fight with one another, and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, then you shall cut off her hand. Deuteronomy 25:11-12
5. God’s temper tantrums. Modern Christians may talk about God as a loving father, or even a Jesus buddy, the kind you’d want to play golf with, but in reality Bible-God goes out of his way to be intimidating. Worse, he appears to lose control of his temper at times, lashing out like an oversized thwarted three-year-old; and his earthly representatives—including Jesus—do the same.
Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. 2 Kings 2:23-25 NIV
Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. Matthew 21:18-22 NIV
6. Times when the Bible God is worse than Satan. In the Bible, Satan is described as a roaring lion who prowls the earth, seeking whom he may devour. But if you actually read the stories, Satan doesn’t do much other than to tempt people into disobeying the dictates of Yahweh, who acts like a heavenly dictator with borderline personality disorder. God, by contrast, professes his undying love, kindness and mercy, but then commands his minions to commit brutal atrocities when he isn’t up for it himself. Some of the stories are so bad even Hollywood, with its passion for glorious biblical sex and violence, won’t touch them, especially the plentiful Bible stories about sexual slavery and human sacrifice.
Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately. But all the girls who have not known man intimately, spare for yourselves.Numbers 31:17-18
He [Josiah] executed the priests of the pagan shrines on their own altars, and he burned human bones on the altars to desecrate them.... He did this in obedience to all the laws written in the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found in the LORD's Temple. Never before had there been a king like Josiah, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and soul and strength, obeying all the laws of Moses. And there has never been a king like him since. 2 Kings 23:20-25 NLT
7. Instructions for slave masters. The reality is that the Bible says much more in support of slavery than against it. Even the New Testament Jesus never says owning people is wrong. Instead, the Bible gives explicit instructions to masters and slaves. Awkward.
You may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. Ephesians 6:5 NLT
8. Bizzare death penalties. Years ago, I wrote an article titled, “If the Bible Were Law Would You Qualify For the Death Penalty?” It identified 35 different offenses that earn a person capital punishment in the Bible. Hint: You probably qualify. And so does the dog who belongs to your kinky neighbor.
If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die. Deuteronomy 21:18-21
If a man has sex with an animal, he must be put to death, and the animal must be killed. Leviticus 20:15 NLT
9. Denigration of handicapped people. The yuck factor is probably wired into humanity at the level of instinct, a way to avoid contamination and pathogens. crap smells bad to us as does decaying flesh. Our revulsion at illness and injury fuels a whole Hollywood horror industry. The Bible writers had the same instincts, but unlike modern health professionals, who have the benefit of germ theory, they had no idea what was contagious and what wasn’t, and they blurred the ideas of physical purity with spiritual purity. Modern Christians largely escape their denigration of physical handicaps.
No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD. Deuteronomy 23:1 NRSV
Whosoever ... hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded, Or crookback, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken ... He shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries. Leviticus 21:17-23 KJV
10. Moral edicts that demand too much.If much of the Bible gets ignored because it is morally irrelevant, immoral, outdated, or factually wrong, another portion gets ignored because it sets the bar too high, like putting divorce on par with—omg—homosexuality. If you want to send a conservative Bible-believer into a froth, try suggesting Jesus was a socialist. Then, when he goes all Jehovah on you, quote from the book of Ephesians.
Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same. Luke 3:11 NIV
Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place. Ephesians 5:4 NIV
11. Passages that are a waste of brain space and paper. Some years ago I worked on a website called Wisdom Commons, a library of timeless quotes and stories from many traditions. I had the idea that I would go through the Bible and pull out bits that were relevant, so I started reading.
What I found was that most of the Bible was neither horrible nor inspiring. It was simply dull and irrelevant: long genealogies written by men obsessed with racial purity; archaic stories about ancient squabbles over real estate and women; arcane rituals aimed at pleasing a volatile deity; folk medicine practices involving mandrakes and dove’s blood; superstition that equated cleanliness with spiritual purity and misfortune with divine disfavor; outdated insider politics.
On top of that, it was badly written, with some stories garbled and others repeated, though rarely in complete agreement about the facts. The Bible’s supposed author seemed like a psychological mess, and I found myself irritated. With a finite number of pages to set the course of human history, this was the best He could do?
Thank God Bible-believing Christians don’t take the Good Book as seriously as they claim to.
Valerie Tarico is a psychologist and writer in Seattle, Washington, and the founder of Wisdom Commons. She is the author of "Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light" and "Deas and Other Imaginings." Her articles can be found at valerietarico.com.
