According to fundamentalist Christians, the entire Bible is the literal, inerrant Word of God. If that is the case, how do we explain the following:

In the Old Testament (Book of Deuteronomy) it says that if a man marries a woman and finds that she is not a virgin, and if her family cannot prove that she was a virgin before her marriage, "she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death."
And "God's Will" even controls our wearing apparel: A woman "must not wear men's clothing....for the Lord your God DETESTS anyone who does this." If that is the case, most women living today will have to live with the notion that God's wrath is upon them! And only certain people are welcome in God's house of worship; if you happen to be a child born out of wedlock, you cannot go there. No illegitimate child, "nor any of his descendants, may enter the assembly of the Lord, even down to the tenth generation." Even the child's descendants must suffer for the so-called "sin" (which is certainly NOT really a sin!) which they played no part in! Also, the Bible states: "If a man's testicles are crushed or his penis cut off, he may not be included in the assembly of the Lord." (see Deuteronomy 23:1--2, New Living Translation)
:headscrat:bible:

It`s because the bible mostly is a crock of shit......written by man for man.

:cry: In "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism," John Spong writes:

"The Bible confronted me with the picture of God rejoicing over the drowning of the Egyptians at the Red Sea (Exodus 15). Was this God not also the God of the Egyptians? I wondered. Later this God suggested that the CHILDREN of the Edomites should have THEIR HEADS DASHED AGAINST THE ROCKS for what the Edomites had done to the Jews (Ps. 137:7--9). Non-Israelite groups, such as the Midianites, were ordered to be destroyed by the God of the Bible (Num. 31:1,2). Israel obeyed: "They warred against Midian AS THE LORD COMMANDED MOSES and slew every male" (Num. 31:7). They spared the women and children, and took as booty all their cattle, flocks, and goods (Num. 31:9). So much for "You shall not steal"! Then they burned the Midianite cities (Num. 31:10). MOSES WAS ANGRY THAT THEY HAD LET THE WOMEN LIVE (Num. 31:15). He then ordered all the male CHILDREN to be killed. So much for "You shall do no murder"!
:cry:

I couldn't agree more!

I TOTALLY agree with you. No matter how much the fundamentalist Christians out there may try to deny it, the Bible is a HUMAN creation... 'divinely inspired' or NOT! And it was also written in a practically 100% patriarchal society, hence the negative bias towards females. Rest assured though that the 'Lord' is NOT a cruel bastard as He is portrayed in the Bible.

Then why does he let million's of innocent children suffer....rape, molestation,tourture and death on a daily basis?

Oh yes your god is so kind and understanding nothing like in the Bible......


If your wondering why i said your God it's because i don't believe in religion period..........

It pays to understand....not just read.....Everything you complain about in the Old Testament was wiped away by the New.....soooooo?

Ben

Why rape, molestation, torture, and death? Easy, because of the fall of mankind. God gave us a choice and we blew it. We are sinful in nature. God does not make us meaningless robots to do as he pleases, he lets us choose, and unfortunately, because of sin, those things, as well as sickness, disease, etc. exists. Now I have opened up a real can of worms havent I, with the whole "Original Sin" and "Freedom to Choose" doctrines... Let's here the rebuttals

Seth - your answer surprises me! Not the fact that you do not believe in the Bible. Rather, the tone. I usually enjoy your commentary because of its objectivity and well thought out but short replies. However, this one seems to come straight from the heart and has feeling behind it, and is not objective at all.

I must have been in a mood I try to stay objective but sometimes emotions take over.

I can say, my mothers church are some of the nicest caring folks I've ever met. I have no problem with theist who are caring and good, no matter their religion.

Sam...it may be that his statement was entirely objective and thus gives rise to his bitter feelings

No problem, dude.

Not following... don't you mean subjective?

I think she may be referring to actions, hence the usage of the word 'objective'.

No Sam...I mean that Seth may have studied the bible objectively and found it to be mostly 'full of shit' and that may have given rise to his anger and bitterness over it.

I said why are innocent children subjected to those thing's but you convieniently left that bit out of your answer

how are little children sinful in nature hhhhmmmmm..........

I actually agree with you here. If there's one thing I TRULY disagree with in the Bible, it's the concept of 'original sin'. I do not believe we are BORN 'sinful'. To me, NO-ONE is born sinful. ALL living things are inherently good (including 'innocent children', of course), but we have a CHOICE to forget our inherent goodness and to engage in sinful works during our lives and thus BECOME sinful as a result.

But God:
1) created satan, knowing in advance that he'd trick Eve. So it was God's choice to have everything play out exactly the way it has.
2)created Adam and Eve...and created their minds so as to let them be so easily decieved. He created us to be weak, knowing we would fail, resulting in billions of souls frying for eternity?
Sounds pretty sadistic to me...

Also, rape, torture, molestation and genocide were all commanded by God himself in the Old Testament.

I did not conveniently leave that out - my answer is the same. Mankind is sinful in nature - we are born into sin. I thought my statement was clear.