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Quote by: SoccerfreakAB2 I can't wait for the Christian retort saying that these quotes are metaphorical or symbollic of God's love or something. It's priceless. |
Nah, they usually say that the people being murdered were all "bad guys." If you point out that the Israelites did things just as bad as the "bad guys," they either say the Israelites were God's pet people(like that justifies it), or that they weren't nearly as bad(whatever), or, usually, simply fall back on "We can't question God."
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Quote by: lsbskins1 If, as a leader, you want to stir people to war, you can find verses to do that. If you want to encourage the people to be passive, you can find verses to do that. The point being that any mind set, any emtional or intelectual point of view can be found with-in it's pages and all you have to do is know what response is appropriate to your aims as a leader and you can find a passage in "the holy book" to encourage it. Quite convienent, isn't it? |
Well, the Bible is a collection of books, and they do not all agree. In fact, there are references within some books, where the author of that book pretty much calls the author of another book a liar. No, I don't remember where this was, but it was a Christian who showed it to me. Anyone, since different authors with different views wrote the various books, of course you will get different opinions. The J manuscripts show a different god than the P manuscripts; one shows a much more human god with a name, the other shows a more distant and mysterious god. One is more compassionate, one is more vengeful. The early books of the Bible are a sort of splice of J and P, and is why one verse might have God forgiving some major sin, and the next have him striking down someone for some minor offense.
The story of Jonah, for instance, is one of the most tolerant, and would do well as a fable for many, apart from the Judaic overtones. Essentially, Jonah orders people to repent because God will destroy them, they repent, and then Jonah cries about how he didn't think God should forgive them because they aren't real Jews. On the other hand, the book of Esther is one of the most hateful and vile books; Martin Luther said he regretted its inclusion in the Bible because of how it elevated Jews(Martin Luther hated the Jews).