Part 37 of Post Your Tough Questions Regarding Christianity

The Bible is the best selling book of all time. There's a reason for that.

 

That doesn't make it perfect. In the days before archaeology and modern science it wasn't hard for the church to push the idea that the Bible was infallible. Today is different. It is proveably very fallible.

 

Nope. I've given you explanations for your "problems" with time lines.

 

Where? You've never told me how Moses could have known about the Chaldeans - 400 years before they came into being. How Abraham could have bought land from a nation that did not exist for another 400 years. You've not told told me how 2 small states can raise armies of 1.3m soldiers from a total population of less than 1m. In fact YOU have told me nothing. You've relied on others who've admitted some speculation. And you've used Christian websites.

Anyway, dream on.

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You're obviously confused on other time lines. I'll try to help you. Hold on.

 

Here's your answer about the Chaldeans.
https://www.gotquestions.org/amp/Chaldeans.html

Anything else?

 

Well, one can find a good number of errors by searching the web, of course. I see the document as having been written by man, so that doesn't really bother me.

There are larger issues, though. The legal code of the OT is horrible, of course. And, there are a number of cases of not being able to tell what is allegory and what is not.

More importantly, there are events that I would consider far and away NOT what I see as acceptable human behavior being rewarded by God. Two major examples are the terrorism at Jericho by the invasion forces of the Israelites and the slaughter of tens of thousands of Midianites, including men, women, children and prisoners. That even included saving the Midianite virgin girls to be distributed among the victors as booty.

One must see God as eternal, and a god that would condone, let alone reward/support that kind of behavior is RADICALLY at odds with the entire NT message. Proclaiming such a god as the foundation for morality is just not justified.

 

Judgement. God wiped out Sodom and Gomorrah also. God also flooded the earth and who knows how many people were drowned a terrible death. Judgement. It's coming again.

 

I grew up with "The Holy Spirit" and even then I knew crazy when I saw it.

Sounds like this God fellow is a serious psycho.

 

When did you receive the Holy Spirit?

 

According to critics of the Bible it was a later addition to scripture. Sorry but I don't pay any attention to critics of the Bible who spew falsehoods.

If man uses his free will and wisdom in his way but not God's way then that will lead man to destruction. God's way is always the right way, it leads to eternal glory...that's the point.

So unbelievers who think they are so wise to say it's nonsense to believe Jesus was crucified on the cross to save us from our sins, they are headed for destruction. When Judgement Day comes they will finally realize they weren't so wise after all but it will be too late to repent...they are headed for destruction, condemnation.

Here let me present the whole chapter that's about the Wisdom of God, read it slowly and with an open mind so you can understand the message clearly.

The Wisdom of God

"The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say,

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and discard the intelligence of the intelligent."

So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.

But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.

Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, "If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord." ---1 Corinthians 1:18-31 NLT

 

That's not an answer for what happened at Jericho or the treatment of the Midianites, including the virgin girls handed out as booty.

The Noah story is most likely an allegory or parable, as it involves God changing his mind. No eternal all-knowing being would find himself in a position to have to change his mind. It's a common religious trope to purify by washing with water. Suggesting that (and the ark) as being literal really has no value at all. I have no idea why Christians are so quick to require every word to be literal. This and the Eden story carry far more insight as allegory. And, why would anyone believe there was a literal Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and a Tree of Life - both of which, what? Died??

So, I see those as mistakes by Christians, not mistakes of the Bible.

I didn't say anything about Sodom and Gomorrah - even though that story has had some radically bad interpretation. My bet is that it, too, had allegorical elements, perhaps that have been lost along with our loss of knowledge of ancient culture.

I find it fascinating that after Sodom and Gomorrah God so significantly blessed Lot's drunken sex with his daughters.

 

I was raised in Holy Family Catholic School, went to church every day but Saturday until sixth grade when I was removed after getting put in a corner for several days after asking questions about Noahs Ark that the nuns did not like and told my parents about it. I was then introduced to the actual world by being placed in public school where I was actually allowed to learn about science. From that point on I was addicted to knowledge and thus my disdain for Christianity.
As I gained knowledge I rekindled an interest in religion as a psychological issue and began reading about various other versions and found Buddhism to be the most palatable. Mostly because it is philosophy vs deity worship.

 

God's plan is going to Happen, regardless of man's sin. King David committed adultery and had her husband killed to cover up his sin, but David paid for it later in life. So did Solomon. God let's man go his own way to destruction, but God will still use people to carry out his will.

 

That's terrible. I'm no fan of abusive religion. That's not Christianity. Those Catholics abused you, but Jesus isn't a Catholic. I'm sorry that abuse happened to you.

 

That was another thing I noted in both Christianity and Islam...not so much in other religions. Both seem to dislike themselves depending on which version of their version of their version of God gets written down by their version of the right person who did the writing. It's very confusing for those on the outside looking in, I can only imagine what its like inside the glass house.

 

God actually HELPED and REWARDED the slaughter I pointed to. That's not just god letting man go his own way.

Pointing to a couple cases of those paid back by MAN doesn't answer for what God rewarded.

 

I was lucky, never raised in any religion. I reached out when life became too painful, and met some real Christians. They weren't perfect, but they knew Jesus, not religion. Changed my life.

 

Which version of Christian were they?

 

This is a good explanation.
http://www.jesuswalk.com/joshua/app6_herem.htm

 

Assembly of God, Foursquare, and Lutheran.

 

I do not see that as good enough. It's still genocide. And, the interpretation as it being God's will is still far from satisfactory.

At Jericho, for example, the slaughter of all inhabitants (even animals) was essentially an act of terrorism - the slaughter of civilians resulting in other cities giving up lest they, too, be slaughtered by Joshua. I don't see any reference to these other cities switching to worship the god of Israel. I don't see evidence that Joshua cared what god they worshiped.

In the case of the Midianites what I pointed out was that the virgin girls were divided as booty.

I don't see these OT events matching God's New Testament message. And, the participation of man in the exercise of God's punishment is a claim that seems especially weak when it comes from the victors in these genocidal acts that richly rewarded the Israelites.

Another problem with your cite is that it attempts to lay this off on culture - claiming that we must stretch to understand other cultures. But, GOD is active in culture. Christian's point to God as the root of morality. There have been bad actors throughout history, but I don't see that as an excuse for the culture chosen by God to be so richly rewarded. God is an absolute - timeless.

Perhaps most importantly, remember that what I'm comparing is what is in the Bible in one place to what is in the Bible in another place - the acts of Joshua and Moses as motivated and praised by God compared to the message of Jesus and the apostles, presumably also motivated and praised by God.

 

Judgment isn't terrorism. God is just. These people were totally sold out to the devil. The Creator can pretty much do whatever he wants, but at least our God is just. These people were evil.

 

Seems your god is a real bad arse. Doesn't like what's going on - kill em and let em all burn in hell for all of eternity and he starts over.

But I have always wondered if god is infallible, omnipotent and omniscient, then why didn't he know that his creations would fail him to such an extent that he had to murder 99.99% of them.

Seems like one helluva mistake.

 

Judgement isn't murder. God couldn't allow the kingly line to become polluted. That's why Jews are called the "chosen". God doesn't judge now like he did in the Old Testament because his plan of salvation has been fulfilled on the cross. The final judgement will come for every unbeliever, though. Every believer has been judged on the cross. The believer will never experience death. They will go right to heaven with God.