"God" is the original deus ex machina. --Maksutov
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_LittleNipper
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Re: Bible verse by verse
No Christian should ignore any verse of the Bible. What they should do is study and view each verse in light of the entire passage and not out of context. What the Bible repeats is how God presents what He considers very important. The Bible, according to what I was told in public school before daily Bible reading was abolished was that the King James Bible was written at a 4th grade level. Perhaps people today are more illiterate than they imagine.... The genealogies exist to show that there is a direct line from Noah through the Nation of Israel and King David to Our Lord Jesus Christ.
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_Maksutov
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Re: Bible verse by verse
LittleNipper wrote:the King James Bible was written at a 4th grade level.
And that must be why you're called "Little Nipper". You're still stuck in the 4th grade.
"God" is the original deus ex machina. --Maksutov
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_LittleNipper
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Re: Bible verse by verse
Maksutov wrote:LittleNipper wrote:the King James Bible was written at a 4th grade level.
And that must be why you're called "Little Nipper". You're still stuck in the 4th grade.
But you don't seem able to comprehend it ---- only shake your rattle...
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_Maksutov
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Re: Bible verse by verse
LittleNipper wrote:Maksutov wrote:
And that must be why you're called "Little Nipper". You're still stuck in the 4th grade.
But you don't seem able to comprehend it ---- only shake your rattle...
You can cut and paste it. But you don't understand it. You can't explain it. You can just jump up and down and say God a lot. And you admit that you're at a 4th grade level. Your words.
Entertaining, yes. Impressive? No. Mark Twain got it right:
It is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.
- Letters from the Earth
The Christian's Bible is a drug store. Its contents remain the same; but the medical practice changes...The world has corrected the Bible. The church never corrects it; and also never fails to drop in at the tail of the procession- and take the credit of the correction. During many ages there were witches. The Bible said so. the Bible commanded that they should not be allowed to live. Therefore the Church, after eight hundred years, gathered up its halters, thumb-screws, and firebrands, and set about its holy work in earnest. She worked hard at it night and day during nine centuries and imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood.
Then it was discovered that there was no such thing as witches, and never had been. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry.....There are no witches. The witch text remains; only the practice has changed. Hell fire is gone, but the text remains. Infant damnation is gone, but the text remains. More than two hundred death penalties are gone from the law books, but the texts that authorized them remain.
- "Bible Teaching and Religious Practice," Europe and Elsewhere
"God" is the original deus ex machina. --Maksutov
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_spotlight
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Re: Bible verse by verse
Blessed are those who suffer carpal tunnel for my sake, for great shall be their reward!... when and if they finish cutting and pasting the entire Bible. Carry on therefore my LittleNipper and my hand shall take over when your wrists ache for lack of rest. Yea! Great shall be thy reward. Thy understanding shall mount up to the tops of the sand dunes at Monterey Beach and thou shalt run and not be weary until thou reach thy couch and TV. I am well pleased with you my Son and I prepare a place for you in my mansions above. Your bunk shall be nearby in my backyard next to that of Lassie who also did many good works in the medium of TV and thou shalt have rule over my personal hen house forevermore. Even so, amen.
Kolob’s set time is “one thousand years according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest” (Abraham 3:4). I take this as a round number. - Gee
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_LittleNipper
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Re: Bible verse by verse
Maksutov wrote:LittleNipper wrote:
But you don't seem able to comprehend it ---- only shake your rattle...
You can cut and paste it. But you don't understand it. You can't explain it. You can just jump up and down and say God a lot. And you admit that you're at a 4th grade level. Your words.
Entertaining, yes. Impressive? No. Mark Twain got it right:
It is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.
- Letters from the Earth
The Christian's Bible is a drug store. Its contents remain the same; but the medical practice changes...The world has corrected the Bible. The church never corrects it; and also never fails to drop in at the tail of the procession- and take the credit of the correction. During many ages there were witches. The Bible said so. the Bible commanded that they should not be allowed to live. Therefore the Church, after eight hundred years, gathered up its halters, thumb-screws, and firebrands, and set about its holy work in earnest. She worked hard at it night and day during nine centuries and imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood.
Then it was discovered that there was no such thing as witches, and never had been. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry.....There are no witches. The witch text remains; only the practice has changed. Hell fire is gone, but the text remains. Infant damnation is gone, but the text remains. More than two hundred death penalties are gone from the law books, but the texts that authorized them remain.
- "Bible Teaching and Religious Practice," Europe and Elsewhere
1 Samuel 15:23 - For rebellion [is as] the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness [is as] iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from [being] king.